A critical discourse analysis of in-flight magazine advertisements: The 'social sorting' of airline travellers?

Small, J; Harris, C; Wilson, E

A critical discourse analysis of in-flight magazine advertisements: The 'social sorting' of airline travellers?

Small, J

Harris, C Wilson, E

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Publisher:: Channel View Publications
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 2008, 6 (1), pp. 17 - 38
Issue Date:: 2008-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Small, J https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6200-5398	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Harris, C	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Wilson, E	en_US
dc.date.issued	2008-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 2008, 6 (1), pp. 17 - 38	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1476-6825	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/10059
dc.description.abstract	The in-flight magazine is one of many industrialised print media to which the traveller is exposed. In-flight magazines, however `ideologically innocent' they may appear, can be very powerful in representing the norms and values to which travellers should supposedly adhere. This paper builds on arguments that there is a lack of research on representation in tourism and focuses in particular on how in-flight magazine advertising produces, mediates and reproduces discourses surrounding air travel. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), advertisements from a selection of Qantas and Air New Zealand in-flight magazines from 2005 were studied. The content analysis of these texts reveals that the magazine advertisements wish to speak to a certain `elite' type of traveller who is mobility-rich as well as financially wealthy, with the time to pursue a raft of travel activities and the money to buy an array of expensive luxury products. Essentially, the paper argues that magazine advertisements can be a subtle (or, perhaps, not so subtle) way of `socially sorting' airline travellers into those who are socially and culturally acceptable airline travellers and those who are not. The advertisements can also be seen as a means of socially sorting the airline traveller from other types of traveller and from the non-traveller. No matter which way the sorting occurs, in-flight magazine advertising appears to be a powerful medium that overwhelmingly appeals and speaks to privileged groups in society.	en_US
dc.publisher	Channel View Publications	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.2167/jtcc099.0	en_US
dc.title	A critical discourse analysis of in-flight magazine advertisements: The 'social sorting' of airline travellers?	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	6	en_US
utslib.for	150606 Tourist Behaviour and Visitor Experience	en_US
utslib.for	1506 Tourism	en_US
utslib.for	1699 Other Studies in Human Society	en_US
utslib.for	2202 History and Philosophy of Specific Fields	en_US
dc.location.activity	Hamilton, New Zealand
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business/Management Discipline
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.issue	1	en_US
pubs.volume	6	en_US

Abstract:

The in-flight magazine is one of many industrialised print media to which the traveller is exposed. In-flight magazines, however `ideologically innocent' they may appear, can be very powerful in representing the norms and values to which travellers should supposedly adhere. This paper builds on arguments that there is a lack of research on representation in tourism and focuses in particular on how in-flight magazine advertising produces, mediates and reproduces discourses surrounding air travel. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), advertisements from a selection of Qantas and Air New Zealand in-flight magazines from 2005 were studied. The content analysis of these texts reveals that the magazine advertisements wish to speak to a certain `elite' type of traveller who is mobility-rich as well as financially wealthy, with the time to pursue a raft of travel activities and the money to buy an array of expensive luxury products. Essentially, the paper argues that magazine advertisements can be a subtle (or, perhaps, not so subtle) way of `socially sorting' airline travellers into those who are socially and culturally acceptable airline travellers and those who are not. The advertisements can also be seen as a means of socially sorting the airline traveller from other types of traveller and from the non-traveller. No matter which way the sorting occurs, in-flight magazine advertising appears to be a powerful medium that overwhelmingly appeals and speaks to privileged groups in society.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/10059