The use of documentary evidence such as historical records, novels, existing advertisements, and photographs has been little used in consumer research. This paper presents an exposition of content analysis methodology and, tangentially, reviews the existing studies in consumer behavior using this rich approach.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2488631.pdf

Content Analysis in Consumer Research

This study was designed to examine the portrayal of women in advertisements in a general interest magazine (i.e., Time) and a women's fashion magazine (i.e., Vogue) over the last 50 years. The coding scheme used for this analysis was based on the one developed by sociologist Erving Goffman in the 1970s, which focuses primarily on the subtle and underlying clues in the picture content of advertisements that contain messages in terms of (stereotypical) gender roles. The results of this study show that, overall, advertisements in Vogue, a magazine geared toward a female audience,depict women more stereotypically than do those in Time, a magazine with the general public as a target audience. In addition, only a slight decrease in the stereotypical depiction of women was found over time, despite the influence of the Women's Movement.

Images of Women in General Interest and Fashion Magazine Advertisements from 1955 to 2002

A content analysis on the portrayal of women in print advertisements is reported. A comparison with 1970 and 1972 studies suggests that advertisements have not kept up with the times in portraying ...

A Comparative Analysis of the Roles Portrayed by Women in Print Advertisements: 1958, 1970, 1972:

The stated advertising policy of Ms. magazine precludes the acceptance of advertisements for products that are “harmful” or advertisements that are insulting to women. This study employs manifest and latent content analysis to assess the extent to which Ms. advertising, over the first 15 full years of its publication has carried out this policy. The findings suggest that a substantial proportion of Ms. advertising promotes products generally considered “harmful.” Also, while the portrayal of women as subordinate to men or as merely decorative has decreased over time, Ms. advertising has increasingly portrayed women as alluring sex objects. Possible reasons for the trends revealed here are discussed.

In the Pages of Ms.: Sex Role Portrayals of Women in Advertising

This study presents a content analysis of sexual portrayals in magazine advertisements during 1964 and 1984. The results show that the percentage of ads with sexual content did not increase over the twenty-year period, but that the types of sexual portrayals did; sexual illustrations became more overt; and there was a greater reliance on visual than verbal sex in 1984 than 1964. The study also found that female models are more likely to be portrayed as sexually clad, partially clad or nude than were male models.

Sex in Advertising: A Comparison of 1964 and 1984 Magazine Advertisements

In the February 1971 issue of the Journal of Marketing Research, Alice E. Courtney and Sarah W. Lockeretz analyzed the roles portrayed by women in magazine advertisements in general interest publications [2]. Their study led them to conclude that advertisements appearing in April 1970 issues of 7 general publications did not present a full view of the variety of roles women actually play in American society. This article determines whether, during a time interval of 20 months, advertisers have responded to many critics who have claimed that too many advertisements have overemphasized the role of women as mere housewives in our society. A follow-up study was undertaken by examining advertisements appearing in the January 1972 issues of 7 general magazines-Life, Newsweek, The New Yorker, Saturday Review, Time, U.S. News and World Report, Reader's Digest, and New York Times Magazine Section. The first 6 general magazines examined were identical with those used in the original study. Since Look suspended publication, the only change in publications examined was the substitution of the January 2 issue of New York Times Magazine Section for Look. The same occupational and nonoccupational classifications of women were also used in the follow-up study. As in the original study, advertisements evaluated contained one or more adults.

A Woman's Place: A Follow-Up Analysis of the Roles Portrayed by Women in Magazine Advertisements:

Is the presently designated central business district retailing area of cities too narrowly defined?Yes, says the author of this article. He advances the concepts of the central business district “core” and “frame.” His analysis of downtown retailing might lead to more realistic divisions of downtown versus suburban retailing facilities.

A Realistic Division of Downtown Retailing

This book, a pioneering attempt to apply the various aspects of marketing management to banking, was written by the marketing vice president of the Union and New Haven Trust Company. The author emphasizes the importance of marketing to the modern bank and stresses that banks are behind most other institutions in adopting the marketing concept. The first three brief parts of the book deal with the importance of marketin¥ to the modern. bank, defines bank marketing, and stresses the lag in marketing planning in commercial banks. Parts IV and V are concerned with the importance of top management belief in the importance of the marketing function, tasks typically performed by the marketing staff, examples of marketing department organization in banks, and representative job descriptions of top marketing executives. Part VI deals with several marketing functions: marketing research, public relations, advertising, business development, sales management, pricing, and the marketing plan. The longest section of the book covers marketing research in the modern bank and emphasizes types of research studies commonly undertaken, methods used to secure information, and suggestions for preparing and presenting an effective report. The final two sections of the book stress the role of the computer in providing information to the marketing department as well as some criteria which a bank may use in evaluating selective aspects of its marketing plan. This book plays a useful role in focusing attention on the increasing importance of marketing to the forward-looking commercial bank, the functions most commonly undertaken, and the emphasis on the role and importance of bank marketing research. The author quotes widely from articles dealing with the various aspects of bank marketing. A very useful aspect of the author's coverage are examples in the text and appendix of such topics as organizational charts, typical job descriptions, public relations check lists, check lists for business development, officer call report forms, new account information forms, branch performance check lists, marketing objective questionnaires, and corporate account analysis forms. The author's treatment of the various marketing functions varies widely in comprehensiveness. He devotes more space to the topics of marketing research and new business development than to other marketing functions. Those most interested in getting aid in planning bank advertising and public relations may be disappointed in the author's brief discussion of these areas. For example, the consideration of advertising would be more useful if the author could have considered such topics as objectives of bank advertising, size of budget, selection of media, as well as the role of advertising agency and bank in undertaking the advertising functions. In some parts the topical organization could be improved by the use of more comprehensive introductory sections and a more careful consideration of topical sequence. For example, in the section considering marketing functions, the sequence of topics would flow more smoothly if new business development had followed the treatment of the marketing research function. In spite of the fact that the treatment of some marketing functions is very brief, top management and executives responsible for bank marketing will find this a useful book. They should be able to obtain some suggestions for improving their marketing program, particularly in the areas of bank marketing research and business development. LOUIS C. WAGNER University of Washington

Louis C. Wagner

Papers

A Woman's Place: A Follow-Up Analysis of the Roles Portrayed by Women in Magazine Advertisements:

A Realistic Division of Downtown Retailing

Book Review: Marketing in Commercial Banks: How to Proceed: