Bibliometric Analysis of Research on Women and Advertising: Differences in Print and Audiovisual Media

Abstract

The media in general, and advertising in particular, are considered as important agents of socialization, including genderrelated issues. Thus the legislator has focused on the regulation of the images of women and men in advertisements. However, regulations prohibiting sexist advertising in Spain pay specific attention to audiovisual media. The objective of this study is to check whether this unequal interest also takes place in academic research. This paper analyzes the differences in the scientific literature (national and international) on the sexism in advertising depending on the media. Specifically we examine the methodology, techniques and ways to measure concepts. In order to do this, we conduct a systematic review of studies on gender and advertising published in Spanish or English between 1988 and 2010 in seven databases Spanish (Dialnet, Compludoc, ISOC), or international (Scopus, Sociological Abstracts, PubMed and Eric).The main results of the 175 texts analyzed show that, unlike legislative controls, the academy has studied mainly sexism in advertising in print media, although interest by analysis of the treatment of gender in the discourse of advertising audiovisual seems to be increasing..