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Contemporary Management Research
Pages 173-196, Vol. 7, No. 3, September 2011
The Construction of Beauty in Malay Magazine Advertisements
Weng Marc Lim
Monash University
E-Mail: lim.weng.marc@monash.edu
Ding Hooi Ting
Monash University
E-Mail: ting.ding.hooi@monash.edu
ABSTRACT
The images in advertisements have the power to shape one’s perception,
specifically the way one looks at the world. While the images of women portrayed in
most advertisements in the American and European context are often seen as a
creation of artificiality that establishes an impossible standard of physical perfection
for most women, the question of whether such a state of affairs exists in the Asian
context and the underlying reasons for such a state remains in ambiguity. This paper
seeks to shed some light in this dark area of the scholarship and contribute its findings
to the body of knowledge as it aims to provide an in-depth investigation on how
women are portrayed in Malay advertisements and the implications that may be
perceived by its viewers, with a concentration on the area of artificiality. Several
distinguished famous advertisements featuring women found in Malay magazines that
are distributed worldwide were analyzed using a qualitative thematic analysis. The
findings of the study indicates that women in Malay advertisements were being
portrayed: (i) in an ideal yet artificial state of perfect facial beauty, (ii) passive and as
a precious belonging to men, (iii) young with the characteristics of intelligence, cheer
and beauty, (iv) being absolutely slim in all conditions, and (v) having high
confidence even in their worst periods of the month. The rationales in the elucidation
of the observed phenomenon and the subsequent theoretical and managerial
implications were also presented in the paper.
Keywords: Advertising, Artificiality, Malay, Portrayal, Women
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INTRODUCTION
Images in advertisements have the power to shape the perception of a society as
far as the way they look at the world (Harrison, Biljana and Cornwell, 2001; Kuntjara,
2001). Women, in particular, are often portrayed as sexual objects in advertisements
(Berger, 1999; Ford, LaTour and Lundstrom, 1991; Stankiewicz and Rosselli, 2008).
Relationally, the conventional beauty is typically a women’s main attribute of
attraction (Ingham, 1995; Johnston and Taylor, 2008; Ong and Seah, 2001). However,
the images of women portrayed in most advertisements are frequently observed as a
creation of artificiality that establishes an impossible standard of physical perfection
for women (Kuntjara, 2001; Workman and Johnson, 1991). Most studies in the
scholarship discusses on the portrayal of women in American and European
advertisements (Ferguson, Kreshel and Tinkham, 1990; Heslop, Newman and
Gauthier, 2009), particularly those being portrayed as sexual objects (Coleman, 2010;
Rhode, 1995; Sengupta, 1992), and its probable meanings to its viewers. However, the
area on the implicated meanings that can be derived from the artificiality of women
portrayal in advertisements seems to be an infertile area of research, and its
understanding in the context of Malay advertisements can be said as null. Hence, there
is a need to establish an understanding on how women are portrayed in Malay
advertisements and its subsequent implications that viewers may perceive from these
advertisements, with a concentration on the area of artificiality. This paper seeks to
shed some light on this dark area of research and contribute its findings to the body of
knowledge as it aims to provide an in-depth investigation on how women are
portrayed in Malay advertisements and the implications that may be perceived by its
viewers, with a concentration on the area of artificiality. Relying on the positivist and
realist epistemologies, the researchers analyzes the visual materials from the point of
view of how images in the materials produce meanings and shared cultural images of
woman in Malay magazines among the people and communities via a qualitative
thematic analysis.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
The question of how to make sense of visual materials is closely linked with the
question of how to analyze visual materials (Eriksson and Kovalainen, 2008).
Observation of existing literature in the scholarship has suggested that
meaning-making of the visual is not the same as meaning-making of language
(Hooper-Greenhill, 2000; Belova, 2006). The coding and analysis of visual data can
be a complicated mater, and figuring out how to relate visual and textual analysis can
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be even more difficult (Eriksson, and Kovalainen, 2008). As such, there is an
imperative need to extract data from visual images which are relevant and significant
in answering the research question and present them in an organized manner.
Coding
Coding is an interpretive technique that organizes the data and provide a means
to introduce the interpretations of the data into certain qualitative methods (Denzin
and Lincoln, 2005; Marshall and Rossman, 1998). According to Lindlof and Taylor
(2002), most coding requires researchers to read the data and demarcate segments
within it, whereby each segment is labelled with a code, which is usually a word
criterion that suggests how the associated data segments inform the research
objectives. In the coding of visual images, the visual data are treated and analyzed as a
direct representation of reality and as such, the coded visual data are considered as a
true and objective state of affairs. Nevertheless, Eriksson and Kovalainen (2008)
suggested that there are no specific or rigid rules for the coding and analysis of visual
materials. Typically, most researchers are observed to have developed ad hoc coding
and analysis solutions for the purpose tailored to their own study (Heath and
Hindmarsh, 2002). Hence, the researchers of the current study have developed six
major criteria in an attempt to organize the data from the Malay advertisements into an
organized manner: 1. The Mood; 2. The Design; 3. The Context and Content; 4. The
Signs and Symbols; 5. The Language and Typefaces; and 6. The Themes.
Thematic Analysis
Five broad themes are developed from the above codes, which are inductive in
nature – the researchers are interested in themes for Malay advertisements and
extracted them out from the natural variation of the empirical data rather than from
any pre-given theoretical framework or any set of pre-formulated propositions.
Subsequently, the extracted themes are further discussed with reference with existing
literature in the scholarship.
1. Theme of External Beauty (Face). This theme looks at the portrayal pertaining to
the importance of a woman’s external beauty in terms of the degree of
beautifulness of their face. A woman’s facial beauty is particularly important as
the face is often seen as the main attraction of a woman’s conventional beauty
(Ingham, 1995; Johnston and Taylor, 2008; Ong and Seah, 2001). As such, the
researchers examine how women are portrayed in Malay advertisements in
relation to their external facial beauty under this theme. In particular, the
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researchers look to explain the types of problems that a woman may encounter in
their attempt to adhere to the ideal beautifulness of the face as portrayed by the
women in Malay advertisements. Subsequently, this theme seeks to shed some
light on the implications of such portrayed facial problems and how these
problems are solved using the example of a woman portrayed using the
advertized product. The artificiality of such cure towards the portrayed undesired
facial problems of women is also examined.
2. Theme of Intrinsic Beauty (Valued Items). This theme looks at the portrayal
pertaining to the importance of a woman’s perception of intrinsic beauty in terms
of items which are of value to them, in this case, jewelleries. According to Davis,
Dionne and Shuster (2001), Moga (2002), Kosher (2006) and Red (2010),
jewelleries after often perceived as ‘a woman’s best friend’ as it is viewed by
most women as being able to enhance their physical beauty appearance as well as
providing a valuable intrinsic meaning if gifted by someone special, usually by
their love ones. As such, the researchers examine how women are portrayed in
Malay advertisements in relation to their reactions when receiving valued items
under this theme. In particular, the researchers look to explain the personality and
perception of woman in their encounter of receiving a valued item as a gift from
their loved one as portrayed by the women in Malay advertisements.
Subsequently, this theme seeks to shed some light on the implications of such
portrayed personality and what connotations can be made on such perceptions
using the example of a woman portrayed receiving the valued item of the
advertized product. The artificiality of such situation occurring towards the
portrayed personal choice of valued item is also examined.
3. Theme of Intrinsic Beauty (Personality). This theme looks at the portrayal
pertaining to the importance of a woman’s intrinsic beauty in terms of personality.
According to Kuntjara (2001), the portrayal of women’s personality in
advertisements may suggest how women in the modern day society should adhere
to if they want to have a chance to be wanted. As such, the researchers examine
how women are portrayed in Malay advertisements in relation to the different
personalities that are deemed to be ideal in the modern day society under this
theme. In particular, the researchers look to explain the types of personality that is
expected of modern day women as portrayed by women in Malay advertisements.
Subsequently, this theme seeks to shed some light on the implications of such
portrayed personality and what insinuations can be made of such ideal
personalities using the images portraying the actions and ambitions of women in
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Malay advertisements. The possibility of women to have all such personalities is
examined on whether such portrayals are of artificial nature.
4. Theme of Confidence. This theme looks at the portrayal pertaining to the
importance of a woman’s confidence, in this case, during their menstrual period.
As mentioned in the previous portfolio, the perception of woman talking about
their menstrual periods and sanitary pads is one which is often viewed in a
close-minded manner and should not be talked about in public (Ginsburg, 1996;
Kay, 2005; Singh, Singh, Arora and Sen, 2006), especially in most prominent
Malay conservative-minded countries, like Malaysia (Ong and Seah, 2001) and
Indonesia (Frith, Shaw and Cheng, 2005). Nevertheless, there is an increasing
trend of sanitary pads being advertized in the local media (Gale, 1993), such as
the one presented in this portfolio. As such, the researchers examine how women
are portrayed in Malay advertisements in relation to their confidence to come out
and participate in such a topic under this theme. In particular, the researchers seek
to explain the degree of confidence that a modern day women ought to have as
portrayed by women in Malay advertisements. Subsequently, this theme seeks to
shed some light on the implications of such portrayed confidence using the
images of woman in carrying out demanding activities during such a difficult and
challenging period. The possibility of woman to have such high confidence level
in a rather difficult period is investigated for artificiality.
5. Theme of External Beauty (Body). This theme looks at the portrayal pertaining to
the importance of a woman’s external beauty in terms of the ideal body shape.
According to Chu (2010) and Chan (2010), modern day woman highly regard the
conforming of their body shape to one that is ideal in the modern day society very
seriously. Cash and Diane (1982), Chakraborty (2009) and Venkat (2009)
supports the former findings as it was also found that there is a demand for body
beautifying services as seen by the mushrooming of body beautifying centres. As
such, the researchers examine how women are portrayed in Malay advertisements
in relation to how the ideal body shape is perceived under this theme. In
particular, the researchers seek to explain the type of body shape that modern day
women ought to have as portrayed by women in Malay advertisements.
Subsequently, this theme seeks to shed some light on the implications of such
portrayed body shape using the images of women with their full body figures.
The artificiality of such body figures that modern day women ought to have is
also examined.
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DISCUSSION
There are five Malay advertisements that are analyzed in this paper.
Advertisement 1
The first advertisement relates to the theme of external beauty (face) as it
advertises women’s cosmetics. It contains a photograph and a suggestive image,
whereby wrinkled (kulit berkedut), spotted (kulit bernoda), and dry skin (kulit kering)
are portrayed as a woman’s problems. As such, it implies that a woman has to make
these problems as her enemies that she needs to eliminate. This advertisement has
capitalised on women’s anxieties and fears of having these problems and presents its
product as a solution to these problems. In particular, this advertisement implies that
women will not be beautiful if they have wrinkled, spotted and dry skin. Besides that,
it is observed that the hints of natural, safe and effective (alami, aman namun efektif)
are strong selling points for beauty aids, such as the one advertized. It portrays that
women have fears of using unsafe and ineffective chemical products. The advertiser
takes advantage of these fears and instils a perception that what is natural is usually
good, whereby its advertized product is able to offer a natural beauty to women
(SOLUSI mengatasi apapun masalah kecantikan kulit anda dengan rangkaian product
yang alami, aman namun efektif - SOLUSI overcomes any of your skin problem
with its natural, safe, but effective products). On the other hand, the use of two
different types of facial complexions, before and after using the product, can liken to
the selling of magic as the change of the skin problems into a smooth, light and
youthful skin is like magic. While most women are aware that magic is a mere illusion
and it is not real, they become fascinated about these changes and become susceptible
into believing that it is real.
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The second advertisement relates to the theme of intrinsic beauty, in terms of
valued items, as it advertises women’s jewelleries. Typically, the intrinsic meaning of
items is able to bring out the personality and perception of women on these items, in
this case, jewellery. An image of a young woman and a man is used to show the
necessity of using Joensin jewellery. The words ‘setiap pilihan adalah sangat peribadi’
(every choice is a very private choice) presents two meanings. Firstly, the choice of
giving the Joensin jewellery to young woman should be a private choice, in which it is
personally chosen to be given to the woman. Secondly, the choice could also refer to
the man’s choice of the young woman as a special person who deserves a special gift.
Relationally, the woman is portrayed with an astonished face and smile while looking
at the piece of jewellery, which implies that the woman is very pleased to be given
such a gift. Perhaps, she might not even imagine that she would get such a special gift.
Nevertheless, such a woman deserves high fashion jewellery, such as the diamond
wedding rings presented. Hence, being passive for a woman is gold as it is the kind of
character that an ideal woman should display, especially in her relation to a man.
Therefore, it can be said that women in Malay advertisements are typically portrayed
as being passive, is in need of a man’s special attention, should be viewed as
something precious, and to be specially chosen by the man. Nevertheless, the
presentation of such high fashion jewellery may not happened in the real world as not
every man can afford such expensive gifts and thus, it would probably give women a
degree of materialistic and unattainable hope for such a situation to occur.
Advertisement 2
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Advertisement 3
The third advertisement also relates to the theme of intrinsic beauty, but in terms
of a woman’s personality. The series of images show the kinds of women who can be
considered as intelligent, cheerful and beautiful (cerdas, ceria, cantik). Typically, the
eight pictures of young women with their actions and gestures depict their
characteristics, whereby they are confident (percaya diri), are active and creative (aktif
dan kreatif), love life (cinta kehidupan), love freedom (cinta kebebasan), are attractive
(mempesona), appreciate tradition (menghargai tradisi) and are very ambitious (penuh
ambisi). Apparently, the series of pictures in this advertisement are all images of
young women. Thus, this gives an impression to viewers that in order to be intelligent,
cheerful and beautiful, women have to look young, slim and sexy, rich, educated, and
lovable. In particular, there is no place for an old, poor, fat, or uneducated woman to
be included here. As such, these images in the Malay advertisement ought to shape the
minds of its viewers with ideas of what is to be an ideal woman. Hence, it will no
longer be the words that women will remember, but it will be the image of a woman
driving a car, using a hand phone, walking with an uplifted face and carrying a case,
relaxing, or being embraced by a man. Nevertheless, to achieve all these
characteristics may be impossible by many women, typically to those who are not
included in these images – such as old and fat women.
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Advertisement 4
The fourth advertisement is an advertisement of sanitary pads, which relates to
the theme of confidence. This advertisement contains scenery of three women who are
experiencing their monthly menstrual period exercising by a lake at ease. Usually
during this time of the month, women often stop many of their daily activities,
including exercising, as they may feel uncomfortable and insecure of the smell and
amount of blood discharged. Nevertheless, from this scene, it implies that modern
women are portrayed with higher levels of confidence as these three women dare to go
out and continue with their normal daily activities even during their menstrual period,
whereby the use of the advertized range of Poise menstrual products is able to provide
them with this security and thus, boosts their confidence. It is also noted that these
women are wearing clothing of bright colours without any patterns, which further
show their confidence in carrying out exercising activities. In addition, the
advertisement implies that modern women are now more open on talking about this
issue with others, as opposed to the conservativeness associated in the traditional
times. Nevertheless, a sense of artificiality may be present as many women experience
pain during their menstrual period and may not look as happy and calm as in the
picture, even though the menstrual pad might be helpful to contain the smell and large
amount of blood discharged.
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Advertisement 5
The fifth advertisement is an advertisement of a slimming centre, which relates to
the theme of external beauty (body). Similar to the first advertisement, this
advertisement uses two different images to show the effects of their slimming
services – one shows a woman when she was pregnant and another shows the same
women after she has given birth and undergone the slimming therapy provided by
Slim World slimming centre. Ziana, the woman portrayed, is a famous Malaysian
artist and was used as a celebrity and customer (artist, pelanggan) endorser in this
advertisement, whereby the advertiser aims to show the trust of a famous fellow
female to obtain a slim figure after using its therapies. Typically, it can be implied that
whether a woman is young or old, a woman who has a slim figure will always be
regarded as the ideal state of beauty. Even for women who have given birth, being
slim is still very essential. The words that suggest that the Ziana Zain comes back with
a slimmer and more beautiful body (kembali dengan lebih ramping dan anggun)
further emphasize the importance of modern day women, typically mothers, to have a
slim figure, even after giving birth. In addition, it is also observed that the
advertisement states a loss of 28kg after undergoing the slimming therapy, showing
the effectiveness of its therapy. Nevertheless, a sense of artificiality may be observed
whereby the picture of Ziana is shown when she was pregnant and her prior weight of
80kg could be reflective of her with the baby in her womb. Thus, the effect of adding
the baby’s dimension and weight into a situation of Ziana being considered as ‘fat’ is
rather artificial and seems to deceive its viewers. Furthermore, having such a slim
figure after being pregnant once is already a very difficult mission to accomplish, let
alone twice.
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IMPLICATIONS
Many scholars in the past have agreed to the notion that an imperative area of
advertising that has an utmost need for analysis and change is the portrayal of women
as the portrayal of such precious beings is argued to be continuously changing over
time due to the rapid modernization and advancement of the human race and the
surroundings they inhabit (Berger, 1999; Kuntjara, 2001; Ong and Seah, 2001).
Nonetheless, despite the changes of time, many critics still argue that the roles that
women play in the media are often demeaning (Coleman, 2010). This is supported by
Kuntjara (2001) as it was found that over time, women, more often than not, are
treated only as sexual objects, and used for display or as dummies who get excited
about some brand, especially those of cleaning products. Frequently, they are not
shown as active, but rather, as more passive figures who react to the initiatives of
others, usually males (Berger, 1999). However, such observations which reside in the
existing literature in the scholarship are often confined to advertisements in the
American and European context (Ford, LaTour and Lundstrom, 1991; Rhode, 1995).
While there may be scarce literature which looks at the portrayal of women in the
Asian context, more often than not, it is a rather stereotyping thought of analysis
which looks only at Asians who are of yellow skin – typically those who are Chinese,
Japanese or Korean (Hung and Li, 2006; Siu and Au, 1997).
The current research, which looks at a race who is often overlooked in research
considerations and implications when it comes to Asian studies – the Malays, have
found observations that somewhat deviate from those annotations of women portrayal
as sexual objects in the existing studies in the literature. In particular, it was observed
through the sample of Malay advertisements in the current study that the external or
the conventional beauty may not necessarily be depicted as a woman’s only attribute.
In occasions where women are depicted with the presence of men, it is observed that
women have been portrayed as having the intrinsic beauty of being valued in terms of
being something precious in the eyes of men. This depicts a contrasting insight in the
portrayal of women in Malay advertisements as compared to existing studies in the
American, European or other Asian contexts as women in the analyzed Malay
advertisements were found to be rendered with more feeling of appreciation, rather
than merely as an object that fulfil the desires of men. Indeed, the existence of such
feelings in advertisements which is not only targeted to the Malay market, but also to
the market of other races, is rather imperative as studies in the past have found that
women in a multi-racial country, such as Malaysia, adore the feeling of being cared
for and pampered, with a stressed importance of an overall feeling of being
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appreciated (Hassan and Kamaruddin, 2010). On the other hand, women presented in
Malay advertisements have also been observed to possess intrinsic beauty for their
personality and also having much confidence by having a young image with the
characteristics of intelligent, cheerful, confident even during the worst period of times,
and being beautiful naturally, unlike those found in the past scholarship which reports
that a large portion of images of women were often portrayed with a dumb image,
typically those who are blonde (Norton, 1999). The work of Nichols (2009) explained
that the emergence of such modern image portrayals is mainly due to the fact that
most men in the contemporary era are not just attracted to women solely based on
their external beauty - both face and the body, but also, they tend to become deeply
engrossed to those women who project a sense of intelligence and confidence and
possess a cheerful and bubbly character. Indeed, such traits of attraction are argued by
Heslop, Newman and Gauthier (2009) as becoming the goals that women of the
modern era strive to become. Such a phenomenon is explain by Sumun (2011), who
argues that all individuals are born naked and as they move on in life, they become
actors simply because every day, most individuals, especially females, will put on
some kind of costume when they walk out the front door to become the people that
they are expected to be – predominantly, to fulfil the desires to meet the expectations
of people who matter to them from both the same and opposite gender. Consequently,
it can be implied that what amounts to the meaning of depicted images of women in
advertisements accessible and circulated in a particular society can be argued as
representing the desires of what that culture wants women in that particular society to
be. Relationally, the difference between the portrayals found from Malay
advertisements as compared to those advertisements studied in the past literature may
be rationalized upon the influence of a culture which holds very much to their
religious teachings with a strong respect and tolerance for the religious beliefs of
others. Typically those cultures which are multi-racial, have a strong sense of
diversity, and have at least one dominant belief which is more conservative and
sensitive than others, such as the Malays in Malaysia, along with a wide coverage and
span of provision for education in a society, as seen by the literacy rates in the
research context, will undeniably lead to more respectable portrayal of images of
women in their advertisements.
Nonetheless, with relation to conventional beauty, it was observed that there is
existence of images of women in Malay advertisements being portrayed as a female
who has no lines of wrinkles, is young, and has no scars, pores or blemishes. She is
thin, generally tall and long-legged. Typically, all ‘beautiful’ women in the sample of
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Malay advertisements in this study conform to this norm. With relation to these
observations of external beauty and the prior issues argued pertaining to intrinsic
beauty and confidence, it can be further noted that such images project a strong sense
of perfection. According to Siu and Au (1997), such perfect portrayal in media images
are often results of fantasies and the creation of artificiality that establishes an
impossible standard of physical and mental perfection for women. Rhode (1995)
added that the true definition of beauty is that it is something that comes naturally
without forcing oneself to spend money and time on cosmetics, personality training
and other enhancements for or to create both external and internal beauty. The work of
Harrison, Biljana and Cornwell (2001) further added that in cases where women are
not able to conform to the ideal and impossible standard portrayed by media images,
the majority of them are reported to go to a great length of effort to manipulate and
change what is necessary as to what is required and portrayed in media images,
typically their faces and bodies. In particular, it was noted that most women seem to
have conditioned to view their faces as a mask and their body as an object (Frith,
Shaw and Cheng, 2005). They are often in constant need of alteration, improvement
and disguise. More often than not, such portrayal of media images with unnatural and
artificial characteristics are often made to make a women feel dissatisfied with and
ashamed of herself (Ong and Seah, 2001). As such, women are constantly exhorted to
achieve this ideal, to feel ashamed and guilty if they fail, and to feel that their
desirability and lovability are contingent upon such portrayed perfection. This is
indeed true in a context where media with Malay advertisement content are circulated
as a study by Kuntjara (2001) have found that more than half of young women who
were exposed to Malay advertisements were dieting and three quarters felt they were
over-weight. In her research, one respondent was recorded commenting that she did
not expect guys to be handsome. Another added that while this is evident among the
girls, guys expect girls to be perfect and beautiful, and skinny too! Such cruelty that
beholds such a phenomenon is the fact that certain irresponsible advertisers are
exploiting the use of special techniques to create ‘reality effects’ from the unreality, in
which many women grow up thinking that they need to look like the women in the
advertisements. For most women this is impossible; no matter how carefully they
apply these products, they will never look like the pretty women depicted in the
advertisements. Consequently, there is an underlying need for the government and
non-profit organisations to strive towards informing and educating the public,
typically women, in processing information that is seen in media images – that what is
portrayed should not be taken too seriously as additional effects may have been
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created through advance visual technologies in an attempt by advertisers to shadow
unreality. A concrete call for the government to look into measures to control the use
of special techniques to create ‘reality effects’ from the unreality is also very much
evident. To cushion the concern of undermining the advancement in visual designs,
such special techniques is recommended to be limited to visuals that are not created to
facilitate the selling of products or services of a company to consumers to prevent the
exploitation of special visual effects in creating a need in consumers to buy the
advertized offerings. Without the implementation of such control measures in an era
with a rapid growth in the advancement in visual designs, society’s fear of being
unable to expect any truly realistic advertisements in the future may indeed become a
reality – illusion will then be taken as reality instead.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, it is observed that most advertisers use special and creative
techniques to create ‘reality effects’ from the unreality. In particular, women in Malay
advertisements are often portrayed: (i) in an ideal yet artificial state of perfect facial
beauty, (ii) passive and as a precious object owned by men, (iii) young with the
characteristics of intelligent, cheerful and beautiful, (iv) being absolutely slim in all
conditions, and (v) having high confidence even in their worst periods of the month.
While many women will internalize these stereotypes of what is considered to be an
ideal woman, it is an impossible mission for most women as there is a sense of
artificiality in most advertisements. Nonetheless, the results of this research cannot be
generalized as a grounded theory for the portrayal of women in Malay advertisements
as it only consists of one advertisement per theme. In order to improve the reliability
and the generalizability of the results, future researches are recommended to be
specifically devoted to look into a collection of Malay advertisements for only a
specific theme. Other potential fruitful areas that future researches could naturally
look at are comparisons between the perception of men and women on the portrayal of
women in Malay advertisements as well as at the portrayal of both men and women
cross-culturally and in other categories of media, such as Thai and Tamil
advertisements in magazines, newspapers, television, radio and on the Internet.
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