Commodification, Depiction and Objectification of Women in Pakistani Television Advertisements

Abstract

Objectification of women has been a concerning issue over the past years worldwide. Objectification usually emerged from the commodification and depiction of women through television advertisements. However, the process that helped the advertisers to secure more patronage on the intended item over the depiction of women is attractive. Therefore, the objective of the paper is to analyse the commodification and depiction of women in Pakistani television advertisements. The reviewed literature concluded that the way women are commodified and objectified in advertisements is totally against Pakistan’s social system. Resultantly, such portrayal of women is a source of gender inequality, stereotyping, sexual, seductive, and provocative presentation of women that reinforces the objectification of women in society. In addition, the representation of women in a sexual manner in the advertisements destroys the value system of society in general. It is a widely accepted fact that the objectification of women is an ethical issue requiring further investigation to determine how women are portrayed in Pakistani advertisements.