This article examines female response to gender role portrayals in advertising for Ukraine and Turkey. Being both new potential EU candidates, we argue that gender stereotype could also be used as a ‘barometer’ of progress and closure towards a more generally accepted EU behaviour against women. While their history remains different, both from a political and society values point of views, constraints are currently being faced that require convergence or justification of practices and understanding. Principal components analysis is employed over 290 questionnaires to identify the underlying dimensions. Results indicate overall similarities in perceptions, fragmentation within groups, but seem to provide divergence regarding thresholds.