SELLING EMPOWERMENT OR REINFORCING STEREOTYPES? A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF WOMEN’S PORTRAYAL IN PAKISTANI ELECTRONIC ADVERTISEMENTS

Abstract

The problem of characterizing women stereotypically in advertisements is well researched, especially in the previous literature from the South Asia context. Traditionally, Pakistani advertisements have propagated the narrow gender roles, viewing women as caretakers, homemakers or beauty icons. Nonetheless, contemporary tendencies in the advertising sphere demonstrate a certain change in the direction of more empowered female images, which can be explained by the changes in the socio-cultural and market contexts. This paper examines the process by which current advertisements in the Pakistani electronic media depict that conception and steps beyond stereotypes to promote more positive and aspirational depictions of female empowerment. Using the qualitative research study design and grounded theory to analyse the data, a purposive sample of recently placed advertisements was analyzed to come up with emergent themes. The analysis was based on grounded data analysis. The analysis identifies a two-sided discourse: on the one hand, traditional female representations of women as domestic and decorative objects continue to prevail; however, more and more advertisements increasingly position women as empowered professionals, independent decision makers, and social change agents. Such enabled roles model women as educators, business owners, and managers, a noticeable shift toward the re-ordering of gender roles in the Pakistani media discourse. By noting this paradigm shift in the way that stereotypes are being transformed to empowerment, the study serves to make a critical contribution to the literature on gender and media representation in the Global South. It highlights how advertising is not only a commercial undertaking but also plays the role of a cultural agent to modify the attitude of people towards the position of women in society