Advertising & co-creation of meaning
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction I. The evolving view of advertising
1 1 1 2 4 4 5 6 6 8 9 11
a) From a uni-directional transfer of meaning... b) ... to a polysemic mediator of meaning II. The co-creation of meaning
a) Consumers are active creators of meaning... b) ... in an intentional and unintentional way III. The classic interactive media
a) Advertising encourages co-created meaning... b) ... but most importantly, it creates or maintains social links Conclusion Bibliography
Word count: 2,862
Introduction This essay aims at demonstrating the validity of Ritson & Elliott’s statement. Each concept is going to be developed and explained according to previous research and with the help of Ritson & Elliott’s findings in their article “A Model of Advertising Literacy: The Praxiology and Co-Creation of Advertising Meaning” (1995). First, we will identify advertising in a communication perspective, and see how it went from “prespecifiable information injections” to a “polysemic mediator of meanings”. Second, we will analyse how advertising is capable of mediating meaning and encouraging meaning co-creation among viewers/readers. Finally, we will find out that this co-creation relationship with consumers is highly interactive and leads to developing social links and forming communities. It is important to highlight the concept used in this essay about ads similar to texts. Ads can actually be defined as “a