Professional Women in Japanese Television Commercials: A Data-Driven Study

Abstract

This research examines how representations of professional women in Japanese television commercials have changed over time, from 1985 to 2005. The study adopts a data-driven approach in which information about commercials is recorded and stored in a structured database. Digital humanities and statistical methods are used to identify hidden biases and obtain insights that may not be immediately noticeable through simple viewing and qualitative analysis of the commercials. The aim of this research is to identify the factors linking gender and employment and to examine how these factors shape the representation of female professionals. The analysis focuses on commercials that received the All Japan Radio & Television Commercial Confederation Award (ACC Awards). The ACC awarded commercials are chosen for their impact and availability. The commercials are first viewed and then systematically described using a structured data format. The dataset records what characters do, where they act, and how they are represented in each commercial. The resulting data are stored in a database from which samples can be extracted, based on which several statistical models are constructed. By examining the variables of these models, the relative importance of different factors can be evaluated. The analysis shows that during the 1980s foreign women had a higher probability of being represented as professionals. In this period, the variable “ethnicity” had greater weight than factors such as age. By constructing similar models for different periods, it becomes possible to observe how these patterns evolved over time. For example, during the 1990s ethnicity lost much of its influence as Japanese women increasingly appeared as professionals. However, these portrayals were still often associated with young age and were frequent when not in presence of a man. By identifying the biases underlying these representations and tracing their evolution over time, the study will provide new insights into how professional women have been portrayed in Japanese television advertising.