Manipulation of Pakistani Women through Skin-whitening Advertising Discourse

This study investigates the role of advertising discourse of skin-whitening creams in cultivating the ideology of a beautiful woman in Pakistani society. Fairclough's three dimensional framework of critical discourse analysis is employed to analyze the use of language in advertisements to manipulate and exploit the women to buy skin whitening products. The data consists of eight advertisements from electronic media. A qualitative research paradigm is used and the findings pointed out that advertisers use many shrewd linguistic devices and strategies to work on women's ideology for manipulation. The study also revealed that TV advertisements play a vital role in constructing and shaping certain socio-cultural ideologies among people. The finding of this qualitative study would be helpful to enhance the understanding of consumers and facilitate their buying decisions without being manipulated by advertisers.