The marketing media's portrayal of the contemporary African woman: Impact on the youth in Ghana
Date
2021-05
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Abstract
In this study, the researcher examines the impact of the marketing media's sexualized
representation of the contemporary African woman on African youth. Using Ghanaian youth,
as representatives of the African youth, the researcher explored the youth's perceptions on how
the present-day African woman is presented in most advertisements and other media; compared
male and female perceptions; and extrapolated the youth's perceptions of media that employ
sexualized images of females. For the purposes of the study, a qualitative exploratory
phenomenological research design was used. Six Ghanaian youth of varying gender, religion,
and university type served as the study participants. The results of the research study included the youth's belief
that the media impact on them and society outweighed the impact of society
on the media. The media capitalizes on readily available and easily accessible technology often
frequented by youth such as Twitter and Instagram. The study revealed that the female youth
were not impacted directly by the media's portrayal of women as sexualized images, but the males were. The media's depictions had made the males perceive the contemporary African
woman as lacking depth of knowledge and self-respect. They felt that the women were
contributing to the problem by accepting the contract or agreement presented to them by the
marketing media. According to the youth, the marketing media and firms are concerned with
profits alone. Most study participants suggested educating society on gender equality and
utilizing public outcry to hold firms accountable. They also recommended mitigating such
portrayals of females through policies of governmental agencies to reduce the influence of
marketing media on shaping the image of the contemporary African female.
Description
Undergraduate thesis submitted to the Department of Business Administration, Ashesi University, in partial fulfillment of Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, May 2021
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Keywords
gender stereotypes, Ghanaian media, university students