One Click Forward and Two Clicks Back: Portrayal of Women Using Computers in Television Commercials

A sample of 351 television commercials aired in prime time during the 1998 season revealed that while women are shown as computer users almost as frequently as men, they are significantly more likely to be depicted as clerical workers, and less likely to be portrayed as business professionals. While previous studies have examined magazine advertisements for computer products, this is the first known examination of television commercials depicting computer use, and thus provides important benchmark data.