Textual Features and Portrayal of Women in the Choice of Cosmetic Products in Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

The study aimed to examine how advertisers use discourse to make consumers buy into their ideas, beliefs, or simply their products. It was informed by the fact that advertisers use language to influence people, especially women, into purchasing their products even if they may not necessarily be required from the perspective of Critical Discourse Analysis. The objective of the study was to identify the effect of textual features and portrayal of women in the choice of cosmetic products. To this end, this study adopted a mixed-method design. The already documented cosmetic scripts were used to collect data and organized, transcribed and described according to three dimensions of discussing discourse and a structured questionnaire was administered for the quantitative aspect and the data were analysed using descriptive statistics as well as inferential statistics. The data analysis reveals that advertisers influence consumers to choose certain products or services through the skillful use of language to convince, persuade and at times manipulate consumers. The study concludes that textual features have a direct influence on the portrayal of women in the choice of cosmetic products in Nigeria. The study recommended that advertisers pay particular attention to their use of language and try to create more friendly content to attract consumers.