Selling Awareness: Comparing Media Representations of Domestic Violence in France and Canada

Both Canada and France evidence high levels of domestic violence and, as such, various governmental and non-governmental bodies attempt to address the problem through media awareness campaigns. The Mitacs Award will support the media analysis of recent French media campaigns developed to create awareness around domestic violence, comparing these with depictions of domestic violence employed to sell products. What is innovative about this research is that I will also consider how similar images in anti-domestic violence campaigns and consumer ads impact audiences and investigate a puzzling hypothesis that representations of gender-based violence in consumer ads create more buzz than awareness campaigns. Studying with Dr. Karine Berthelot-Guiet, a leader in the field of social semiotics, this project promises to support the development of a strong international network as the findings will be compared with an analysis of media campaigns in Canada, conducted after the completion of the analysis of French media campaigns.

Faculty Supervisor:

Elizabeth Goodyear-Grant

Student:

Bailey Gerrits

Partner:

Discipline:

Political science

Sector:

University:

Queen's University

Program:

Globalink Research Award