Pseudo-Wellness, Dead Ends, and the Struggle for Equality: Exploring Gender and Wellness in Original and Translated Commercials

Abstract

This study examines three interrelated issues: testimonies of pseudo-wellness in audiovisual advertising, gender-related dead ends in the translation of commercials, and the struggle for gender equality in which consumers, translators, and companies/advertisers may engage in different ways. Commercials frequently offer narratives that serve as testimonies of wellness achieved through the use of a product. However, these “testimonies” are constructed for the purposes of the commercials and given by paid actors. This paper explores whether wellness—although promised—is actually realized. Furthermore, it examines how commercials can contribute to societal unwellness through discriminatory gender representations. To this end, commercials from 2010 and 2012 promoting the chocolate bar Snickers are presented as examples of advertising from one of the largest companies in the United States. An analysis of the original English-language commercials and their German and Greek translations demonstrates the dead ends to which translators of commercials may be led when dealing with themes of gender. Finally, this paper discusses how consumers, translators, and companies/advertisers can utilize the tool of advertising literacy to navigate and mitigate the ongoing social crisis of gender inequality.

Keywords

• gender equality
• audiovisual advertising
• translation
• wellness
• pseudo-wellness