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Suffering Women in Mobile Game Advertising

Abstract

Mobile free-to-play games need to reach large audiences, yet the acquisition of these players has become increasingly challenging. One of the main ways to reach new audiences is advertising. Some game companies have started to depend on provocative and misleading advertising to gain the viewer’s attention and lure players to their games. Especially as these advertisements often have wide exposure, representations in them are an important and interesting target to explore. This study investigates advertisements from two games targeted at women, Project Makeover and Matchington Mansion. The results show that, while the advertisements do show some diversity in some areas, the content is heavily stereotypical, portraying women as weak and helpless, and leaving them suffering and appealing to the watcher to help by downloading the game. This leads to questions about consumer protection and the harm these advertisements can cause.