Activity Objective:
In this activity, you will apply the critical process to evaluate visible gender stereotyping in advertising.
Let’s get started! Click the forward and backward arrows to navigate through the slides. You may also click the above outline button to skip to certain slides.
Developing a media-literate critical perspective involves mastering five overlapping stages that build on one another. Let’s review the critical process you’ll be using below:
Description: paying close attention, taking notes, and researching the subject under study
Analysis: discovering and focusing on significant patterns that emerge from the description stage
Interpretation: asking and answering “What does that mean?” and “So what?” questions about one’s findings
Evaluation: arriving at a judgment about whether something is good, bad, or mediocre, which involves subordinating one’s personal taste to the critical “bigger picture” resulting from the first three stages
Engagement: taking some action that connects our critical perspective with our role as citizens to question our media institutions, adding our own voice to the process of shaping the cultural environment
To get started, record all the commercials during one night of prime-time television on a chosen channel.
Use the space below to answer the following question.
Building upon your observations, use the following questions to find patterns in visible gender stereotyping in advertising.
Use the space below to answer the following question.
Now, let’s explore the meaning of the patterns you found.
Use the space below to answer the following question.
Next, we’ll examine what your view is as you assess gender portrayals in advertising.
Use the space below to answer the following question.
Let’s take action! Think about ways that you could register your own opinion to corporations that peddle gender stereotypes and the viewers who see these stereotypes while watching TV. Here are some suggestions:
Use the space below to answer the following question.