Advertising discourse analysis : a case study of female identities in a Hong Kong local female magazine

Abstract

Although Hong Kong ranked 15th globally in the United Nations Gender–related Development Index 2013 (UNDP, 2014), a discrepancy was identified between female images portrayed in print media and the actual gender equality progresses achieved (Equal Opportunities Commission, 2009). Media portrayals of female, particularly body beauty advertisements, disseminate female stereotypes and unequal gender ideologies. According to Wolf (1992, p.12), evaluating females with reference to a “culturally imposed physical standard” is the “last, best belief system that keeps male dominance intact”. The research investigated the current female identities textually and visually constructed in beauty culture magazine advertisements from an issue of the popular local female magazine, the (More) Oriental Sunday. It also explored how local consumers are approached with the female portrayals visually. It differs from the existing studies on local female portrayals in the media in terms of its approach and focus. As opposed to adopting content analysis, survey or focus group discussion, the research is based on a systematic linguistic analysis of beauty culture advertisements. It adopted a Dialectical-Relational Approach to Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 2009) and utilized Systemic Functional Linguistics (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004), Visual Social Semiotics (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006) as well as Goffman‘s gender display categories (1987). The findings show that discourses of objectification and self-objectification were concurrently represented in the female identities constructed textually and visually. The study implies that, in general, beauty culture magazine advertisements perpetuate the ideologies of beauty myth, emphasized femininity and patriarchy to enforce the social dominance of male and maximize profit simultaneously.