Abstract
Contemporary popular culture is closely related to visual communication and its standing out phenomenon – advertising. Theorists and various researchers agree about the impact commercials have on individuals, economics, and culture. However, the question, why advertising is so effective even when the message receivers are aware of the deliberate intentions of these communicative items, still has no clear answer. Nationwide it has not been researched yet. The aim of this article is to find out semantic patterns of body language that function as communicative strategies while consuming visual discourse. The semiotic analysis is applied as the research method of commercials. Advertisements from the press that cover women and men magazines, professional and entertainment publications, and national as well as international editions are investigated. Five-year period samples allow to present universal body language use and human body depiction classifications. The main conclusion is that body in visual discourse of commercials is reduced to the instrument of persuasion: body figures simultaneously generate the meaning of the message and inscribe certain values. Because of this constant figurative overshadow and overlap of discursive levels of utterance and annunciation the offering of prescribed benefits and pleasures is so simple and so effective. Keywords: annunciation, advertisement, advertising, body, body language, commercial, decoding, discourse, encoding, meaning, model, pattern, persuasion, press, relationship, semiotics, sense, slogan, strategy, utterance, value, visual.
Highlights
Figures simultaneously generate the meaning of the message and inscribe certain values
The aim of this article is to find out semantic patterns of body language that function as communicative strategies while consuming visual discourse
The main conclusion is that body in visual discourse of commercials is reduced to the instrument of persuasion: body figures simultaneously generate the meaning of the message and inscribe certain values
Summary
Contemporary media discourse combines journalism and adver tising enabling the political to be challenged by the commercial; seri ous by fun; the sources by the audience; and the verbal by the visual: “a ‘reader’ of media texts can combine, for instance, the experi ence of a programme with that of advertisements inserted in it, or with adjoining programmes” (McQuail, 1994: 238). From the point of view of semiotics of utterance, bodies presented in the commercials must be treated as pure characters which act in the frame of discourse and have no impact on extra-linguistic, in case of the article – extra-visual reality Cultural anthropology contradicts such thinking: “(...) the appearance of the product is the important element of contemporary advertising, a visual association of object and setting. It advertises a game where you can win a free holiday and represents four guys – this time the visual discourse does not suggest the claim of two couples, even despite the fact that the parallel slogan states: “take part in the Maggi game and win free holidays for you and your family” This poster is intriguing because the relationship between the look of it and the product publicized is that of similarity, a kind of parallel that is quite evident: “Maggi” is a company that sells spice, dry food and things like that; one will say, helps make our food more delicious, spicy, gingery or even exotic. The illustrations that were discussed allow concluding that types of persuasion may intertwine in single visual discourse
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
