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The overweight female body in Malaysian slimming advertisements: problem and solution

This study analyses image and text to investigate the way slimming advertising exploits women’s fear of being overweight to the extent that they feel obliged to do something about their own bodies. We show how Malaysian slimming advertisements construct certain types of female body which reinforce c...

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Main Authors: Zuraidah, Mohd Don, Lau, Emily Kui Ling
Format: Article
Published: Taylor & Francis 2018
Subjects:
HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
PN1990 Broadcasting
Online Access:http://eprints.um.edu.my/20151/
https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330.2016.1191145
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id my.um.eprints.20151
record_format eprints
spelling my.um.eprints.201512019-01-25T01:01:45Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/20151/ The overweight female body in Malaysian slimming advertisements: problem and solution Zuraidah, Mohd Don Lau, Emily Kui Ling HQ The family. Marriage. Woman PN1990 Broadcasting This study analyses image and text to investigate the way slimming advertising exploits women’s fear of being overweight to the extent that they feel obliged to do something about their own bodies. We show how Malaysian slimming advertisements construct certain types of female body which reinforce cultural stereotypes, namely the overweight body that exceeds culturally acceptable limits of desirable body size, and the desirable and attainable slim body with no excess fat. Three sample advertisements were selected from a Malaysian English newspaper and analysed using Jewitt and Oyama’s framework to identify the way images and text are used to give specific meanings relating to the female body. The images were examined in terms of representational, interactional and compositional meanings, and the analysis provides evidence of how the extremely overweight female body is pathologised, making it the focus of critical scrutiny. The advertisements use body images to illustrate the problem of being very overweight and the desirability of being slim, and the consumption of slimming services as a quick and easy solution to the problem. Taylor & Francis 2018 Article PeerReviewed Zuraidah, Mohd Don and Lau, Emily Kui Ling (2018) The overweight female body in Malaysian slimming advertisements: problem and solution. Social Semiotics, 28 (1). pp. 1-17. ISSN 1035-0330 https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330.2016.1191145 doi:10.1080/10350330.2016.1191145
institution Universiti Malaya
building UM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaya
content_source UM Research Repository
url_provider http://eprints.um.edu.my/
topic HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
PN1990 Broadcasting
spellingShingle HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
PN1990 Broadcasting
Zuraidah, Mohd Don
Lau, Emily Kui Ling
The overweight female body in Malaysian slimming advertisements: problem and solution
description This study analyses image and text to investigate the way slimming advertising exploits women’s fear of being overweight to the extent that they feel obliged to do something about their own bodies. We show how Malaysian slimming advertisements construct certain types of female body which reinforce cultural stereotypes, namely the overweight body that exceeds culturally acceptable limits of desirable body size, and the desirable and attainable slim body with no excess fat. Three sample advertisements were selected from a Malaysian English newspaper and analysed using Jewitt and Oyama’s framework to identify the way images and text are used to give specific meanings relating to the female body. The images were examined in terms of representational, interactional and compositional meanings, and the analysis provides evidence of how the extremely overweight female body is pathologised, making it the focus of critical scrutiny. The advertisements use body images to illustrate the problem of being very overweight and the desirability of being slim, and the consumption of slimming services as a quick and easy solution to the problem.
format Article
author Zuraidah, Mohd Don
Lau, Emily Kui Ling
author_facet Zuraidah, Mohd Don
Lau, Emily Kui Ling
author_sort Zuraidah, Mohd Don
title The overweight female body in Malaysian slimming advertisements: problem and solution
title_short The overweight female body in Malaysian slimming advertisements: problem and solution
title_full The overweight female body in Malaysian slimming advertisements: problem and solution
title_fullStr The overweight female body in Malaysian slimming advertisements: problem and solution
title_full_unstemmed The overweight female body in Malaysian slimming advertisements: problem and solution
title_sort overweight female body in malaysian slimming advertisements: problem and solution
publisher Taylor & Francis
publishDate 2018
url http://eprints.um.edu.my/20151/
https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330.2016.1191145
_version_ 1643691194429997056
score 13.211869

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