Ghettoising the Elite: Analysing Class Divide and Social Status in DHA YouTube Adverts

Abstract

In growing consumerist societies, advertising is one of the strongest tools the postmodern age has produced for controlling and manipulating the masses. This study aims at revealing the ideologies embedded in a purposively-selected sample of two YouTube adverts of the Defence Housing Authority in Multan and Bahawalpur. Employing as groundwork Foucault's theory of discourse contributing to social change and actively interpellating its consumer, this study conducts a multimodal critical discourse analysis of the selected ads. The textual and visual analysis showed that the selected adverts are fraught with cultural and social ideologies prevalent in South Punjab and Pakistan. By using various semiotic resources, the adverts purposely perpetuate a traditional patriarchal family structure, a system of class division and status privilege by excluding people from the lower classes, naturalising an elitist narrative, and associating happiness with wealth and riches. By putting forth the idealised and glamorised images of wealth, they instil in the audience an urge to achieve such a life. In doing so, the adverts construct their potential customers and contribute to maintaining the status-quo.