The Virgin Mary With a Mobile Phone: Ideologies of Mothering and Technology Consumption in Philippine Television Advertisements

Abstract

In the Philippines, mobile phones are actively used across the population, including the large numbers of Filipino citizens working abroad, a majority of them women. This article investigates how television advertising of mobile phones engages culturally relevant roles of mothers to attract women as technology consumers. Using semiotic analysis, the article explores how these promotional messages perpetuate mothering ideologies and propose how best to harness communication technologies in the service of motherhood in this glocal setting. Within a predominantly Catholic and Marian nation, images of the efficient, nurturing, and self-sacrificial mother should not be viewed as benign or power-neutral. Strategies to increase market share in an increasingly competitive sector perpetuate multiple subjectivities.

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