A critical discourse analysis of linguistic choices that portray women in advertising in Kenyan parents magazine

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to examine the way women are represented in advertising. It analyses the female stereotypes which the adverts in Kenya actualize and help to perpetuate, the linguistic choices which construe these stereotypes, and the ideological system that these stereotypes reflect. Using a monthly production of one of Kenyan magazine the analysis provides information about the power relation between men and women in the Kenyan society, since it reveals the traditional stereotypes by means of which women have for long been described, and are still associated with, helping to perpetuate the traditional social roles of women in the social structure and maintain the superiority of men over women. The analysis also reveals how women in Kenya are contesting these stereotypes using language and the struggle of advertising discourse to catch up with the trend and at the same time to reflect the societal established norms