The Commercial (Discussion)
From Screenpedia
The Polysemy of Commodities
- Luxury, leisure and conspicuous consumption
- Individualism
- The natural
- Folk culture and tradition
- Novelty and progress
- Sexuality and romance
- Alleviation of pain, fear/anxiety and guilt
- Utopia and escape from dystopia
The Persuasive Style of Commercials
- Metaphor
- Utopian style
- Product differentiation and superiority
- Repetition and redundancy
- Extraordinary and excessive style: “televisuality” and counter television
- Graphics and animation
- Violating reality (special effects)
- Reflexivity and intertextuality
Commercial analysis
First identify the meanings or polysemy attached to the advertised commodity and then identify the persuasive style used to present that polysemy.
Commercials from a rerun broadcast of Maine Cabin Masters on September 10, 2020.
2013 commercial analysis
Commercials from a 2013 episode of The Simpsons (2/10/2013).
2006 commercial analysis
From The New Adventures of Old Christine (2006).
Bibliography
- Jeremy G. Butler, Television: Visual Storytelling and Screen Culture (New York: Routledge, 2018).