LZ411 – Critical Media Theory

Analysing advertising

1

Aims today …

1.Examining the ‘language of advertising’2.Doing semiotic analyses of advertising3.Myth and ideology in advertising

LZ411 – Critical Media Theory

"Advertising isn't a science. It's persuasion. And persuasion is an art."

Bill Bernbach – creator of the ‘lemon’ ad. for VW

Advertising in daily life

• What adverts can you remember from the last 24 hours?

• Which adverts are most memorable for you (ever)? Why?

• What have you bought because you saw/heard about it in an advert?

2

An advert …

3

£15,000

Buy this car.

All the small print . All the small print . All the small print . All the small print . All the small print .All the small print . All the small print . All the small print . All the small print . All the small print . All the small print . All the small print . All the small print .All the small print . All the small print . All the small print .

The functions of advertising

4

“[It] has a function, which is to sell things to us. But it has another function, which I believe in many ways replaces that traditionally fulfilled by art and religion. It creates structures of meaning.

(Williamson 1978: 11-12)

5

Yves Saint Laurent (2000) – Opium advert [Steven Meisel/Tom Ford]

Structures of meaning

• Ad. agencies sell products to audiences/readers through creating meaning. Advertising creates “symbolic ‘exchange values’… Translating the language of objects to that of people”.

(Williamson 2002:12)

6

7

Advertiser: Volkswagen Group. Brand name: AudiProduct: Audi A6 V6 2.4 Agency: Verba Released: July 1999

Semiotic analysis

8

Start: Sign – Audi A6

Signifier – word Audi A6Signified – powerful, luxury, ‘high class’ car. For a particular type of car driver.

Brand aim: increase consumer base to include those put off by the ‘luxury’ label because of six cylinders (i.e. most cars are 4)

Need to: change signified of signifier ‘Audi A6’ to ‘not luxury’/’everydayness’ etc.

Communicative strategy: Associate signifier with everyday object. How? Through one attribute.

Result: Sign – AudiSignifier – word audiSignified – having six cylinders in a car is not luxury it’s normal/everyday etc. It’s for anyone …

Devices of connecting objects/services and people

• (Some) Devices• Connection through juxtaposition• Connection through storying (narrative)• Use of figurative language (e.g. metaphor and metonym)• Intertextuality• ‘Voice of the advert’ in terms of a human

attribute/character (e.g. humour, irony, playfulness, clever)

• In short – connecting one sign system (already known from our histories, culture, society) to another (the product or service to be sold)

9

10

11

Intertextuality

• Another way of communicating is by reference to other texts. The meanings in one text are often based on the meanings in another. Think how ads ‘borrow’ from film and TV, and vice versa.

12

An example

13

Narrative

• Action (plot) Building and maintaining our interest in a narrative by showing an action. We keep watching/reading to see the result or outcome of the action.

• Enigma code – Building and maintaining our interest in a narrative by posing questions, puzzles. We keep watching/reading to find the solution to the puzzle.

14

TV advertisement examples

• Audi – TDI Quattro

• Chloe perfume

15

Metaphor and metonymy

16

17

18

2007 Advertising Agency: Zoo Advertising, Shanghai, China

‘Myth’ in advertising

• Signs have connotations which trigger ‘mythic meanings’ (Barthes 1972)

• Advertising works by juxtapositioning the product and some other signifier with a mythic meaning. Transferring of that meaning to the product is done by the reader.

• Myth and gender – Audi and Chloe19

Analysis of Myth

20

Reading and Seminar

• Finish reading Penn (2000) in module reader

• Seminar – discussing the way ads work. Discussing advertising, myth and ideology. Analysing more examples of advertising

• Blog – carry out your own analysis on one of the ads we discuss in the seminar.

21