Advertising and Marketing

• Advertising


  One of the most powerful media forms
• Advertising


  • Very lucrative
  • Constructs representations to communicate meanings
  • Markets products
  • Persuades us to buy what we want, not needs
• Brand


  Brand identity that audience recognises
• Who advertises and why?

  • Makers of consumable products
  • Beauty/grooming companies
  • Charities to raise awareness and encourage donations
  • Government departments to raise awareness of issues
  • Organisers of events to boost ticket sales and promote
  • Educational establishments to persuade people to study there
  • The media to promote their products
• Semiotics


  • Signifier - the actual form of the signified (e.g. image or sound)
  • Signification - the meaning we attach to the sign
• Media language


  • Codes and conventions to establish genre
  • Visual codes, slogans, iconography (clothing, gesture, expression, colour) to communicate messages about product
  • Persuasive language like hyperbole and emotive language
  • Promoted through audio-visual ads
  • Narrative similar to short films, selling a lifestyle where product isn't the main focus
• Marketing


  • Representations of issue/event using shocking and emotive images, even if not sole focus
  • Information represented in a dramatic way using hyperbolic language
  • Use of statistics to shock audience and show severity of issue/event
  • Addressing audience directly, common in charities
• Print advertising


  • Layout and design, placement of images and text
  • Central image and what it communicates about product
  • Typography and graphics and their persuasive effect
  • Visual codes like colour, expression, gesture
  • Techniques like colour, soft-focus, natural iconography
  • Camera angles, shots, lighting, editing techniques
  • Language and mode of address, hard/soft sell
  • Attitudes and beliefs conveyed, associations made by audience
• Representations of gender in advertising


  • In the past, women defined by domestic role, men in patriarchal role
  • Now less overtly sexist but women judged on looks and appearance, representations focus on sexuality and emotions, unattainable perfection
  • Men in ads linked to product, constructs idealistic images of male form