HomePAPSCU Excellent Academic Research Link (PEARL) Bulletin vol. 4 no. 1 (2024)

Alaga ni Mommy: A Content Analysis of Select Video Advertisements of Baby and Childcare Products to Gauge Gendered Depiction of Parenthood

Dayielle Menchie C Fidel

Discipline: media studies

 

Abstract:

In the 2022 Global Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum, the Philippines ranked 19th out of 146 countries. However, delving into the world of media yields a different look on gender equality. Advertisements on baby and childcare products still place the burden of domestic and care work, especially childrearing, solely on the shoulders of women. To examine this status quo, research was conducted to investigate select television commercial advertisements from 2019 to 2023 and to gauge the dominant themes in the videos using qualitative content analysis. To be more specific, a multi-level analysis was employed that explored the themes on a latent and manifest level. It was greatly apparent that Gender and Development (GAD) initiatives have yet to breach the field of advertising as there were gendered depictions on parenthood in the television commercials on baby and childcare products. Conventional and traditional parenthood was still reflected in the advertisements as these lacked the presence of a father or a paternal figure in an active childrearing role. Moreover, the gendered stereotype on women as the sole caretakers of children were capitalized on as all the advertisements clearly targeted mothers due to the notion that they are the ones involved in using the baby and childcare product being advertised. Given these, there is a great need for organizations that monitor advertising agencies to be tapped by the government in a bid to further GAD advocacy and to reshape the way parenthood is depicted.



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