International Journal of Advertising – Special Issue

Topic: Gender Advertising

NEW SUBMISSION DEADLINE: JANUARY 25TH, 2015

CALL FOR PAPERS

Advertising as a social institution often mirrors the prevailing norms, beliefs, attitudes and stereotypes of society (Pollay, 1986).

Gender stereotypes are general beliefs about sex-linked traits and roles, psychological characteristics and behaviors describing women and men (Browne 1998). Gender roles stereotyping in advertising has been a critical topic in the literature since 70’s. The rise of feminism directed considerable attention to female advertising depictions, which were considered to enhance female role stereotypes and promote “sexism”. Sexism refers to the portrayal of women and men in an inferior manner relative to their capabilities and potential.

Changing role structure in the family and in the labor force has brought significant variation in the both male and female roles and subsequently how it is reflected in advertising. It has been noted that there is a cultural lag. Sexes for a long period of time were depicted in advertising in more traditional roles.

During the 90’s the notions of feminism and sexism were considered to be outdated. Issues of sexuality rather than gender became the focus of discourse and debate. Sexual imagery of women is viewed as radical and cutting-edge rather than unfair and exploitative. The new representational approach of retro-sexism appears to extend beyond media imagery to society at large (Gill and Arthurs, 2006). Finally, in recent years the focus of postmodern advertising has been on the philosophical aspects of social analysis, yet does not offer so far, a clear-cut view of sufficient changes in gender and sexism stereotypes.

In this special issue, empirical and conceptual papers, addressing the topic: “Gender stereotypes in Advertising – An updated examination” are welcome. We are looking for research that contributes significantly to the work in existence. More specific potential sub-topics include the following (but are not limited to):

• Female role stereotypes in traditional advertising
• Male role stereotypes in traditional advertising
• Effects of stereotypes in specific product categories (e.g. beauty industry; Weight loss industry)
• Gender based responses to advertising
• Changing role stereotypes in GLBT advertising
• Cross-national comparisons of audience perceptions toward digital advertising for global products
• Cross-cultural comparisons of gender stereotypes in advertising
• Gender stereotypes in post-modern advertising

We welcome a variety of methods and multi-method papers. Empirical and conceptual papers will both be considered. Case studies will not be considered.

References

Browne, B.A. (1998) ‘Gender stereotypes in advertising on children’s television in the 1990s: a crossnational analysis’, Journal of Advertising, 27(1), pp83-96. Gill, R. & Arthurs, J.(2006) ‘Editor’s introduction: New feminities?’ Feminist Media Studies 6(4), pp 443-51.

Pollay, R.W.(1986) ‘The distorted mirror: reflections on the unintended consequences of advertising’, Journal of Marketing, 50(2), pp18-36.

Manuscript Preparation and Submission: All submissions, reviewing and notification will be conducted electronically through e-mail. Please, for your manuscript follow the Guidelines for Contributors of IJA . Please submit your paper at:

www.editormanager.com/i-j-a

It is essential to provide all the details requested on the online form. These details include: a full title, an abstract not exceeding 150 words, contact details of the corresponding author and, where relevant, co-authors.

Guest Editors:

Professor Yorgos Zotos, Ph.D.
Department of Communication and Internet Studies
Faculty of Communication and Mass Media
Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus
e-mail: Yorgos.zotos@cut.ac.cy
tel:++357-25002170
fax:++357-25002642

Professor Stacy Landreth Grau, Ph.D.
Neeley School of Business
Department of Marketing
Texas Christian University
Fort Worth Texas
Email: s.grau@tcu.edu
(817) 257-6540

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