An Investigation of the Cultural Characteristics Associated with Female Message Sources in South African Print Advertisements in Drum Magazine

Abstract

The paper investigates the cultural characteristics associated with female massage sources in print advertisements using Schwartz’s Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ). The paper is based on a quantitative analysis of a sample of 244 print advertisements drawn from the South African general interest magazine Drum. The content analysis was performed by independent coders and resulted in high levels of intercoder reliability. The results show that the top two values emphasised in the advertisements are achievement and power in the self-enhancement value domain. These results are not consistent with previous studies and appear to be at variance with the ubuntu-inspired values one would expect to find amongst the target readers of the magazine. The paper concludes that use of messages that conflict with consumers’ value systems could be a call for more research to understand the target audience better.The limitations of the study and opportunities for further research are identified.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p36