The Video Game Industry: Gender Stereotypes

The introduction of video games in the homes of americans set new waves of entertainment that would continue to entertain us to this day, 45 years into the future. With the introduction to such an infamous piece of technology in our lives, there are bound to be some controversies down the line, one of which is the way the advertisement industry portrays the gender stereotypes created after the several events in the rich gaming history.
As the introduction of video games arose, so did the advertising industry to rake in on a new cash source. When these early ads were introduced, they were marketed towards a large demographic. These ads depicted the whole family playing video games, and enjoying them at that. This was in a direct correlation

This system, also known as the NES, had a product come with it to change the way it was viewed. The NES was sold with a toy robot named R.O.B., also known as the Robotic Operating Buddy, as well as being sold with the “Zapper Light gun”. Doing this allowed the game console, along with the games to be sold in the children's toy aisle. However, by that time stores across america had already separated these toy aisles into two sections, consisting of the boys, as well as the girls aisle. Nintendo then had to make a choice, on who they wished to drive their product towards. Nintendo’s choice was towards boys. This led to a relentless onslaught of media advertisements towards these

While there is the obvious fact that many mobile game ads will lean more towards the focusing on the female gender for their intended demographic, just like many action games will advertise towards the male demographic, due to that demographic making them more money, many ads will aim towards both genders. Like Nintendo many companies are showing females in their ads, equally portraying both genders. Also, many companies have gone away with wording that only approaches one demographic, and use phrases like “You are the soldier” (COD), instead of the use of words like he, man, or other words to only portray men like previous examples. But even though there are some ads that will target both demographics, the thing is is that it is much more profitable to target one gender or demographic. This is done by major companies like Procter and Gamble, a personal hygiene company. Roeser, a leading figurehead in the company, states that they use specialized and gender specific advertisements all the time. He talks about how it is far easier to sell to a specific gender then to hit a larger demographic and risk the product failing altogether. So what they do is genderize the products, making some male, while the other being female. The base products are almost identical but have small differences like fragrance and slogans. The women’s products advertise to be more