A Tentative Study On Girlish Images Across Cultures: Chinese Versus U.S. Women's Magazine Ads

This dissertation examines the present female images of Chinese and American women through the comparison of ads in terms of "girlishness". The theoretical base for this study is the theory of structure of culture and the relationship between culture and advertising (advertising mirrors as well as shapes culture). The author chose 12 issues of two magazines from both countries, six Rayli from China and the other HARPER'S BAZAAR from America, with the same target, similar content and same year and month of publication. Three hypotheses are proposed on the basis of prior experience and studies: 1) The Chinese issues contain more visual girlish rapport advertisements than the American issues; 2) The Chinese issues contain more verbal girlish rapport advertisements than the American issues; 3) The Chinese issues contain a higher degree of girlishness (combining visual and verbal rapport) than the American issues. Then a study was carried out to compare the advertisements in the six Rayli issues with their counterparts in HARPER'S BAZAAR. Two coders, a Chinese who majors in English was required to examine the ads in Rayli, while an overseas American student was asked to examine the ads in HARPER'S BAZAAR. Each ad is examined in terms of visual and verbal aspect. The result of Chi-square analysis supports the hypotheses. Culture-based differences of girlish images in advertising are explained by comparing the ideological cultures of two countries, clarifying the relationship between material culture and ideological one. The study will advance our understanding of the female images across cultures in an era of mass communication and globalization. It will also shed light on advertising globalization and localization issues in cotemporary China.