This article is a social semiotic analysis of eight particular TV commercials broadcast in Greek television, and undertakes a historical investigation of advertising representations of basic stereotypic roles of women. Our main hypothesis is that the construction of specific representations reflected the existing power relations characterising patriarchal societies, which in turn influenced the attitudes of advertising networks. Actually, the analysis of women's roles as ‘housewife’ and as ‘sexual object’ did not reveal essential differences through time, while the representations of the ‘working woman’ presented partly conflicting behaviours. Gradually, contradictions in women's representations intensified as the more recent commercials rendered her in more and more roles.
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