This paper describes an application analysis of one important topic of
diversity marketing - gender marketing. With the help of two surveys and
content analyses in two different media sectors - television and print
media - the general trend of gender representation in advertising could
be located. While most survey respondents are still using
characteristics for males and females which were shaped by traditional
gender roles, most of them believe that the roles from the 1950s are
outdated and that the media should adapt to the changes in societies in
regard to gender roles. However, the content analyses have shown that
the marketers have already adapted and are primarily presenting the
viewers contemporary images of men and women instead of the stereotyped
ones from the 1950s. The only issue that has not changed yet is the
color coding which starts to differentiate between males and females
since childhood. The findings of this paper suggest that the perception
and the reality do not always correspond with each other and that,
although the adoption of the change of gender roles is advancing, it is
still not completed yet.