Sex (the biological factor) and gender (the cultural factor) together constitute a fundamental demographic basis for much market segmentation. Advertising is a well-known haven for traditional gender stereotypes. This dimension can be particularly subtle when it exploits the formal features of the medium. Read this study of gender-differentiated production features in an audio-visual medium:

• Chandler, Daniel & Merris Griffiths (2000): 'Gender-Differentiated Production Features in Toy Commercials', Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 44(3) [Summer 2000]: 503-520
  

This study demonstrates that girls were treated as a 'marked' (special) category - with boys representing the 'norm'. What key editing and camerawork features identified ads which were targetted at girls?

For an outline of an industry perspective on marketing toys to boys and girls see this Word document by Merris Griffiths.

For a semiotic approach to the way in which a 'male'/'female' opposition is used as a fundamental way of structuring texts see:

• Chandler, Daniel (1994): 'Paradigmatic Analysis'. In Semiotics for Beginners. [WWW document] URL http://users.aber.ac.uk/dgc/Documents/S4B/
  

Note how some of the familiar contrasts seem to 'line up' in columns reflecting cultural stereotypes, seeming to indicate 'vertical' associations (e.g. of male with active and female with passive)...

male	female
public	private
active	passive
mind	body
head	heart
reason	emotion
thought	feeling
strong	weak
hard	soft

Almost all advertising assumes a heterosexual audience. However, 'niche-marketing' targetted at what is known in the UK as 'the Pink Pound' - gay consumers - is growing.

Suggested Reading

• Bartel, Diane (1988) Putting on Appearances: Gender and Advertising. Philadelphia: Temple University Press
• Basow, Susan A. (1992) Gender: Stereotypes and Roles. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole
• Cortese, Anthony J. (2004) Provocateur: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising (2nd Edn). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield
• Courtney, Alice E. & Thomas W. Whipple (1983) Sex Stereotyping in Advertising. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books/D C Heath
• Craig, Steve (1997) 'Madison Avenue versus The Feminine Mystique: How the Advertising Industry Responded to the Onset of the Modern Women’s Movement' [WWW document] URL http://www.rtvf.unt.edu/people/craig/pdfs/madave.PDF (pdf format)
• Doward, Jamie (n.d.) 'Why Adland is Still Lad Land' [WWW document] URL http://www.observer.co.uk/Print/0%2C3858%2C4093039%2C00.html
• Gaines, Jane & Michael Renov (Eds) (1989) Female Representation and Consumer Culture (Quarterly Review of Film and Video 11(1)) Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers
• Goffman, Erving (1979) Gender Advertisements. New York: Harper & Row
• Griffiths, Merris (2001) 'An Industry Perspective' (marketing toys to boys and girls) [WWW document] URL http://users.aber.ac.uk/dgc/Modules/MC31120/ad_industry.doc
• Griffiths, Merris & Daniel Chandler, Daniel (2001) 'Gender-Differentiated Production Features in Toy Commercials' http://users.aber.ac.uk/dgc/Documents/short/toyads.html
• Jacobsen, Michael F. & Laurie Anne Mazur (1995) 'Sexism and Sexuality in Advertising', in M. F. Jacobson & L. A. Mazur (Eds.) Marketing Madness: A Survival Guide for a Consumer Society. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, pp. 74-87; [WWW document] URL
• Lazer, Linda & Alice Gagnard Kendrick (1993) 'Women in Advertisements: Sizing Up the Images, Roles and Functions', in Pamela J. Creedon (Ed) (1993) Women in Mass Communication (2nd Edn). Newbury Park, CA: Sage, pp. 199-219
• Manca, Luigi & Alessandra (Eds) (1994) Gender & Utopia in Advertising. Lisle, IL: Procopian Press
• Millum, Trevor (1975) Images of Woman: Advertising in Women's Magazine. London: Chatto & Windus
• Peirce, Kate, Michael McBride & Tim England (n.d.) 'What if the Energizer Bunny were Female? Importance of Gender in Perception of Advertising Spokes-character Effectiveness' [WWW document] URL http://www.swt.edu/~me04/bunny.htm
• Popcorn, Faith and Lys Marigold (2001) Eve-olution: The 8 Truths of Marketing to Women. London: HarperCollins
• Strate, Lance (1992) 'Beer Commercials: A Manual on Masculinity', in Steve Craig (Ed) (1992) Men, Masculinity and the Media. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, pp. 78-92
• Yarborough, Melanie (n.d.) 'Gender-Pitched Advertising: Do Men and Women See the Same Things?' [WWW document] URL http://village.fortunecity.com/carnival/383/adverts.htm
• Zarchikoff, Rebecca (nd): 'Looking through the years at women's place in advertising' [WWW document] URL http://kafka.uvic.ca/~rzarchik/women.html