Analysis of gender equality in communication design in occupation-themed animations broadcast on youtube Türkiye platform for preschool children (Aged 3-6 years)

Today, the availability of the internet anywhere at any time, the ease of interaction on social media platforms, and watching the desired videos with a few touches at any time cause changes in the communication channels between people. This situation affects not only adults and teenagers but also preschool children (aged 3-6 years). 'YouTube,' a large virtual platform, which contains contents such as TV series, movies, music, and children's animations, responds instantly to what we want. In the context of communication design, do the videos we interact with, animation characters, colors used in videos, music, and effects have an influence on shaping the stereotypes of children in the development process? Can the willing or unwilling exposure of children (aged 3-6 years) in the preschool period, in which the cognitive and mental development is the most active, to these videos create stereotypes in terms of gender equality over professions? In this study, videos, prepared for the preschool period (aged 3-6 years), including the introduction of more than one occupational group, broadcast on YouTube Turkey platform, including the year 2022 as well as 2020, and the voice-over language of which is in Turkish, were scanned. In line with these limitations, five videos selected based on the highest number of views, were analyzed in the context of communication design. Videos promoting professions through certain cartoons or animation characters, and likewise video contents that introduce a single profession were excluded from the evaluation. In the study, content analysis method, which is a qualitative research method, was applied, and semiotics was made use of for some sub-analyses. Thus, efforts were made to search for answers to the above-mentioned questions, and to what extent the videos that the children are often exposed to during the pre-school period will affect the stereotypes that they form in the development process was investigated.