IDENTITY POSITIONS AND HALAL COSMETICS IN INDONESIAN MIDDLE-CLASS MUSLIM WOMEN

Abstract

Creations can become meaningful when there are audience who pay attention towards the
products, enjoy and show their appreciation or even evaluation towards them. The meaning produced within a
media is considered incomplete without the understanding of the audience and the meaning the audience
produces in appreciating as well as responding to the media text. To understand more on the meaning of text
media, therefore, it is paramount to consider and gain a thorough understanding of the meaning produced by the
media audience through studying the way the audience reads, uses, and responds to the media. Utilizing Hall’s
Cultural Studies of dominant and oppositional readings, this paper endeavours to showcase the understanding of
audience and how meaning is constructed. Locating the issue of audience research in the context of Halal
Cosmetics and the Middle-Class Muslims in Indonesia, a brief overview on the theories of audience is outlined
and relevant theories to the case of integrating advertisement in Indonesian cinema is employed.