Advertising representation of familyBoero M. (2018) La famiglia della pubblicità. Stereotipi, ruoli, identità, Franco AngeliMilano.

Traini S. (2018) ”The slow pace of change in advertising”, www.ocula.it

Advertising as a social discourseAdvertising is a form of communication that interacts with other forms within aspecific cultural and social context

It is not an independent language but a configuration that communicates social,cultural and ethical convinctions

It is a social discourse that produces a vision of social reality

Social-semiotics

Social semioticsSocial semiotics studies the social dimensions of meaning.

It is a branch of the field of semiotics which investigates human signifyingpractices in specific social and cultural circumstances.

Semiotics, as originally defined by Ferdinand de Saussure, is "the science ofthe life of signs in society".

Social semiotics expands on Saussure's founding insights by exploring theimplications of the fact that the "codes" of language and communicationare formed by social processes.

Landowski: advertising discourse as a mirror of society“What is essential, in advertising discourse, is its sociocultural value, the fact that it isa tool that makes an important contribution to the construction of a shared image ofsocial reality, and to the reproduction and transformation of collective models”(Landowski 1989: 52).

In Landowski’s view, advertising is one social discourse among many; it is part ofreality, acting on it and modifying it.

Sociology

Advertising Society

Social-semiotics

Society Advertising

Ex. Family models

Social-semiotics

«Textual» family

«Real» family

Representations of changes in the socio-cultural context

Family roles: the woman

Family roles: the man

Family roles: children

Family roles: grandparents

Stereotypes and Myths in Advertising

Advertising proposes familiar models to reassure the audience

Stereotype: a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of aparticular type of person or thing. Ex: "the stereotype of the woman asthe housewife"

Why is the «stereotype» similar to concept of «myth» by Roland Barthes?They are both languages, able to express and communicate cultural meanings and constructions.

Advertising conveys these cultural meanings representing family.

Semiotic task: to deconstruct contemporary myths

Before decostructing myths, it is necessary to analyse and understand them with a semiotic analysis: which type of family is represented by advertising? Does advertising introduce innovations?

The slow pace of advertising (Traini)The advertising creative, while believing that he or she is inventing new forms ofexpression, is in fact spoken by his/her own language.

Changes are slow and do not refer to values, that continue to be traditional

Which models of the family are being represented in advertisements, and how?The classic traditional family predominates, shown gathered compactly around thecar, and even when the ads move away from the classic model they do so in areassuring way, without any radical restructuring of the underlying values.

There is almost always a movement from separation to unity: the members of thefamily meet up again either at home or in the car, just as the separate parts of thevehicle come together to form a technological unity. Fathers on their own have wiveswaiting for them at home; women on their own are escaping only temporarily fromthe family setting; and even when the families are clearly split up, the traditional basicvalues remain strong: unity, harmony, affection.

This confirms Eco’s theory: advertising is a consolatory art that does not invent codesbut rather reworks those that are familiar.

There are some indicators of change, however: we see some blended families, moremodern roles for fathers are shown, new female models are slowly emerging.

There is not a complete absence of novelty; so we need to consider further the paceand the methods adopted by the language of advertising when it portrays socialchange.

Exercise 1- Focus on one of the examples contained in the essay «The slow pace of advertising»

- Search on the web the commercials described in the essay

- Analyze the differences in a diachronic sense: what changes have there been from2009 to the most recent period?

- Schematize your reflections

Exercise 2- Search on the web one or more commercials that represent a family

- Which type of family is described? Are there any stereotypes?

- Analyze the differences in a diachronic sense: what changes have there been from2009 to the most recent period in the representation of family?

- Schematize your reflections