Analyzing Print Advertisements

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Analyzing Print Advertisements

• Chapter 8

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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

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Whats 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

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Interpreting commercial texts

• The more critics know, the more they can find in
  commercials or any kind of artistic or literary
  text
• Books author uses a six different theories to
  analyze this Fidji Woman with the Snake perfume
  ad

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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

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Fidji perfume snake Ad