Air uiversity, islamabad

AIR UIVERSITY, ISLAMABAD

SEMESTER PROJECT OF COMMUNICATION SKILL’S

CLASS: BSCS-1(D)

SUBMITTED TO: SIR AKHTAR ABBAS

SUBMITTED BY: GROUP 4

HOW WOMEN ARE represented in

T.v commercials:
Introduction:

Nowadays Pakistani commercials on TV have increased so much that a one hour show has approximately a half hour commercials. People watch commercials as a time pass and that is why they are very concerned about them as well. In most Pakistani ads women are shown as deprived and complexed. We are again highlighting the point that we are focusing on most of the ads not all of them. The focus of my article will be on the advertisements showing women’s role in the society.

In most of the ads, women are shown as suppressed and tired. They are shown doing the household chores and working around the house like a machine. Most of the ads focus on making the women more beautiful. The anti-aging creams, hair dyes, shampoos, soaps and fairness creams. Is this what a Pakistani woman is all about? The ads show the women worrying all the time about their family’s health. Is this really a true reflection? Pakistani women are careful about their families and they are also conscious about their beauty but this is not all. They are much more than this.

 A woman of Pakistan is confident, bold and empowered. They are excelling in almost every other field. May it be banking, medicine, media, international relations or military, the women of Pakistan have proven themselves everywhere. Apart from this the concept of a joint family is also fading in Pakistan day by day. People are starting to make their families nuclear. Women are as independent as men. But as far as our ads are concerned, they do not focus on the successful women in our country. All they focus on is the beauty tips that our women need. Only in some hand wash ads, women are shown as Doctors otherwise in each ad either the woman is a wife or a model. There is no ad that focuses on a woman in a corporate environment except some rare commercials of ufone.

Most cooking oils, soaps and washing powders show the negative attitude of mother in laws towards the women. This is actually what is being portrayed about our women. They are portrayed as weak and helpless people who work day and night to give love and care to the family. Yes, women of Pakistan do strive very hard to keep everyone happy but we are a lot more than this. We know how to juggle up out responsibilities. We can even continue studies, work at an office and do the house chores simultaneously. There are many young girls in Pakistan who are students but they still take out time for online jobs or internships in companies and the house chores.

There are some ads that need to be appreciated. Those which show a positive image of the women of Pakistan, Aquafina shows Mahira Khan studying for her exams and her mother comes to give her some blessings. Apart from this Nesvita ads are also in the favor of women. Moreover we had an ad of Mobilink which had a Pakistani athlete Naseem Ahmad in it. Tapal tea has also shown good ads like the one in which the daughter convinces her father to let her work in a company. My point is that advertisements should be meaningful. They should not only portray a positive image but they should also be motivating for others.

Advertisers should stop this male chauvinism and come up with new, fresh and innovative ideas. These ideas should not only promote our culture but also our thinking. We should break this stereotype that in Pakistan all the women are Domestic type. We are multi-talented. This is what we need to show. We can do every possible thing and we do not lack at any point. Advertising agencies should hire new and fresh minded creative directors. These directors should stop focusing on the beauty of the girls and their personal stuff like hair removing creams etc... Instead they should think about the talent those girls possess. Only in this way they can show the truth and produce advertisements showing women’s role in the society based on the reality. Beside this, there are some unethical ads which should not be played because they are not suitable to watch with family.

Women Representation in Pakistani TV Commercials

Main Purpose of the Project:

The key aim of this project is to examine how television advertisements in Pakistan objectify women and idealize particular images of svelte, thin and soft female bodies as feminine capital. Content analysis is used to highlight how sexist media construct unattainable or objectified images of feminine beauty. The image of an ideal woman (as presented in advertisements and other popular textual) relegates women to mere objects of desire, leisure, sex, rather than people (human beings) with emotions and feelings. The study concludes with an assertion that the intensification and normalization of physical appearances and body exposure as standards of feminine beauty upon which women have to seek their acceptance in males' fantasy world is harmful for society in general and women in particular.

One of the key concerns this project is that advertisements do not only construct 'beauty ideal' but also normalize it as cultural standard. Feminists' analysis of women representation in television commercials 'indicates that [television commercials] often depict a narrow and often unattainable standard of women's physical beauty and links this standard with a woman's sexiness and worth'. Television advertisements portray women as sexual objects rather than women. Sexually objectifying messages communicate to women that if they use a particular shampoo, whitening cream, or body lotion, they will increase their likelihood of being involved with a good-looking man. Feminist studies also point out that television advertisements show men as dominant and rug, and women as sexy and submissive. Thus, the analysis of women representation in television advertisements is important from a number of philosophical perspectives. Television serves as a tool to shape our understanding about society and it creates ideas that will direct our behavior. Television advertisements have been identified as important contributors to the formation of stereotypical gender identities and reinforcement of sexist culture of a society. The excessive objectification of women encourages sexism that effectively reduces women to objects, or bodies for attracting and pleasing viewers, especially men. It is argued that when young girls and women internalize these objectified messages, they learn to be more concerned with observable body attributes rather than focusing on non-observable body attributes such as intellectual development/agency and internal bodily states.

Presenting Women

Idealization of white complexion as a marker of femininity beauty:

Socio-cultural standards of women's beauty are presented in almost all forms of mass media, especially in television commercials.



Shiny and Bouncy Hair:

It is reiterated that television commercials in Pakistan objectify women in more than one ways. Long, shiny and bouncing hair is presented to possess the power of physical attraction. Long and shiny hair are claimed to be the first and most powerful attraction of a woman.



Flawless and soft skin:

Feminists have been highly critical of television commercials which present particular images of soft, flawless skin and female bodies. These commercials do not only sell products, but normalize soft and flawless skin as an ideal cultural standard towards which all women/girls aspire in order to complete their own identity as women.


Idealizing Thinness:

All advertisers make use of young, thin, symmetrical, and perfectly shaped girls/women to sell a variety of products. Irrespective of the nature and purpose of the product, women in television commercials are portrayed as a product.

Main Focus:

In total, 25 commercials were analyzed. After excluding duplicates, public service announcements, and those in which main character was not identifiable, Food sample consisted of advertisements for general food items and beverages while non-food sample comprised of product categories including: like personal and beauty care, telecommunication, household cleaning agents, banking and insurance, household appliances, drugs, and baby care.

Conducting:

This project includes all television commercials, which were going on-air through different television channels operating in Pakistan. From such a large number of advertisements, a sample of commercials was selected which were broadcasted through some popular television channels operating in Pakistan. The sample of commercials was further classified into Food and Non-Food sub-samples. The five selected entertainment channels were PTV, ATV, GEO Entertainment, TV ONE and HUM TV. For selecting the sample, Each TV channel was watched within the time bracket of 7-11 pm (prime time) daily, for a period of two weeks. Within each hour, ten minutes were allocated to each TV channel. If the allocated time was ended and commercial was still in process, the channel was switched immediately after the commercial was completed. Only those commercials were recorded which were viewed completely.

ABOUT SOME COMMERCIAL’S

Nowadays Pakistani commercials on TV have increased so much that a one hour show has approximately a half hour commercials. People watch commercials as a time pass and that is why they are very concerned about them as well. In this article we will be focusing on the quality of the content on which most of the advertisements are based. In most Pakistani ads women are shown as deprived and complexed. The focus of this article will be on the advertisements showing women’s role in the society.

Methodology:

This project is based on content analysis that can systematically evaluate the symbolic content of recorded communications like commercials. Keeping in view the nature of aim and objectives of this project, content analysis was considered the most appropriate method of studying gender role portrayal in television advertisement. Our presentation is about the representation of women in Pakistani T.V Commercials for that we first discussed how to collect or represent data. We decided to collect data from popular T.V channels. We focused on the representation of women in commercials for that we analyzed commercials and conducted surveys. We got interesting answers and different informative replies. Many women are in the favors of advertisements but mostly women who are usually housewives gave bad comments on that Children show enjoyment and teens mostly ignored that. So in the end of our surveys we collected all answers and by the help of that survey we made the graph of all that and we also calculated percentages of all that survey. So that’s how did our project and conducted the survey

QUESTIONNAIRES:

NAME: ________________________ ________ AGE: ___________ GENDER: __________ QUALIFLICATION: ____________________

DEAR Participants:

This Project aims at exploring that how Women are represented in Pakistan T.V Commercial’s. Therefore you are requested to fill out the following Questionnaire’s and the information provided by you will be made confidential.

We will be thankful to you for your Co-operation.

QUESTIONNARIE’S:

Tick (✓) the following according to your choice.

1. 
   Do you think that the role of women in Pakistan T.V Commercial’s is Positive?
   

• 
  Agree.
  
• 
  Disagree.
  
• 
  Strongly Agree.
  
• 
  Strongly Disagree.
  

2. 
   Women should be represented in Pakistani T.V Commercial’s?
   

• 
  Agree.
  
• 
  Disagree.
  
• 
  Strongly Agree.
  
• 
  Strongly Disagree.
  

3. 
   How many ads do you see in a day?
   

• 
  1-5.
  
• 
  6-10.
  
• 
  11-15.
  
• 
  15-20.
  

4. 
   How many ads to you think are played daily on a single T.V channel?
   

• 
  20-50.
  
• 
  50-100.
  
• 
  100-150.
  
• 
  More than 150.
  

5. 
   Do you think that all the ads being played on T.V are suitable to watch for everyone?
   

• 
  Agree.
  
• 
  Disagree.
  
• 
  Strongly Agree.
  
• 
  Strongly Disagree.
  

6. 
   Do you think women are better representor?
   

• 
  Agree.
  
• 
  Disagree.
  
• 
  Strongly Agree.
  
• 
  Strongly Disagree.
  

7. 
   Do you think those products represented by women are more popular?
   

• 
  Agree.
  
• 
  Disagree.
  
• 
  Strongly Agree.
  
• 
  Strongly Disagree.
  

8. 
   Do you think that gender of the representor matters?
   

• 
  Agree.
  
• 
  Disagree.
  
• 
  Strongly Agree.
  
• 
  Strongly Disagree.
  

SIGNATURE: ______________

GRAPH:
PERCENTAGE: