Advertising

Paper Summary:

This paper takes a look at the art of advertising and the role that text plays in the advert. The paper focuses specifically on a Volvo advert, which profoundly illustrates the interaction between text and image to convey a message. The paper further discusses the issues of subcultures and the portrayal of subcultural issues in this advert and the media.

From the Paper:

"In examining the range of readings that the text generates across an audience, it becomes obvious that, especially when the ad is shown to people outside of the subculture towards which it was initially aimed, even this small amount of text can be interpreted in many ways, and it can impact the reader in a multitude of ways. For some readers, the text serves to clarify the sexual reference in the image. For others, it clarifies another non-sexual interpretation of the image. Other readers are confused by the text and do not find it to clarify the message of the ad at all, while others believe the text was only included to help less witty readers get the joke. For certain readers, the smaller text has a significant impact on the message of the advertisements, while other readers ignore it completely. The following examples of reactions from different readers show the wide range of readings possible for this small amount of text."

Sample of Sources Used:

• The American Family Association. Boycott Ford: A Project of The American Family Association. http://www.boycottford.com
• The Commercial Closet: Bringing GLBT Sensitivity to Corporate Advertising. 2006. http://www.commercialcloset.org/cgi-bin/iowa/index.html
• Peters, Jeremy W. "Still Advertising to Gays, Ford Under Boycott Again." The New York Times. 15 March 2006. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/15/business/media/15adco.html?ex=1144900800&en=43787361461bd493&ei=5070
• Volvo. "We're Just as Excited as You." Ford Motor Company Advertisement. 2003. http://www2.commercialcloset.org/cgi-bin/iowa/portrayals.html?record=1170
• Young, T.H. Dancing on Bela Lugosi's Grave: The Politics and Aesthetics of Gothic Club Dancing. Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance Research, Vol. 17, No. 1. Summer, 1999. 75-97.

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