The purpose of the research that I conducted was to examine changes in gender stereotypes seen in alcohol commercials aired during the Super Bowl between 1990+2023. To conduct my research, I implemented a content analysis of a simple random sample of the thirty three years of Super Bowl advertisements. A total of twenty five advertisements from across the thirty three years were analyzed using basic and interpretive content analysis. My analysis of the advertisements suggests that gender stereotypes appear within these Super Bowl commercials but that over time, the stereotype portrayal has decreased. I found consistency in the portrayal of women as sexual objects, often shown in revealing clothing and being used to advertise seltzer products. I also found that men were represented to be masculine beer drinkers and their portrayal was intertwined with the masculinity that surrounds sports and physical competition.
These stereotypes were intertwined within the advertisements so that a viewer’s attention could quickly be attained. Having a woman in a bikini pop up on one’s television could grab one’s attention, as could a man sweating and competing in physical sporting activity. But consciously perceiving the stereotypes that revolve around these depictions of both men and women could be difficult for viewers, as well as the clearly, though discreetly, gendered advertisements of beer and alcoholic seltzer. Employing the theoretical framework of feminist theory to better understand gender roles and gender stereotypes was pivotal in understanding my findings. The framework offered by Erving Goffman, regarding gender roles and performance in advertisements (Anjalin 2015), was the groundwork for additional theorization concerning how men and women in advertisements would be represented in terms of different dimensions of visual structure (Anjalin 2015). The gendered stereotypes observed in the advertisements in my study support Goffman and suggest that “body-isms”, described as the prejudice based on the appearance of the body, are more likely to be employed in advertisements by women than men (Lijima et al 1994).
Stereotypes Storefront, northeast Portland by Pat Kight. Flickr by CC-BY
Understanding and differentiating the marketing stereotypes observed around beer and alcoholic seltzer has been subdued in the past. Thurnell-Read (2022) show similar conclusions, perceptions of particular drinks and drinking styles are upheld by mainstream media representations of alcohol consumption, and found that there was a long tradition of alcoholic drinks being marketed using explicitly gendered imagery and language. The study (Thurnell-Read 2022), identified a clear trend in the assumed preference of women for lighter, fruitier drinks and of men for dark, strong and heavy beer styles.
Finally, the sport playing, competitive masculine men portrayed within these advertisements can best be understood by Hall & Kappel’s (2018), study of alcohol commercials and the large influence of these advertisements on behaviors and the portrayal of gender. They describe the typologies of dominant male gender types often seen in alcohol advertisements. Super Bowl viewership is typically high, and new commercials offer new excitement for viewers of the big game.
Super Bowl-23 by Stephen Luke. Flickr by CC-BY
Some limitations faced while researching were that of locating alcohol commercials that were specifically aired during the Super Bowl and ensuring that each commercial was aired during the given timeframe for this study. For future research, I believe it could be very beneficial to widen the scope of this topic. I believe that looking at alcohol commercials that we’re not just aired during the Super Bowl could be beneficial to the understanding of gender stereotypes in advertising. In addition, researchers could examine more commercials aside from just alcohol. There is an endless possibility for more research and analysis to be done, and in doing so more stones could be overturned.