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The media greatly influences and shapes the society’s knowledge, attitudes, perceptions, and worldviews about diverse topics. Much of what different audiences within the society know and are concerned about is shaped by narratives, symbols, and images propagated by television, radio, and other forms media (Brooks & Hebert, 2006). These narratives and symbols play a crucial role in the construction of social identities – racial identity, gender identity, sexual identity, urban identity, and so on.Advertisements are some of the media texts that shape social identities. Commercial organizations have time and again used ads not just to sell products and services, but to propagate certain narratives, especially with respect to race and gender. The propagation of those narratives has particularly gone a notch higher in the age of social media. This paper demonstrates and analyses the representation of race and gender in a selected advertisement. More specifically, the paper pays attention to the social groups targeted by the ad, how the ad violates or reinforces cultural norms, and the broader message conveyed by the ad.
The selected ad is a Facebook ad released by Dove, a Unilever-owned personal care brand. Dove released the ad in early October, 2017 in an effort to promote its body lotion. In general, Dove targeted female consumers of body lotions. More specifically,...
The ad portrays a dark skinned woman transforming to a light skinned woman after supposedly applying the lotion. From the perspective of the advertiser, the lotion is suitable for the three groups represented in the ad.
While Dove merely intended to promote its lotion to its target audiences, the ad can somewhat be viewed as a reinforcement of a narrative or norm that has existed in the society for centuries: that it is better or more appealing to have a certain skin color as opposed to another. By depicting the transformation of a black woman to a White woman upon using the lotion, the ad, arguably, advances the narrative of racism. Propagated in large part by the media, racism is basically a narrative that normalizes the view that White or light skinned people are better looking than Black or dark skinned people. In the context of the ad, using the lotion makes one White, debatably connoting White superiority. It suggests that as a woman, it is better to be light skinned than dark skinned. Accordingly, arguing that the ad demeans women of color makes sense. It degrades Black women by depicting them as less good looking than White women. In fact, a few hours after its release, the ad stirred emotions on social media, with critics strongly accusing…
Under these circumstances, an ethical dilemma is born. Should society control its development or leave it to chance? And in the case that it should control it, which categories should it help? If the person in the above mentioned example is helped, we could assume that in a certain way, the person who was not helped because he or she already disposed of the necessary means, the latter one might
Media Communications Representation of characters and role models in different media outlets is based on perceptions and preconceived notions held by the producer, co-producers, and audiences at large. Only those representations are drawn that largely resonate with current meanings given to people, characters, places, and objects.The paper presents two theoretical approaches to study media and its impact at large. Theory of social constructivism provides framework to assess the meanings given to
Mona Lisa Smile The movie "Mona Lisa Smile" has within its plot and theme a number of examples of gender construction, and the characters play out their roles based largely on the concept of the social construction of gender. This paper will delve into how gender roles are portrayed in the film, and the paper will use available literature and critiques of the social construction of gender. Social Construction of Gender An article
Introduction By being born a man or a woman signals to bearing certain clear sexual characteristics. Socialization takes individuals through a path that inculcates certain norms and codes of conduct depending on whether one is born a male or a female. In other words, the rules that one adopts and follows are guided by whether they are biologically male or female. Therefore, one’s communication, expression and behavior is shaped by the
language is defined by a unique grammar, every culture and society is also defined by a unique visual grammar. This latter is usually much less obvious even to the "natives" of a culture. One reason for this lack of transparency of visual grammar is that it is not explicitly taught in the same way that linguistic grammar is. Another reason that the visual grammar of any society is less
The traditional Western woman would not wear the mark of the warrior, the war paint, or other decorative markings. but, in the idealized world of the advertisement, a woman can as well be a warrior for a cause, as man a soldier for that in which he believes. As well, gender is used to contrast the softness and over-refinement of a highly technological and industrial world with the rigors