Explore, illustrate and critically discuss the role of animal imagery and symbolism in the marketing of cars.
For general guidance about what is expected in your essays for this module,
see the
general criteria.
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
- Alexander, Monty (nd) 'The Myth at the Heart of the Brand'
[WWW document] URL
RESTRICTED
- Aloi, Giovanni (Ed) (2012)
'Marketing Animals', Winter Issue of Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture 23; [WWW document] URL
http://www.antennae.org.uk/ANTENNAE%20ISSUE%2023.pdf
- Baker, Steve (1993)
Picturing the Beast: Animals, Identity and Representation. Manchester: Manchester University Press
- Beasley, Ron, Marcel Danesi & Paul Perron (2000)
Signs for Sale: An Outline of Semiotic Analysis for Advertisers and Marketers. New York: Legas
- Beasley, Ron & Marcel Danesi (2002)
Persuasive Signs: The Semiotics of Advertising. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter
- Berger, Warren (2001)
Advertising Today. London: Phaidon
- Chandler, Daniel (2007)
Semiotics: The Basics (2nd Edn.). London: Routledge.
- Chandler, Daniel and Rod Munday (2011)
Dictionary of Media and Communication. Oxford: Oxford University Press
- Chevalier, Jean & Alain Gheerbrant (1996)
The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols. Harmondsworth: Penguin
- Cirlot, J. E. (1983)
Dictionary of Symbols (2nd edn). London: Routledge
- de Vries, Ad & Arthur de Vries (2004)
Elsevier's Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery. Amsterdam: Elsevier
- Flower, Raymond & Michael Wynn Jones (1981)
One Hundred Years of Motoring. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill
- Fontana, David (1993)
The Secret Language of Symbols. London: Duncan Baird
- Forceville, Charles (1998)
Pictorial Metaphor in Advertising. London: Routledge
- Frostick, Michael (1970)
Advertising and the Motor Car. London: Lund Humphries
- Goldman, Robert & Stephen Papson (1996)
Sign Wars: The Cluttered Landscape of Advertising. New York: Guilford Press
- Hannah, Barbara (2005)
The Archetypal Symbolism of Animals. Brooklyn, NY: Chiron
- Harbrecht, Doug (1993)
'Animals in the Ad Game', International Wildlife 23(6): 38-43
- Hirschman, Elizabeth C. (2003)
'Men, Dogs, Guns and Cars: The Semiotics of Rugged Individualism',
Journal of Advertising 32(1): 9-22
- Hoffman, Reid R., Thomas S. Turrentine & Kenneth S. Kurani (Eds) (2006)
A Primer on Automobile Semiotics.
University of California, Davis: Institute of Transportation Studies
- Holbrook, Morris B. & Elizabeth C. Hirschman (1993)
The Semiotics of Consumption:
Interpreting Symbolic Consumer Behavior in Popular Culture and Works of Art. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter
- Lakoff, George & Mark Johnson (1980)
Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
- Lawes, Rachel (2002)
'Demystifying Semiotics: Some Key Questions Answered',
International Journal of Market Research 44(3): 251-64;
[WWW Document] URL
http://www.ijmr.com/AboutIJMR/Sample3.pdf
- Leymore, Varda Langholz (1975)
Hidden Myth: Structure and Symbolism in Advertising. New York: Basic Books
- Marsh, Peter & Peter Collett (1989)
Driving Passion: The Psychology of the Car. Boston, MA: Faber & Faber
- Messaris, Paul (1997)
Visual Persuasion: The Role of Images in Advertising.
London: Sage (not explicitly semiotic but useful)
- Mick, David Glen & Laura G. Politi (1989)
'Consumers' Interpretations of Advertising Imagery: A Visit to the Hell of Connotation'. In
Elizabeth C Hirschman (Ed.): Interpretive Consumer Research.
Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research, pp. 85-96
- Miller, Daniel (Ed) (2001)
Car Cultures. Oxford: Berg
- Myerson, Jeremy & Graham Vickers (2002)
Rewind: Forty Years of Design & Advertising. London: Phaidon
- Nadin, Mihai & Richard D. Zakia (1994)
Creating Effective Advertising Using Semiotics. New York: Consultant Press
- Neal, Arthur G. (1985)
'Animism and Totemism in Popular Culture', Journal of Popular Culture 19(2): 15-23
- Oswald, Laura (2012)
Marketing Semiotics: Signs, Strategies, and Brand Value. Oxford: Oxford University Press
- Pettifer, Julian & Nigel Turner (1984)
Automania. London: Collins
- Phillips, Barbara (1996)
'Advertising and the Cultural Meaning of Animals'. In
Kim P. Corfman and John G. Lynch Jr. (Eds) Advances in Consumer Research 23.
Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, pp. 354-60; [WWW document] URL
http://www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?Id=7982
- Redshaw, Susan (2008)
In the Company of Cars: Driving as a Social and Cultural Practice. Aldershot: Ashgate
- Rowland, Beryl (1974)
Animals with Human Faces: A Guide to Animal Symbolism. London: Allen & Unwin
- Saunders, Dave (1999)
Twentieth Century Advertising. London: Carlton
- Scott, Linda M. & Rajeev Batra (Eds) (2003)
Persuasive Imagery: A Consumer Response Perspective. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum (not explicitly semiotic but useful)
- Silk, Gerald (1984)
Automobile and Culture. New York: Abrams
- Stone, Sherril M. (2014)
'The Psychology of Using Animals in Advertising' [WWW document] URL
http://www.huichawaii.org/assets/stone_sherril_the_psychology_of_using_animals_in_advertising_ahs2014.pdf
- Umiker-Sebeok, Jean (Ed) (1987)
Marketing and Semiotics: New Directions in the Study of Signs for Sale. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter
- Vaknin, Judy (2008)
Driving it Home: 100 Years of Car Advertising. London: Middlesex University Press
- Vestergaard, Torben & Kim Schroder (1985)
The Language of Advertising. Oxford: Basil Blackwell
- Vinycomb, John (1906)
Fictitious and Symbolic Creatures in Art. London: Chapman & Hall
- Werness, Hope B. (2004)
Animal Symbolism in Art. New York: Continuum
- Williamson, Judith (1978)
Decoding Advertisements: Ideology and Meaning in Advertising. London: Marion Boyars
- Willis, Roy (1975)
Man and Beast. London: Paladin
- Willis, Roy (Ed) (1994)
Signifying Animals. London: Paladin
- Wollen, Peter & Joe Kerr (Eds) (2002)
Autopia: Cars and Culture. London: Reaktion
Note: Treat with extreme caution sources labelled with this symbol!