Gendering Advertisements: A Comparative Study of Pakistani Print Media Semiotic Discourses

Abstract

Print media advertisements are one of the most influential means of propagating a desired ideology to the target audience. The present study attempts to decode critically representation of Fe / male genders through the advertisements of two Pakistani daily newspapers, Dawn and Jung. The time span for data collection ranges from 1st June to 30th June 2022. The data has been analyzed by employing Kress and Hodge's (2010) model of social semiotics. This model focuses on the analysis at linguistic and semiotic levels. It finds that percentage of female representation in the advertisements is higher than male representation. The males and females have been shown in the advertisements of banking and finance, education, showbiz and media, and real-estate business. It contends that word picture conjunction works effectively in propagating desired ideologies. Therefore, the study concludes that genre of advertisement is one of the best sites for ideological investment.