Ideological and Cultural Codes in Terms of Provocative Advertising Content Formation (as Exemplified by Benetton Advertising Texts)

Abstract

This article is devoted to determining the role of cultural and ideological codes in advertising communication and studying the peculiarities of their use in advertising Benetton brand products. The relevance of the study is determined, in particular, by the fact that the specifics of the perception of the advertising message, including the reduced attention of recipients to the advertising text, become the cause of provocative creative decisions, which are based on a deep analysis of consumer behavior, their habits and stereotypes. The authors note that in the professional activities of advertisers, the work with ideological and cultural codes is carried out in two ways: the advertising message is based on existing stereotypical mental attitudes or contradicts them. The material of Benetton brand advertising texts through semiotic analysis examines the company’s communication policy, built on a provocative appeal to cultural and ideological semiotic codes. With the help of trigger messages and visual images built on the use of idiologmes, religiogemes, mythologemes, culturemes, Benetton advertisers have created a semiotic basis for identifying the brand that is relevant to the general public. It is also noted that as a result, the brand has developed its own acutely social direction, which has become one of the main channels of communication with potential consumers of Benetton products. With the help of the social coloring of communications, non-standard solutions and the use of the laws of semiotics, the brand in question was able to achieve important economic and communication goals - to ensure differentiation against the background of competitors, to increase the loyalty of the target audience and its purchasing activity. The research material was more than 50 multi-code advertising messages - videos, as well as texts of printed and outdoor advertising. To achieve this goal, a descriptive and analytical method, semiotic and intertextual analysis were used.

Keywords

• semiotics
• semiotics of advertising
• cultural code
• ideological code
• provocative advertising
• semiotic analysis
• advertising discourse
• benetton brand