Psychosemantic Peculiarities of Promotional Videos Perception

Abstract

The article presents the findings of a study of the psycho-semantic characteristics of the perception of promotional videos in the juvenile and adolescent age periods (as exemplified by the students of a lyceum and those of an institution of higher education in Ukraine). The modern advertising is seen as a societal and socio-psychological phenomenon that models not only the behavior but also the values, standards and mindsets of the younger generation. The scientific principles of the experimental psycho-semantics became the methodological basis for the empirical research in question. The purpose of the research was to reconstruct semantic spaces and an individual system of meanings, through the prism of which advertisements are perceived by juveniles and adolescents of both genders. The psycho-semantic research was carried out in three stages: scaling of advertising objects (on the basis of the semantic differential method), the construction of semantic spaces of promotional videos and the interpretation of the results obtained. Five promotional videos of different types were selected as the evaluation objects (an “Otrivin” animation video with computer graphics and special effects; a “Pantene” actor-supported voice-over music video; a “Hylak Forte” voice-over information-type video; a “Samsung” celebrity figure-supported video; a “Raiffeisenbank” storyline actor-supported voice-over music video). A comparative analysis of the psycho-semantic spaces of the above-mentioned objects was performed; the age and gender characteristics of their perception in the juvenile and adolescent age periods were determined. The following factors were identified as the main semantic axes of the psycho-semantic perception (as exemplified by the “Raiffeisenbank” promotional video): “Confidence in (distrust of) advertising” (SD indicators “true – false”, “informative – less informative”, “intelligent – stupid”); “Emotional attractiveness (unattractiveness) of advertising” (SD indicators “attractive – repulsive”, “joyful – sad”; “Tactfulness (obtrusiveness) of advertising” (SD indicators “relaxed – tense”, “modest – obtrusive”, “interesting – boring”).

Keywords

• semantic differential method, psychology of advertising, promotional video, juvenile age, adolescent age, gender differences.