Qualitative questions:
1) For these items, in what ways does the language in the advertising reflect the target audience
(women vs. men)? And what ideologies does this reflect? Find 10 examples (total across all your
example items) of paradigmatic choices that reflect a cultural assumption (hegemonic ideology) about
gender and explain the specific hegemonic ideology behind the choice. Give an alternative choice that
could have been made and explain how the choice that was made reflects the ideology.
2) In what ways do the non-linguistic choices (pictures, colours…) reflect the target audience
(women vs. men)? And what ideologies does this reflect? (Give specific examples and explain them –
at least 3 examples).
3) Compare the catalogue from the expensive store with that from the cheaper store:
Which choices (linguistic or non-linguistic) show the status of the store? Find 4 examples of a choice
(linguistic or non-linguistic) that reflects a dominant ideology about wealth (For example, the activities
that are suggested by the product for sale).
4) Find one example of an assumption that shows interaction between ideologies of status and
gender; that is, an example of a choice that reflects an ideology about rich women (but not men or poor
women) or about poor men (but not women or rich men) or about poor women….
5) Binomial order – find at least two examples of a binomial (your pdf viewer’s search function
will help you with this), does the male or female come first? Why is that order used in these examples?
II (10%)
Quantitative:
A professional analysis would require more advanced statistical techniques, but as an introductory
analysis, please do a quantitative (“counting”) analysis of the following questions.
1) Predict a pair of words that you think would be more likely to occur in the high-end/low-end
catalogues. For example, luxurious/value. The word “luxurious” is probably more likely to occur in a
catalogue aimed at the rich, whereas “value” is more likely to occur in a catalogue aimed at those
earning less money. (DON’T USE THAT PAIR – FIND ANOTHER PAIR)
Test your prediction in your catalogues: Count the number of instances of the words you
predicted in each of the catalogues (the “search” function in your pdf viewer will allow you to do this)
and compare the ratio of those words in the two catalogues.
Was your prediction correct? If so, why do you think it was correct? If not, why do you think it
was not correct?
III (15%)
Your Choice
1) From your article reading or from a chapter in the textbook, find another example of an
important aspect of language and culture (YOUR CHOICE) that can be analyzed using these
catalogues as data. Then perform a brief analysis of that topic using your data.
For example:
Metaphors used to sell products
How facticity of product claims are supported
Strategic communication
Power relationships as revealed in the use of celebrities
Differences in language associated with the age of the expected buyers
etc…
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