Food advertisement and gender stereotypes on Austrian television

The goal of this paper is the analysis of food advertisements on Austrian television as to the subject of gender specific stereotypes. Over a twoweek- period, 45 hours of television footage were recorded, coded, analyzed, and evaluated using seven screening categories. The analysis revealed that men, in comparison to women, are frequently depicted as performing some type of work and are often older (> 50 years), or of middle age (35–50 years of age). Food, such as meat and beer, are more commonly associated with men; milk, coffee and tea rather with women. In addition, women are often portrayed as young (< 35 years of age), in stable relationships and shown while performing housework. As a result, gender manifestations are evident in food advertisements and implications regarding stereotypical role models referring to dietary identities and food communication can be derived.