DIE ROL VAN KONNOTATIEWE EN DENOTATIEWE ELEMENTE IN DIE INSTANDHOU EN KOMMUNIKASIE VAN REKLAMEMITES

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.