Advertising
This dialogic approach to the production of media texts has also informed contemporary ideas about advertising. The traditional view of the adverts as a paid one-way communication, in which the sponsor controls the message, has been replaced by texts that invite the audience to engage more creatively. For example, while slogans of the past pay have instructed the audience that ‘Guinness is Good For You’ (Guinness 1930s) or to ‘Go To Work On An Egg’ (Egg Marketing Board 1960s) since the 1970s advertising has been more elliptical and cryptic. Likewise, humour has become a key weapon in the armoury of advertising creatives.
In Salman Rushdie’s copy for cream cakes (‘Naughty But Nice’), Martini’s ‘anytime, anyplace, anywhere’ campaign and Heineken’s ‘refreshes the part other beers cannot reach’ ad, the use of innuendo draws upon the multiple meanings inscribed in the text by the audience. Clearly this reflects Barthes contention that the meaning of a text is fixed not at it moment of creation but in its reception.
Today advertising campaigns are increasingly interactive, operating across multiple platforms and...
