Scheduled for Sociocultural and Psychology Posters, Friday, April 4, 2003, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM, Convention Center: Exhibit Hall A


Selling Girls Short: Advertising and Gender Images in Sports Illustrated for Kids

Susan Lynn1, Kristie Walsdorf1 and Marie Hardin2, (1)Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, (2)State University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA

Research indicates that perhaps media – not other factors much “closer to home” -- may be among the most powerful influences on children (Milkie, 1999; Smith, 1994). Sex role stereotypes are found in almost all types of editorial content (print or broadcast) and in the advertising that goes along with it. Advertisements are already considered an important cultural impact on society, and their influence on definitions of acceptable gendered behavior is difficult to overstate (Plous & Neptune, 1997). The purpose of this study was to ascertain how, if at all, advertising images in Sports Illustrated for Kids (SIK) changed following the 1996 Olympic Games, from late 1996 through 1999. Advertising photographs in 36 issues of SIK, from July 1996 to June 1999 were examined using content analysis methodology. A recording instrument was generated to analyze SIK advertising photographs. SPSS Statistical Package 9.0 was used to analyze the nominal data. Simple descriptive statistics, crosstabs, and frequency distributions were used for determining the presence of an association between gender and the remaining variables. Findings from this content analysis of SIK advertising were comparable with those of Cuneen and Sidwell's (1998) analysis of SIK advertisement photographs. The single most important finding in this study is that stereotypes and sexual difference continue to dominate SIK advertising images in the same fashion as during the early years of this magazine, demonstrating a failure by advertisers to reflect the changing culture. This finding is substantiated in a number of ways: through the number of males and females depicted, the type of sports in which they’re depicted, and their relative levels of activity in ad images. Although there have been some improvements, a majority of the stereotypical relationships between gender and sport that the previous study found has continued in SIK photographs, even when cultural acceptance and expectations of women in sport have evolved toward equity. Sports Illustrated for Kids, for the most part, has continued to frame gender using stereotypical masculine and feminine ideologies, thus reinforcing old images instead of presenting new culturally-accepted images of both females and males in sport.

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