Female role portrayal in South African magazine advertisements

Abstract

Even though women actually fulfil many roles in real life, advertisements targeting femaleconsumers are often accused of depicting women in traditionally stereotypical roles. The purposeof this article is to analyse the visual elements of the roles portrayed by female models in SouthAfrican magazine advertisements. The study on which this article is based has made a uniquecontribution by investigating not only the relationship between the roles portrayed and the ethnicityof the female models, but also the relationship between the product categories advertised andthe ethnicity of the female models. A total of 258 full-page and double-page advertisements weresampled from two issues of nine consumer magazines published in South Africa. The research,using content analysis, found that female models were predominantly portrayed as consumersand as the decorative focal points in advertisements advertising apparel, accessories andpersonal care products. A significant relationship was moreover identified between the productcategories advertised and the ethnicity of the female models