Advertising Discourse and Portrayal of Women in the Choice of Cosmetic Products in Lagos Nigeria

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine advertising discourse and portrayal of women in choice of cosmetic products in Lagos Nigeria. It was informed by the fact that advertisers use language and other strategies to influence people, especially women into purchasing their products even if they may not necessarily be required. The main objective of the study was to seek to discover if advertising discourse can influence consumers to buy into products advertised; with an aim to identify the effect of textual features on portrayal of women in the choice of cosmetic products, effect of discourse strategies on portrayal of women in the choice of cosmetic products and the influence of social practice features on portrayal of women in the choice of cosmetic products. Also, to determine the moderating effect of consumer demographic factors on the relationship between advertising discourse and portrayal of women in the choice of cosmetic products. Theories considered relevant to this study were Critical Discourse Analysis, Magic of Meaning theory, the theory of Imitative Desire and the AIDA Model. To this end, this study adopted mixed-method design. The descriptive approach with Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework of content analysis was used. The target population for analysis for the study were selected online cosmetics scripts and through ARCON, employees of selected relevant organisations in Lagos and media postgraduate students. For the qualitative analysis, the already documented cosmetic scripts were used to collect data and organized, transcribed and described according to the first dimension in discussing discourse as text, then the relation between discourse of the ads and the social context that involves the processes of text consumption was interpreted and lastly the third dimension involving discussion of discourse as social practice. A structured questionnaire for the quantitative aspect was administered and the data analyzed using descriptive statistics as well as inferential statistics in line with research objectives. The population size for the study was 636 while the sample size was 214. The study findings reveal that the relationship between textual features and portrayal of women in choice of cosmetic products, discourse strategies and portrayal of women in choice of cosmetic products as well as social features and portrayal of women in choice of cosmetic products is statistically significant. Furthermore, the demographic factors studied were found to have a moderating effect on the relationship between advertising discourse and the portrayal of women in the choice of cosmetic products. The study concludes that textual features, discourse strategies as well as social features have direct influence on portrayal of women in the choice of cosmetic products and that there is a significant relationship between demographic factors and advertising discourse and the portrayal of women in the choice of cosmetic products in Nigeria. It is hoped that these results will help create more awareness, advocacy and attitudinal change to halt problems many women may face in the future. The study recommended that advertisers pay more attention to their use of language and try to formulate more agreeable content to attract consumers. Relevant women bodies should engage in thorough campaign to create more awareness for women and press for more gender friendly policies. The government should ensure a balanced representation of women in management and policy making positions while the family should inculcate into girls their intellectual potentials, value and self-esteem. ARCON is to ensure adverts keep to regulations and only reflect the ideal beauty in their society.