Advertising ideology and the social process of disability
Mary-Ann O'Donovan, Dublin Institute of Technology, Aungier Street
Abstract
Advertising is said to communicate a dominant ideology (Elliott and Ritson, 1997; Williamson, 1978). The ideology that advertising promulgates is one of the beautiful ideal, and image of perfection in both body and lifestyle. It is proposed that advertising is an exclusive realm where only certain types of people are portrayed. Power is manifested in advertising's ability not to represent certain groups in society. This implies that advertising is a fantastical realm and one of exclusion and isolation.
Research currently highlights the negative images of disability in film (Darke, 1997a), on TV (Shakespeare, 1997) and in charity advertising (Morrison, 2002), and the implications of this for disabled people. The present study is primarily concerned with advertising's role in the social process of disability. The researcher proposes a deconstructive analysis of mainstream advertising, which is essentially non-disabled advertising, to investigate how the absence of disability representation adds to the social process of disability and what this means to the disabled audience.
The social model of disability will be adhered to. This is contrasted to the medical approach which is essentially the personal tragedy model of disability (Begum, 1992; Taylor, 1999). Most evidence suggests that this position is oppressive. Disability should be examined in the context of a social process, which defines the 'problem' of disability as located in society and furthermore, as a consequence of an historical process (Oliver, 1992).
A two-stage research process is proposed. The first stage involves a textual analysis of advertising looking at the absence of disability in mainstream advertising text. The second stage requires a look at the consumer perspective. It will involve in-depth interviews with disabled audience members using advertisements as stimuli.