The Comparison of Gender Stereotyping in Boys' Toy Commercials in Slovakia and in the United Kingdom

Abstract

The paper examines and compares the principles of gender stereotyping in British and Slovak commercials for boys’ toys. The study understands the process of television advertising as a form of mass communication, where advertisements play the role of messages, television behaves as a channel, advertisers figure as senders of the messages and children represent the audience. The analysis of the commercials shows that the Slovak commercials do not present any scientific toys, instead, they promote a toy gun from Hasbro, while the sample of British commercials offers at least one scientific toy and no gun. The Slovak advertisements do not play with the language, and they prefer a plain presentation, where the voice-overs sometimes use voice changers that turn their presentation into a robot-like speech.