1) The "surface meaning" - the first impression taken from the ad. How you "decode" at first glance.
If the ad is well crafted, the surface meaning is the same as the intended meaning. If the ad is poorly crafted, the advertiser's message may be lost.
In the video clip below, the surface meaning is ambiguous. Is this a clip for:
1) A music video
2) Panties
3) Blue jeans
2) The "intended meaning" - the "message" or positioning statement the advertiser is trying to get across
Not all ads try to sell you something. As we'll see later, some ads exist only to create a favorable position for the product in your mind.
The ad below, created after September 11, has no sales message. The name of the product is only on the screen for two seconds. It does, however, have an important positioning message.
The effectiveness of this ad depends on several factors from our earlier discussions.
The most critical is linkage. The ad requires you to link, quickly, the objects in the ad with the product. Unlike in the ambiguous jeans commercial, the target audience for the product knows almost immediatly the identity of the sponsor because of previous "branding".
The linkage has been created through the internal factor of learning and memory. Repeated exposures over time to other ads for the product have given us the necessary information to associate horses with the product.
This ad also attempts to link our attitude toward September 11 with our attitude towards the product.
Finally, the success of the ad depends on information processing. We must process complex information - the identity of the product and a successful linkage between the product and our attitude towards September 11 - in less than thirty seconds.
3) The "ideological meaning" - what we "read" into an ad based on our culture and our beliefs
It's this last meaning, often unintended by the advertiser, that worries critics the most.
Below are four ads for the same product, from 1934 through 1997. As noted in the PowerPoint presentation, their surface, intended, and ideological meanings are very different.
Below is an advertisement for a cell phone. The intended meaning is clear. But what ideological meaning is conveyed by the ad?
What is the sexual orientation of the ad executives in this commercial? Are they "real" or stereotypes? Does their characterization make you more likely to purchase the product?
Ideological meaning in advertisements can have a significant effect on both the Media Role Model and the Group Behavior Model we studied in Module 4.
Criticism by minorities of their portrayal in contemporary media no longer focuses on the obvious racist stereotypes of "Nigger Head Shrimp" and "Aunt Jemima". Instead, they are concerned about the ideological meaning being conveyed by the media, perhaps unintentionally.
"Although television was attempting to be racially inclusive during the early 1990's, its commercials reproduced many stereotypes of race and gender. Although we find that African Americans and women are more plentiful in TV advertisements than they were in earlier decades, the ways that they are represented reinforce many existing prejudices.
At the same time, and contrary to predictions about targeted marketing leading to insular communities, we find that racist and sexist stereotypes cut across all audiences. Commercials targeted to African Americans contain about as many racial stereotypes as those directed toward Whites. Similarly, commercials targeted to women have about as many gender stereotypes as those directed to other audiences."
"Viewers' reactions to homosexuality are clearly influenced by their gender socialization and we are affected by prejudices developed at an early age when interpreting images of homosexuality on television."
Perhaps the difference between "evil and good" in advertising lies in knowing how and why advertisements are motivating you.
You can, then, accept or reject that motivation.
Watch the British ad below. Its surface and intended meaning are clear. But there is an ideological message as well. Because a large segment of the American population believes the ideological message is morally wrong, this ad will probably never air on American television.
Is the ad "evil"? Is the message of the ad "immoral"? It depends entirely on how you process the information in the ideological meaning.
All media, Copyright, respective owners. Media used within copyright Fair Use guidelines as outlined by the University of Texas, Stanford University, and others.
Florida Gulf Coast University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution.
