Analysis of Women’s Image in Iranian TV Commercials Based on Barthes Visual Semiotic

Abstract

Media affect the lives of people. By producing a particular kind of advertisement or message, media can control and influence people’s opinions and attitudes. In almost all modern societies, one of the major television genres is advertising (Cook, 2005). It not only gives information about services and products, but also builds a secondary discourse about society and power relations. Advertising has an important role in the representation of gender in a society. Thus For this study, five TV commercials broadcasted in Iran by IRIB in 22th May- 21th June 2014 were selected. These advertisements were chosen since they have significance in gender roles. Then in order to study women’s image in Iranian TV commercials, Barthian semiological analysis describing the image on both levels of significance- denotative and connotative level- was utilized. The results demonstrated that the TV advertisements selected in this paper represent gender stereotypes and traditional gender division of labor.