The Language of Cosmetics Advertising

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

   PDF

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

   PDF

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.

• advertising language
• media discourse
• Critical Discourse Analysis
• feminist linguistics
• language and gender
• media and identity
• advertising
• corpus linguistics
• culture
• discourse
• gender
• health
• linguistics
• medicine
• social science
• sociolinguistics
• sociology
• discourse analysis

“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)

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

  Helen Ringrow

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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