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 SESSION A.3 : HANDOUT
 
ADVERTISING AS IDEOLOGY.

BLACK WOMEN, FAT MEN, AND THE PEPSI GENERATION.
                            
The Goals of Advertising.
Advertising drives people to consume, for it is consumption that maintains the market economy. Thus the alienation generated by the capitalist system is functional, for the anxieties generated by such a system are best assuaged by further compulsive consumption.
Advertising has both short term and long-term goals. The immediate mission is to sell goods; the long-range mission is to maintain the market system. To achieve both goals it has to change attitudes, lifestyles, customs, habits and preferences, while at the same time, maintaining the economic system that benefits from these changes.

The media power to use the appearance of products as a means of stimulating desire for them is now a worldwide phenomenon, as mass media and mass advertising intervenes into almost all cultures across the planet. Advertising has replaced earlier work ethics as the chief means of motivating people, as consumers, to work hard; thus advertising must be seen as occupying a central role in capitalist societies. It is an integral part of the ideology.

 

The Marxist Methodology:
The Marxist methodology provides an incisive analytic tool for studying the political signification that permeates contemporary society, and is particularly popular with those with a strong social conscience and a desire for a more egalitarian and humane world. According to Marxist analysis, alienation is strengthened while the sense of community is weakened. What advertising does is say to people, if you are concerned about an issue, buy something.
 
Community broadcasters will need to reflect on the dynamic of advertising, which is more than a merchandising tool, as it also has the power to take control of everyday life and dominate and alter social relationships. However, it too is an ideology.
 
Semiotic Methodology:
Think of your favourite detective looking for clues, this is what a semiotic approach requires of us as we interpret an advertisement. Everything is important in a print, radio or television commercial if it is to communicate the message intended.

Visual signs in print and television advertisements include: Clothes, facial structure, body language, age and gender.

And for radio advertising there are verbal signs:

Words used, questions asked, affirmations offered, negations made. And metaphors and similes used.

Words used in radio advertisements are kinds of signs and the definition of a word is based on conventions and must be learned if the sign is to be an effective communication.
 
Recognising that community media operate within the market place, where it must remain financially viable, can we develop an ethical approach to advertisements carried on community media
 

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