The Commodification of Feminine Identity in Beauty Product Advertisements

Abstract

This paper looks at the representation of the feminine identity in the language used in Vogue magazine beauty product advertisements. Through critical discourse analysis, adopting Fairclough’s (1992) framework, the study reveals that advertisements use different strategies in their language content to persuade female consumers to buy their products. Advertisements within the data make a direct connection with their audiences by the use of personal pronouns such as ‘you’ and ‘we’. In addition, the analysis reveals how advertisements use scientific terminologies as a means of persuasion to purchase products. The study argues that beauty product advertisements ‘commodify’ both overtly and covertly feminine identity within their content as a way of attracting the audience to purchase the advertised products.