Even though it has always been present and acknowledged in society from the ancient Greeks, the practices of persuasions are nowadays even more deeply permeating our lives. They are to be found everywhere, from the courthouse to the advertising on our morning commute. In order to better understand persuasion is worth to have a look…Continue reading Persuasion and Rhetoric: Shamwow!
Television Commercial in the 1950s and 1960s
In his introduction to Advertising the American Dream (1985), Marchand poses a fundamental question. Is the advertising from different time period useful to have a better insight in society at that time? And if so, in which way? What he discovered through his research was that the commercials, do not exactly reflect the values of…Continue reading Television Commercial in the 1950s and 1960s
Discourse Analysis I and Starbucks
When encountering the term discourse, the most common and easy association, is related to the linguistic aspect. When we are having a discourse it means we are engaging in a conversation and following its rules. But there is also another kind of discourse, which is the one we are here interested in. That is the…Continue reading Discourse Analysis I and Starbucks
Cultural Branding: Icons and Culture. The case of IKEA
Corporations produce brands, not products. That is what Klein claims in her book No Logo published in 1999. But that has not always been the case, she also specifies. Indeed, it all began with the rise of factories. Factories started to produce “uniform mass-produced products” (Klein, p.27) that didn’t really present any characteristic difference to…Continue reading Cultural Branding: Icons and Culture. The case of IKEA
Heart and Love. Small Introduction to Semiotics
The world we live in, talks to us through texts. As Branston and Stufford point out, “a text can be anything which is to be investigated- a haircut, hip-hop lyrics, a dance, a film” (p.11). In order to conduct such investigation, we found ourselves in need of a proper science. A science for the study…Continue reading Heart and Love. Small Introduction to Semiotics