POWER AND GENDER: A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF PAKISTANI TELEVISION COMMERCIALS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22071721Keywords:
Gender Representation, Power Relations, Semiotic AnalysisAbstract
The aim of this study is to examine the gender and power portrayal in some selected television commercials of Pakistan with the perspective of Roland Barthes' semiotic theory. This study is designed to analyze the denotative and connotative meanings in the advertising discourse, construction of gender identities and the power relation representation. One qualitative research design was used and 15 TV commercials of different brands from different product categories were selected purposefully. The study reveals that ads are cultural texts which reflect and generate the values of the society in Barthes' terms of denotation, connotation, and myth. The results confirm that traditional gender-based stereotypes are still present in many commercials, and certain commercials present images of women as powerful, independent and socially active. In addition, there are several measures of power, such as control, technology, authority, care taking and personal empowerment. The study emphasizes the construction and negotiation of gender and power within current Pakistan, through the lens of advertising.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Shumaila, Marya Sarwar, Atif Saleem Tahir, Ijaz Ahmad (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
