Semiotic Analysis of the Objectification of Women in Selected Pakistani Advertisements

Abstract

This study explored the objectification of women in Pakistani advertisements of print and electronic media. The objectification and presentation of women in the advertisements of the western world has been extensively studied but this area lacks research in Pakistan. Semiotic analysis was used as the research tool in order to explore how multiple meanings and beliefs are built in a society by advertising sex. In this research, five advertisements from different Pakistani TV channels and newspapers were selected as sample. These commercials were selected because they presented women in a specific way. For analysis, Barthian semiotic analysis on two levels of significance, that is, the denotative and connotative levels, was employed. The findings of this paper revealed that advertisements in Pakistan focus on the physical appearance and depiction of women body.