Co-Constructions of Gender and Ethnicity in New Zealand Television Advertising

This paper reports key findings from a content analysis of gender and ethnic depictions in a sample of 2,120 New Zealand prime-time
television advertisements screened in 2006. The study explored the following questions: With what product categories are male
and female White, Māori/Pasifika and Asian characters most commonly associated? What are the most common occupational roles
of male and female White, Māori/Pasifika and Asian characters? The results reveal highly stereotypical depictions of women
and men within each ethnic category. White men dominated advertisements for foodstuffs, telecommunications and financial/corporate/legal
services and were over-represented as professionals/white collar workers, while White women were over-represented in advertisements
for household products, personal products, and medical products and featured predominantly as homemakers. Māori/Pasifika men
were over-represented as athletes and service and sales workers. Non-White women featured prominently within multi-ethnic
groups in advertisements for personal grooming products and most frequently featured as glamour models, while non-White men
were over-represented as blue collar workers. Largely absent were Māori/Pasifika women and Asians of both genders, potentially
exacerbating the multiple axes of subordination encountered by these groups in the New Zealand context.