2. OUTLINE
• The semiotic approach by Ferdinand de Saussure Thu Hiền
• The discursive approach by Michel Foucault Bảo Trân
3. Representation and the
Construction of Social Reality
“…is the production of the meaning of the concepts
in our minds through language.
…is the link between concepts and language…”
(Stuart Hall, Representation: Cultural Representations and
Practices, 1997)
4. The phenomenon of teenage violence
in Victoria, British Columbia
INCREASE!!!!
DECREASE!!!!
Media Statistics
5. The phenomenon of teenage violence
in Victoria, British Columbia
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1984 2001
The youth population
The youth crime
Youth crime = 50% of the youth population
6. “Language and other structures of
representation construct rather
than reflect the reality.”
INCREASE!!!!
DECREASE!!!!
Media Statistics
Post structuralism
7. Research Questions
(p.58-59)
1. How do language and other sign systems work to create
(or signify) social meanings?
2. How do different media genres
(ads, news, entertainment) and different types of media
(TV, print) help shape the production of meaning?
8. The Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure.
Language = a system of signs expressing ideas.
What is a sign?
“A sign can be a word, a gesture, a facial
expression, an image, a musical note, even an item of
clothing – anything that refers to something else, and
is recognized as doing so by users of the sign
system.” (p.60 – para.1)
1. How do language and other sign systems
work to create social meanings?
13. Semiotics
What is semiotics?
Semiotics = the study of role of signs as part of social life.
(http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem01.html)
Leading modern semiotic theorists: the French cultural
theorist Roland Barthes.
Modern semiotic theory stresses the role of ideology.
14. Myth today
Myth is a second-order semiotic system.
“…elaborates Saussure’s theory of how meaning is
encoded in signs...” (p.62 – para. 3)
15. Levels of meaning
1. Denotation
A photograph of the movie star
2. Connotation
3. Mythological (or ideological)
A photograph of the movie star
Marilyn Monroe.
Depression, drug-taking, etc.
The Hollywood dream.
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem06.html
16. Discourse and Power
Discourse is about the
production of knowledge
through language.
Michel Foucault
Nothing has any
meaning outside of
discourse.
17. Historicizing discourse: discursive practices
Things meant something and were true, only
within a specific historical context.
Discourse produced forms of
knowledge, objects, subjects and practices of
knowledge, which differed radically from period to
period.
21. The Social Construction of Youth
A ‘Youth’ - a person between 15 and 25.
‘Youth’ – a slippery concept with no clear biological or
cultural grounding.
‘Youth’ – the dominant class was closely tied to urban
development.
The formation of youth gangs and subcultures.
22. Media and Youth Crime
Crime is a dominant feature in news.
The media make crime stories meaningful.
Crime stories play a key role in defining the bounds of
community.
The media focus on particular crimes at particular times
and particular forms of crime rather than others.
24. Moral Panic
A moral panic is an intense feeling expressed in a
population about an issue deemed to be a threat to, or
shocking to the “proper” social.
Moral panic is partly caused by the media to society.
25. Summary
Representation is the process by which members of a
culture use language to produce meaning.
Post-structuralism: languages construct rather than
reflect reality.
Semiotics: sign = signifier+signified. The three levels of
meaning: Denotation – Connotation – Myths.
Meaning is a result of a signifying practice.
Discourse is a system of representation which is about
the production of knowledge through language.
The media do not just inform us about events that are
going in our society; it re-present those events as part of
what society should look like.
26. Discussion Questions
1. “Q: When is a sheep not a sheep?
A: When it’s a work of art.”
(Damien Hirst, Away from the Flock, 1994)
Imagine that the sheep mentioned above is Dolly - the first
mammal to be cloned, explain this answer.
2. Give an example of an advertisement, in which the theory of
modern Semiotics by Roland Barthes is applied.
3. Find and talk about at least two examples of moral panic in
Vietnam recently (consider words or phrases that have
entered, or re-entered, public discourse recently to describe
"new" social phenomena).
27.
28. OUTLINE
Approaches to Advertising
The Cult You’re In, Kalle Lasn
Salespeak, Roy Fox
Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals, Jib Fowles
How Advertising Informs to Our Benefit, John E. Calfee
Images of Women in Advertising Trang Đài
You’re Soaking In It, Jennifer L. Pozner
Beefcake and Cheesecake: Insight for advertisers, Marilyn
Y.Jones, Andrea J.S.Stanalan and Betsy D.Gelb
Bích Ngọc
Duy Đức
30. The effect of all of the products and brand
names that Lasn includes in this article
Nike sneakers
A Planet Hollywood
cap
Tommy Hilfiger
jackets
Air-walk sneakers
Pepsi
Coke
…
Products / Brand
name used by famous
people
make the majority
following
Success in
advertising
31. The title: The Cult You’re In
meaning: Cult - worship
Pronoun: “you” – directly
the author want the readers directly
mentioned in it create the immediate
trends in advertising
Advertisement tell us what to
think, what to dream.
33. A significant point in the
article
Dream: unique
& imaginative
But, the
same dream:
wealth, power,
fame, plenty of
sex and
exciting
recreational
opportunities.
37. In the beginning: Pepsi Anderson and her
experience in school was a little annoying and
outrageous
Fox is being realistic, since he later says that
Pepsi's world is already here
Ex:
sales companies target kids in their advertising
how school administrators in Michigan are
considering auctioning off school names to the
Salespeak
Roy Fox
38. Salespeak
Roy Fox
Salespeak?
persuasive
type of entertainment or escapism
employs a systematic approach in
targeting its audience
Type of message about transactions b/w people
"salespeak is more that a voice we hear and see:
we also wear it, smell it, touch it, play with it."
39. Salespeak?
It is very persuasive because it uses
facts, logic, and language to get
consumers to buy into what is trying to be
sold.
It entertains, arouses, plays with
emotion, and uses sounds and music.
It works because Salespeakers collect and
analyze information about a specific
"targeted" audience and forms a message
based on what that audience wants to hear
40. In the world today, nearly every facet of life is
linked to sales or advertising
As young children: exposed to advertising
and everything sounds like we should have
the best shoes, or clothes, or whatever.
we grow up learning to listen to advertising
so we know what is the best and what is not.
41. Short information about
the product/service
Not focus on what we
truly need, but on what
we may desire
Little control in
advertising in America
Approaches to Advertising
42. Elements in doing an
advertisement
Where appear ?
Who can see it ?
How often appear ?
How messages constructed
?
How money budgeted ?
44. Advertising Appeal
The advertising appeal refers to the approach
attract the attention of consumers and influence
on their feelings.
Can also be viewed as “something that moves
people, speaks to their wants or needs, and
excites their interest.”
45. Emotional appeals
Emotional appeals relate to the customers’
psychological needs such as consumers’
emotion and feeling
Many’ motives for their purchase decisions are
emotional
46. The need for sex
Advertisers appeal to
the need for
consumer’s
attraction, though it’s
quite easy for the ad
to become to blatant
47. Need for affiliation
As a part of human
nature, we desire to
be in good company
and to have good
relationships.
48. Need to nurture
“to feed, to
support, help, c
onsole, protect,
comfort, nurse,
heal.”
For take care of
small
defenseless
creatures such
as children and
pets
65. Summary
New mediais off limits increasing
encroachment into every niche of mass media
impact culture women
66. Women as victims of
advertisement
Diet industry Sex
Women’s
rights
- Women are exploited in advertising industry
- Advertisers only cares about how to make profit
without paying attention to the image of women
67. Problem: “toxic cultural environment”
Solution: “media literate”
Does “media literate” help to reduce
“toxic cultural environmet”? Why/why
not?
68. The language use is not
challenging
Have a clear argument and
supporting ideas/examples
69. The structure of the article is quite confusing.
There is no conclusion.
Some questions in the interview part do not relate to the
topic which is aimed at women only.
Depressing the reader at the end of the article – expect
to read something else.
75. Attention goes to the ad rather
than the product
Viewers are attracted by eye-catching model
favorable effect with the brand
Viewers can be annoyed by the a sexist portrayal
unfavorable the ads the brand
76. Results
Women have less favorable attitude than men
toward the cheesecake ads. However, women
have higher recognition scores and recall than
men for the cheesecake ads.
Men have less favorable attitude than women
toward the beefcake ads. However, men have
higher recognition scores and recall than women
for the beefcake ads.
77. Conclusion
Men and women have different attitude, recogntion
scores and recall for the beefcake and cheesecake
ads different responses
Social context/cultural context
78. It takes into account the effects from both male and
female models
Tested many factors such as
attitudes, memoralbility, and recognition
Have responses from both men and women
79. Not be as applicable to society nowadays - Outdated information
(most of the citations are from the past)
Not relate to popular culture
So lenghthy
The method should be criticized
300 participants are not a small number of subjects, yet it must be
reconsidered if these 300 participants are appropriate.
Need more detail about how many women/men participated in the
study.
Limited ability to generalize the information to the rest of the
population
Lack of illustrations
Editor's Notes
Same dream: popular, mass do this, like this follow the same pop culture.“you”
Where appear, who can see it, how often appear, how messages r contructed or how $ budgeted.