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This thesis study takes a mixed methods and black feminist approach to find out how black women are represented within the beauty advertisements of women's fashion magazines.

The gender portrayals study aims to understanding how the roles of men and women are portrayed in magazine advertisements. This has been an issue investigated over the past decades as companies try to achieve a higher level of sales of their products and services and the gender issue influences in how this companies plan one advertising program or another. However, there is a debate among authors: some of them believe that advertising reflects what is already on society and others express that advertisers use the most convenient reality to sell their products. Thus, it makes us wonder what is the actual truth behind this debate. This thesis tries to answer the question of how men and women are portrayed in advertising campaigns. There are several studies on gender portrayals across countries but none that compares France, Spain and Sweden. This thesis tries to fill this gap.   The study is conducted following Hofstede framework that classifies countries whether masculine or feminine, and is completed by analyzing the data gathered from four magazines of these three countries. We classified this data following Courtney and Lockeretz classification scheme and analyzed the data obtained with theories of some other authors.   The results of this thesis show that males were dominant among working roles while females were in non-working roles. The findings might not add a huge contribution to this field of study but may be used as guiding tool for further research.

This study re-evaluates the Consciousness Scale originally formulated by Pingree et al. in 1976. The element of assumed power was added to the Consciousness Scale, which was then used to evaluate 516 magazine advertisements from 1999 to determine if the Consciousness Scale still accurately evaluates sexism in media. A set of advertisements was culled which had contradictory Consciousness Scale and power ratings. The set was evaluated, revealing common themes, which created difficulty in coding these modern images. The study revealed that while the Consciousness Scale can still provide a valuable tool in evaluating media images, the change in the social dynamic of women as well as minorities and how advertisers portray them must be taken into account. The element of power as well as a more nuanced reading of each level of the Consciousness Scale creates a more modern and complex evaluation of gender images in the media.

Master of Science / Department of Journalism and Mass Communications / Xiaochen A. Zhang / Most of the models in Chinese fashion magazine advertisements are Caucasian women today. White skin, as one of their Caucasian characteristics, is particularly emphasized. Millions of Chinese women are bombarded with the advertising’s message of “having white skin is beautiful” every day. My research suggests that this kind of adverting depicts white skin as a beauty ideal; the prevalence of Caucasian models in whitening products’ magazine advertisements constructs body-esteem, self-esteem, and purchase decision-making of Chinese women. The Social Judgment Theory is employed in this research as a theoretical framework. It is a way to explain when persuasive messages are most likely to succeed and how people make judgments about them. Understanding this phenomenon will ultimately provide insight into addressing the effects of the promotion of fashion magazine advertisements on Chinese women. It is further anticipated that future researchers will expand and improve the knowledge of the Chinese advertising market.

Advertisements reflect the reality in society. Or so they should. As a minimum, advertisements should resonate with the intended target audience. Advertisements targeting female consumers have been accused of continually depicting women in traditionally stereotypical roles, such as the housewife and the sex object. This is contrary to the many important roles women fulfil in reality; business-woman, mother, romantic partner, and socialite, to name but a few. The purpose of this study was to identify the roles that female models portrayed in South African consumer magazine advertisements, and the extent to which these models appeared in these roles. The numerous secondary objectives included, but were not limited to, an investigation into the ethnic representation of female models in South African magazine advertisements, the product and/or service categories advertised using female models, and the illustrative technique and advertising appeals most commonly used. Content analysis was used to analyse and capture data from magazine advertisements featuring one or more female models. Content analysis was seen to be the most appropriate research method for this study based on its applicability as a mass communication research method. A total of 258 full-page and double-page magazine advertisements were sampled from nine consumer magazines published in South Africa in November 2009 and February 2010. The research found that female models were predominantly portrayed as the decorative focal point (32%) in magazine advertisements for personal care products, apparel and accessories. Just over two-thirds of the models used were Caucasian (68%), albeit the magazines sampled targeted African, Caucasian, and to a slightly lesser degree Coloured and Indian readers. In addition, marketers seemed inclined to favour advertisements with photographs of female models (98%), rather than drawings or computer-generated images. Rational advertising appeals were used most often (46%) in the magazine advertisements analysed, followed by combination appeals (27%). Forty-four advertisements (17%) were considered not to have a distinctive appeal. These advertisements would simply illustrate the product or service together with a female model, without evoking feelings or providing any further information about the product or service, other than the brand or company name. Academically, this study adds to the limited knowledge on female role portrayal in South African magazine advertisements. Only two such studies have been completed in South Africa in the past, one in 1991 and the other in 2010. This study makes a unique contribution by investigating the roles in which female models from different ethnic groups are portrayed in South African magazine advertisements. From a practical perspective, the findings illustrate to South African advertisers the limited roles in which they portray women, which is contrary to the numerous roles women fulfil in reality. Female consumers are an important target market to any organisation, thus advertisers need to adapt advertisements to reflect the important and changing roles of women in the South African society. Copyright / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Marketing Management / unrestricted

本論文探討在女性時尚雜誌中，美容用品廣告所使用的社會語用策略及語言手段。在本研究中，以Cook (2001)的廣告方法，Searle (1969)的適切條件，Grice (1975)的合作原則，以及Leech (1983)的禮貌原則做為分析的準則。 研究中分析的資料來自兩本女性時尚雜誌，Beauty和Elle。在語料量化分析方面，收錄了200條廣告詞，均分為兩類美容用品：化妝品和保養品。此外，在訪談質化分析方面，有12位女性受訪，以便評量4條選定的廣告詞之可信度。 語料的量化分析顯示：(1) 不同種類的美容用品有偏好的廣告方式。(2) 合作原則和禮貌原則的分配情形不同。(3) 以女性意識形態來說，化妝品廣告和保養品廣告有相異之處。(4) 不同的語言手段被用來廣告這兩類美容用品。 訪談的質化分析顯示：(1) 受訪者的社會背景(教育程度和年齡)影響她們對廣告的態度。(2) 不同的廣告方式影響受訪者對廣告的態度。(3) 廣告的類別不影響受訪者在適切條件、合作原則、以及禮貌原則上對廣告的態度。基於以上的分析，可以發現潛在消費者對說服力的認知與廣告主不吻合。也就是說，消費者不認為所分析的廣告有說服力，這顯示廣告無法滿足消費者的需求。本研究建議廣告主應該從消費者的觀點出發並補救這個問題。 / This study aims at exploring the sociopragmatic strategies and the linguistic devices employed in the beauty product advertisements in women’s fashion magazines. In this study, Cook’s advertising approach (2001), Searle’s Felicity Conditions (1969), Grice’s Cooperative Principle (1975), and Leech’s Politeness Principle (1983) are the criteria for analyses. This study takes both quantitative analyses and qualitative analyses. For quantitative analyses, 200 pieces of advertisements were collected from two women’s fashion magazines, Beauty and Elle. These data are equally distributed to two types of beauty products: cosmetic products and skin-care products. In addition, for qualitative analyses, twelve women were interviewed to evaluate the effectiveness of the elements contained in four pieces of advertisements selected. Results of quantitative analyses show (1) that hard-sell approach is preferred on beauty products; (2) that the distribution of the maxims of Cooperative Principle is that Quality Maxim and Manner Maxim are obeyed most frequently, but Quantity Maxim is violated most often; (3) that the distribution of the maxims of Politeness Principle is that Tact Maxim and Modesty Maxim are implemented the most frequently; (4) that cosmetic ads and skin-care ads emphasize on different components of woman ideology; (5) different linguistic devices are used to advertise the two types of beauty products. The qualitative analyses of the data show (1) that the subjects’ social backgrounds (in this case, education level and age) do affect their attitudes of persuasiveness toward advertisements; (2) that different advertising approaches do influence the subjects’ attitudes toward the advertisements; (3) that advertisements of different types of beauty products do not influence the subjects’ attitudes toward the advertisements no matter by Felicity Conditions, by Cooperative Principle, or by Politeness Principle. Based on the analyses given above, it is found that the subjects’ perception of persuasiveness does not match with that of the advertiser’s. To these potential consumers, those advertisements analyzed are not persuasive, which indicates that the advertisements fail to satisfy the consumer’s demands. It is suggested that the advertiser takes the consumer’s perspective to promote the persuasiveness of advertisements and the consumer’s acceptance of the commodities to be sold.