A Comparative Analysis of Female Images in Chinese and American Advertisements

Abstract

The cultural connotation reflected in advertisement is an enduring subject for research there years. As known to all, advertisement possesses the greatest function of promoting goods and spreading culture, which is closely related to the economic and cultural life in human society. Particularly, advertisement matters a lot on people’s values in the contemporary society.     

Woman's development has enjoyed much attention as the living standard continuously improves. Consequently, female images in advertisements have been the main emphasis of research. The study of the social and cultural connotation reflected by the female images in advertisements will help the revealing of the similarities and differences as well as the changes in woman’s status and social values in China and America under different cultural backgrounds.

As the studies on advertisement in China are mostly based on advertising theory and communication theory, relatively only a few on female images in advertisements. Therefore, this thesis is a comparative analysis on typical female images in advertisements in China and America from the perspective of cultural differences. It can be divided into four parts. The first is a brief introduction of advertisement, including its definition, classifications and features. The second is the analysis of female images in both countries as housewives and professional women. The third is a comparative analysis of female images in advertisements in these two countries. The last part is the application of female images in advertisements. Based upon the analysis above, the following conclusion is drown-the female images in advertisement is becoming diverse, and woman’s social status is improved in China and America.

Keywords: female images; cultural difference; woman’s status