A CRITICAL DISCORSE ANALYSIS OF

LANGUAGE USED FOR WHITENING CREAM

ADVERTISEMENT IN PAKISTAN
Abstract:

This study investigates the whitening cream advertisements in Pakistan from a perspective of

critical discourse analysis. In the present era advertisements have become an efficient tool for the

companies to present their products and services, but the content has some negative sides as it is

‘persuasive and manipulative’. Whitening cream advertisements portray the concept of a

beautiful person with the help of language used. Different linguistic features are used by the

advertisers to build an image of the product and to build a relationship with the audience in

certain ways. So, the readers should be aware and critical while watching the advertisements.

The main focus of this study is the linguistic features used in the advertisements and different

techniques used by advertisers to convince the consumers. Language is a discourse so

advertisements are form of media discourse. Fairclough’s three dimensional framework is used

for the analysis of the language used in the advertisements to exploit the audience. The data

includes ten advertisements from electronic media. A mixed research method is used.

The findings indicate that the patterns of language, visuals, texts and the techniques used by the

advertisers exploit the concept of beauty and the point of view that only white skin is a symbol of

beauty is promoted. The study explains how the power over the audience is maintained by the

use of celebrities in advertisements as and efficient tool for advertising.

Keywords: Advertisements, Fairclough’s three dimensional framework, linguistic features,

critical discourse analysis, media discourse.

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1. Introduction:

In present world where everything is modern, advertising is an efficient instrument for

companies to present their products, commodities, and favors to customers. Language features

are used by the advertisers to construct a picture of the product and to create a connection with

the viewers in certain ways. Language is not only a way of communication but it can also

influence ideas and it is the representative of the culture and the norms of the society in which it

is used. The audience must be aware of when they are watching advertisement. Language is a

powerful device in shaping the mindset. This is the reason that the language used in the

advertisements is persuasive and attractive to grab the attention of the audience. Media discourse

is a multifaceted discipline. It covers terms of ethnography of communication, conversational

analysis, cultural studies, and psychology and so on. So, in this, modern world the importance of

media is incontestable. With the advancement in technology TV commercials have emerged as

the important source of information and also have an impact on our ideas and choices to buy

different products. The focus of this study is how and to what extent the advertisements of

whitening creams influence people. Whitening cream advertisements will be examined in this

study from the viewpoint of critical discourse analysis and for this purpose the focus is on the

use of language and the policies used by the product advertisers. The purpose of advertisements

is to inform the viewers about the benefits and the services of the products. Fascinating language

and famous celebrities are used in television commercials of whitening creams to attract viewers

and to convince them to buy these products. Through the use of inducing language and visuals,

the concept of beauty is inculcated in the minds of the consumers. Audience should be conscious

of these strategies and evaluative when watching commercials.

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Statement of Problem:

People are normally influenced by commercials. The advertisers take advantage of this and

design commercials to attract people by using attractive language and showing limited truths.

This makes it essential to analyze and explore the linguistic features used in advertisements. It is

also important to make people aware of the strategies used by advertisers and to make them

watchful of the deceptive language of commercials.

Significance of study:

This study examines the role of commercials in persuading people. The present research is a

source of realization for public, so they do not get attracted by the persuasive language of

commercials. The concept of beauty expressed through advertisements is explored in this

research.

Research Objectives:

 The research aims to analyze the language of whitening creams advertisements

 To see the impact of these advertisements on audience particularly women

 To find out the societal factors which make these advertisements attractive for the

audience

Research Questions:

 What kind of language features are used to persuade the consumers in whitening

creams advertisements in Pakistan?

 What are the impacts of whitening cream advertisements on audience specially

women?
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  What are the societal factors that make audience attracted to skin whitening creams?

Delimitations:

There are many brands of whitening creams but this research analyzes only the linguistic

features used and their impact on the audience in five popular whitening creams

advertisements. Moreover in addition to creams there are many other whitening products

like lotions, facewashes etc. but the focus of this study is only on whitening creams.

2. Literature Review:

In this section, the researches which were conducted previously are reviewed. Works and

contributions are mentioned to highlight the role of media and impact of language use in

advertisements.

The purpose of advertisements is to present a product as desirable as possible to the consumers.

The way in which the viewers respond to commercials is a personal decision, but the processing

of information is not in conscious control. This provides advertisers opportunity to influence

their viewers to buy their products. Even if, people do not pay much attention to the

advertisements but still the message will be processed in the minds of viewers as information.

Different lifestyles, texts and techniques are used by advertisers to control beauty standard and

women ideology by forcing the perspective that their product provides everlasting beauty.

Specific situations and conditions are used by social actors to promote stereotypes and to have

control over the mindset of the viewers. Many linguistic devices which include good vocabulary,

direct address and attractive slogans are used in fair and lovely commercials to attract the target

3
audience. The most common theme in fair and lovely advertisements is the perfect and standard

look for women (Iqbal, 2014).

One of the reason for the success of fairness products in Pakistani society is the desire of

women of old age to have fair skinned girl as their daughter-in-law. Moreover, white skin is

considered as a symbol of beauty and success. Now a days, majority of the advertisements

shown in television are the commercials of beauty products e.g.: 6 out of 10 advertisements

shown in television are that of beauty products and these commercials include all kind of beauty

products ranging from shampoos and soaps to skin whitening creams(faiza beauty cream etc.).

Skin tone is the most influencing aspect of measuring the standards of beauty. These

advertisements give the notion that these products provide instantaneous beauty and quick

enhancements to beauty. (Lee Siew Chin, 2018)

Advertisers build power relations with their customers by exploiting their ideology. The most

prominent idea in fairness commercials is to present an ideal look for women. This idea is

promoted that women will look good and beautiful only if they have fair skin with no scares and

acne and only then they can be successful in their social and personal lives. (Karamatullah

Hussain, 2008) These advertisements are promoting prejudices relating to the colors of people

and they are portraying that dark people cannot be successful unless they do not use these

products. Sellers exploit women through discourse buying a new way of life. In beauty product

advertisements stereotypes of an ideal good looking person are portrayed by the use of language

features. In women magazines there are many advertisements related to the needs of women

which include dresses, beauty products, and they are also portraying the image of an ideal

women. Women behaviors in the society are influenced by beauty product advertisements and

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their views can be changed and they will try to look as beautiful as possible. Different linguistic

techniques are used by ‘femina and prestige magazines’ to convince women. In addition to

establishing a good relationship with their audience, they also try to sell their products. To build

the image of a product and expression modality is constructed (Kalsoom, 2019) . One of the

major sources of connection between advertisers and viewers in this advance world is

commercials. Without promotional activities no company can become well known. In modern

society there are many channels and the society is media dominated society. To achieve

financial and marketing objectives and to increase their sales the companies use advertisements.

(Hussain, riaz, kabir, & herni, 2008).

In beauty products advertisements, inductive language is used to manipulate the viewers

specially women. An idea of perfect life style is promoted and minds of readers are controlled to

such an extent that they think whatever is portrayed in advertisements is true. Women magazines

promote beauty products by constructing and reconstructing ideology related to standards of

beauty and this idea is promoted that beauty can help you to be successful in life. The people

who have control and power (advertisers) use specific kind of language to have control on others

in order to claim that their products provide benefits, positive self-representation is portrayed

(Kuldip kaur, 2013). The discourse of Advertisements is multidimensional. The text used in

commercials is not only ‘informative’ or ‘persuasive’ but also there are certain other factors

included in it like what are the social practices. Power in discourse is a form of social exercise

and it is practiced through various features of language. From the power relations after

advertisements it can be described to which power relation, social actors, groups and institution

the discourse is related. Discursive limitations cannot be applied to advertisements because they

are distant form of conversation and the audience and participants are separated. (Baig, 2013)

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In order to get the consumers attention, parallelism and conditional adjuncts (so, because, if,

they) and pronouns instead of verbs (for example: ‘Every time you use it, you get fairness, Ready

to take fairness bet with us’) are used by the advertisers. Another feature is use of disjunctive in

sentences such as; ‘Beautiful always’, ‘not just a cream…it’s a fairness treatment’) the words

and phrases used in commercials are those which have social importance for people. When

people see or hear ads many times the message in them is subconsciously stored in their minds

and affects their behavior. Famous and naturally beautiful actors are used for the promotion of

beauty products so that people can be influenced (Susanti, 2019).

Television advertising has ability to convey message to massive population because television is

in approach of huge population of the country. By using attractive images and sound an

influencing package is prepared by the advertisers. Television commercials related to beauty and

whitening products are responsible for inculcating the notion of color complexion in the minds of

women. Advertisements not only manipulate the mentality of audience but also reflect cultural

norms and values. The insecurity of Pakistani culture (inferiority complex due to brown color),

commercials and the pressure from society are the reasons for evolving fascination of fair skin

(Turhan, 2017).The industry of fairness products is promoting the notion that white color is

elated to success in life and dull color is a symbol of disgrace and it is always risky. Through

advertisements it is shown that if someone is not fair then he/she is going to face a lot of

problems in the society.

The use of mercury in whitening creams makes skin dull and ugly. The fascination for white skin

in Pakistan emerged from the development of cast system which promoted white skin as the

domain of upper class and dark color was related to lower and working class. Through electronic

and print media campaigns the desire for fair skin is also being intensified (Ali, 2017).

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All of these studies discuss the linguistic features used in advertisements and the cultural shift in

the society but no study explores the factors which are responsible for producing such type of

advertisements and why these advertisements are attractive for audience. This is the gap which

this research intends to fill.

3. Research Methodology:

3.1 Theoretical Framework:

The researcher uses Fairclough’s three dimensional framework in this research. Advertisements

include language and social practices so they are considered as media discourse. This frame

work is used to highlight the relation between the characteristics of language and the practices of

society. Three levels are included in Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework which is micro

level, meso level and macro level. Micro level, meso level and macro level include discourse as

text, discursive practices and social practices, respectively. The purpose of this framework is to

find out the link of the language used, aims or faiths, and how the advertisers use the link

between these features to effect people to buy their product.

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Explanation Social Practices

(Social Analysis) Social and historical setting

Discursive Practices
Production, distribution,
Interpretation consumption

(Processing analysis)
Text
Description

(Analysis of text)

3.2 Research Design:

The researcher uses mixed method approach for collecting and analysis of data. Critical analysis

of advertisements is done on the basis of three angles which are textual, social and discursive.

The research is descriptive and exploratory in nature.

3.3 Research Method:

The researcher analyzes the advertisements by using Fairclough’s (1989) approach. With the use

of this approach, the researcher will focus on text discursive and social practices. The study of

use of effective language and other strategies in the advertisements to influence people will

comprise this study.

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 3.4 Procedure:

The researcher gathers the information from the text of the advertisements and from the students

using close ended questionnaire.

3.5 Population:

The researcher conducts the research on whitening cream advertisements in Pakistan. The

population of this study is whitening cream advertisements (Faiza beauty cream, Golden Pearl,

Fair and Lovely, Ponds, Face Fresh beauty cream) on television during past five years in

Pakistan and the students of NUML, Air University and International Islamic University,

Islamabad.

3.6 Sample:

The researcher uses purposive sampling as the study is concerned with exploring only whitening

cream advertisements. The researcher will collect data from 10 advertisements of five popular

brands of whitening creams (Faiza Beauty Cream, Golden Pearl, Fair and Lovely, Ponds Pure

White, Face Fresh) from TV commercials. In order to study the effect of language used the

researcher will analyze advertisements’ language and the analysis is based on Fairclough’s three

dimensional model. Seventy five students from NUML, International Islamic University and Air

University have been selected for this study. The students, among these universities, will be

equally divided to conduct this research.

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4. Data Analysis:
On the basis of Fairclough’s three dimensional framework the discourse used in advertisements

is analyzed at textual, discursive and social practice level. In this study, ten advertisements of

whitening creams are analyzed. Data is collected from these advertisements. The link of the

videos of the advertisements analyzed in this study is mentioned in the following table:

Names of Brand Links of the advertisement videos

Fair and lovely https://youtu.be/J_2epVPHjII

https://youtu.be/qHeuD_mR1c0

https://youtu.be/MofxiEGYUBo

Faiza beauty cream https://youtu.be/yitW5nQ5rdA

https://youtu.be/bYLFCRSSAe4

Face fresh https://youtu.be/VG4p2IPwOf8

https://youtu.be/Ms8c2oHekBg

Golden pearl https://youtu.be/it5T_peOamo

https://youtu.be/BTftqCJgsg

Ponds https://youtu.be/Gfeg0mKDIVg

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Table 4.1 Links of videos

4.1 Textual Analysis:

In textual analysis, the focus is on the linguistic features which include vocabulary, syntactical

patterns and the use of rhetorical devices. The analysis of text answers the first research question

which is about the use of linguistic features in the advertisements. Vocabulary is an influential

tool for advertisers to convince the audience and to establish particular belief and viewpoint

among them. The textual analysis explains what kind of patterns of language are used in the

advertisements. Advertisers modify language in their own way to increase the worth of their

product. In the advertisements both casual and academic words are used in order to develop a

strong relationship with the audience. The choice of words is very influential in creating

concepts of beauty .The language which is used in advertisements is highly positive and it

focuses on the reasons that why this product is better than others for example ‘anti spot formula’,

‘HD glow’.

The researcher observed the use of direct address in the advertisements. Direct address is used

to form a connection with the target consumers. Second-person pronouns like ‘you, us’ and

possessive pronouns like ‘yours’ are used to directly address the audience. Such types of

pronouns are not used for providing the details of the benefits of the product but to develop

social connection. The use of such type of pronouns is to show that the advertisements are

showing the experience of every layperson and through these pronouns a strong connection

between presenter and the audience is established. When people are addressed directly and

individually rather than collectively they feel more connected and highly valued and they feel

special. Audience consider themselves to be like actor/ actresses of the advertisements. This

behavior of people is mentioned as ‘synthetic personalization’ (Faircolough, 1989).

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For example:

‘Do you know what is the most important thing in a girl’s life… her face should be fresh’.

‘The use of vitamins, alovera, herbal extract and pearl in face fresh makes you more beautiful in

few days and your complexion will be beauteous’.

‘Fair and lovely crystal bright cream gives you a crystal like glow’.

The use of these pronouns presents that the company is making promise that is honest. It

establishes a relationship between the customers and the advertisers (Iqbal, Exploitation of

Women in Beauty products of ''Fair and Lovely'': A Critical Discourse Analysis Study, 2014).

In order to get the attention of the audience and to provide them confidence to use the particular

product questions are asked. The use of questions depicts suggestion or inquiry about readiness.

For Example:

‘Do you want to know the reason of my success...? It is the confidence that Faiza beauty cream

gives me’.

‘How does your face glow so much?’

Such type of questions develop strong relationship between the advertisers and the audience and

give them a feeling that they should use the product otherwise they will be at loss. The

advertisers by using such type of questions in the advertisements increase the worth of the

product.

Imperatives are also used in advertisements. Imperatives give viewers limited space for

disagreement. Imperatives instruct audience in subconscious way.

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For Example:

‘Get clear and glowing face without dark spots’

‘Stop playing with your skin, use Faiza’

‘Get spotless fairness’

‘Recognize yourself’

In order to give the positive image of the product the advertisers use adjectives. The use of

adjectives brings profoundness to advertisements. Positive adjectives are used to highlight the

positivity. The use of these adjectives prompts certain sentiments, imaginations, hopes and

wishes among the females and this gives rise to the feeling in them that all these positive

adjectives should be used with them also and they want to be praised by others. In order to fulfill

their desire it is necessary that they use the product and in this way the market worth of the

product is enhances by the companies. For Example: ‘Brighter skin’, ‘spotless fairness’,

‘flawless radiance’. The use of adjectives like flawless, spotless and brighter is to provoke the

concept of absolute beauty and to convince the audience to use the product.

Negative adjectives are also used in the advertisements in order to highlight the problems that are

faced by the costumers and to recommend the product as a cure for their problems. The examples

of negative adjectives used are ‘dark, dull’ in dark spots, dull skin.

The advertisers also use captivating jingles to beguile their audience which are mostly women.

The influence of these captivating phrases is increased by using different images, circumstances

and background music. The examples of captivating slogans used in advertisements are as

follows:

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‘Beauty is now an actual dream’

‘A fresh face is beautiful’

‘Now every face glow’

With the help of above mentioned linguistic features the concept of ideal beauty is inculcated in

the minds of audience particularly women. Women wants to have traits in them that are present

in the products or the person promoting that product. The main is to have fair complexion. The

advertisements give the impression that in order to get the desired features the customer needs to

use the product.

4.2 Discursive Analysis:

In this level the focus is on the creation of the text, dispersion and utilization which provides a

glimpse of the development of power relationship with the help of text. This level answers the

second research question which is about the impacts of whitening cream advertisements on

women. The principal viewers of whitening cream advertisements are females so the promoters

voluntarily utilize the discourse policies of presenting prominent celebrities, scientific

verifications, code mixing, requirements, problems and flaws that are faced by the audience.

First they present a problem and then give a solution for it. For example in Pond’s pure white ad

first the problem of dark spots is mentioned and it is showed that it is due to pollution and then

ponds cream is presented as a solution to this problem.

Whitening advertisements disperse the idea in their own way and for their own interest. They are

giving the message beauty is only associated with fair skin and to be beautiful means to have a

fair skin.

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Advertisers use different techniques in their ads to convince the audience particularly women.

The techniques used by advertisers are as follows:

Table 2 Strategies used by advertisers

Strategies used in Advertisements Linguistic Devices

1. Celebrity presentation By using famous personality ‘Mavra Hocane’

saying ‘Fair and lovely will give you HD glow’.

2. Scientific Verification ‘Multivitamins used reduce spots and give perfect

glow’. ‘Silk extract new formula’

3. Code mixing and shifting ‘Clear dark spots with Pond’s white beauty, pian

saaf nikhra chechra’ . ‘Fair and lovely fairness

unbeateable ha, try krke khud daikhain’

4. Emotive words Soft and silky skin

Clear and glowing face

Brighten skin

Every day we come across many television advertisements promoting white skin. These

advertisements portray the message that the success of person is related to his/her fair

complexion and having fair skin means you are beautiful and also that it is important to have a

fair skin if you want success in life.

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Actresses are portrayed in such a particular way that it looks like the reason of their beauty is the

use of the cream that they are promoting. A relationship is established between the speaker and

the audience that their minds are occupied and they cannot think negative about the product.

Emotional words are used by the celebrities and the audience interpret them in positive sense,

they occupy respected place is the society and have a fan following, so people start trusting them

and the product that they are presenting. They also convey that the reason behind their successful

career is the product. For Example: In Faiza beauty cream advertisement Ayza Khan asks a

questions from the audience that ‘Do you want to know the reason behind my success?’ and then

she says that it is because of the confidence that Faiza cream gave me. In order to see the impact

of celebrity endorsement a close ended question is asked from the participants. When the

participants are asked the question that do they get influenced by the use of celebrity then

majority of them agreed to this that they are attracted by the celebrity used and they but the

product because of the celebrity because they think that they can also be able to look like a

particular celebrity used in advertisements. Their responses in percentage are as follows:

Their responses are as follows:

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 Figure 4.1 celebrity endorsement

Present era is the era of science and technology. When scientific information is added in the

presentation of product people are easily convinced to use the product. It is a strategy to impress

the audience. Everybody prefers scientific facts so by using the scientific verifications a powerful

relationship is formed and these facts are presented in a way that they set up the positive image

of the company and their product in the society. Scientific evidences in advertisements give

viewers an image that the product meets the modern standards and it is up to date with present-

day technology. Moreover, with the use of scientific terminologies it is instilled in the minds of

the viewers that whitening creams are needed not only to get fair skin but also to manage their

natural properties of their skin. The examples of scientific terms in the data are: advanced

multivitamins, silk extract new formula.

The shifting and mixing of language is another technique used by the advertisers to enhance the

number of users. This technique sets up strong relationship with all people with different

languages. Pakistani society is a multilingual society. Majority of people understand and use

both English and Urdu in their conversation. Code shifting in the advertisements is used keeping

17
in view this fact so that the audience can relate to it and positive discourse can be setup among

them and power relation can be formed in community.

Affective and emotive words are used in the advertisements so that the viewers comprehend

them in positive way and they can increase the worth and demand of their product in the market.

The emotive words and different adjectives like ‘flawless’, ‘spotless’ and ‘bright’ grasp the

attention of the audience towards the product.

There is also presentation of negative others and positive other when it is declared that their

product is finer than others. For example: in fair and lovely ad it is shown that fair and lovely is

better than actresses’ expensive cream so you should try it.

Moreover, advertisers use music to get the attention of the viewers. Famous and familiar songs

and music is used to influence the impression of product on the people. The research shows that

multisensory effects are easily remembered. Words or the pictures can be forgotten but different

researches show that human mind is receptive to the beat. Music not only attracts the viewer but

also have a considerable impact on the emotional state of the viewers so in advertisements with

the help of music the attention of audience is grasped. For example: in Golden pearl ad famous

song ‘Beauty of my beloved cannot be praised. In Face fresh advertisement dance is used to get

attention of the viewers.

One of the impacts of promotion of skin whitening creams is that it is creating inferiority

complex among girls having dark skin. A close ended statement is given to participants in

response of which majority agreed to the fact that these promotions are creating inferiority

complex and hurting their self-esteem. Responses are shown in the following pie chart:

18
 Figure 4.2 self respect of dark skin girls

Moreover, participants who filled the questionnaire in response to this that whether the language

used in advertisements is manipulative and convincing or not the responses of the participants

are as follows:

Figure 4.3 language of advertisements

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This shows that the advertisers consciously use different features of language in order to

manipulate the viewers and to convince them to buy the product.

The results which are shown in the advertisements are not achieved by using the cream. The

participants’ responses are following:

Figure 4.4 result of using whitening creams

This shows that the claims shown in ads are false and the product is not as effective as shown in

advertisements. The results which are shown in the advertisements are not true. They are just to

impress the viewers.

Above mentioned are the ways through which advertisers create a power relation and enhance

the use of their product in a society.

4.3 Socio-cultural Analysis:

This level of analysis is concerned with cultural norms, the present conditions and social bodies

that determine the process of formation of text. In this level the traditions or the norms of the

20
society which influence the text production are discussed. In Critical Discourse Analysis,

language is considered as a social practice and is concerned with the role of language which it

plays in the social and cultural settings in which it is used. Through the use of text the concerns

of the people who compose the texts are reflected. The text which is analyzed in this study is

verbal because it is taken from television advertisements.

The concept of beauty is subjective; it does not have a particular definition. In whitening cream

advertisements it is portrayed that beauty is to have a fair skin. The reason for this is that in

Pakistani society people are obsessed with white skin tone and everyone wants to have a fair and

flawless skin. Pakistani women in past used different traditional things to enhance their beauty

for example they used herbs, natural cream and ‘multani matti’ to enhance their facial glow. Due

to colonial history of Pakistan, in the past white skin color was considered as the symbol of

power and authority. In the present still the white color is preferred and in Pakistani society the

people who have light skin tone are considered more beautiful and superior to those who have

dark skin tone. This trend is also being followed in other Asian countries (Mukherje, 2019).

21
In order to see the role of our society in promoting fair skin participants’ responses to the

consideration of white women as beautiful in our society are following:

Figure 4.5 concept of society about beauty

Moreover the participant’s response to the raising of dominance of white skin though sin

whitening advertising discourse is as follows:

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 Figure 4.6 increasing dominance of white skin
The responses of participants on whether self-esteem of dark skin girls is hurt by whitening

creams advertisements are as follows:

Figure 4.7 advertisements hurt self respect

These responses show that the girls who do not have fair skin feel inferior to those who have fair

skin after watching such type of advertising discourse.

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The results show that the discourse of whitening advertisements are spreading negative values

which are loss of confidence of girls having dark skin and raising the dominance of white skin in

society.

Today women are very concerned about looking beautiful and attractive that they try everything

they could to look better. When they watch the advertisements some of them believe that

whatever is said and showed is correct so they start using the product but unfortunately the

results are not the same as shown in the advertisements. The discourse of the advertisements is

set in such a way that it creates the image in the mind of the viewers that if they use the product

they will look like the celebrities who are shown in the advertisements.

The result shows that in our society the women having fair skin are preferred over women having

dark complexion. The standard of judging someone’s beauty in our society is fair skin. Due to

this reason the advertisements promoting whitening of skin are a source of attraction for females

watching these advertisements.

The whitening cream promoting companies not only sell the products but due to these ads the

prejudice related to the color of the skin are spreading in the society. The girls having darker

complexion after watching these advertisements feel inferior to those who have fair skin.

5. Conclusion:
The analysis of the data used in the advertisements shows that different features of linguistics are

used to get the attention of the audience. It is concluded that the language used is based on the

ideology which shows that beauty is to have a fair and clear skin without dark spots. The

advertisements gives the message that what is meant by being beautiful for women such as a

24
fresh and fair face is beautiful. To get the attention of the viewers evidences from science and

scientific terminologies are also used.

The main focus of this study is the language use in advertisements and how companies for their

product’s promotion use different strategies to convince people and how the need of the product

is created. This study refers to how companies set up discourse in society and increase the

demand of the product. All the features including celebrity appearance, use of emotive words,

scientific terminologies are discussed in this study. The findings show that the most prominent

theme in these advertisements is the perfect beauty or the appearance for the females. The study

shows that there is a specific purpose behind the language of the advertisements which is to sell

the product by creating certain ideals about the beauty.

It is deduced that the advertisers manipulate the ideas and minds of the customers by utilizing

their social norms and ethnic comprehension. They not only promote the product but are also

responsible for validating fairness stereotypes in the society. Advertisements have an impact on

the minds of people so such type of concepts should not be promoted.

From the analysis of data, it is clear that the prominent concept presented in whitening cream

advertisements is the presentation of ideal image of the women. The findings show that the idea

which these advertisements are presenting is that for a women it is mandatory to have white skin

if they want to be successful in their private and public lives. It is not difficult to achieve this all

they have to do is to use the product and their dreams will be fulfilled.

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The study reveals that how the concept of white skin is inculcated in the minds of viewers. In

this study advertisements are analyzed critically in order to make people be aware that how

attractive language is used to manipulate them. In conclusion, language is a powerful tool in

shaping the behaviors. Advertisements set up the minds of the audience and convince them to

buy the product. This study will raise consciousness in the people about the power of discourse

so that before getting influenced they think about all these things. Furthermore, this research is

only concerned with whitening creams, future research can be conducted on other whitening

products like soaps, lotions etc. research can also be conducted pragmatics and word structure of

television advertisements.

In the present society beauty is associated with looks. Advertisements play a vital role in shaping

our ideologies and are also responsible for creating a mindset in a society. When repeatedly a

content is shown which portrays that beauty is to have a fair skin then this idea of beauty

subconsciously inculcated in the minds of the viewers and it is normalized.

It is concluded from the study that language is a powerful device which is capable of forming

beliefs. It is a way of communicating ideas and beliefs and also a way of conveying messages.

The use of Fairclough’s three dimensional framework makes it clear that media has a huge

influence on the viewers and media discourse is capable of presenting different ideologies.

26
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