Critical Analysis of Women’s Representation in Tv Advertisements from a Cultural Studies Perspective

International Journal of Women‟s Research (2011) 1: 107- 122

Critical Analysis of Women’s Representation in TV Advertisements from a Cultural Studies Perspective
Ali HajiMohammadi1

Abstract Through the interpretation of texts, and subsequent creation of social reality, mediated representations are often seen to be presented within the certain of ideological discourses that reflect the existing power structures. The main objective of this paper is to analyze television commercials with an emphasis on gender roles to decode the main elements of a dominant discourse (preferred readings) and representation mechanisms; and the elements ' relationships with ideology, hegemony and power relations in reproducing a dominant discourse. Grounded in an interdisciplinary theoretical framework of cultural studies and critical studies perspectives, the two-layer analysis is used in this paper – a semiotic and critical discourse analysis of television commercials with an emphasize on gender roles and ideology. The results demonstrate that the TV advertisements selected in this paper represent dominant gender relations and reproduce traditional values. Furthermore, these representations illustrate a contradiction between society and media in gender roles. Keywords TV advertisements. Representation of women. Gender roles. Critical

discourse analysis. Ideology.

1

Ali Hajimohammadi

PhD Candidate, Cultural and Media Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran, PO Box 773/14395, Jalal Al e Ahmad AVE, Tehran, Iran. e-mail: [e-mail]

Published Online: 15 January 2011

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Introduction The research is placed within the cultural studies perspective that assumes an intertwined relationship between the production and reproduction of symbolic meanings and actualized meanings. From a cultural studies perspective, the study of women 's representation in mainstream television advertisements with emphasize on gender roles is embraced. Media has an important

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