Sex Role Portrayals in Turkish Television Advertisements: An Examination in an International Context

This study compares Turkish advertisements with advertisements in the United States, Mexico, and Australia using Hofstede's masculinity index to predict sex-role portrayals of men and women as well as gender-specific themes depicted in advertisements. In a manner consistent with Hofstede's well known taxonomy, sex role differences between men and women in the context of themes such as productivity are found in masculine countries of the U.S., Australia, and Mexico while in the feminine country of Turkey sex-role differences between men and women are minimal and feminine values of relationship orientation are more often depicted. Practical implications of these findings for the international marketer are discussed.