FRAMING FEMININE BEAUTY THROUGH PERSUASIVE METAPHOR  IN ADVERTISING MEDIA DISCOURSE

Olga Beshlei

Olga Beshlei Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7127-0866

Keywords: Cosmopolitan, framing, media linguistics, critical discourse analysis, conceptual metaphor theory, gender ideology

Abstract

This study investigates the metaphorical representation of women's beauty in post-modern media advertisements, particularly Cosmopolitan magazine (June 2023 – June 2025).Although previous studies have analysed metaphor in advertisements and gender language, few understandings exist on how different arrangements of conceptual metaphors, ontological, orientational, and structural, function in upmarket fashion magazines to shape consumer consciousness and consolidate gender ideologies. Drawing from Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Critical Discourse Analysis, this study analyses 50 advertisement texts to categorise and understand trends of metaphors. The findings show a dominance of ontological metaphors (e.g., WOMAN IS FOOD, WOMAN IS ANIMAL) that essentialize and objectify women and orientational metaphors (e.g., BEAUTY IS UPWARD MOVEMENT) that stem from neoliberal ideals of self-change. Structural metaphors (e.g., BEAUTY IS TRANSFORMATION, BEAUTY IS FIGHT) are less frequent but occupy significant positions in conceptualising beauty as a struggle to be transcended by way of discipline and consumption. These metaphorical strategies do more than represent beauty, but actively work towards the building of gendered norms and consumer selves. The thesis promotes metaphor studies and media linguistics as it uncovers how figurative language use in beauty advertising represents and regurgitates prevalent cultural ideologies. It also opens up possibilities for cross-cultural and multimodal research into meta- phor in framing media discourse.

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