Advertising discourse: Studying creation and perception of meaning

Discourse of advertising has been of interest and significance to many researchers. Linguists are particularly interested in studying creation of meaning and advertisers are largely concerned about studying consumption of meaning. The two go hand in hand. The present study aims at gauging the gap between creation and consumption of meaning through a pair of print advertisements. Creation of meaning was studied using an amalgamation of Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis and Daniel Chandler’s compilation of semiotics whereas for studying the consumption of meaning a field survey was conducted; the sample for which was 450 college going students. At the face value the adverts were projecting novel notions of challenging the stereotypes related with men and women. But on a semiotic and critical discourse analysis it had been found that the advertisement which overtly appeared to break the old norms and welcome the fresh ones were embedded in stereotypical norms related to women. In the end both the advertisements have been compared. Endorsement by a popular celebrity, fair complexion, femininity related with gratification of men’s desire- all such discourses are viewed as legitimate by the consumers. Consumers generally do not understand the copywriters’ strategies and manipulations in reproducing and propagating these discourses through advertising.   Key words: Advertising, discourses, creation, perception, strategies, ideology