Media Ethics and my thesis topic by Qifeng Huang

My thesis is mainly a content analysis focusing on Chinese magazine advertisements, so it won’t involve much ethical problems such as issues of IRB approval or human subject issues. But still, the topic of my thesis will have a very close relationship with today’s media research issue and ethics.

The content analysis will be conducted on Chinese magazine advertisements, which includes not only the coding of major variables suggested by Goffman, but also those demographic variables. In the process of coding, those variables together will form a unique understanding of each piece of advertisement, and indicate the relationship between men and women in each era.

This involves two kinds of ethical issues- the ethical issue when dealing with gender portrayal in the media: such as the stereotyping of women appeared in advertisements. Gender study has been a research area which is relevant to gender ethic issues for a long time. People are always concerning if the media has been stereotyping women or men in the media content, or if the image of women or men are distorted through the mirror of media. My study topic will cover this area of ethical issue; will discuss the implication of gender portrayal based on the findings of the study. If the gender portrayal in Chinese media world also reflects the unfair social status of men and women in Chinese society would be a big ethical concern in my study.

The second ethical concern which would be embedded in my study will be the advertising ethic issue. This is also a very controversial issue in advertising world. The content in advertisements, the way ads inflate some portion of the truth, all the commitment ads advocate are all concerned with ethical issues. In today’s media world, people are more and more concerned with advertising ethics to prevent false advertising or deceptive advertising. My study will analyze the content of advertisements in different era and examine the status of Chinese advertising ethics simultaneously. I will explore if the ethical standard changed during this time period, and what kind of ethical problems are hidden in those advertisements.

Ethical issues in the media have always been the most important and significant area covered by both academic scholars and practitioners. My thesis will further explore the ethical problems in Chinese advertising world, and continue contribute more gender related ethical issues to the existing literature.

Diversity and my study by Qifeng Huang

My thesis will involve a content analysis focusing on Chinese magazine advertisements to explore the change in gender portrayal. The study will keep track of one Chinese magazine from 1960s to now, to see if there is a change in portraying gender relationship due to the dramatic social and economic change China has gone through.

The concept of diversity flows through various aspects of my study. Generally speaking, it has two major impacts on my study. First, the diverse cultural root I am going to explore in my study will involve exploring the impact of Chinese culture and politics on the portrayal of gender relationship. Second, the audience my thesis is going to meet includes various groups: such as gender researchers, cultural scholars, general advertising professionals and practitioners etc.

The main aspect from which I am going to conduct my content analysis is mainly from Goffman’s frame analysis. He develops this theory in his book Gender advertisements based on the framing theory to explore the relationship between men and women in advertisements. Lots of studies in advertising area have been conducted to explore the gender portrayal but few have been conducted in the Asian culture context. China has gone through dramatic economical and political change since 1960s, from the very beginning of its independence; continue with the “open door policy” in 1980s, to today’s stunning economic development. This change China has gone through has affected the general gender relationship shaped in old Chinese society, and women in today’s China are respected as “half of the sky”.

To explore the cultural and political reason to this amazing gender relationship change in China could lead to a journey to the culture of this powerful Asian country. So this study will continue with my research on diverse culture background, and find the implication of Goffman’s theory in different social and cultural settings.

My thesis will analyze the advertisements from the angle of camera, from the subtle gestures which indicates the potential relationship between men and women, according to Goffman’s frame analysis. The result of my paper would discuss the cultural and social impact on the change of gender portrayal which could draw the interest of scholars in the cultural study. This also involves the extension of gender study in the context of Asian culture, which could also attract scholars in the field of gender study. A different implication of framing theory in advertising content would also be interesting enough to draw attention of framing scholars.

The aim of my study would focus on revealing the gender relationship change in the Chinese culture context to emphasize the diverse implication of frame analysis in different culture.