A stereotype can be applied to just about anything in our world and most stereotypes carry effects that go along with them, often negative or misleading. Alcohol advertisements, for example, can exploit gender stereotypes to market and sell products. When these advertisements are aired during the Super Bowl, arguably the most important event in U.S. television advertising (Hatzithomasa et al. 2016), stereotypes have the potential to be on full display and reach an even wider audience.
A very popular stereotype mentioned frequently by researchers was that of the masculinity that surrounds beer. Another popular stereotype that was prevalent was the portrayal of both men and women in the given commercials and advertisements examined; often, the woman was portrayed in a sexualized fashion, while the man was seen as a tough guy or very relaxed and in control.
Vintage Ad #934: Here’s a Real Man’s Ale by Jamie. Flickr by CC-BY
Many studies mentioned the impact that advertisements have on shaping and constructing gender through alcohol. Atkinson et al’s. (2021) study mentioned the targeting and representation of women in alcohol brand marketing and that “Alcohol marketing, including on social media, not only influences alcohol-related attitudes and behaviors, but helps shape how gender identities are constructed and the gendered nature of drinking is learned”(1). Additional studies mention similar findings regarding how stereotypes exist and gender portrayal is present in alcohol advertisements (Hall & Kappel 2018, Hust et al. 2022). Hall & Kappel (2018) discuss alcohol commercials and the large influence of these advertisements on behaviors and the portrayal of gender by describing the typologies of mens dominant gender types often seen in alcohol advertisements. Similarly, social cognitive theory of gender development is discussed by Hust et al. (2022). They explain that mass media disseminates social norms and stereotypical gender roles that are incorporated into viewers’ ideas of what is acceptable behavior for men and women. Content analysis over the past two decades indicates that men and women in alcohol advertisements are portrayed in gender stereotypical ways, and women continue to be presented as sex objects in current advertisements.
1975 Imperial Whiskey Advertisement Playboy October 1975 by SenseiAlan. Flickr by CC-BY
Other scholars examined gender and the body in alcoholic beverage advertisements (Lijima et al. 1994, Saima & Ashfaq 2021). In their study of “body-isms”, which is described as the prejudice based on the appearance of the body, Lijima et al. (1994) mentioned that women are more likely to be utilized for their body-isms in advertisements opposed to men. This study sought to find if this was still the case in beer commercials, concluding that men appear twice as often as women in beer commercials and that the body-isms of women significantly outnumbered the body-isms of men within these commercials. Saima & Ashfaq (2021) looked into non-alcoholic beverage advertisements and concluded that stereotypes and sexualization of women within the commercials was present as well. In their study of gender stereotypes of masculinity and beer drinking, Thurnell-Read (2022) mentioned that 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 identified a clear trend in the assumed preference of women for lighter, fruitier beers and of men for dark, strong and heavy beer styles. Several analyses have pointed out that a hegemonic masculinity mythology constitutes the very ethos of beer commercials (Hellman et al. 2018), a recurring theme I have found in research of masculine beer commercials. Other studies mention masculinity and its association with high levels of drinking in males and allude to men being envisioned as having superior drinking “skills”,able to drink more, and faster, than women (Ricciardelli & Williams 1997, Staub et al. 2022). Consumers often infer that people are what they eat or drink, claiming that such stereotypes can also influence behavior. Consumers’ choices may reflect how they wish to be perceived, especially in terms of masculinity and their choice of alcoholic beverage (Staub et al. 2022).
A number of scholars have also studied gender in alcohol advertising (Matthes et al. 2016, Ganahl et al. 2003, Taylor et al. 2019). As Ganahl et al. (2003:545) explains, “women are seen as the counterparts within these commercials and that overall television commercials perpetuate traditional stereotypes of women and men”. Though representation of women in advertisements is strong, stereotypes remain, (Taylor et al. 2019:1535), all around the world (Taylor et al. 2019, Matthes et al. 2016).