Abstract:
Change in the world is reflected in almost every aspect of our lives – how we
live, eat, communicate, etc. For reasons of authentication the mass media use
real people in real life settings to convince real people to buy or use a product
or service. For this reason it can be argued that the mass media (especially
advertisements) offer a particular view of society. It is within such a specific
system of belief that the mass media sell certain desires. Without a specific
system of belief it is not possible to sell certain desires, for example: fitness
(not sport shoes), beauty (not lipstick), etc. This view of the world offered by
advertisements is unique to this genre and therefore the advertising genre can
be identified, with its unique characteristics and conventions, within the bigger
media world. Concepts such as morality, values and desire lead to the concept
myth which forms the focus of this research.
The focus of this research was to identify the meaningful denotative and
connotative signs in print advertisements given the expected reaction of the
target market; to identify the desires being sold in print advertising messages
on the basis of the meaningful denotative and connotative signs and finally to
identify the marketing myths forming the basis for selling the abovementioned
desires.
