Drawing from cultivation theory, this project's main goals were to examine television advertisements for video game consoles produced by Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony, and to identify variations and trends in their racial, gender, and age representations between the years of 2003 and 2017. A quantitative content analysis was conducted on a representative sample of 70 commercials, where characters were coded separately for perceived gender, racial, and age identity. A series of chi-square tests revealed that while the advertisements tended to underrepresent women, racial minorities, and non-adults, the inclusion of women increased substantially between 2006 and 2011. Among many other observed trends, Nintendo tended to include more non-adults and people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent than Sony and Microsoft. The results of this exploration inform a discussion on the underrepresentation of minority groups in advertising and its potential impact on certain groups in our society.

This thesis attempts to position itself as a step in the right direction in the research of video games as a cultural phenomenon on par with that of television and film. The following work sets itself apart from other articles and writings of the same kind primarily by scale and breadth of scope. The observation of the industry over time provides better insights into growth and trends than the snapshot studies of static years that are currently being published. Much of the reason for the lack of studies such as this thesis likely has much to do with popular predispositions staunchly embedded in our societal consciousness regarding the current state of diversity and inclusivity in the video game industry. The results of this study will better inform these relatively anecdotal assumptions. Further, it is important to note his thesis seems to find itself situated as the largest scale overview on representation in video game advertising to date, poising itself as an important contributor to cultivation theory as it applies to the subject of racial, age, and gender representation in video game console advertising.