Manifestations of symbolic violence against women in digital advertising discourse An analytical approach to a sample of the Diamond perfume page’s advertising photographs

Abstract

Our research is a descriptive approach aimed at describing the manifestations of symbolic violence through advertising discourses, as well as seeking multiple goals that inquire into the nature of violence, its dimensions, values embodied in it, and the representation of women through the contents of these discourses. Methodologically, we approached our research topic through a survey study of a sample of advertising images through the Facebook page of Diamond Perfumes. We relied on both observation and content analysis tools, targeting the description of the apparent level and revealing the hidden level of discourse content. We have arrived at a number of important results, the most important of which is that the discourse of violence through advertising images relies on imposing connotations and meanings that carry its dominance by leaking many values that it has chosen to position within the body of women, carrying manifestations of symbolic violence that portray: the woman as a commodity, the woman as a body, and the woman as a thing. The images of symbolic violence in traditional advertising discourse do not differ from those used on Facebook, where they move in parallel in a relationship loaded with values that have an advertising aspect that surrounds women with all aspects of symbolic repression.