CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

In advertising, the use of male and female imagery or gender stereotyping is helpful in selling products to target consumers. The people involved in the creation of an advertisement use gender roles in choosing endorser(s) that can portray relevant image to the target market. Especially in television commercials where consumers experience audio-visual presentations that can create impressions by showing a particular gender endorsing a product. Advertisers use gender stereotyping as a way of making their target consumers relate to the advertisement. As a result, gender stereotyping helps advertisers in persuading their target consumers.

One of the most common used gender stereotypes in the Philippines is the role(s) assigned to fathers and mothers in giving financial support for the wellness of their family. In Philippine tradition, fathers are assigned to give financial support to the family while mothers are expected to take care of the children.

According to a statistical data gathered by Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES) between the years 2006 and 2009, there are increasing numbers of women that are involved in empowering the labor force of the country. The data shows that in the year 2009, the number of employed women is 13,657,000 compared to the year 2006 which only shows 12,622,000 employed women. This shows that every year, women are more and more involved in contributing to the financial needs of the family. The statistics also shows the numbers of the employed women categorized in their marital status such as single, married, widowed, divorced/separated, and unknown respectively. Married women have the highest

number of employment among other categories. In 2006 there are only 7,850,000 employed married women compared to the increase in 2009 that shows 8,487,000 employed married women. This shows that married women are more active compared to other categories of marital status presented in working to provide for the needs of the family (Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics, n.d.).

We have observed that the only product that is not presently endorsed by both genders in the Philippines is an energy drink product. Energy drink products in television commercials currently use male imagery in endorsing the benefits of the product. Men working on construction sites, men depicted as heroes, and men helping others are just examples of those television commercials in the Philippines. As seen in the current trend of television commercials, the current target market of energy product advertisements are men. So this studies caught our attention.

With these observations, we have decided to use female imagery in the mass media to influence working mothers and career women. This is to show to the target consumers, particularly working mothers and career women, that the use of female imagery in the mass media are feasible and credible.

With this, we will determine the feasibility and credibility of the use of female imagery through performing a pretest of the television commercial and how this influence self assessment of women in decision making. The pretest will be done by survey materials about the exposure to the mass media. The reception analysis method will then be used to determine the feasibility and credibility of the use of female imagery in influencing the mass media commercials.

RESEARCH PROBLEM

There are increasing changes in trends with regards to the traditional roles of Filipino parents. The men of a family can now be called housband, the one who takes care of the children and stays in the house, and the women can now be called the breadwinner. Since the increasing change of trend is not shown in advertisement, particularly the involvement of the female in supporting the financial needs of the family, we will use female imagery in an advertisement that shows a woman who is the breadwinner of the family and who also good in decision making in terms of self assessment. The advertisement will then be used for survey analysis method and the data gathered will be analyzed using reception analysis method. This is to find out if using women, especially mothers, will be feasible and credible.

The researcher will seek the answers to these problems:

1. How will the researcher show women involved in supporting the financial needs of the family, and at the same doing her role as a mother? 2. What is the character portrayal of the women that has an impact in the mass media commercials? 3. What technique is going to be used by the researcher to present and establish the feasibility and credibility of female imagery exposed in the mass media? 4. How will the researcher show to the target audience the use of female imagery in the mass media? 5. What should be the perception of the researcher in the economic and social condition of women in pursuing gender stereotyping?

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The study aims to:

1. To have insight from the perspective of university students on the portrayal of women in the mass media. 2. To determined the impact of female imagery and the influence over self assessment and decision making. 3. To show female imagery, particularly a mother involved in supporting the financial need of the family, and the influence in modern economic condition. 4. To carry out a pretest of the mass media by conducting survey materials. 5. To find out about the feasibility and credibility of female imagery in influencing audience by using reception analysis method to the data gathered from the survey materials.

CHAPTER 2

METHODOLOGY

The Problem

The main problem of the study is about the use of female imagery in influencing the audience from the mass media, and to determine its feasibility and credibility. In the Philippines the traditional endorsers are men, but there are increasing trends of changes in working for the financial needs of a family in the country that can open a potential market. Some men are called housbands, the father doing the traditional role of a mother, and some women are called breadwinners, working for the financial needs of the family. However, as mentioned earlier, there are no advertisements that show the mother needing products to support for her work. So the researcher study commercial with the use of female imagery.

The Target Audience

The target audience of the study is the perceptions of university students with traditional and non-traditional beliefs of how their family should get financial support. The chosen audience in the mass media commercial will be used for the advertisement pretest using focus survey analysis method.

The Objective

The objective is to show this new trend relating to advertising in the Philippines, especially in television commercials. The new trend is to use female imagery, especially in supporting for the financial need of the family, in the mass media commercial. The responses of the respondents will then be used to determine the feasibility and credibility of using female imagery in influencing the audience from the mass media by using focus survey materials and the results will be analyzed using reception analysis method. Also, this will also make the audience, especially the target respondents, realize about the current change of trends with regards to traditional roles of a Filipino family.

The Strategy

The strategy is to use female imagery in influencing the audience from mass media. The study will show a career and family woman with her son, preparing for work in home while doing some household chores, while still being beautiful.

The Medium

The researcher will use mass media as the medium for the basis because the respondents are more curious about series of visual images and verbal communication between the characters.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Advertisement a notice or display advertising something. Audio-visual presentation using both sight and sound, typically in form of slides and videos Character originality in persons nature Credibility the quality of being credible Feasibility possible to do easily or conveniently. Female imagery medias portrayal of women to the public Gender stereotypes the traits and behaviors perceived to a typical man and woman Housband a man who stay in the and engage in household chores. Mass media the main means of mass communication especially televisions, radio and newspapaer. Medium an agency or means of doing something. Portray relevant image - describe in a particular way and play the part of the character. Reception analysis used to analyze the data gathered from the focus group discussion to determine the credibility and feasibility of female imagery. Television commercial paid advertisements with images and sounds that convey messages Verbal communications means of communication using words or language. Visual images a pictures, pieces of film display used to illustrate or accompany something.