Misrepresentation of Women in Advertisements: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analytic Approach

Abstract

This study showcases the multimodal discourses that undergird (underlie) how women are misrepresented in advertisements both verbally and visually. Adopting a qualitative research methodology, the study seeks to unveil the ingenious (subtle) ideological discourses that are naturalized, disseminated, and legitimized about women in advertisements through the verbal i.e. textual and visual semiotic choices. The study is mainly anchored in Kress and van Leeuwen's seminal model of visual grammar (2006) and Van Leeuwen's social actor theory (2008), as previous accounts fail to provide a holistic picture of how advertisers exploit visual and the linguistic resources to disseminate particular ideologies about women. The results manifest that advertisements hypersexualize, oversimplify, and objectify women, and also promote negative stereotypes on women, focusing on their physical attraction disregarding their potentialities. Moreover, women are associated with beauty products, accessories, and kitchen equipment; advertisements perpetuate the traditional view that elegance is a prerequisite for women, which in turn signifies their societal influence or power. In effect, they shape or mould, and reshape the society's view about women. The study is, in particular, crucial as it adds to the

body of work conducted in the newly emerging field of MCDA integrating it with other strands of DA namely CDA.