Television advertising language : images, music & text in alcohol commercials

Abstract

Television advertising techniques have developed rapidly over the past 50 years and have now become a vital part of our way of life, providing us with both information and entertainment. Our proximity with Italy allows a non-stop flow of adverts to enter our homes terrestrially and, together with the almost complete network of cable television, our exposure to commercials is beyond limitations. With commercial slots becoming shorter and more expensive to buy, commercial production companies have focused their attention on more effective use of advertising discourse, bearing in mind the audience's most intimate desires. This study looks into the language of advertising, particularly how images, music and text are used in commercials, and how they are fused together in such a way that advertising becomes the act of subtle and persuasive communication. It ventures into how advertising seeks to affect our behaviour as well as our ideologies and ways of thought. The study gains insight into how the audience perceives and decodes the embedded meanings in commercials for alcoholic drinks. It also takes a look at how meaning is carried by certain signs, and how lifestyles, social class and gender representation are bound by these signs.