Analysis of advertising messages (20368)

Degree: Advertising and Public Relations 
Year: 2nd
Term: 3rd 
Number of ECTS credits: 4 credits
Hours of study dedication: 100 hours 
Language: Spanish 
Teaching Staff: Hibai López

1.     Presentation of the Subject

The aim of this course is to propose the students analytical tools to examine advertising messages. Scheduled in the third term (April to June), we will draw on theoretical and methodological frameworks already familiar to the students, such as the contents of courses like "Analysis of Interactive Media Messages", "Form, Colour and Composition Analysis", "Methods of Message Analysis" or "Analysis of the image significance and function". We will learn to adapt those methods to the advertising language.

Advertising materials are pervasive in our everyday lives. The course proposes a three-step approach to the subject: a rhetorical and argumentation theory approach, an advertising of semiotics approach, and a cognitive approach.  

 

2.     Competences to be attained

2.1. General skills

To develop a critical view on advertising contents

To promote a reflective attitude towards the consumer society and its commodities

To identify the logics of persuasive discourses and understanding how they manage to persuade us

To make the students to face and reflect on their own behaviour as consumers

Teamwork and critical evaluation of their own work and others

 

2.2. Specific skills

To apply the semiotic analytical toolkit to advertising messages

To familiarize with basic concepts from the cognitive linguistics and cognitive psychology

To learn how to use in a flexible fashion quick analytical tools for persuasive discourses

To familiarize with the most relevant authors of advertising analysis

To develop the ability of reflecting on finished advertisements, proposing alternative ways of producing them according to new goals

3.     Contents

BLOCK I. Cognitive approach to advertising messages

a)     Frames, scripts and prototypes.

b)    Frame mapping.

c)     Reframing and renaming. The greenwashing case.

d)    Lakoff. The structural metaphors.

e)     Architecture as advertising message.

f)     The advertising object.

g)    The price in advertising.

h)     The universes of reference.

i)      The 'dream metaphor': from the American Dream to the lottery.

 

BLOCK II. Rhetorical-argumentative approach to advertising messages

a)     Introduction to persuasion and cognitive dissonance.

b)    The triadic model of Adam and Bonhomme.

c)     Metaphor schema and commutation test.

d)    Visual advertising composition

e)     Group µ. The metaboles and the structuralist rhetoric.

 

BLOCK III. Semiotics of advertising approach to advertising messages

a)     The advertising object as a fetish

b)    Analytical toolkit for semiotics of advertising.

c)     Branding and narratives: types of narratives.

d)    Model unification: cognitive, rhetorical and semiotic.

 

BLOCK IV. Seminars on network advertising messages: transmedia and transbranding.

a)     Branding sports

b)    Branding TV serials

 

4.     Assessment

We will assess the students' work in four different activities: 1) a midterm paper on some selected texts (15%); 2) a final term work wherein the students will present their work before their classmates (60%); 3) a report assessing the quality of the work of a group of classmates; 4) active participation (10%).

In the report the students will need to evaluate and grade the work of their classmates. The report should substantiate and justify the mark awarded. Every student will evaluate and be evaluated in return. The grades proposed by the students in the report will be used to calculate the average grade of the final term work. Likewise, the author of the report will be evaluated according to his ability to critically analyze other students' work.        

 

Sit examinations	Midterm paper	Report	Final paper
Members	Individual	Team	Team
Value	15%	15%	60%
Grade required to pass	5/10	5/10	5/10
Eligibility for resit examinations	Sit examination submitted	Sit examination submitted	Sit examination submitted
Resit examinations	Individual exam		Submit a new final paper (individual)
Grade required to pass	5/10		5/10

 

5.     Bibliography and teaching resources

5.1. Basic bibliography

Adam, JM. and Bonhomme, M. (2000). La argumentación publicitaria. Retórica del elogio y de la persuasión. Madrid: Cátedra

Eguizabal, R. (1990). El análisis del mensaje publicitario. Madrid: Universidad Complutense.

Floch, JM. (1998). The contribution of structural semiotics to the design of a hypermarket, International Journal of Research in Marketing, 4: 233-252.

Floch, JM. (2000). "IBM and Apple's logo-centrism". En Visual Identities. London: Continuum.

Groupe M (1987). Retórica General. Barcelona: Paidós.

Hart, C., Lukes, D. (2007). Cognitive Linguistics in Critical Discourse Analysis. Cambridge Scholar Publishing.

Humphreys, A. (2010). Semiotic structure and the legitimation of consumption practices: The case of casino gambling, Journal of Consumer Research, 37:490-510.

Kress, G., van Leeuwen, T. (1996). Reading images: The grammar of visual design. London: Routledge.

Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M. (2009). Metáforas de la vida cotidiana. Madrid: Cátedra.

Luntz, F. (2007). Words that Work. It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear. New York: Hyperion Books.

Martín Parreño, J. (2011). Marketing y publicidad en internet. Madrid: Starbook.

McQuarrie, E. and Phillips, B. (ed) (2008). Go Figure. New Directions in Advertising Rhetoric. New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.

Oswald, L. (2003). Branding the American family: A strategic study of the culture, composition, and consumer behavior of families in the New Millenium, The Journal of Popular Culture, 37(2): 309-335.

Remaury, B. (2004). Brands and narratives. Brands and the cultural collective unconscious. Paris: Institut Français de la mode.  

Rodríguez Ferrándiz, R. (2011). "Muerte y transfiguración: el objeto de la publicidad". En Caro, A. y Scolari, C. Estrategias globales. Publicidad, marcas y semiocapitalismo, pp 105-114. Buenos Aires: La Crujía.

Semprini, A. (1995). El marketing de la marca: una aproximación semiótica. Barcelona: Paidós.

 

5.2. Complementary bibliography

Catellani, A. (2011). "Comunicar el aceite de oliva: Observaciones semióticas sobre la identidad del aceite. En Caro, A. y Scolari, C. Estrategias globales. Publicidad, marcas y semiocapitalismo, pp 155-164. Buenos Aires: La Crujía.

Codeluppi, V. (2011). "Imaginarios de la marca: el caso del deporte". En Caro, A. y Scolari, C. Estrategias globales. Publicidad, marcas y semiocapitalismo, pp 155-164. Buenos Aires: La Crujía.

Cheung, M. (2012). The branding of a quality liquor as a symbolic effort toward bringing China forward culturally: A comparative study of Wuliangye and Absolut Vodka, Semiotica, 192:471-499.

Floch, JM (1993). Semiótica, marketing y comunicación. Bajo los signos, las estrategias. Barcelona: Paidós.

Goffman, E. (2006). Frame Analysis. Los marcos de la experiencia. Madrid, Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas

Guerrero-Sole, F. and Lopez-Gonzalez, H. (2012). Preparados para la guerra.  La construcción de la identidad rusa post-soviética en los discursos de la Victoria, Estudios sobre el mensaje periodístico, 18(2): 513-529.

Mick, DG and Oswald, L. (2006). "The semiotic paradigm on meaning in the marketplace". En Belk, R. Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods in Marketing. Northampton: Edward Elgar.

Rodríguez, R. and Mora, K. (2002). Frankenstein y el cirujano plástico. San Vicente del Raspeig: Universidad de Alicante.

Royne, M., Martinez, J., Oakley, J. and Fox, A. (2012). The effectiveness of benefit type and price endings in green advertising, Journal of Advertising, 41(4):85-102.

 

5.3. Other resources

Balló, J. (2009). Deseo de horizonte. La Vanguardia. Culturas. 18 de marzo.

Balló, J. (2009). El beso más caro del mundo. La Vanguardia. Culturas. 12 de agosto.

Balló, J. (2010). Tranquilos, aquí no pasa nada. La Vanguardia. Culturas. 1 de septiembre.

Balló, J. (2012). El bodegón policial, signo de culpabilidad. La Vanguardia. Culturas. 13 de junio.

 

Reflexiones de repronto (2011). Capítulo 44 "Creer en la ciencia".

http://minchinela.com/repronto/2011/04/15/capitulo-44-creer-en-la-ciencia/

Lamp (2002). Anuncio dirigido por Spike Jonze. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsQXQGaasUg

Asamble catalana (2013). "És a les teves mans" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRQxhkmiXcs

Greenwashing Report 2009. http://sinsofgreenwashing.org/findings/greenwashing-report-2009/

6.     Methodology and planning of activities

The course consists on 5 different types of dynamics:

-       Theoretical lessons.

-       Class discussion on topics selected by the teacher.

-       Seminar classes to singularize and deepen the theoretical lessons.

-       Meetings with the tutor to discuss the development of the final term works.

-       Oral presentations. A maximum of 5 groups per two-hour session to promote the classroom. discussion.

	Monday (101/2)	Thursday or Friday (101 o 102)
31 Mar - 4 Apr	Intro and Block I	Block I
7 Apr - 11 Apr	Block I	Block II
14 Apr - 18 Apr	College closed
21 Apr - 25 Apr	College closed	Block II
28 Apr - 2 May	Block III	Block III (delivery of midterm paper)
5 May - 9 May	Seminar "Branding sports"	Corrección de dossier de lectura
12 May - 16 May	Seminar "Branding TV series"	Meetings with tutor
19 May - 23 May	Meetings with tutor	Final paper presentation (delivery of final paper)
26 May - 30 May	Final paper presentation	Final paper presentation
2 Jun - 6 Jun	Final paper presentation	Final paper presentation
9 Jun - 13 Jun	College closed	Conclusions (delivery of the report)