Försvarsmakten – The force for everyone

Abstract: This thesis aims to investigate and analyse Försvarsmakten's use of semiotic resources in their recruiting campaigns through a semiotic multimodal analysis. Försvarsmakten has been dominated by men for many years and now, in an attempt to change that, Försvarsmakten is targeting women to join the force. Advertising has in general been embossed with gender stereotypes for the last decennials but political and societal pressures have made organisations rethink how they portray men and women in advertising. By analysing five of Försvarsmakten's recruiting campaigns we got a deeper understanding of gender representations in advertising. Results suggest that Försvarsmakten is doing their best to break stereotypes about gender, but some stereotypes seem so deeply imprinted in society that we can find them anywhere if we look for them. Moreover, the result showed some contradictions in Försvarsmakten's recruiting campaigns.