Term Paper on Social

Effects of Advertising
Portrayal of Family Life in Advertising
PORTRAYAL OF FAMILY LIFE IN ADVERTISING

Introduction

Our conceptions and ideas about life and the things that make up what we call life
are shaped not only by our first-hand experiences, but also by the images and ideas
we receive through other sources like the media. These media can vary from
newspapers and magazines to television, radio, billboards etc. The media play a
central role in shaping our conceptions about things. Advertisements are a crucial
part of today’s media messages as no form of media is free of their presence.

This paper aims to explore one major area of advertisement portrayals, those of
families and family life. The family is an important target market, one of the basic
market units. It is due to its strategic importance that marketing management
strategy suggests analysing and adapting marketing communications to the family
lifecycle, household decision making, consumer socialization, and gender roles in
domestic groups, households or families (Arnould, Price and Zinkhan; 2004 as cited
in Borgerson et al.; 2007). However, despite the family’s strategic importance, very
few studies are found that look explicitly at family as portrayed in marketing
communication (Borgerson et al.; 2007) as compared to the exhaustive amount of
research into gender and children portrayals. References to the family are often
found within studies into the aforementioned topics.

Advertisements aim to inculcate meanings and according to Fowles (1996), since

“meaning exists only in a human context, it makes sense that the majority of
advertisements contain images of people…Because advertisements are messages
designed to instigate sales, a visitor from another planet might well ask if they are
selling people, since images of people typically occupy more of the purchased time
and space than do images of commodities.” In fact, Fowles (1996) cites research by
Bretl and Cantor (1988) which shows that an analysis of both morning and evening
network commercials determined that 87% contained human beings.

The primary grouping of these human beings is the family, and indeed family is the
setting in many advertisements, especially in Pakistan. There are trends, however,
in Pakistan and more pronounced in Western societies, of ads being increasingly
devoid of any signs of family or family life, with an emphasis on individualism or
other reference groups. The non-commodity material or symbolic elements that
constitute the appeal in the advertisement, make an ad a compound ad (Fowles;
1996). “The task of the advertisement is to get consumers to transfer the positive
associations of the non-commodity material onto the commodity, so that freedom
and ruggedness equal Marlboro cigarettes, and friendship equals Bud Light.” Fowles
(1996) says that the imagery should thus be congenial as its “meanings are
intended to glide over onto the product. Unpleasant imagery is risky and hence
rare.” Most often the images therefore, represent idealized depictions.

Sociologist Erving Goffman argued that families are “well adapted to the
requirements of pictorial representation. All of the members of almost any actual
family can be contained easily within the same close picture, and, properly
positioned, a visual representation of the members can nicely serve as a
symbolization of the family’s social structure” (Goffman; 1979 as cited in Borgerson
et al.; 2007). He suggested that the presence of at least one girl and one boy
enables the symbolization of the full set of intra-family relations, including the
presumed special bonds between the mother and the daughter as well as between
the father and the son (Borgerson et al.; 2007). This description is that of a more
conventional family, which is often used in advertisements. However, there are non-
conventional families that exist in society and whether or not they are portrayed in
advertisements and how, are important questions that will be explored in this
paper.

Portrayals of families, family types, the roles and relationships in families, the
activities and sense of happiness and bonding in advertisements all affect the
perceptions, expectations, relationships and sense of happiness of the viewers and
thus, it becomes ever more important to analyse and check what kind of images are
used.

Literature Review

Theoretical groundings

Much has been written about family life, its forms and structures, and its
representations in the media. I will first examine some theories that come closest
to my study, and then explore the research into portrayals and representations of
family life in the media and advertising in particular.

Family forms and images

The family is considered the bedrock of society. In all types of societies, the family
has been seen as the most basic unit of social organization and one which carries
out vital tasks such as that of socializing children (Haralambos, Herald and Holborn;
2000). Although the family is a dynamic social phenomenon varying historically,
geographically and culturally, in market societies we tend to be bombarded with
images of a particular type of family (Abbott, Wallace and Tyler; 2005).

“Edmund Leach (1967) called this the ‘cereal packet image of the family’ (Leach;
1967 as cited in Haralambos, Herald and Holborn; 2000). The image of the happily
married couple with two children is prominent in advertising, and the ‘family-sized’
packets of cereals and other types of product are aimed at just this type of
grouping. It tends to be taken for granted that this type of family has its needs met
by the male breadwinner, while the wife has a predominantly domestic role.”
(Haralambos, Herald and Holborn; 2000)

Describing the image of a typical or conventional family, Ann Oakley says

“conventional families are nuclear families composed of legally married couples,
voluntarily choosing the parenthood of one or more (but not too many) children”
(Oakely; 1982 as cited in Haralambos, Herald and Holborn; 2000). This sort of
nuclear family is considered a ‘basic structural unit of the society’ (Rosser and
Harris; 1965 as cited in Haralambos, Herald and Holborn; 2000). In such families,
“far fewer children are permanently looked after by relatives other than their own
parents” (Haralambos, Herald and Holborn; 2000). Other family types mentioned by
Haralambos, Herald and Holborn (2000) are modified extended family, which is a
coalition of nuclear families in a state of partial dependence; the modified
elementary family, in which an inner ‘elementary’ family consisting of wives and
husbands, their parents, children, brothers and sisters often help each other in
difficult times; and the dispersed extended family, consisting of two or more
related families cooperating with each other even though they live some distance
apart.

These basic forms of families are considered the typical families, but recent
research has suggested that modern industrial societies are characterized by a
plurality of household and family types, and the idea of a typical family is
misleading (Haralambos, Herald and Holborn; 2000). The other forms of families like
single-parent families, same-sex families, couple-without-children households and
extended families, although increasingly common in different parts of the world are
not seen as normal or desirable (Abbott, Wallace and Tyler; 2005).

A number of changes have also been seen in the structure of the family, including
increases in age at marriage, decreases in number of children, and increases in
divorce (Kaufman; 1999). By the mid 1980s, only 10% of families in the US were
traditional families in which the father worked while the mother stayed home to
take care of the children (Levitan, Belous, and Gallo; 1988 as cited in Kaufman;
1999). Women have been expanding their roles to include working outside the
home as well as being wives and mothers. At the same time, men's involvement in
more domestic roles has increased (Gershuny and Robinson; 1988 as cited in
Kaufman; 1999).

The definition of family thus, as we can see, is relative. What an individual perceives
as family may vary depending on his or her ideological and cultural background.
Lived experience typically demonstrates more diversity than a ‘traditional family’
definition (Borgerson et al.; 2007).
Media Framing and Social Expectations Theory

“Goffman (1974) proposed that humans make sense of the world using cognitive
filters, or frames, and that commercial typifications literally construct popular
meanings” (Coltrane and Adams; 1997). Media analysts use the word “frame” to
explain the importance of television imagery. “Generally speaking, a frame acts
much the same way in media analysis that a schema does in cognitive psychology
by selecting out certain aspects of a perceived reality and making them more
salient than others” (Coltrane and Adams; 1997).

Research has shown that media frames help to define problems, diagnose causes,
make moral judgements, and suggest specific remedies (Snow & Benford; 1988 as
cited in Coltrane and Adams; 1997). The extended and repeated exposure to the
patterned media framing of events contributes to the perception that what we are
viewing is ‘natural and inevitable’. This is how these frames become a part of our
taken-for-granted assumptions about how to conduct our lives. (Coltrane and
Adams; 1997)

“The mass media are a major source of patterned social expectations about the
social organization of specific groups in modern society. That is, in their content
they describe and portray the norms, roles, ranking, and sanctions of virtually every
kind of group known in contemporary social life”. These portrayals of stable
patterns of group life in mass communications, define what people are expected to
do when they relate to each other in families, interact with fellow workers, worship,
study, purchase consumer goods, and in many other ways take part in community
life. (DeFleur and Ball-Rockeach; 1989)

Portrayals of things like mother-child relationships to those of things like social

observances of death help define the expectations that potential members of
groups have prior to participation in organized social activities (DeFleur and Ball-
Rockeach; 1989). The media frequently portray patterns of social organization in
the form of norms, roles, ranking, and sanctions pertaining to specific types of
groups. Whether these portrayals are trustworthy or misleading, accurate or
distorted, members of the audiences assimilate such definitions and they become
their learned sets of social expectations of how members of such groups are
expected to behave, they provide guides to action as to how individuals should
personally behave towards others playing roles in specific groups, and how others
will act towards them in a variety of social circumstances (DeFleur and Ball-
Rockeach; 1989).

Social expectations theory is also close to socialization theory in that it accounts for
the long-range and indirect influences of the media, and portrays the media as an
agent of (unwitting and unplanned) instruction. Put short, social expectations theory
is “based on the idea that (1) the media convey information regarding the rules of
social conduct that the individual remembers and (2) that directly shapes overt
behavior” (DeFleur and Ball-Rockeach; 1989).

Cultivation Analysis

Although relatively few media advertisements have the explicit purpose of teaching
values, values are being taught implicitly, particularly by television commercials.
The Cultivation Theory of George Gerbner is most useful with respect to answering
how media affect social values. “As certain consistent values are repeated in a
variety of specific instances, they then cultivate those values in the consumer. How
strongly those values are cultivated may sometimes depend on the consumer’s
particular uses of the media and what gratifications they are obtaining from that
use” (Harris; 2004)

The central argument of this theory is that television ‘cultivates’ or creates a world
view that, although possibly inaccurate, becomes the reality simply because people
believe it to be the reality and base their judgments about their own everyday
worlds on that ‘reality’ (Baran and Davis; 2003).

The ideologies offered in advertisements may not be real, but through constant
exposure to them, they become a natural experience for us and we begin to accept
them as real (Wilkinson; 2002). Television influences audience perceptions of social
reality thereby shaping the audiences culture in terms of how individuals reason
and relate with others. These effects include family communication among viewers
(Rashid, Spahic and Wok; 2007). “Television contributes to people’s conceptions
about family and family life” (Signorielli and Morgan, 2001). In one study, children
who frequently viewed family shows were more likely to believe that real life
families are supportive and compliant (Beurkel-Rothfuss et al.; 1982 as cited in
Vangelisti; 2004).

“Television viewing and conceptions about the world are mutually reinforcing;
certain cultural, social and ideological lifestyles and outlooks lead people to watch
more television, and the messages they absorb tend to help sustain these outlooks.
In short, media portrayals reflect and reinforce (i.e. cultivate) but do not cause
changes in views about the nature of family in society” (Signorielli and Morgan,
2001)

Portrayals of Family in ads

The theoretical frameworks just examined offer different insights into how media—
and advertising in particular—can portray certain things, lend different meanings to
them and ultimately shape audience conceptions, attitudes and expectations. Let’s
now take a look at research findings into the different portrayals of family life in
advertisements.

Image of the complete and ideal nuclear family

Many advertisements tend to show a traditional or conventional nuclear family. This

is especially true for ads in Western societies, where nuclear families are considered
to be the ‘conventional’ type of family. Here in Pakistan, and societies like it as
India, the more traditional or conventional family set-up is the traditional extended
family with two or more families living together (Ejaz, 2008) I will discuss local ads
later, let’s take a look first at how the conventional families of Western societies are
shown in Western ads.

Most ads that show families in Western societies often picture ‘happy nuclear white
middle class families’, with traditionally conventional representations of parents and
their gender role divisions where the mother takes care of the house and children
while the father works and relaxes at home on holidays. “They have romanticised
family life to a point where any child watching could wonder, ‘Why does mummy
not buy me that?’ or ‘where is my daddy?’ The truth is that there are no two
families the same. The ideal image projected does not exist in such a way. So these
representations are not reproducing reality, but representing a global ideal image of
family” (Lloyd-Davis, 2002).

In another research, Watson (2001) discusses a British ad of a toy ‘Family Love Doll
House’ which is a toy for young girls comprising a plastic mould representing the
shape of a house, with miniature furniture and a family. The ad portrays a family in
the form of a toy that is the product the ad is aimed for. The family in this toy shows
a man, woman, young girl, smaller boy and a baby son, along with a dog. The family
lives in a large suburban style detached house with large rooms and facilities. The
family in this toy ad represents the ‘perfect family’ image. “The family is complete
even down to the dog, and this completeness leads to connotations of fulfillment
and happiness. ‘Completeness’ in itself is in direct relation to fulfillment, which is
one of our Western, commercialised, consumerist aims.” (Watson; 2001)
Respondents to a study (Borgerson et al.; 2007) said that adults with children and
dogs (or a dog) represented the portrait of a family in ads, with the inclusion of
children signaling a key aspect of the family.

Watson (2001) states that if this family had only one parent the ‘completeness’
would be fractured and the ideal set up by the commercial would be harmed.
Likewise, if the commercial had a gay couple as parents. Thus, Watson (2001)
shows how ads represent the complete and perfect image of a conventional nuclear
family. Data from numerous studies suggest that TV is far more likely to reinforce
traditional models of family than to promote non-conventional configurations
(Robinson and Skill; 2001)

Images of the ideal nuclear families like those described above have also been a
central theme in central state advertising campaigns in countries like India
(Fernanades; 2000) and even in Pakistan. The ideal modern Indian family with a
father, mother, son and daughter is that visual image that has been a national
symbol of the family planning programme in the post-independence period in India
(Fenrnades; 2000)

Despite the differences that we see in families in Western ads and those of
traditional societies like Pakistan and India, a study (Marquez; 1979) found that at
that time the American and Asian advertisements were identical in their treatment
of the family. “Almost all of the advertisements which used the family as a graphic
device illustrated it as nuclear. This family type appeared in the American
advertisements 91.3 % of the time, 95.2 % in Philippine advertisements, and 92.6 %
in Thai advertisements. Both nuclear and extended family types were easily
distinguishable in that the nuclear family consisted only of parents and their
children, while the extended family included grandparents and other relatives.”
(Marquez; 1979)

Although the idea of “the family” may be changing in a real-life social context,
advertisements still do engage with old-fashioned values and stereotypes in their
representations. Advertising executive Jerry Goodis says: “Advertising doesn’t
always mirror how people are acting, but how they are dreaming…In a sense, what
we’re doing is wrapping up your emotions and selling them back to you” In an ever
progressing society, there is a tendency to be nostalgic about past values and
ideologies and this is what most ads communicate to us (Wilkinson; 2002).

Happiness linked to family consumption and materialism

In advertisements family happiness is presented as the way of consumption.

Children are one of the most basic consumers, for whom the family which is now
restructured as the unit of commodity consumers, buys the children’s commodities
in order for the children and family to become happy. Children’s happiness which is
consumption related is equaled with the happiness of the family. Happy families are
shown as those who buy goods and services for the children (Shiraishi; 2004).
When a family consists of the basic man, woman and children and dog, the
presence of a big house, large rooms and other material possessions like the
Television contributes to the sense of ‘completeness’ as they are whole in terms of
relationships and material needs and wants (Watson; 2001).
Ads make people believe that the happy or over-contented families in the ads are
so ‘together’ because of a certain type of milk that they choose to drink, a certain
tea or cooking oil they opt for or the multi-purpose cleaner they use (Mapara; 2008).

Products are shown as an integral part of showing our love and caring for others.
The more closely the advertiser can link the product with natural and positive
emotions, the more successful the ad. “A car advertises itself as ‘part of the family’,
not merely offering something to the family but actually being part of it.” (Harris;
2004)

Domestic commodities such as automobiles and refrigerators are often associated

with gendered or family images. A series of automobile advertisements ‘Man,
Woman and Child and Car’ in India (Fernandes; 2000), replaces the traditional or
ideological ‘Man, woman, son and daughter’ with a commodity. The traditional or
old depiction was one used by state sponsored family planning ads, while the new
depiction gives an “association between an idealized tranquility of the nuclear
family with status and material comfort” (Fernandes; 2000).

Gender segregation in family roles

Men and women in families portrayed in ads are often shown in stereotypical
gender roles like those of the male bread winner and the female housewife. The
woman is shown as the housewife in the kitchen or shopping, while the husband
works (Lloyd-Davis, 2002).

“The father is not shown to be actively engaged with the children unless it is in play.
Whereas the mothers do tend to be active when they are present. If one parent is to
be shown, then in adverts related to toys, play or learning it will tend to be the
father, who is the fun, authority figure. In adverts related to food or day-to-day
activities it will be the mother who is shown. These findings show that although
society may be changing in its family ideologies, many old ideals are remaining in
advertising. The advertisers rely heavily on stereotypes.” (Wilkinson; 2002)

There is a new movement however, in advertisements of sharing of male and

female characteristics. Males are being represented as sensuous and nurturing,
while females are represented as strong and confident. “However, the impetus
behind much of this nontraditional coding is not a celebration of stereotypical
gender traits being supplanted, but rather advertising’s continuing need for a new
means to capture and hold the consumer’s attention.” (Kervin; 1990)
From the 1950s through the 1980s researchers have found a lessening of
advertising images showing women in the home or in family settings, and an
increase in the number of women portrayed in work roles (Bell and Milic; 2002).

Absence of family in Western ads—the rise of individualism

A great change in advertising in the West especially since World War 2 has been
“the ascendant motif of the solitary figure” (Fowles; 1996). Illustrations of
individuals occur far more frequently than couples, families or friends (Andren; 1978
as cited in Fowles; 1996). The people featured in ads are increasingly devoid of
family. “Leiss et al. (1990) discovered that individualism rose steadily over the 20th
Century in their sample of Canadian print ads” (Fowles; 1996)

The family does not seem to play a role in many British advertisements nowadays. If
the family is represented in advertisements it now tends to be in a nostalgic manner
to show the product as having longstanding values or some such message
(Wilkinson; 2002).

Portrayal of family interactions and intimacy

A happy family in the ad is a close family (Wilkinson; 2002). Wilkinson (2002)

identifies an ad in which the mother is showed as the ‘involved parent’, caring for
the children and having a deep bond with them. Respondents to a study (Borgerson
et al.; 2007) said that the presence of physical contact and closeness generally
gave the various people the appearance of families. Among the ‘family cues’ was
closeness and children.

The most pervasive of family values on television is family solidarity including

loyalty, support and love for one’s family (Harris; 2004). Short, joyful moments of
interaction between families are often caught in the ad (Patel, 2008).
Advertisements like the Indian ad of Airtel and the Pakistani one of Everyday Tea
Whitener show small gestures and good relationships among couples (Ejaz; 2008).

The Regional Perspective

Many current and old Pakistani advertisements can be identified as having

portrayed the family while attempting to market their product. The family has been,
beyond doubt, a popular figure featured in many Pakistani advertisements.

Since there is a serious dearth of researches on this subject in Pakistan, and if there
are any at all they are very difficult to obtain, I interviewed some personnel from
advertising agencies to get an insight into the portrayal of family life in Pakistani
advertisements and the reasons for the kind of portrayals one finds.

The family is very popular in Pakistani ads, because every consumer is part of a
family one way or the other (Ejaz; 2008). Furthermore, people are very family-
oriented in Pakistan and thus many brands prefer focusing more on families as
compared to the individual, but whether or not family is shown in the ad depends
also on the type of product being advertised (Patel; 2008). “A lot of advertising in
Pakistan is feel-good advertising, a lot of it focuses on the soft-sell approach by
bringing emotions into it,” therefore, the family becomes a popular figure in ads
here (Meenai; 2008).

In fact, many products have basic marketing themes focusing on family and
relationships. Their slogans clearly spell out this, like for instance “Yehi tou hai who
apna pan” (This is what you call belongingness) of Brooke Bond Supreme, “Rishton
ki khushboo” (The fragrance of relationsips) of Soya Supreme Banaspati, “Mukamal
Ghar” (Complete household) of Tapal Family Mixture, “Jahan mamta wahan Dalda”
(Where there is mother, there is Dalda) etc.

Consider the Brooke Bond Supreme Tea television commercial that shows a joint or
extended family sitting together in a traditional style, drinking tea together. The
family shown is a middle class family with three generations comprising the
grandfather and grandmother, their son and his wife and their children—a young
girl of the ‘traditional’ age of marriage and her younger brother. The presence of
the grandparents with a couple and their children usually complete the family
picture here (Patel; 2008). Brooke Bond Supreme as a brand has been known to
focus on families since the beginning with a theme of togetherness and
relationships and its ads always show family life. Old brands like Supreme don’t
focus only on the new generation, they want to show that they have been here for a
long time and hence they show traditional families and portray all age groups in it
(Patel; 2008).

What type of family an ad portrays also depends on the target market of the
product being advertised. Ads of products for the ‘C’ market usually show joint
families (Ejaz; 2008). For example, products like Tapal Family mixture tea or Sunsip
Limopani show joint or extended families in their television commercials, comprising
mother, father, children, uncles, aunts, cousins and grandparents. “Why would they
show nuclear families, which people can’t relate to? If a product shows nuclear
families, they can’t make the product approachable” (Ejaz; 2008)

But then many Pakistani ads show nuclear families as well. For example, one
television commercial of Kashmir Banaspati shows a typical nuclear family of four,
so does the television commercial of Knorr Soup and Knorr Make a meal, and that of
National Foods. One television commercial of Manpasand Oil, shows four different
types of families within a single commercial. It shows the extended family with the
grandparents and uncles and aunts, one family with grandparents alone, one young
couple with a new born baby, and one typical nuclear family of four comprising
mother, father, son and daughter. Ads like those of Dalda Cooking oil or Surf Excel
tend to focus only on the mother-child relationship, they do not show any other
family members, so we cannot say whether they intend to show a single mother or
not.
Because companies want to target the masses they show all sorts of people from
the young to the grandparents all in one ad (Ejaz; 2008). Thus, they show all sorts
of families too. Bank Insurance ads often show lone couples, other products feature
on one parent and one child (Meenai; 2008). Print ads usually focus on one parent
and one child or two. “It depends on what is being advertised. I think they are trying
to move away from the normal (configuration of the family) and reach out to all
segments of the market” (Meenai; 2008)

Advertisements in Pakistan usually show the nurturing side of families (Meenai;

2008). Fun time in families is usually shown (Patel; 2008) For example, the mother-
relationship is often highlighted, as in Dalda and Surf Excel commercials. Husband
and wife bonds are also shown as in Knorr Soup commercials and those of Everyday
Tea whitener. Some Pakistani ads also challenge traditional gender roles by showing
men cooking like Knorr Soup, Everyday Tea Whitener and Ads like those of Coca
Cola in Pakistan make people believe that soft drinks can change the mood of the
family and make them go dancing out on the streets, others like those like Tapal tea
or Everyday Tea whitener can magically bring people together to tie the knot or to
sort out marital tiffs (Mapara; 2008).

Perfect situations or idealized depictions are used because of the aim to sell the
product (Patel; 2008). A lot of products preach aspirational values and thus use
idealized portrayals of family life and relationships. All products try to show that you
will have a perfect life if you choose that product (Meenai; 2008)

Conclusion

Thus, we see family life is portrayed in many different forms in advertisements. The
family is one of the most popular figures featured in advertisements in Pakistan.
Many products draw on the family in their advertisements in hopes of having
positive associations for their products. This is ever more true for traditional
societies like Pakistan and India which are family-oriented societies. While most
western ads portray the conventional nuclear family, Pakistani ads more usually
show the extended or joint family, although we see many ads showing other
configurations of the family as well. Portrayals of single parent families though
remain rare, and same-sex-couples-with-children is indeed out of question in
conservative societies like Pakistan. Pakistani ads usually show families with
traditional segregated gender roles, though we see some commendable counter
trends emerging now.

Family ads in Pakistan usually focus on strong relationships and bonds, which
although raises the question of the false image of perfection, has positive
implications for society if it is able to shape trends within society as many theorists
suggest. Herein comes the shape versus mirror debate and we are pressed to
question whether these portrayals mirror society or are idealized depictions which
though may not exist in society, are able to shape it. The disappearance of family
from Western ads is a disturbing trend indeed in terms how it can negatively shape
their society and lead to individualism and isolation. So, is the association of family
happiness and completeness to materialism and consumption which is an all-
pervading trend in ads the world over. Advertisers must take into account the
effects their ads can have on society and must strive to picture positive and healthy
portrayals.

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Appendix
Appendix 1

Brooke Bond Supreme ad. Source: www.unilever.pk

Appendix 2

Brooke Bond Supreme TV commercial screenshot. Source: www.vidpk.com

Appendix 3

Tapal Family mixture tea. Source: www.youtube.com

Appendix 4
Sunsip Limo Pa