Mothers Know Best: An Audience Reception Study on the Images of Mothers In Selected Detergent Soap Advertisements
Abstract <Belen, A. R. (2014). Mothers Know Best: An Audience Reception Study on the Images of Mothers in Selected Detergent Soap Advertisements. Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis, University of the Philippines Diliman College of Mass Communication.
The Philippine television has been flooded with television advertisements that make people buy everything the market has to offer. In these television adverisements, they create an image of the client. One of these images is the mother figure. Advertisers use the image of mothers to persuade real mothers to purchase their products.
This study sought then to find out if the image of mothers presented in television advertisements are the same with that of real mothers and if this image influences their purchasing decisions. Advertisements of Ariel, Breeze, Champion, and Pride detergent soaps were used to determine if real life mothers see themselves in the advertisements. The identification theory was used as the guide for the study while the encoding/decoding theory was used as the lens for analysis.
The study made use of a qualitative approach to the data gathering. It first analyzed the images of mothers presented in television advertisements then it made use of in-depth interviews to know if mothers identify with the images.
After the analysis of the data gathered, the study found out that mothers do identify with the image of mothers presented regardless of their profiles. The study also found out that even if the mothers identified with the character, this identification does not result to a buying behavior because they still consider other aspects in purchasing products.>