Controversial advertising: transgressing the taboo of gender-based violence
Abstract
Purpose
To date, the cultural and societal effects of controversial advertising have been insufficiently considered. This study aims to investigate how advertising that uses violent representations of women transgresses the taboo of gender-based violence.
Design/methodology/approach
This study encompasses a visual analysis of the subject positions of women in five violent advertising representations and a critical discourse analysis of the defensive statements provided by the client organisations subsequent to the public outrage generated by the campaigns.
Findings
The authors identify taboo transgression in the Tease, Piece of Meat and Conquered subject positions, wherein women are represented as suggestive, dehumanised and submissive. Client organisations seek to defend these taboo transgressions through the use of three discursive strategies – subverting interpretations, making authority claims and denying responsibility – which legitimise the control of the organisations but simultaneously work to obscure the power relations at play.
Practical implications
The representational authority that advertisers hold as cultural intermediaries in society highlights the need for greater consideration of the ethical responsibilities in producing controversial advertisements, especially those which undermine the status of women.
Social implications
Controversial advertising that transgresses the taboo of violence against women reinforces gender norms and promotes ambiguous and adverse understandings of women’s subjectivities by introducing pollution and disorder to gender politics.
Originality/value
This paper critically assesses the societal implications of controversial advertising practices, thus moving away from the extant focus on managerial implications. Through a conceptualisation of controversial advertising as transgressing taboo boundaries, the authors highlight how advertising plays an important role in shifting these boundaries whereby taboos come to be understood as generative and evolving. However, this carries moral implications which may have damaging societal effects.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the associate editor and reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions. In addition, the authors also extend their appreciation to organisers and participants at the Gender, Marketing and Consumer Behaviour conference held in 2012 for their encouragement, questions and insights.
Citation
Gurrieri, L., Brace-Govan, J. and Cherrier, H. (2016), "Controversial advertising: transgressing the taboo of gender-based violence", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 50 No. 7/8, pp. 1448-1469. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-09-2014-0597
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited