SPEECH ACT AND GENDER BIAS: A STUDY OF PAKISTANI ADVERTISEMENT
Keywords:
Advertisement, Gender Stereotypes, Ideologies, MediaAbstract
Advertisements have the power to shape social values and cultural patterns. This study is exploratively based on the critical analysis of speech acts of Pakistani advertisements, both in print and electronic media, which are reinforcing linguistic, communicative methods that maintain gender prejudices and traditional attitudes ingrained in Pakistani society. Utilising a qualitative research model and content analysis, the study analyses implied as well as explicit messages that support traditional gender stereotypes. Guided by Gilly’s Content Coding Scheme and Speech Act Theory, this analysis examines locutionary, illocutionary and perlocutionary acts, including commissives, directives, assertives, expressives and declarations to uncover the linguistic processes through which gendered portrayals are created and maintained. The findings indicate that Pakistani advertising language tends to perpetuate more implicit sexist language, for it depicts mostly women in caring or beauty roles on the one hand, and men as authorising and decision-making on the other hand. These findings demonstrate how language used in advertisements perpetuates patriarchal views and upholds preexisting social orders. Overall, the study is a contribution to the broader academic discussion of gender representation and media studies, arguing against the existing male hegemony in advertising and promoting a more equal representation of gender roles. The study highlights the significant role of language in shaping popular opinion and calls for reconsidering communicative practices in the Pakistani advertising market to facilitate proportionate and inclusive media coverage.
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