Abstract This paper examines how marketing language transmits gender ideology. Gender ideology refers to socially constructed expectations about what men and women should do and what they should be based on their gender. Drawing on cognitive linguistic concepts such as categorisation, markedness, and prototypicality, the analysis focuses on language used in advertisements for children’s toys on a major shopping platform in Japan. The study identifies linguistic and other semiotic features – including role language, writing system, vocabulary, font, colour, and visual symbols – that reinforce gender norms or re-categorise activities that challenge them. These features contribute to the conceptualisation of gendered users and uses, potentially shaping how both children and adults interpret gender-appropriate behaviour. The findings suggest that marketing discourse not only reflects but actively participates in the reproduction and subtle shifting of gender categories, offering insight into the pragmatic mechanisms through which ideology is maintained and negotiated.
Jessica Tynes (Fri,) studied this question.
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