Effect of Media on Aspirations: Gender Heterogeneity

I investigate how media images, particularly advertisements, shape audiences’ aspirations. Utilizing the natural experiment in East Germany, I demonstrate that exposure to Western TV during the formative years of childhood and adolescence increases the income aspirations of males. Additionally, through an online experiment, I highlight that advertisements not only elevate income aspirations but also diminish the desire to have children among male adolescents. The latter particularly holds when the advertisements portray equal sharing of childcare responsibilities within couples. Notably, the effects of media exposure vary depending on their mothers’ labor market status. These findings underscore the pivotal role of media in perpetuating and reinforcing stereotypical gender roles.