Gender stereotyping in advertisements in women's magazines - a comparative study between English and Bosniac/Croatian/Serbian speaking areas

Abstract

Cilj ove disertacije je da istraži odnose između jezika, reklame i roda. Istraživanje je provedeno na reklamama koje se pojavljuju u ženskim časopisima u engleskom i B/H/S govornom području. Skupljeno je ukupno 1241 reklama iz američkog, hrvatskog i srbijanskog časopisa Kozmopolitan (Cosmopolitan) i bosanskog Azra. Temeljita i detaljna analiza tekstualnog i vizuelnog dijela reklame je provedena, a takođe je uspostavljena i veza između ta dva dijela. Dalje je provedena kontrastivna analiza tekstualnog i vizuelnog dijela. Raspravljalo se i o anglicizmima u reklamama u B/H/S govornom području. Međutim, centar istraživanja predstavljaju rodni stereotipi, kao i reprezentacija istih u medijima. Pokazalo se, na temelju istraživanja, da je zapadnjačko društvo otvorenije i da je dostiglo viši nivo evolucije kada su u pitanju ženska prava od B/H/S društ(a)va, koje je još uvijek tradicionalno i njeguje porodične odnose. Stavovi prema tijelu i reprezentaciji istog su isti u obje kulture: ljudska vrsta se mora reprodukovati/produžiti. Starenje i debljina su, s druge strane, tabuizirani i o njima se ne raspravlja. Smatraju se znacima nemogućnosti reprodukcije ljudske vrste i kao takvi su apsolutno zanemareni u medijima. Anglicizmi su izrazito prisutni u reklamama u B/H/S govornom području. Uticaj engleskog jezika je izuzetan u području leksike: riječi, izraza, fraza, idioma i idiomatskih izraza.

The aim of this dissertation was to explore a possible relationship between language, advertisement and gender. A research was conducted on advertisements that appear in women's magazines in English and B/C/S speaking areas. A total of 1241 advertisments were collected from the American, Croatian and Serbian magazine for women Cosmopolitan and Bosnian Azra. A thorough and detailed analysis of both verbal and visual parts of advertisements has been conducted, as well as the connection of the two. Further, a contrastive analysis of verbal and visual parts has been conducted also. The issue of Anglicisms has been the subject of exploration as well. The focus of this research, however, was on gender stereotypes and their representation in the media. Western society proved to be more open and has reached a higher level of evolution in favour of women's rights than B/C/S. The latter is still represented as traditional and family-oriented. The attitudes towards bodies and the reproduction process are the same in both societies: human species must be prolonged. Ageing and being overweight, on the other hand, are considered to be taboos. They are considered to be the signs of inability of reproduction, and as such are absolutely neglected in the media. Anglicisms are freqently present in advertisements in B/C/S speaking area. The infuence of English in the area of lexis is extraordinary: words, expressions, phrases, idioms and idiomatic expressions are often copied into B/C/S.