“Science visible in your skin”: multimodal features in the representation of science in female cosmetics publicity

Abstract

This paper explores the ideational meanings (Halliday, 1978) associated with the representation of science in female beauty advertisements. For this purpose, we use multimodal discourse analysis tools (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2001a; 2001b) to analyze a corpus of written advertisements. This allows us to analyze how global meanings are made out of several modalities. Findings show that the representation of science -which is carried out by the verbal, visual and compositional modalities- is key to understanding the persuasive function of advertising discourse in that the representation of science serves to legitimize the product. In doing this, advertisements make use of three textual presuppositions that characterize science in a domesticated way (Moscovici & Hewstone, 1986), by simplifying and homogenizing scientific discourse. Findings are of interest for analysts in the fields of cultural approaches to science, discourse analysis and critical discourse analysis. The ultimate goal of the paper is to contribute to the current social debate on multiliteracy and mass media communication.