VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ ÁNH TUYẾT A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF BEAUTY PRODUCT ADVERTISEMENTS (Phân tích diễn ngôn phê phán quảng cáo sản phẩm làm đẹp) M. THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.01 HANOI – 2025 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ ÁNH TUYẾT A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF BEAUTY PRODUCT ADVERTISEMENTS (Phân tích diễn ngôn phê phán quảng cáo sản phẩm làm đẹp) M. THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201. NGUYỄN HOÀ HANOI - 2025 DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP I, Pham Thi Anh Tuyet, hereby declare that this Master's thesis titled "A Critical Discourse Analysis of Beauty Product Advertisements" is my own original work.
I have not used any sources or resources other than those indicated and acknowledged as references. I further declare that I have not previously submitted this work, or any version of it, to any university or institution for the award of any academic degree or qualification. Hanoi - 2025 Approved by Supervisor Student’s signature PROF. NGUYỄN HOÀ PHẠM THỊ ÁNH TUYẾT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to all the individuals who have played a significant role in the completion of my Master’s thesis.
The individuals I acknowledge below are not listed in any particular order, as I am profoundly grateful to each one of them. First and foremost, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to my supervisor, Prof. Nguyễn Hoà, for his guidance, support, and invaluable insights throughout the entire process. His expertise and encouragement have been instrumental in shaping this work.
Secondly, I want to express my deepest appreciation to my family. Their unconditional love, unwavering support, and belief in my abilities have been the driving force behind my accomplishments. Thirdly, I would like to all the lecturers of the Master's Program for their guidance and teachings that have played a significant role in my academic journey. Their instruction not only provided me with the knowledge necessary to complete this thesis but also contributed to my personal development beyond the educational setting.
Fourthly, I would also like to express my deepest appreciation to all of my friends at the Master's Program. Their support and encouragement have made this educational experience truly memorable. Last but not least, I would like to thank my closest friends who have always been by my side, encouraging me and making me believe in myself even when I felt incapable of continuing. Their encouragement has made me persevere and complete my Master's degree.
ii ABSTRACT This Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) investigates the language used in the captions of Maybelline's Instagram advertisements. The aim of this study is to critically analyze the language used in the captions of Maybelline's Instagram advertisements to understand how they communicate ideas, values, and identities related to women's beauty. Additionally, the study seeks to identify the potential social wrongs that may be perpetuated by these advertisements. Using Fairclough's three-dimensional CDA model, the study employs qualitative methods including non- participant observation and content and thematic analysis.
The findings reveal that the captions communicate the ideas that beauty is expected of women at all times, it is defined by makeup, it dictates youthfulness, and is prioritized over wellbeing. The analysis also uncovered five key discursive strategies used to convince women of these beauty ideals and persuade them to purchase Maybelline products, including emotive words, positive self-presentation, invoking inadequacies, puffery, and establishing close relationships with customers. The study highlights how these advertising captions perpetuate gender stereotypes, promote consumerism, legitimize ageist expectations, provide faux empowerment, and commodify appearance concerns. The research contributes to critical understandings of the beauty advertising industry and can inform more ethical marketing approaches for the industry as well as increase consumer awareness about the advertising they consume.
iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP. iii LIST OF TABLES. vii LIST OF FIGURES. vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.
Background of the study. Significance of the study. Scope of the study. Structure of the thesis .5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.
Defining key terms. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) framework. Defining Critical Discourse Analysis. Theoretical foundations of CDA.
Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL). The discourse of advertising. Previous CDA studies on beauty product advertisements. Constructing and reinforcing ideals of feminine beauty.
Potential social wrongs in beauty advertisements.28 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. Data and data collection. Data analysis procedures .36 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. The ideologies about women’s beauty.
Beauty is expected of women at all times. Beauty is defined by makeup. Beauty dictates youthfulness regardless of age. Beauty is prioritized over well-being.
The discourse strategies used to persuade women to purchase the products. Positive self-presentation. Setting close relationship with customers. The social wrongs conveyed in the captions.
Reinforcing gender stereotypes and gender equality issues. Promoting consumerism and materialism. Legitimizing ageist expectations. Providing faux empowerment.
Commodifying appearance concerns .70 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS. Recap the key findings and conclusion. Implications of the study. Limitations and recommendations for future research.
I v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CDA Critical Discourse Analysis SFL Systemic Functional Linguistics TV Television vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Analytical framework of the current study. Captions using emotive words strategy. Captions using positive self-presentation strategy.
Captions using invoking adequacies strategy. Captions using puffery strategy. Captions using setting close relationship with customers strategy. 58 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.
Three-dimensional model of Critical Discourse Analysis. 32 vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chapter of the thesis covers the background information and concludes with an overview of the thesis structure. It articulates the research aim, explaining its objectives, posing the research questions, and discussing the significance of the study. Background of the study Advertising has always played a significant role in shaping various aspects of our society, exerting its influence on our daily lives.
Goldman (1992) suggests that we engage in social interactions by decoding the visuals and messages conveyed through advertisements. In contemporary times, advertising's ubiquity and its impact on culture and society are undeniable, as Jhally (1991) asserts that advertising discourse intertwines objects with multiple spheres of our lives. Moreover, the author highlights the significance of advertising, considering it as "the most influential socialization organization in modern society" (Jhally, 1995). The influential nature of advertising stems from its powerful ability to shape human thoughts and behaviors.
Crystal and Davy (1983) emphasize that persuasion and information provision are the primary functions of advertising. al (1989) support this viewpoint, defining advertising as the act of a sponsor paying for the dissemination of non-personal messages through mass media platforms, with the primary objective of persuading and exerting influence over a large audience. Due to its profit-driven nature, text producers in advertising often tend to manipulate language to shape the audience's thinking in alignment with the company's mindset. Consequently, these advertisements no longer solely aim to provide factual information about a product; they can significantly alter consumers' perspectives on everything in their surroundings.
When discussing the influential power related to consumers' ideologies, Cook (2001), argues that advertising serves as a source of education, persuasion, provocation, and influence, with the ability to modify people's opinions, thoughts, and attitudes towards their environment. Advertising not only subtly distorts reality but also manipulates consumers into 1 purchasing specific lifestyles and products. Foucault (1972) emphasizes that the language used in advertising can create its own distinct reality. Consequently, the discourse of advertising possesses the ability to influence individuals and social order, thereby shaping cultural values and ideologies in general.
One of the most captivating and influential forms of advertising is in the beauty industry, particularly in advertisements targeting women. Like advertisements in other fields, in order to entice women to make purchases, advertisers not only provide positive information about their products but also employ various strategies to create a sense of urgency to buy their cosmetics. Specifically, with its ability to influence and impact people's minds, these advertisements can make women believe in a certain beauty standard and push them to buy products to achieve that standard. As noted by Baudrillard (2005), cited in Kaur et al., 2013, many beauty product advertisements in women's magazines have become an absolute religious imperative for women, pressuring them to do their best to maintain their beauty.
According to Hambur (2019), the constructed beauty image resulting from the manipulation of language can have social wrongs, particularly for women. However, due to the indirect, subtle, and strategic use of language by advertisement producers, these social wrongs are not easily detected by everyone. When these advertisements are consumed over time, with the audience often unaware of their influence, it can undoubtedly lead to various consequences for individuals using cosmetics and society as a whole. On an individual level, users of cosmetics may find themselves trapped in an endless race driven by capitalism, unable to achieve a sense of fulfillment as they constantly pursue an impossible beauty image.
The manipulation caused by beauty standards depicted in cosmetics advertisements can perpetuate harmful stereotypes and narrow definitions of beauty. By adhering to these beauty standards, society becomes manipulated, marginalizing those who do not conform and emphasizing external appearance over inner qualities. When it comes to popular advertising methods, adverts can be published through various platforms such as traditional TV commercials, magazine placements, 2 newspapers, or social networking sites. Advertisers must carefully consider their investment and choose the most suitable platform to optimize advertising effectiveness.
Due to the rapid advancement of technology, the use of social media has significantly increased, making these platforms one of the top choices for advertising and marketing campaigns. One platform that is widely used across all age groups is Instagram. Instagram is a suitable advertising platform because all posts must include visuals, which helps capture people's attention more easily and enhances the overall effectiveness of the advertisements. Therefore, this study will focus on analyzing beauty product advertisements on this social media platform.
In the context of research on language manipulation in beauty product advertising, CDA has become a widely used and powerful tool. According to Fairclough (1989), CDA not only focuses on analyzing language but also emphasizes the role of language in social reproduction and power establishment. Therefore, CDA offers a deep analytical approach to understanding how language is used to create and maintain social norms, consciousness, and power structures to shape beauty ideals, influence consumer behaviors, and perpetuate societal norms related to appearance and self-image through beauty product advertisements. Given the significant impacts of beauty product advertisements on individuals' thoughts and actions, as well as on society as a whole, there is a need for a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) study to investigate how text producers of product advertisements manipulate language to construct certain ideas, values, and identities regarding women's beauty image, as well as the potential social wrongs they may convey.
Specifically, this study will focus on analyzing the captions of Maybelline's Instagram advertisements, as Maybelline is one of the major cosmetics brands with a large user base. To achieve a comprehensive understanding of the language used in Maybelline's advertisements, we will employ Fairclough's Three-Dimensional Model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). This model provides a framework for analyzing the relationships between language, power, and ideology in discourse. Research aim The aim of this study is to critically analyze the language used in the captions of Maybelline's Instagram advertisements to understand how they shape and reinforce ideologies related to women's beauty.
Additionally, the study seeks to identify the potential social wrongs that may be perpetuated by these advertisements. By striving to achieve these objectives, the research aims to raise awareness among beauty advertisement consumers and the general public about the power of language in advertising and its impact on shaping cultural norms and individual self-perceptions.