Gender Roles and Racial Representations in Children's Television Advertisements: A Case Study of ‘Planet Çocuk’

The way people are represented in the media is a reflection of their society‟s culture and beliefs. The advertisements broadcasted in television especially the ones broadcasted in children programs, attract the attention of children by their audio visual characteristics and the messages transmitted by such advertisements can easily influence the behavioral patterns of children. Children can be affected by the media very quickly thus, inculcating gender stereotypes and racial representation to them, can be very harmful for the future communities because children remember what they see in the media and they will make behavioral patterns according to their observations. This research examines the gender roles and racial representations of advertisements broadcasted in „Planet Çocuk‟ channel, which is one of the most popular children‟s television channels in Turkish media. The quantitative methodology, content analysis is used to collect data for this study. Cultivation theory, social learning theory and the theory of media literacy are selected to conduct this research. The contribution of this study lies on the investigation of representation of gender roles and racial portrayals to children. The data revealed that the majority of central characters in advertisements were males and they were displayed in active and competitive roles while the female characters were represented as passive models. Females also placed mostly in private places like home while male characters portrayed in professional jobs in public places. Male voice was used clearly more than female voice as the narrator of the advertisements story. Keywords: Representation, gender roles, children, advertisements, Turkish television, race, „Planet Çocuk‟.