Thesis, Undergraduate (BA Communication Arts) -- U. P. in Mindanao, 2013

Television commercials being influential parts of television viewing have portrayed women in various ways. These portrayals often contain inaccurate messages that affect the formation of women's self concept. Despite the social changes in the status and roles of women over time, female stereotyping in television commercials persists. This study aims to analyze the content of Philippine television commercials, to determine whether there is a change in the representation of women and to identify these changes. Cross-sectional method was used in this study. It adapted McArthur and Resko's coding scheme to examine the visual rhetoric/semiotic content of Philippine television commercials. Results revealed that from the 8,044 commercials gathered in the period of one month, 40% are from the food and beverage products type while electronic and electric appliances have the least. Results show that women (55%) appear as a primary endorsers of products in Philippine television commercials compared to men (45%). However, it is worth noting that among different product types, women only outnumber men on home products (60% and 40%, respectively) and personal hygiene items (83% and 17%, respectively). The results further revealed that gender stereotyping on Philippine television commercials still persists and that these changes are slow and inconsistent. This creates a challenge for advertisers and commercial producers to create more responsible advertising through non-gender biased commercials and for audiences to be critical in viewing these television commercials.