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The Language of Cosmetics Advertising

  • Book
  • © 2016

Overview

Authors:
  1. Helen Ringrow

    1. School of Languages and Area Studies, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom

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  • Offers a Feminist Critical Discourse perspective on a corpus of advertising data collected from ‘women’s glossies’
  • Explores how the target consumer is constructed in a cross-cultural context
  • Considers the impact of the savvy consumer on advertising choices, including the increasing use of ‘scientific’ claims

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Table of contents (6 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
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  2. Beauty Advertising in a Cross-Cultural Context

    • Helen Ringrow
    Pages 1-11

  3. Language, Gender, and Advertising

    • Helen Ringrow
    Pages 13-29

  4. Problems and Solutions: Pursuing the Youthful, Ideal Body

    • Helen Ringrow
    Pages 31-57

  5. Femininity as a Sensual Identity

    • Helen Ringrow
    Pages 59-79

  6. Scientised Beauty Advertising Discourse: With Peptides or Paraben-Free?

    • Helen Ringrow
    Pages 81-104

  7. The Case for Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis

    • Helen Ringrow
    Pages 105-114

  8. Back Matter

    Pages 115-118
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Keywords

About this book

This book offers a cross-cultural comparison of French and British cosmetics advertisements and explores how the discourse of beauty advertising represents ideas about femininity in French and English language contexts. As the global beauty industry expands and consumers become more critical of the claims made, the topic of cosmetics advertising discourse is examined using Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis. One common theme underlying most cosmetics advertising discourse is that the female body always requires ‘work’ to fix its ‘problems’: flat skin, dry hair, and so on. The author uses themes of language and gender, media and identity, and advertising across cultures to expose exactly what is going on in the language of cosmetics advertising and to offer a first step towards challenging these ideas and thinking about alternatives.

Reviews

“The multi-billion dollar global beauty business thrives on the commoditization of the female body. Their obsession with sex, science and youthfulness are expertly laid bare in this skillful synthesis of critical linguistics and gender studies. Ringrow uses a corpus of cosmetics adverts from Cosmopolitan and Elle magazines to expose and challenge how femininity is discursively constructed in contemporary English and French media discourse. An essential text for anybody seeking to explore and resist corporate gender stereotyping.” (Matt Davies, Senior Lecturer, University of Chester, UK)

Authors and Affiliations

  • School of Languages and Area Studies, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom

    Helen Ringrow

About the author

Helen Ringrow is Senior Lecturer in Communication Studies and Applied Linguistics at the University of Portsmouth, UK. Prior to this, she completed her PhD in Linguistics at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, where she also contributed to undergraduate teaching on language and power.

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