introduction to advertising

 

• Todorov – Equilibrium
• Propp – Familiar character types
• Barthes – Enigma and action codes
• Levi-Strauss – Binary opposition

Answer the following questions on your blog:

1) How does the Marmite Gene Project advert use narrative? Apply some narrative theories here.

Through Todorov's theory of equillibrium. There is a state of disequilibrium and marmite solves the equilibrium. 

2) What persuasive techniques are used by the Marmite advert?

emotional appeal, slogan and repetition

3) Focusing specifically on the Media Magazine article, what does John Berger suggest about advertising in ‘Ways of Seeing’?

4) What is it psychologists refer to as referencing? Which persuasive techniques could you link this idea to?

emotional appeal as the audience would feel envious of the people with the product.
5) How has Marmite marketing used intertextuality? Which of the persuasive techniques we’ve learned can this be linked to?

Through referencing other texts such as Zippy from rainbow, marmite focuses specifically on the nostalgic element in order to act as an emotional appeal.

6) What is the difference between popular culture and high culture? How does Marmite play on this?

 high culture is the subculture that encompasses the cultural objects of aesthetic value whereas, popular culture is culture based on the tastes of ordinary people rather than an educated elite. Marmite plays on this by replacing the crown with breadsticks.

7) Why does Marmite position the audience as ‘enlightened, superior, knowing insiders’?

to make them easier to manipulate.

8) What examples does the writer provide of why Marmite advertising is a good example of postmodernism?

Marmite often being unused and neglected