Dylanie O'Gorman

First Name: 
Dylanie
Last Name: 
O'Gorman
Mentor: 
Dr. Konstantia Kapetangianni
Abstract: 
This study aims to track the changes in female representations in advertisements for female hygiene products over time from the year 1950-2020. According to Saz-Rubio and Pennock-Speck (2009), advertisements represent either a positive or negative message towards women’s biology within female hygiene advertisements. This study analyzes whether feminine hygiene product advertisements shifted from a negative representation of women, such as displaying shame, to a more positive representation, such as empowerment. This study uses a multimodal approach focusing on sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, and taboo among female representation. The data consists of 131 advertisements collected throughout the internet of print advertisements. This study analyzes each advertisement's color scheme as well as the eye gaze and body position of the model in relation to the most prominent text in the advertisement in order to determine the underlying message each advertisement is conveying. After a thorough analysis, this research helps identify the influence that culture has on advertisements while simultaneously aiming to identify any potential use of taboo language and metaphors in order to down play the talk of women and their biology. Preliminary results show that advertisements from the 1990’s to today tend use more discreet tactics and have both a more realistic representation towards women and their biology compared to older advertisements. This study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of progressions that society and advertisements have made over the years concerning the female identity from a negative to positive representation.
Poster: 
Female Representation in Feminine Hygiene Product Advertisements