Film franchises such as Frozen and Marvel’s Avengers have become a ubiquitous part of the American media landscape, and research has shown that these stories and characters are influential in shaping social gender norms among children and young adults. To what extent do media promotions for popular American film franchises (trailers, posters, press releases, promotional merchandise such as toys and action figures) use gendered marketing, and how do they influence media preferences among preteen girls? This presentation is an overview of my MS Advertising capstone project at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. See the final version of the project here: http://mspriyankabose.wix.com/girlsandmovies

1. G E N D E R E D M E D I A M E S S A G E S I N F I L M
F R A N C H I S E S

2. B U T I S I T A LWAY S T H E R I G H T C H O I C E ?
S E G M E N T E D M A R K E T I N G F O R B O Y S A N D G I R L S I S N O T H I N G N E W.

3. W H AT ’ S
K N O W N
• There is plenty of research on gender
messages within films aimed at
children and teenagers, as well as
research focused on gender and toys
• Findings have shown that the content
of these films has an effect on the self
esteem of girls
• Studios find it more financially lucrative
to segment the market to boys vs. girls
than to have intersectional marketing
• Yet recently, there have been a series
of announcements regarding female-
oriented action franchises in the works

4. W H AT ’ S N O T
K N O W N
• What do girls think and
what do they want?
• The extent of gendered
messaging contained
within actual film
promotions (trailers,
posters)
• Academic research on
franchise merchandise as
promotional materials

5. O N E T H I N G I S V E RY C L E A R :
when it comes to action franchises, the existing
merchandise is not impressive.

7. T H AT ’ S W H AT I ’ M T RY I N G T O F I G U R E O U T.
Essentially, it comes down to a chicken and egg
question.
!
Do toy companies not make superhero/non-
princess related toys for little girls because they're
not interested?
!
Or are they not interested in superheroes because
there is almost nothing available for them to latch
onto?

8. K E Y
Q U E S T I O N S
• What kinds of gendered
messages are in promotional
materials for film franchises?
• How do these gendered
messages affect media
preferences among girls?
• How do these gendered
messages affect their
preferences for film related
merchandise?

9. O V E R V I E W O F
M E T H O D S
• Content Analysis
• promotional materials such as trailers, posters,
and websites
• in-store observations of available franchise
merchandise
• online analysis of available franchise
merchandise
• Use Kay Vandergrift’s Model of Female Voices
in Youth Literature in coding guide
• In-depth interviews with 10-13 year old girls
• Carolyn Gilligan’s “Listening Guide method
will be used to analyze transcripts

10. QUESTIONS?
E M A I L M E : MSPRIYANKABOSE@GMAIL.COM