Media Representation and the Worker: A Qualitative Analysis on TV Ads

Abstract

As media texts, advertisements use representation practices to construct ideological meanings. This study traced the representation of the worker in advertisements with the help of content and thematic analysis. The study aimed to reveal the representation of the worker in the advertisements and to make the representations of the worker built through advertisements visible. The study was limited to ads that received an Effie Award in Turkey in 2020 and 2021. In the 2020 Effie Awards, 73 awards were given in 41 categories and in the 2021 Effie Awards, 68 awards were given in 42 categories. Content analysis was applied to 24 advertisements in 2020 and 31 advertisements in 2021. The quantitative data helped to determine the themes in the thematic analysis. Thematic analysis was carried out by regarding the worker as the (in)visible, the (un)voiced, and the bypassed. This study, which reveals that the worker is represented in advertisements through being invisible, unvoiced, and bypassed, claims that the labor of the worker in the production process is ignored through representation practices. In this context, it can be said that the worker is erased and omitted in TV ads on a symbolic level.

Citation

Akçay, E., Ermiş, A.Ş. and Hızal, G.S.G. (2023), "Media Representation and the Worker: A Qualitative Analysis on TV Ads", Paliszkiewicz, J. and Varoğlu, D. (Ed.) Management and Organizational Studies on Blue- and Gray-collar Workers: Diversity of Collars (International Perspectives on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Vol. 8), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 211-228. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2051-233320230000008019