| Abstract: | This study sought to examine one aspect ofstereotyping in television advertising, specifically,the use of animated spokes-characters as productrepresentatives and whether spokes-characters contribute to gender-stereotyped portrayals. Undergraduatestudents — of a variety of races and an almostequal number of men and women — identifiedmemorable spokes-characters, presumed genders, notedgender-distinguishing characteristics, and viewed programmingfeaturing commercials with spokes-characters. Hypotheseswere confirmed that participants will recall more maleanimated characters than female and that most of the spokes-characters in television advertising aremale. Using male spokes-characters reinforces thestereotypical notion that males are more important thanfemales. Such effects may be greater than those associated with other aspects of advertisinglargely because of the memorability and popularity ofanimated spokes-characters. |
