Stereotyping of black women in south african television advertisements in post-1994 South Africa

Abstract

This is an exploratory study conducted to assess the way in which South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) television advertisements are used to construct stereotypes of black women in post-1994 South Africa. This study focused on SABC1, 2 and 3 since they are public channels where most advertisements of black women appear and most South Africans with television watch channels free of charge. This study examines the stereotypical roles that black women are associated with in SABC television advertisements in post-1994 South Africa. Because black women prior 1994 were underrepresented in the television advertisements and portrayed with negative stereotypes by the SABC. This study further examines how the underlying latent and manifest meaning of SABC television advertisements are used to construct stereotypes about black women. The guiding theories for this study was feminism, blackness, and social semiotics. These theories were used to assess the portrayal of black women stereotypes in SABC television advertisements, as well as the roles that black women are associated with in the SABC television advertisements in post-1994 South Africa. The study undertook a qualitative research methodology approach and employed content analysis of advertisements derived from SABC1, 2 and 3 The overarching result of the study proved that black women stereotypes are still constructed as being somewhat negative and inferior in SABC television advertisements. For SABC to deconstruct stereotypes of black women, it should portray them in all advertisement products not only those that appear in traditional settings such as house and home products.