Semiotic Literacy, Post-Modernity, Malaysia and Japan;

Abstract

This paper focuses on how advertising formats can be utilized as inductive tools to assess the political, economic, intellectual and cultural “development” of a society. It does so by focusing on two essentially different countries: Japan and Malaysia. We find that while both countries utilize the same four formats identified by Leiss et al. (1990) in their historical survey of American and Canadian print ads, they do so in different measure. Specifically, in Malaysia Product Information and Product Image formats occur with greater frequency, whereas in Japan the Peronalization and Lifestyle forms are more common. Implicit in Leiss et al.’s work was a developmental logic. Simply put, one could hypothesize that nations at a lower level of political-economic development tend to favor the “cruder”, more product-centered formats, while those countries at the higher level more often invoke the more sophisticated, entertainment-oriented communications. The comparative data here tends to confirm this. These associations are bolstered by the fact that in Japan, though not in Malaysia, we encounter a fifth presentation format—what I call the ‘Post-modern Format’. One further task of this paper is to explore an array of postmodern approaches. In conclusion I seek to understand why such patterns have resulted. My explanation is twofold. From the production side it involves matters of political organization and economic development—factors impinging on ad creation. From the audience side, it entails semiotics and, in particular, an ad reader’s sign-processing capacity. We end with questions of globalization. Advertising is one of the few “language systems” which has spread worldwide that is also understandable (at some level) to all recipients. Yet, because it is dependant on semiotic literacy and because such literacy is dependent on political and economic factors rooted in the context, the question whether Malaysian advertising will ever “develop” to the level of Japanese advertising —with a similar dominant status in society—is yet an open question.