J. DRUG EDUCATION, Vol. 22(4) 303-312,1992

WOMEN AS HOME CAREGIVERS: GENDER PORTRAYAL IN OTC DRUG COMMERCIALS

R. STEPHEN CRAIG University of Maine, Orono

ABSTRACT

Concern has long been expressed over possible adverse effects of television advertising of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines. This study investigated a sample of prime time network television ads to determine how gender portrayals differed in drug and non-drug commercials. Findings indicated that women were significantly more likely than men to appear as characters in drug ads than in ads for other products, and that they are frequently portrayed in these commercials as experts on home medical care, often as mothers caring for ill children. This supports the hypothesis that drug advertisers take advantage of stereotypical images of women as home medical caregivers. It also raises the question of whether female consumers are being encouraged by these ads to overuse OTC medications as a way of gaining the familys love and respect.

Many charges have been leveled at television advertising, but none has been more controversial than the accusation that commercials encourage viewers to use (and abuse) products that have a potentially detrimental effect on their health, such as tobacco, alcohol, and drugs. Over the years, Congress has considered regulatory restrictions on the advertising of all three types of products and, in the case of tobacco, has acted to completely ban television commercials. More recently, Surgeon General Antonio Novello called for the alcoholic beverage industry to voluntarily cease airing commercials that have a special appeal to underage drinkers, such as those with animal or cartoon characters.

Television advertising of medications has also had its share of detractors. Former FCC Commissioner Nicholas Johnson once proposed a ban of

303 Q 1992, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc.

doi: 10.2190/2NHN-NUY7-Q88U-CDJHhttp://baywood.com

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over-the-counter (OTC) drug commercials, arguing that television is no less than a pusher [l, pp. 227-2281:

If our natural drive for consciousness alteration does not take us to drugs, then televisions repeated glamorization of drugs, through advertisements as well as through programming, will artificially create the necessary shove. . . . In short, television, its advertising agencies, and their cor- porate clients are preying upon both our minds and our bodies, and those of defenseless children, to promote atheistic corporate greed, whatever the social cost.

Other critics agree that television ads for OTC medications create a model of drug-taking behavior that children may emulate. Citing government statistics on overdoses of OTC medicines by children, Choate and Debevoise argue that television drug ads could be contributing to the problem [2].

Industry defenders have responded that until research can demonstrate a causal link between drug ads and drug abuse or other harmful effects, restrictions or bans on the ads are unwarranted. Martin and Duncan reviewed the quantitative litera- ture on the question, concluded that the empirical evidence does not support such a link, and called for further study [3].

If the quantitative research on drug ads has been inconclusive, critical studies on drug ads have been lacking altogether. However, Postman, et al. did undertake a textual analysis of a sample of forty beer commercials [4]. Noting that these ads were almost always aimed at a target audience of men, they argued that beer commercials can be viewed . . . as a manual of cultural information on what it means to be a man [4, p.441. They found that the ads promoted such traits as physical activity, risk-taking, mastery over nature and technology, egalitarianism, and emotional self-restraint.

The Postman et al., research also raises the issue of gender in regard to ads. What is the relationship between the advertising of controversial products and the portrayal of gender? A recent content analysis by Craig indicates that gender portrayals in television commercials vary with the advertisers target audience [5]. A critical analysis of selected commercials aimed at women suggests that advertisers exploit traditional sex role stereotypes in order to promote their product [6]. One traditional feminine stereotype is that of maternalism. Women are seen as more nurturing and competent to care for children than men [7]. Since OTC medicines are purchased directly by the consumer and administered at home, often to relieve symptoms of illness or injury, marketers of these products see women as their primary target consumers. How do television ads for OTC medicines reflect this? In what ways are gender stereotypes and consumer insecurities exploited to sell these products?

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THE STUDY

One method of examining gender stereotypes in television ads is through the use of content analysis. Since 1972, at least eighteen gender-oriented content analyses of U.S. television commercials, and another seven using non-U.S. advertising, have been reported in academic sources. Many of these studies have been summarized by Bretl and Cantor [8]. Additional research has examined gender portrayals in other media texts, and several authors have summarized various aspects of this work [9-151. This article reports on a study that applied the techniques of content analysis of gender developed in earlier research to ads for OTC drugs and other products as a way of examining the use of gender stereotypes to promote certain classes of products.

METHOD

Three videotape recorders were used to simultaneously record selected hours of programming on the local affiliates of the three major networks during a one-week period. Prime time (operationally defined for this study as Monday through Friday, 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.) was chosen as the period to be sampled, since it is during that time that television viewing levels are at their peak. A total of thirty hours of prime time programming was thus obtained.

Each tape was reviewed, and each cluster of commercials, (i.e., each group of ads between two program segments) was cataloged and given a serial number. Clusters containing only promotional announcements, public service announce- ments, and/or advertisements clearly originating at the local station were dis- regarded. A total of 133 commercial clusters was thus obtained, with each cluster containing one to seven different commercials. The 133 commercial clusters were then edited onto new videotapes in random order. All program material, public service announcements, billboards, promotional announcements, and advertise- ments clearly originating at the local station were deleted. This procedure yielded a series of videotapes containing only the network commercials, randomized by cluster, with all clues removed as to their original program context and time of broadcast.

All network commercials recorded during the sample period were included in the initial database, regardless of the number of times they appeared or the ages of the characters. Animated characters were also included, and were coded based on the gender and age they appeared to represent. Repeats were coded since, as Verna points out, the aim of the study was to examine exposure to stereotypes rather than to specific commercials [16]. Each commercial appearance must therefore be considered a separate exposure. This procedure yielded a total sample of 497 commercials to be coded.

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Statistical analysis was completed using the Tables sub-program of the MS-DOS version of the computer program SYSTAT, and the Person chi-square calculation was used to test for significant differences.

CODING

Coders watched each commercial and classified it according to the following categories.

Product Category

Ads were classified according to the product or service being promoted. Categories included Pain Relievers, Cough and Cold medications, Lotions and Ointments, Other Medications, and Non-medicinal products. Although the decision to code most OTC medications, such as aspirin and cough syrup, was straightforward, a few classes of items, such as shampoo, mouthwash, and tooth- paste, presented less clear-cut cases. The general rule was to classify a product as a medication if the ad promoted it for its prophylactic or medicinal qualities. Thus, toothpaste, mouthwash, cough drops, and medicinal lotions (e.g., Lubriderm brand) were coded as medications, while breath mints and beauty lotions (e.g., Oil of Olay brand) were not. Shampoos were classified as medications if they were touted for their medicinal qualities (e.g., Denorex brand), but not if they were promoted simply for their beautifying or cleansing properties (e.g., Prell brand).

Primary Visual Character

Each commercial was also classified according to the age and sex of a single Primary Visual Character (PVC), defined as the one visual character who appears on the screen for the longest time, but for no less than five seconds. Primary Visual Characters were then coded as Adult Male, Adult Female, or ChildlTeen. This coding is similar to that used in earlier content analyses inves- tigating gender portrayals, such as those of Bretl and Cantor [8], and Harris and Stobart [17].

Primary Visual Character Role

Each PVC was also classified according to the role he or she played in the commercial. Again following the schema of earlier studies, the categories were Celebrity, ChildlTeen, Home-maker, DemonstratorlExpert, Parent, Professional, Sex ObjectlModel, SpouselPartner, Worker, and Other.

GENDER IN DRUG COMMERCIALS / 307

All Visual Characters

To provide a better overview of gender portrayals in the ads, each ad was also classified according to the sex and age of all visual characters who appeared, regardless of the amount of time they appeared on the screen. These categories were All Male Adults; All Female Adults; All Adults, Mixed Gender; All ChildrenlTeens; Male Adults with ChildrenlTeens; (no adult women); Female Adults with ChildrenlTeens (no adult men); and Mirture of Male and Female Adults and ChildrenlTeens.

RESULTS

The results provide strong support for the hypothesis that advertisers use the traditional gender stereotype of women as nurturers and caregivers to promote OTC medications during prime time. Table 1 indicates that while adult males appeared as the PVC in all commercials slightly more often than did adult females (N = 154 compared with N = 148), there was a statistically significant difference @ < .01) in the gender of the PVC depending on whether or not OTC medicines were being advertised. In those medicine commercials having PVCs, adult males appeared as the PVC only 35.8 percent of the time, compared with 64.2 percent of the time for adult women. Conversely, men appeared in non-medicine commer- cials 55.3 percent of the time, compared to only 44.7 percent for women.

A further analysis of the ads with PVCs indicates that even within the medicine category, gender portrayals differed depending on the category of medicine being advertised. For example, females appeared as the PVC in 76.5 percent of the ads for pain relievers, as compared to only 23.5 percent for males. On the other hand, males appeared as the PVC in 65 percent of the ads for cough and cold products (x (4, N = 303) = 20.6, p c .001).

Table 1. Percentages of Prime Time Commercials for OTC Medications and Other Products Featuring

Adult Primary Visual Characters by Sex

Percent

Category Medicines Non-medicines

N N = 6 7 N = 235

Adult male 1 54 35.8 55.3 Adult female 148 64.2 44.7

p c .01. Note: All numbers except N represent column percentages. x (1, N = 302) = 7.9,

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While the above findings focused on the single primary visual character, a comparison was also made between medicine and non-medicine ads for the gender and age categories of all the characters who appeared. The results of this comparison are shown in Table 2.

These figures are consistent with those for PVCs in that they indicate that adult women were more likely overall to appear in the medicine ads than adult men. In fact, fully 32.5 percent of the medicine ads with visual characters containonly adult women, while 20.0 percent contain onZy adult men. Also, while no medicine commercials were found in which only male adults with childredteens appeared, 12.5 percent of the medicine ads featured only adult women with children/teens. Similarly, portrayals with only adult women were twice as likely (32.5%) to be found in medicine ads than in com- mercials for non-medicine products (15.7%). A nearly identical proportional difference is found for portrayals of aduit women with childredteens (12.5% vs. 6.3%).

Further insight into these portrayals is gained after examining the data in Table 3. This table indicates the role the PVC played (regardless of sex) in those medicine ads with a PVC compared to the non-medicine ads with a PVC. In the medicine ads, the PVC was nearly twice as likely to portray a parent than in the non-medicine ads (13.9% vs. 7.2%), and nearly six times as likely to portray a demonstrator (29.2% vs 4.9%). Further analysis reveals

Table 2. Percentages of Prime Time Commercials for OTC Medications and Other Products Featuring Characters

in Various Sex and Age Categories

Percent

Medicines Non-medicines Category N N = 6 7 N = 235

All male adults 80 20.0 17.6 All female adults 83 32.5 15.7 All adults, mixed gender 142 23.8 33.9 All children or teens 9 2.5 1.9 Male adults w/children/

teens (no adult women) 9 0 2.5 Female adults (w/children/

teens (no adult men) 33 12.5 6.3

Notes: All numbers except N represent column percentages. x' (6, N = 443) = 23.5, Mixture of ages and genders 87 6.8 22.0

p = .001.

GENDER IN DRUG COMMERCIALS I 309

Table 3. Percentages of Prime Time Commercials for OTC Medications and Other Products with Primary Visual Characters

in Various Role Categories

Percent

Category Medicines Non-medicines

N N = 7 2 N=263

Celebrii 60 6.9 20.9 Childheen 36 6.9 11.8 Homemaker 9 0 3.4 Demonstratorbxpert 34 29.2 4.9 Parent 29 13.9 7.2 Professional 47 15.3 13.7 Sex object/model 25 8.3 7.2

Worker 12 0 4.6 Other role 47 13.9 14.1

p < .001.

Spouselpartner 36 5.6 12.2

Notes: All numbers except N represent column percentages. x2 (9, N = 335) = 51.2,

that these portrayals correlate highly with the sex of the PVC. For example, 82.8 percent of those PVCs classified as portraying a parent, and 79.4 percent of those portraying demonstrators were women k2 (18, N = 335) = 382.2, p < .001).

DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

Fiske and Hartly have written that the starting-point of any study of television must be with what is actually there on the screen. This is what content analysis is concerned to establish [18, p. 211. This study was meant to be a preliminary attempt to quantify the portrayals of gender in network television OTC drug commercials as a basis for further study.

The results strongly support the hypothesis that advertisers of over-the-counter medications exploit the stereotype of women as nurturers and caregivers in their prime time network television commercials. Not only do women appear as char- acters more frequently in these ads, but when they do appear they are commonly portrayed as experts on OTC medicines, either as demonstrators of the product to others or as parents administering medications to children. Many of the OTC medicine ads in the sample show a husband or child turning to a wife/mother for advice and help during a time of illness. Invariable, the wife/mother selects the

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advertisers product as the appropriate solution to the symptoms. The ads often conclude with the symptoms relieved and the womans importance as family caregiver reaffirmed.

Portrayals of men in the medicine ads fell into one of two categories. They were either absent altogether or appeared to be unrealistic exaggerations, relying on the wife/mother to make even the simplest decisions on home medical care. Goffman discovered the same situation in magazine ads for household products 1191. He found that men were portrayed either as having no contributing role, or as ludicrous or childlike. In the is way, argued Goffman, advertisers of products aimed at women solve the problem of portraying the subordination of men to women by either avoiding it, in the first case, or by making it so unreal as to not be threatening, in the second [19].

The commercials seem to suggest that housewives have power over the other members of the family-at least within the traditional domain of home health care. The ads purport to provide home medical care information, while at the same time reaffirming this knowledge as something to be valued by women. Buying and using the product becomes a ratification of the womans value as a household technician.

Raymond Williams has written that in modem Westem culture, the material object being sold is never enough . . . but must be validated, if only with fantasy, by association with social and personal meanings . . . [20, p. 2611. That is, modem advertising exploits the deep-seated emotional needs and anxieties of consumers in order to sell products. Women have been conditioned by a patri- archal society to believe that nurturing (that is, mothering in its broadest sense) is their primary role in life [21]. Advertisers exploit this powerful cultural force by equating the purchase and administration of OTC medications to spouse and child with the deep-seated anxieties concerning love and acceptance that many women experience.

Feminist theorists have long been critical of such strategies by advertisers. As early as 1963, Betty Friedan pointed out the lengths to which advertisers went in their attempts to convince women that following the traditional roles associated with housewife and mother was creative and rewarding. In her seminal feminist work, The Feminine Mystique [22], she argued that business has a vested interest in maintaining traditional gender stereotypes, for the production and sales of many American goods and services are dependent on the exploitation of fears and anxieties connected to traditional gender identities.

However, the achievement of gratification through the purchase and use of products takes on an even more serious aspect when the use (or abuse) of such products has been shown to be detrimental to health. This study as raised several related issues which deserve further analysis. 1) Portrayals in OTC drug advertis- ing perpetuate the stereotype that home health care is a gender-specific respon- sibility. 2) These images tend to reinforce the notion that it is important for women to stay at home, care for family, learn about medicine (from TV ads), and consume

GENDER IN DRUG COMMERCIALS / 31 1

products. 3) Such commercials may encourage women to use OTC medications as a way of establishing a limited power over husbandkhildren, and therefore as a path to self-actualization. Should this be the case, such advertising may also encourage the over-administration of OTC medications and reinforce the model of drug-taking as a solution to problems.

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6. R. S. Craig, Mens Men and Womens Women: How TV Commercials Portray Gender to Different Audiences, paper presented at the conference of the Western Social Science Association, Reno Nevada, 1991.

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17. P. Harris and J. Stobart, Sex-Role Stereotyping in British Television Advertisements at Different Times of the Day: An Extension and Refinement of Manstead & McCulloch (1981), British Journal of Social Psychology, 25, pp. 155-164,1986.

18. J. Fiske and J. Hartley, Reading Television, Methuen, New York, 1978. 19. E. Goffman, Gender Advertisements, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massa-

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Direct reprint requests to:

R. Stephen Craig Department of Journalism and

107 Lord Hall University of Maine Orono, ME 04469

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