The female-centric portrait in advertisement: the study focused on television advertising in Sri Lanka

Abstract

This research focuses on how women are portrayed in the various advertisements that are telecasted on different channels in Sri Lanka and the impact it makes on different people in the society, especially the problems that women face and the consequences they encounter as a result of it. It was in 1979 January that an idea was conceived to commence a television channel in Sri Lanka. In time to come many television channels came into being. At present there are more than 23 television channels operating in Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka by fixing modern antennas and through internet viewers are able to view various global television channels. Television not only in Sri Lanka but also globally is expanding and globally is recognized as a media that reaches beyond barriers. There has been no systematic research done on the effects of advertisement on female. Therefore I have decided to consider this issue as my research topic. Thus my research objective is to study the birth, growth of advertisement in Sri Lanka and the effects of television advertisement telecasted on female and propose solutions for social development. As primary research methods interviews, questioners, discussions and field work research will be considered. As secondary research methods books, magazines, statistics and television advertisement will be utilized. A sample of viewers will be selected and they will be subjected to research to assess the effect of television advertisement on them with the objective of social development research. Viewers selected as a sample from the research area will be given a standardized questioner and their independent answers will be solicited and subjected to research. After research limits are established, a field work research will be conducted on the television channels that operate in the research area, their wave length and the viewers in the research area plus on the advertisement telecasted in the research area. A variety of books and magazines on television advertisement, society and social ethics will be read and how their subject content is related to the research will be considered. Various data related to television advertisements and its impact on the females will be gathered and subjected to research. In these circumstances people should understand Advertisement as a medium. They should be clearly aware of the various effects of advertisement on society. Media persons working on advertisement should posses’ social ethics. This gives way to social research in the field of Mass Media.