Gender, Advertising and Broadcasting

This report shares the position of the Commission on Gender Equality (CGE) to strengthen advocacy and lobbying around gender in broadcast advertising, and particularly around gender representation in advertisements. It does this by:

• making a series of recommendations for policy changes to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), particularly in its Code of Practice and complaints procedures, and about the ways in which the CGE could take up advertising issues within the industry, with training institutions, and with the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA);
• listing a number of activities, particularly to do with raising public and specifically consumer consciousness, which the CGE itself can actively pursue within the framework of its aims and objectives.

The report contains the results of a period of intensive research into the South African advertising industry. This survey of gender in the South African advertising industry is based on certain assumptions, which are spelt out in a theoretical overview.

Topics include:

• The South African advertising industry
• Gender portrayal in advertising - A survey of selected advertisements
• A critical analysis of gender and advertising - Intensive case studies
• Implications for advocacy and outreach
• Raising public awareness

The report consists of five sections. In section 1, the theoretical framework for the study is explained. The key issues here are the relationship between reality and representation. Various approaches to these issues are explored and one in particular, discourse theory, is highlighted as a "useful tool" for the more substantive analyses of advertising and the advertising industry that follow.

Please note: this publication is only currently available by contacting the Commission on Gender Equality at the address below.