Media & Advertising Discourse

Question 1

How do discourse and ideology relate?

Answer 1

Discourse shapes understanding of the world: it’s ideological. It can express, construct, confirm, promote, naturalise existing/new ideologies.

Question 2

How are people described in discourse analysis?

Answer 2

Social actors

Question 3

Define collectivisation

Answer 3

Social actors described as being part of collectivity (e.g. migrants, Muslims, police) rather than individuals. Harder for readers to humanise.

Question 4

Define aggregation

Answer 4

Social actors treated as statistics; gives impression of objective research and scientific credibility

Question 5

Define active voice

Answer 5

Social actors described as ‘doers’, active roles in actions carried out

Question 6

Define functionalisation

Answer 6

People depicted in terms of what they can do; connotes legitimacy

Question 7

Define naturalisation

Answer 7

Repetition of ideology (encoded in language) until considered natural/commonsensical

Question 8

Why does studying advertising discourse matter?

Answer 8

Widely regarded as driving force behind consumerist culture; pervasive form of global communication

Question 9

What are the 2 approaches of research to advertising discourse?

Answer 9

• Celebratory approach: recognises and explicates creativity of ads
• Critical approach: sees ads as brainwashing/stimulating false desires

Question 10

What is the problem-solution structure?

Answer 10

Consumer accepts problem in life; solution justified as a product. 3 elements: situation, problem, solution.

Question 11

What are reason and tickle adverts?

Answer 11

Reason: simple and direct appeal based on fact and truth (less effective)
Tickle: indirect appeal through emotion/desire/imagination (less obvious advertising; more effective)

Question 12

What is synthetic personalisation?

Answer 12

False sense of having 2 way, individual and equal relationship with advertiser, through direct address, conversational/informal language, eye contact images etc

Question 13

Why is synthetic personalisation used?

Answer 13

Because advertising is impersonal, mass communication

Question 14

What is synthetic personalisation used to do?

Answer 14

• Attempts to create ordinariness
• Create personal relationship
• Downplay power differences

Question 15

Why are images regarded as more powerful than language?

Answer 15

More ambiguous: force viewer to participate in meaning-making

Question 16

What is the difference between denotation and connotation?

Answer 16

Denotation: what objectively exists (as we look at image/photo)
Connotation: subjective interpretive meaning communicated by image

Question 17

Thinking about the grammar of visual design, define the ideal vs the real

Answer 17

Emotive (ideal) vs practical (real)

• ideal = upper section (promise/status of product)
• real = lower section, right corner (actual product/logo). Last thing we read; answer to the problem posed (we read left to right, top to bottom)

Question 18

Define difference between demand and offer images

Answer 18

Demand - eye contact from represented participants as visual term of address, sense of imagined relationship (smile = social affinity; stare = viewer made inferior)
Offer - represented participant offered as item of information, become object of gaze. Disconnected from viewer.

Question 19

What are people depicted in images referred to as?

Answer 19

Represented Participants

Question 20

Define recontextualisation

Answer 20

Distorting reality to present a more appealing version

Question 21

How is recontextualisation done?

2 processes, 3 components

Answer 21

Addition and deletion of participants, processes and cirmcumstances