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Advertisements Essay

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To discover how advertisements are constructed, we first must discover what they mean. According to Dyer (1982) and Leiss (2005) there are many different elements of ads, and many ways to classify ads. These include the approaches to study of texts, classifications of ads into categories, and according to the themes that they possess the use of Panofsky’s three levels of meaning, approaches to form and content, forms of verbal and non verbal communication. There is also the use of Millum’s four categories of relationships in ads, and the use of props and settings.
In advertising, the pictures are what catches the attention of the audience, as Dyer (2005:86) suggests they are used to ‘lead the eye to the written copy in magazine ads and …show more content…

There is also the ‘product image ad’, where the product is given special qualities by means of a symbolic relationship, the product becomes embedded or situated. In ‘personalised ads’ people are explicitly and directly interpreted in their relationship to the world of the product, and ‘lifestyle ads’ have more balanced relationships, that are established between the elemental codes of person, product and setting. These classifications are similar in nature; both Dyer and Leiss depict a system of classifying advertisements that can include ads from both the past and present. These systems of classification depict how different elements of advertising can be used to construct meaning in ads. There are also other ways of classifying ads; one of those ways is through the themes that are shown.
The themes in advertisements, can classify them. To classify ads by their theme, the attitudes and feelings they are meant to arouse in the audience needs to be discovered. According to Dyer (1982:92) feelings and attitudes can be aroused by associating products with things such as, ‘happy families, rich luxurious lifestyles, dreams and fantasy, successful romance and love, important people, glamorous places, success in career or job, art culture and history, nature and the natural

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