Methodology

The sampling frame that was used will be examined a sample from 2000 to 2023. I examined automotive commercials/digital advertisements from 2 major car manufacturers: General Motors and Ford. Chevy and Buick’s automobiles were also included in my analysis because they are in the same automotive family as GM. The dependent variable is how cars are marketed, specifically through commercials, and the independent variable is gender norms, specifically how gender norms are portrayed within those advertisements. Gender norms are defined as how people act, dress, and behave in a setting where the behavior is in line with concepts of masculinity and femininity within the present society of focus. Gender norms are going to be considered old or new, old being in line with “traditional” norms and new being in line with progressive ones. Commercials used are from 2000 to 2023. The reason these manufacturers were chosen is that their marketing and advertising departments are at the core of their commercial production. I did not focus on a specific make or model, however, I did use the Mustang due to the fact it has typically been a hypermasculine car and can be used as a reference point to show how a “man’s” car was advertised in the early 2000s in comparison to how it is marketed throughout the sampling period.

I looked at commercials using youtube to find my sources. The reason for this is that youtube has a massive database which I knew would contain the samples I needed. The basic content analysis involved determining the surface content to categorizing different aspects of the visual imagery as traditionally masculine or traditionally feminine. The codes I used were: featuring men vs. women, which gender appeared more on screen,  gendered language or imagery, female or male voiceover, which norms are being reinforced –  traditional/progressive/neutral, gender of spokesperson, female or male drivers, clothing, man and woman’s role, and who is the dominant gender. After this, the interpretive content analysis dug deeper to illuminate the meaning behind the basic content analysis. Looking deeper to infer which gender norms are trying to be reinforced and which gender norms are trying to be created/changed. The interpretive analysis will group the masculine and feminine aspects into promoting traditional or modern/progressive views of gender. This will be broken down into several categories in terms of what is being used to communicate subliminal gendered messages to create impressions on consumers: Male-dominated, Female-dominated, Gender-neutral, Traditional roles, Non-traditional roles, Objectification of both genders, No sexualization, who does the product appeal to, who is doing the voiceover and what kind of language is being used, what aspects of traditional masculinity are present, and which aspects of traditional femininity are present. 

I used a systematic periodic sample to collect data from my sample population. I used the youtube search engine to look up automotive commercials for each manufacturer and from there picked every 7th commercial from the first one. The units of observation in use will be the commercials and the units of analysis will be the words, phrases, images, and imagery used in observations. I coded in order to encompass the units of analysis I used. I wanted the main purpose of the research to expose latent underlying meaning within these advertisements, and to illuminate change or stagnation in the portrayal of gender norms through automotive commercials.