Gender Stereotyping in Outdoor Media: A Pragmatic Perspective on Billboards in Suva, Fiji

Purpose: This study examines gender stereotyping in outdoor billboard advertising in Suva, Fiji, through a pragmatic and multimodal analytical lens, focusing on how public advertising normalizes particular gender roles, identities, and power relations. Methodology: Using a qualitative research design, eight billboard advertisements were purposively selected from high-traffic urban locations and analysed through pragmatic concepts such as implicature, presupposition, and speech acts, alongside Williams’ (1978) Representation Theory and Bem’s (1981) Gender Schema Theory. Findings: The findings indicate that billboard advertising in Suva continues to reproduce traditional gender norms through selective visibility, role allocation, and symbolic positioning, with men predominantly associated with strength, leadership, athleticism, and public authority, while women are frequently positioned as caregivers, service providers, or sexualized visual objects. Even representations that appear progressive often remain anchored in nurturing and domestic expectations, thereby reinforcing culturally embedded gender schemas and patriarchal ideologies. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: By situating pragmatic and multimodal analysis within a Pacific Island context, this study contributes to gender and media scholarship by highlighting the persistence of stereotypical gender representations and underscores the need for gender-sensitive advertising practices and policy frameworks that promote more inclusive and equitable portrayals within Fiji’s socio-cultural landscape.