“Carlsberg makes memorable advertisements (Mads Mikkelsen is handsome)” : Discourses surrounding alcohol advertising in Sweden: A critical discourse analysis

The aim of the thesis is to explore texts connected to alcohol advertisements, in order to understand what discourses are evident in interpretations of advertisements about alcohol. The selected method of a critical discourse analysis provided the opportunity to examine how the language, texts and linguistic choices relates to discourses and how it might affect social norms and attitudes. The theoretical framework of interpretation of language, discourse's role of shaping society and theory of persuasion enabled tools to explore the gathered survey material with a lens of understanding it better. The conducted analysis showcased results in the texts where discourses of normalization and glorification were found in relation to alcohol advertisements. The results from the texts also displayed the interdiscursivity between discourses connected to advertising and discourses of other related social elements, such as sports and vacation. The language in the texts indicated how alcohol advertising connects these different types of discourses to normalize the use of alcohol. The conclusion in relation to the texts established the view that alcohol advertising contributes to socially making alcohol more acceptable in accordance to the evident discourses in the texts. The conclusion is furthermore providing insight to how alcohol consumption is discursively constructed in connection to social norms in the texts.