Abstract
This chapter has been focused on how the myths, which have a narrative style by using symbols, have been used in the advertising sector. Based on this scope, “the myth” concept is considered within Jung's archetype and collective unconscious approach. The idea that advertising, just like the myths, is based on symbolic structure and archetypes, is analyzed in terms of “Meaning Transfer Model” and consumer behaviour. In the praxis of this study, to support the relationship between the myth and the commercial, the latter that is in the sample field is thorougly examined under the light of iconographic analysis. The results of the analysis and the praxis show that myths seem to exist in modern-day mass mediums. The myths in the advertising sector that are used to attract attention and to awaken the feelings of the consumer have symbolic narrative structures, which gives way that they're very likely to be used in the advertising.
TopFramework Of Iconographic Analysis
One of the methods to be considered in iconographic analyzing is Erwin Panofsky's prominent analyzing model which is going beyond form and style and putting forward the subject and meaning while scrutinizing the image. Panofsky (2012), who has studies on iconography and iconology, has claimed that the meaning has three levels in works of art. According to this model of Panofsky, these levels are included as Primary Meaning (Natural Meaning), Secondary Meaning (Conventional Meaning) and Intrinsic Meaning (Content).
Primary meaning is the most basic and natural understanding of a work. This first level includes visual elements, objects, subjects and their movements and gestures and connections between them (Dyer, 2010). Primary meaning has two subcategories: factual meaning and expressional meaning. Factual meaning is brought out by looking at the forms as objects in the work and determining the relations among the forms themselves and their movements. Expressional meaning is about setting forward the expressional features of the forms that have been brought out by factual meaning (Cömert, 2006). According to Panofsky (2012), this understanding of the world of forms constitutes the world of motifs. Identifying the motifs provides the pre-iconological description of the work.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Archetype: Universally inherited ideas based on past assumptions as well as myths.
Iconography: A disciplinary to research, analyze and discover the relations between symbols, subjects and icons that represents another meaning by itself.
Collective Unconscious: Common patterns and models that exist in all individuals in the society.
Advertising: A profession to reach large masses and introduce a product or a brand to the target audience by setting of an advertise or publicity.
Myth: A narrative form, especially one concerning the early history of people or explaining a natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events.
Mythology: The study that interprets and analyzes myths, their origins and how they have evolved through time.