Keywords

Media, advertising, sociology, contraceptives, birth control, women's health, risk, race, gender

Abstract

This research compared contraceptive advertisements in two top-circulated publications for white and African American female subscribers, Cosmopolitan and Essence. Data consisted of a sample of 172 contraceptive advertisements from the two magazines published between 1992 and 2012. Quantitative analysis focused on the model(s)' race, age, marital status, and socioeconomic status; the type of contraceptive being advertised; and the reason stated in the ad for using the product. This analysis determined a disparity in the rate of advertisement of doctor-administered contraceptives for the publications of 25.4 percent in Essence magazine and 9.5 percent in Cosmopolitan magazine. Black women were targeted with long-term, doctor-administered birth control ads more frequently than white women over a twenty-year period, which correlates with findings of previous studies suggesting minority women receive these types of birth control more often than their white counterparts. Qualitative analysis focused on the written messages in the advertisements. This analysis identified the theme of risk as a prominent message of advertisements, appealing to concerns surrounding health, desirability, freedom and pregnancy.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2014

Semester

Summer

Advisor

Carter, Shannon

Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Sociology

Degree Program

Applied Sociology

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0005406

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0005406

Language

English

Release Date

August 2014

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Sciences; Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic

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Included in

Sociology Commons

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