“Beauty Born of Light” : Representations of Finnish Women in Contemporary Advertisements : Cases Lumene, Marimekko and Kalevala Koru

Abstract

This thesis examines the ways in which Finnish women are represented in contemporary advertisements by Lumene Oy, Marimekko Oy and Kalevala Koru Oy released around Finland’s centennial. This research aimed to determine how Finnish women are represented at the end of 2010’s and what it communicates about the Finnish society. As a starting point, previous research on advertising, critical whiteness studies and representations were utilised. Previous research on representations in Finnish advertisements suggest that Finnish women are represented in a fairly homogenous way as white, fair and slender young women who are connected to nature. This research examined three advertisements of the brands in question by utilising textual analysis as the main method. Two of the advertisements were audiovisual advertisements and one advertisement was a still image campaign. Close examination of the ways in which Finnish women are represented in the advertisements revealed similarities in representations but also differences. Finnish women are still represented mainly as white, fair and slender and nature is still an essential part in constructing Finnishness in addition to language. Moreover, the results of this research indicate that representations of Finnish women seek to portray them as independent and brave, who admire other women instead of seeking admiration from men. Furthermore, this study found that while representations of Finnish women are still quite homogenous, visual representations have begun to become more diverse and representations that idealise whiteness are starting to induce criticism.