Assignments: Batch Two: Assignment 11

Explore, illustrate and critically discuss the role of animal imagery and symbolism in the marketing of cars.

Guidance

For general guidance about what is expected in your essays for this module, see the general criteria.

What Key Features Do I Look For?

  • Familiarity with relevant texts
  • Evidence - the stronger the better
  • Argument - coherent and balanced
  • Theoretical discussion - relation to relevant theories
  • Understanding of relevant concepts
  • Reflexivity - reflections on methodology
  • Examples - insightfully analysed
  • Style - readability and effective presentation

Please remember to avoid footnotes and to include an alphabetical list of 'References' which have been cited in the text (not a Bibliography of anything you have read for the essay). This list should include author's names, date, book titles (in italics), place of publication and publisher. Within the text always cite author's surname, date and page number. Double-space your text and number your pages. For more detailed notes on writing essays in this department, click here.

Advice for this particular assignment: The most relevant lecture for this topic is Lecture 5: Literalism and Tropes. Consider not only advertisements, but also brand marques. It can be productive to compare campaigns for rival brands which are both employing animal imagery (such as BMW and Jaguar). Remember that you need to demonstrate your understanding of relevant semiotic concepts, such as signifier, signified, connotation and codes. Note where the animal imagery is metaphorical, metonymical or synecdochic. Why is animal imagery used in car advertising and car marques? What kinds of animals are used, and why? Note that in this context imagery is the more general term (more applicable to the ads themselves) and that symbolism tends to refer to more formalised and deliberate forms (more often found in brand marques, for instance). Of course, in semiotic usage, the term symbol is reserved for signs having have no direct connection with what they signify (as generally in language). If they signify by resemblance to (or by analogy with) an animal, they are primarily iconic, and if they signify by virtue of some direct connection with an animal (e.g. an associated quality), they are indexical; where such signs are used to stand for abstract concepts, these can be referred to respectively as iconic or indexical symbols.

Note also that this is an assignment for which the inclusion of relevant pictorial illustrations is required. For guidance on capturing stills, click here. Remember to include a list labelled either Figures or Image sources after your list of References.

Some suggested reading

Note: Treat with extreme caution sources labelled with this symbol!


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