Adolescents Voice Preference in Auditory Advertisements

A Study in Gender Stereotypes and Multi-Media Marketing

Abstract

This study aimed to gauge if adolescents' bias or prejudice towards a particular gender could be observed through narrator preference in auditory advertisements to ascertain if the perception of gender and its stereotypes has changed among younger generations. Prior research shows that when adult subjects are presented with multiple advertisements that they demonstrate a preference towards male narrated advertisements; however, these previous studies were performed on adults; therefore, narrator preference remains unknown for most teenagers. For this study, research data were collected through a mixed media survey in which a descriptive research process was completed. Participants in this study included 135 high school juniors and seniors both male and female. Initial results showed that statistically there was no preference for either male or female narration. From this data, one can conclude that today's teenagers do not show an overt bias for a narrator of a specific gender. Therefore, the conclusion can be drawn that the perception of gender and gender stereotypes have changed towards more egalitarian views in today's younger generations. However, this study was limited to high school-aged teenagers and did not encompass youth of all age groups. Future research should compare perceived gender stereotypes among various age groups to identify a more precise pattern of generational change of gender perception.