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Analyzing Print Advertisements. Chapter 8. Ads as “storehouses of information”. Key Points: Everything in a text such as a commercial is important The more you know, the more you can see in a text
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Analyzing Print Advertisements Chapter 8
Ads as “storehouses of information” • Key Points: • Everything in a text such as a commercial is important • The more you know, the more you can see in a text • This because texts store a tremendous amount of information in themselves and are a great deal more complicated than we might imagine • The idea is also that print ads and TV spots can be seen as popular or commercial art • The notion is that, like other art such as paintings, music, sculptures, and poems, you can see, notice, even appreciate, new things in more complex commercials and ads • Such ads are often rich in symbolism and interesting material for those who have the keys- that is, the theories and conceptual framework- to unlock their meaning • Ads and cxs are richer in meaning than we might think • And it takes a good deal of work to understand how they communicate ideas and meaning and, to the extent that they are successful, shape our behavior
What’s to analyze in an ad? • Pages 138-140 in our book lists 15 possible topics to consider in analyzing a print ad • The example given is a photograph of a man and woman with some textual material • For homework use the Bono and wife Louis Vuitton full color ad (handout and posted on our class website) to thoroughly analyze its content, messages, design, style and other factors • This questions will direct your attention to various matters that might be considered when interpreting a typical print advertisement found in a newspaper or magazine
Interpreting commercial texts • The more critics know, the more they can find in commercials or any kind of artistic or literary text • Book’s author uses a six different theories to analyze this Fidji “Woman with the Snake” perfume ad
Six-Step Interpretation • Semiotic Analysis- What signs, symbols, and codes are found in the text? • Psychoanalytic Theory- How does the text make use of the basic elements of the human psyche to sell goods and services? Id, ego, superego? • Sociological Analysis-What does the text contain that is relevant to such matters as socioeconomic class, gender, race, status, and role? • Historical Analysis-If the ad or cx is part of a campaign, what is the campaign like? Where and how does this text fit into campaign? • Political Analysis-What role does the ad or cx have in the political process? What techniques used, what appeals are made? • Myth/Ritual Analysis-What mythical or ritualistic aspects of the texts are of interest? How does it relate to ancient myths? Detailed Analysis of this ad: Pages 141-150