GENDER STEREOTYPES IN ADVERTISING VIETNAM LUNAR NEW YEAR VIDEO ADVERTISEMENTS KHUÔN MẪU GIỚI TRONG QUẢNG CÁO QUẢNG CÁO VIDEO DỊP TẾT ÂM LỊCH VIỆT NAM PhD, Van Anh T Truong; MSc, Phuong T Nguyen Univer[.]
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR YOUNG RESEARCHERS IN ECONOMICS & BUSINESS 2020 ICYREB 2020 GENDER STEREOTYPES IN ADVERTISING: VIETNAM LUNAR NEW YEAR VIDEO ADVERTISEMENTS KHUÔN MẪU GIỚI TRONG QUẢNG CÁO: QUẢNG CÁO VIDEO DỊP TẾT ÂM LỊCH VIỆT NAM PhD, Van-Anh T Truong; MSc, Phuong T Nguyen University of Economics – The University of Danang vananhtt@due.edu.vn Abstract Due to the global economy’s impact, the strong development of the 4.0 technology revolution, and the demographic changes, Vietnam faces new gender equality challenges This study is set out to answer two major research questions: (1) Are there gender stereotypes in the video advertisements for Tet Holiday? and (2) How women and men are portrayed in those advertisements? By reviewing previous literature and analyzing qualitative data from video content analysis, the research team unravels gender-based role designation patterns between men and women, which continue to disadvantage women and perpetuate gender stereotypes Several recommendations for measures to make advertisements gender stereotype-free are also provided Keywords: gender biased; gender stereotypes; video advertising; Lunar New Year; Tet Vietnam Tóm tắt Dưới tác động kinh tế tồn cầu, phát triển mạnh mẽ cách mạng công nghệ 4.0 thay đổi nhân học, Việt Nam phải đối mặt với thách thức bình đẳng giới Nghiên cứu đặt để trả lời hai câu hỏi nghiên cứu chính: (1) Có định kiến giới video quảng cáo dịp Tết không? (2) Nữ giới nam giới miêu tả quảng cáo này? Bằng cách xem xét tài liệu trước phân tích liệu định tính với kĩ thuật phân tích nội dung video, nhóm nghiên cứu làm sáng tỏ khn mẫu vai trị dựa giới nam nữ, vốn tiếp tục gây bất lợi cho phụ nữ kéo dài định kiến giới Một số khuyến nghị biện pháp để quảng cáo khỏi khn mẫu giới đưa Từ khóa: định kiến giới; khn mẫu giới; quảng cáo video; năm âm lịch; Tết Việt Nam Introduction Since the ratification of the U.N.’s Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1982, Vietnam has made encouraging progress on legal provisions to promote gender equality, especially in comparison with most other countries with similar levels of income These include the 2006 Law on Gender Equality, the 2007 Law on Domestic Violence Prevention and Control, and the National Strategy for Gender Equality for the 873 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR YOUNG RESEARCHERS IN ECONOMICS & BUSINESS 2020 ICYREB 2020 period of 2011-2020 (The World Bank, 2011) Particularly, having realized the effects of mainstream media on public perception of social realities, the government resolutely aims to reduce cultural and information products with gender prejudice by 60% by 2015 and 80% by 2020 as well as to increase the airtime of specialized programs and sections on gender equality propaganda and education However, such persistent efforts to raise social awareness about gender issues have not completely changed gender stereotypes Several studies stated that Vietnam is still a largely patriarchal society as evidenced by the high rates of gender-based violence, the representation of women in the media in stereotypical ways, and their discrimination from accessing leadership roles in politics and the workplace (Duong, 2001; Mate Susan, McDonald, & Do, 2019; Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, 2012; Tran Thi Yen Minh, 2015; H T Vu, Barnett, Duong, & Lee, 2019; T Vu, Dương, Barnett, & Lee, 2016) Notably, a series of studies on gender and media conducted in 2007 and 2008 by Oxfam and Center for Studies and Applied Sciences in Gender, Family, Women and Adolescents (CSAGA) revealed a significant amount of gender stereotyping in media reporting For example, men were typically depicted as strong, decisive, better at economics and politics, and often portrayed in leadership positions while women were presented as gentle, responsible for homemaking, childrearing, and maintaining family stability in low-income positions Research sponsored by UNESCO in 2009 analyzing the content of communication products in print media and television also pointed to similar conclusions as those findings mentioned above There are few stories and television programs that promote gender equality The media is better at making sure there is an equal number of women and men on television game shows than ensuring gender-sensitive reporting or actively promoting unconventional gender roles for both women and men Gender stereotyping has been extensively researched since the 1970s across cultures and countries (Courtney & Lockeretz, 1971) The portrayal of gender in different media, including print, radio, television, and, increasingly, the Internet, has likewise received extensive attention (Aramendia-Muneta, Olarte-Pascual, & Hatzithomas, 2020; Eisend, 2010; Fowler & Thomas, 2015; Grau & Zotos, 2016; Kitsa & Mudra, 2020; Middleton, Turnbull, & de Oliveira, 2020; Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, 2015) Regarding gender and media research in Vietnam for the past decade, most focus on linguistic perspectives and apply Critical Discourse Analysis (Nguyen Hong Lien, 2016; Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, 2012; Tran Thi Yen Minh, 2015) Others turn their attention to female leadership and representation in media (H T Vu, 2019; H T Vu et al., 2019; T Vu et al., 2016) Thus, this study will fill this gap by reviewing the extant literature on gender and media, specifically in the context of gender stereotyping, and exploring how genders are represented in Vietnamese advertising The main aim is to identify the pattern of gender stereotypes in video advertisements for the Tet Holiday – the biggest and the most important celebration in Vietnam and the different roles played by men and women in those ads Literature review 2.1 Gender stereotypes in media Gender issues are mentioned along with female visions expressed by metaphor images, es874 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR YOUNG RESEARCHERS IN ECONOMICS & BUSINESS 2020 ICYREB 2020 pecially in magazines’ female time/spaces (Cronin, 2005) Similarly, media for children tend to show males more actively and dominant than females (Browne, 1998; Fitzpatrick & McPherson, 2010; Golden & Jacoby, 2018; Weitzman, Eifler, Hokada, & Ross, 1972) The portrayal of gender has been the concerned matter in media studies (Murphy, 1998), where women usually appear with body shape characteristics, dependence, and blurred roles in the labor force (Anjalin, 2015) Notably, gender bias in media discourse can be seen in politics (Aaldering & Van Der Pas, 2018; Dolan, 2013; Kittilson & Fridkin, 2008; Kotzaivazoglou, Hatzithomas, & Tsichla, 2018; Liu, 2019; Sriwimon & Zilli, 2017), sports (Arslan & Koca, 2007; Harris, 2013; Petca, Bivolaru, & Graf, 2013), and art (Wang, 2009) In other words, media influences on gender stereotypes (Armstrong & Nelson, 2005; Goodall, 2012; Wille et al., 2018) 2.2 Gender stereotypes in advertising According to Grau and Zotos (2016), social and historical contingencies due to feminism rise, labor force changes, and role structure changes in the family are reflected through dominant values (mirror debate) or prevailing values (mold debate) in advertising However, a recent study of Aramendia-Muneta et al (2020) has shown that both gender groups are not inequally portrayed, and males outnumbered females as central figures Besides, gender bias is popular in various advertisement types, such as video games (BehmMorawitz, 2017; Scharrer, 2004); television commercials (Coltrane & Adams, 1997; Furnham & Voli, 1989; Kitsa & Mudra, 2020; Knoll, Eisend, & Steinhagen, 2011; Neto & Pinto, 1998; Prieler, 2016; Signorielli, McLeod, & Healy, 1994; Valls-Fernández & Martínez-Vicente, 2007) Recently, O’Driscoll (2019) stated that advertising seems to stimulate gender tension because of men’s and women’s opposite positions The author studied the gender perception of advertisers or cultural intermediaries who transfer social focus from disturbing women’s imagery to men’s masculinity She dug in gender knowledge with gender essentialism, feminism, problematic and burdensome sex, although almost limited to female voyeurism, female (dis)empowerment, and men’s reverse stereotype 2.3 Gender biased categories Goffman (1976) examined gender portrayal in his classic study considering gender commercials Picture frames of gender commercials are characterized by relative size, the feminine touch, function ranking, the family, ritualization, and withdrawal These categories are repeated in many other researches (Chhabra, Andereck, Yamanoi, & Plunkett, 2011; Cohen, 1993; Döring & Pöschl, 2006; Hovland, McMahan, Lee, Hwang, & Kim, 2005; Kang, 1997; Lindner, 2004; Marshment, 2005; Oppermann & McKinley, 1997; Pritchard & Morgan, 2000; Sirakaya & Sonmez, 2000) Additionally, Furnham and Voli (1989) considered gender stereotypes by classifying central figures into gender, mode, credibility, role, location, reward, product price, argument, background, humor, and comment In Vietnamese advertisements, Nguyen Thi Thu Ha (2015) pointed out that women are usually depicted as homemakers (doing housework, family roles of working women), caregivers (taking care of children, men, and the elderly) whose jobs are less important than men’s Besides, 875 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR YOUNG RESEARCHERS IN ECONOMICS & BUSINESS 2020 ICYREB 2020 they are represented as physically and mentally weaker than men, are not the ones who give so- lutions, emphasize on traditional femininity, and need to be beautiful to seduce men This result is similar to the study of Nguyen Hong Lien (2016) with portrayals of women as family cook, teachers, caretakers of children/family members, subordinate partners of their spouses, household chores performers, linked to children’s parenthood Research methodology Video content analysis Content analysis is an appropriate method of understanding gender stereotypes via system- atically unfolding the message (Kerkhoven, Russo, Land-Zandstra, Saxena, & Rodenburg, 2016; Taylor, 2003) Lune and Berg (2017) explained this method as a qualitative data collection and analysis with an objective coding scheme Because of its diverse application ability, content analy- sis is discussed by Hsieh and Shannon (2005) that contains conventional, directed, and summative approaches In examining sexual stereotypes, video content analysis is proved as a useful methodology (Combs, 2010; Cowan & O’Brien, 1990; Lynch, Tompkins, van Driel, & Fritz, 2016) More details, Hua, Li, and Mei (2010) divided it into steps: iDecomposing a video structure into sub-shots; iExtracting intention-oriented features from the sub-shots; iDetermining intention units via the extracted features; iClassifying the intention units into the intention categories via the extracted features Sampling method This study selects advertisements videotaped for Lunar New Year of the mouse (2020) that appeared on YouTube As Kotler and Armstrong (2018) stated, advertising is any paid form of nonpersonal presentation and ideas, goods, or services promotion by an identified sponsor Not limited to traditional television commercials, the year 2020 is remarked by the presence of many videos performed by Vietnamese singers or celebrities Hence, the chosen videos are any pub- lished forms intentionally attached by specific brands Their contents are built for the Tet holidays – the traditional vacation that is meaningful to Vietnamese people They reflect Vietnam’s cultural values, which are appropriate to examine Vietnam’s gender stereotypes Coding scheme Based on steps for video content analysis proposed by Hua et al (2010) and the conceptual framework, extracted features in advertisements are coded into intention units representing gender stereotypes (see Table 1) 876 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR YOUNG RESEARCHERS IN ECONOMICS & BUSINESS 2020 ICYREB 2020 Table Coding scheme Relative size Extracted features Intention units Male Female Mode of presentation Disembodied voice-overs Visual portrayal, no speaking part Visual portrayal and a speaking part Gender stereotypes Masculinity Voice-over Visual (Dis)empowerment Female appearance Physical/Mental health Credibility Users of advertised product Source of information User Authority Solution giver Role Parent, spouse, partner, sex object, homemaker Professional Interviewer/narrator (including celebrity) Dependent Independent Inspirator Household role Gender essentialism Community role Location Home Occupational Leisure Homemaking Job importance Household role Gender essentialism Feminism/Masculinity Argument Factual evidence or technical information Personal views or testimonials Other Subjective Objective Neutral Rational Emotional Neutral Reward Type Approval from opposite gender, family, friends Improvement in health and/or appearance Saving time and/or money and/or effort Pleasure Social Approval Self-enhancement Practical Enjoyment Perfection burden Self-enhancement Rational Emotion Results and discussion Female is homemaker Humor Drama Positive Negative Source: Compiled by the authors Based on the frequency of mentions, the first gender stereotype is detected with 70% of videos in total, similarly to the results shown in previous studies (Nguyen Hong Lien, 2016; Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, 2015) It is about the role of the female as a homemaker They naturally think about their home-related responsibilities with housework, caregiving, the harmony of relationships The focal figures are mostly mothers-in-law, daughters-in-law who always be the main characters that prepare for the Tet holidays They appear within homing scenes and take over cleaning, cooking, while males appear with the tasks related to planting, repairing, and taking their children out Although women sometimes seem not to care much about these tasks, they are immediately blamed by the elderly For instance, a middle-aged woman enjoying street food 877 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR YOUNG RESEARCHERS IN ECONOMICS & BUSINESS 2020 ICYREB 2020 is scolded by an older adult with a feather broom (vid4), or a grandfather is only a helper to his wife while making jam (vid17) Similarly, the visual and voice-overs in vid5 emphasize that Vietnamese women are busying shopping for their families At the same time, men gather for yearend parties or riding on vehicles to pick their spouses up Male is competent The second stereotype is the competence of males (60% of mentions) They are expected to earn higher, more successful than women in their professional careers In vid10, the parents mention gifts from their sons (motorbike, house) Besides, the young man repeats his father’s reminders regarding great spirit and the ability to fill the ocean or move the mountains, focusing on his pressure because of the family expectations So does the young men in vid24 or the husband in vid26 (the salary has not been increased, the financial stress): “Lòng buồn hấp hối, lắng lo đủ thứ đời Vợ ngồi góc, đếm hóa đơn để bật khóc Lương chưa kịp tăng, xe hết xăng, ăn cịn không đủ no, trăm ngàn thứ phải lo.” (Temporarily translated: Overwhelmed with sadness and wories about everything The wife is sitting in the corner, crying due to overdue bills The salary has not increased yet; the car is out of gas, the stomach still not be full, hundreds of thousands of worrying things.) This burden is the reason why the image of men who choose working far from home is recurring in clips videotaped for the Lunar New Year They face many internal conflicts of returning to their hometown to spend time with parents and grandparents This result consolidates the statement of Nguyen Hong Lien (2016) that images of success or relaxation attach Vietnamese males Disempowerment Half of video advertisements represents the disempowerment of Vietnamese women In most cases, they are unconditionally waiting for their husbands or sons to enjoy the Lunar New Year with their beloved ones It seems that their happiness and joyfulness depends solely on males in their family Furthermore, in terms of relative size, the sizes of female characters are mostly smaller than males’, showing the hidden message that men are the breadwinners This gender-based pattern confirms that women are subordinate partners of their spouses analyzed by Nguyen Hong Lien (2016) It is matched with a Vietnamese traditional female portrait who always passively waiting for their husbands This image can be easily found in Vietnamese poem or songs, such as “Sao chưa thấy hồi âm” (temporarily translated: Why haven’t (I) seen any reply?) The lyrics are filled with the image of an anxious woman linking herself with the petrified wife named To Thi because of holding her child to wait for her husband Gender essentialism Males are often characterized by jobs that need strong physical health, tech-savviness, creativeness, dynamism, while women are preoccupied with works that need meticulousness (tailoring, housework), psychological knowledge (human resources) As can be seen, there is progress in the perception of gender stereotypes in Vietnam because career is not the object of comparison anymore, more positive than the findings of Nguyen Thi Thu Ha (2015) Female has perfection burden More than one-third of video advertisements clearly depict female portrayal as perfect 878 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR YOUNG RESEARCHERS IN ECONOMICS & BUSINESS 2020 ICYREB 2020 wives, caring mothers who also know how to treat their beloved people and friends (i.e., “ women” of vid20) It can be seen that they have the burden of being perfect In other words, they tend to attain approval from the opposite gender, family, and friends This stereotype is similar to the associations of working women’s housing roles, as Nguyen Thi Thu Ha (2015) mentioned, and the depiction of a Vietnamese woman who has very little time for herself because of doing so many tasks In vid32, “Mom is always busy, while dad is holding a smartphone to read the newspaper all day” - in Vietnamese: “Mẹ tất bật, ba suốt ngày cầm phone đọc báo” Besides, childbearing pressure is a common worry of any married woman However, different from the traditional questions in Tet holidays, marriage is considered the private information that not any female is ready to share For example, in vid28, “When will you marry?” (Bao lấy chồng?) has become a susceptible question in the sarcastic conversation between two females Picture of Vietnamese men and women Vietnam males appear with masculinity (35%), being rational (25%) and positive (22.5%) No matter challenges and difficulties males faced, they overcame them with better physical and mental conditions as compared to females In line with gender essentialism mentioned above, Vietnamese women is illustrated as emotional (27.5%) and compassionate (22.5%) Although female appearance is no longer the main focus of advertisements, it is indicated that women always care about their appearance Implications Gender identities and gender relations are critical aspects of culture because they shape the way daily life is lived in the family, but also in the wider community and the workplace Hence, there is need for studies of gender issues in different cultural contexts to understand different aspects of gender (in)equality all over the world The main contribution of this study to the research stream therefore lies in providing a qualitative analysis of gender stereotypes perpetuated by the Vietnamese media’s Lunar New Year advertisements The results show that despite decades of socialist policies emphasizing gender equality, gender-based role designation pattern between men and women appears to have changed little A popular theme found in the Tet-related video advertisements is that women are mostly described in the context of their traditional homemaking and caregiving roles while men are strong, decisive, and the primary breadwinners Women are less likely to play the central figure, which may undermine their role as leaders or the brand’s main image This suggests the lingering hold of Confucian principles of women’s subordinate position within the household With such stereotypical representations, advertisers have generally contributed to creating and perpetuating stereotypes of what a successful woman should look like in contemporary Vietnamese society The study further points out that marketers apparently use existing gender-related values in a society to promote their brands rather than trying to alter these values These findings support the arguments of stereotypical depictions of gender roles in advertising previously discussed in Vietnamese context by Nguyen Thi Thu Ha (2012), Tran Thi Yen Minh (2015), Nguyen Hong Lien (2016) Having said that, the research also provides evidence of changing perceptions, requirements, and desires This needs to be incorporated as soon as possible in actual practice concerning visual online marketing content Marketers, advertisers, and enterprises should consider changing 879 ... is meaningful to Vietnamese people They reflect Vietnam’s cultural values, which are appropriate to examine Vietnam’s gender stereotypes Coding scheme Based on steps for video content analysis... commercials, the year 2020 is remarked by the presence of many videos performed by Vietnamese singers or celebrities Hence, the chosen videos are any pub- lished forms intentionally attached by specific... in Vietnamese advertising The main aim is to identify the pattern of gender stereotypes in video advertisements for the Tet Holiday – the biggest and the most important celebration in Vietnam and