ADVERTISING GENDER: A COMPARATIVE LENS ON TRADITION AND TRANSFORMATION IN SELECTIVE ADVERTISEMENTS

Abstract

This study seeks to elucidate the advertising in Pakistan that promoted gender inequality and subsequently evolved to dismantle the oppressive portrayal of women. Advertisement, an essential component of media, serves as a vital conduit for engaging with people and thus has the obligation of eliminating biased representations of women. Using 6 Advertisements, this paper shows how women are objectified, denied autonomy, and are misogynistically portrayed while keeping men out of the frame of such obstructive representation. Moreover, some of them explore how the Ads can create a positive and inclusive identity of women and men, promoting equality and respect for both.

The study employs theoretical frameworks from Judith Butler’s concept of Gender Performativity (1990), Laura Mulvey’s concept of Male Gaze (1975), and Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), using his three-dimensional model (1989) to examine language and power relations. By incorporating these ideas, the research explores how advertising, as a significant media artifact, impacts society’s views and contributes to either maintaining or challenging current gender stereotypes. This study employs a comprehensive method to critically analyze how advertisements construct and reconstruct gender norms, either reinforcing or challenging the status quo.

The findings seek to elucidate the capacity of commercials to provoke social change by either perpetuating established prejudices or promoting narratives of equality.