| Author: | Coffie, Joseph Adika |
| Title: | Representation of sexuality in television advertising : a systemic functional multimodal discourse analysis of Ghanaian alcohol commercials |
| Advisors: | Feng, William (ENGL) Matthiessen, Christian (ENGL) |
| Degree: | Ph.D. |
| Year: | 2023 |
| Subject: | Sex in advertising -- Ghana Sex role in advertising -- Ghana Television advertising -- Ghana Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Department of English and Communication |
| Pages: | x, 372 pages : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Some studies have identified television advertising of alcoholic beverages as one of the most persuasive and efficient ways of recruiting new generation drinkers in Ghana. Other studies have bemoaned the advertising strategies used in such commercials while concerned citizens and even the parliament of Ghana have penned feature articles and held deliberations about its menacing social effects on young people. Concerns of linking sexuality to the product in the television commercials have been very rife in recent years, while there seems to be very little scholarly interest in the semiotic descriptions of how the semantic evocation of sex is constructed in television commercials. The aim of the study is to examine how sexuality and representations of such are constructed in television commercials as promotional resources that persuade television audiences. The study investigates the semiotic resources that are characterised as sexual, the rhetorical structures that organise the commercial, and how the various multimodal resources are utilised to expand the sexual meaning of the commercial. The study also discusses the gender relations constructed from the interactions between male and female participants in the commercials and their implications on gender practices, definitions and relations in Ghana. The data used for the study comprised 30 different audio-visual artefacts produced between 2010 and 2021 and have at some point in time appeared on Ghanaian televisions as alcohol commercials. The study is based on an empirical approach that adopts the Systemic Functional Multimodal Discourse analysis to examine the semiotic choices that enable the semantic evocation of sexuality in the television commercial. the multimodal approach and analysis focuses on visual and verbal representative resources that are described as sexually semantic using descriptive models. The study also relies on Systemic Functional approaches to describe the rhetorical structure of the commercial and the semiotic interplay of visual and verbal resources that construct sexuality in the commercials. The findings of the study show that visual evocations of sex are embodied in semi-nudely dressed women, the symbolic gesture of strength, and through relational processes associated with participants in the commercials, Aside from these, facial reactions of smile create a positive atmosphere for such constructions, while participants’ engagement with other objects like food establish metaphorical sexual representations. Verbally, semantic sexual evocations are mostly simple clauses and declarative statements. In most cases, they are constructed as appreciations of the value or impact of the beverage, but also as positive judgments of the capacities of the participants, especially men. Three rhetorical structures were also identified as montage structures that act as conduits for these implied sexual meanings. Mini-drama style is used most, while the narrative commentary and the music video techniques also feature considerably. Visual-Verbal dependencies that construct the sexual rhetoric are usually equal, although text or verbal language plays a more expansive role compared to the visual representation. The significance of the study is captured in its procedural method that should guide regulatory institutions to rigorously vet television commercials before they are distributed for public consumption. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | open access |
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