Advertisers use sexual imagery to attract attention to their messages and to demonstrate the "outcomes" of buying and using the brand. In addition to receiving information about a product, we subconsciously process the entire advertisement. Vicarious learning emphasizes that individuals not only learn from their own experiences but also from observing others. However, vicarious learning also influences the judgment and values of an individual. This study focuses on the portrayal of gender dominance in such advertisements. The magazines chosen for the study are three predominantly female magazines and three predominantly male magazines. Six issues from each magazine were sampled and only advertisements that fit the criteria of the study were utilized. A total of 202 advertisements displaying 244 male and female interactions were coded. The results of the content analysis indicated that advertisements featuring male and female actors interacting portrayed the female actor in the dominant role more often than the male actor. Females were found to be the dominant actors in most predominantly women’s magazines; however, males were displayed as the dominant actors in most predominantly men’s magazines. The findings from this study support the importance and significance of social learning and modeling. Based on the results of this study, the dominant and submissive cues displayed in advertisements provide learning behaviors for consumers.

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2006. / Title from title screen. Calvin Thomas, committee chair; Nancy Chase, Christopher Kocela, committee members. Electronic text (122 p. : ill., photos) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed May 8, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 112-118).

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2006. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-110). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-11-07T11:42:51Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Alan Faquinetti da Costa.pdf: 4815194 bytes, checksum: 6b0186fa97b1f2b37728da85556fb977 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-11-07T11:42:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Alan Faquinetti da Costa.pdf: 4815194 bytes, checksum: 6b0186fa97b1f2b37728da85556fb977 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-10-24 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / The present research proposes to investigate the communicative role of institutional visual signatures, their purposes and their signic characteristics. Banco do Brasil, Bradesco and Itaú, three national financial institutions that are among the most remembered brands in Brazil and among the most valuable banks in the world, were chosen as the study object. The questions that direct this research inquire about the purpose of visual signatures, the ways they acquire meanings, and the role of advertising language, especially its audiovisual elements, in the exemplification that seeks to construct such meanings. In order to answer these questions, the corpus consists of television commercials and the visual signatures (graphic symbols and logos) of the chosen banks. One of the hypotheses of this research is that symbols and logos have, primarily, a mnemonic function that can be subdivided into two: the first is to be fixed in the memory of the public; The second, to evoke positive reminiscences and the narratives of the companies that use them as a signature. Another hypothesis is that, although the graphic elements that make up the visual signatures are capable of reaching the first objective (mnemonic fixation), they can not achieve the second (evocation of narratives). The visual signatures need to be linked to the advertising language, which "teaches" the public to read values in these symbols and typographies. The methodology used to analyze the corpus is the extraction and deconstruction of the texts and the indispensable comparison between them and the companies they refer to. The conclusion reached from this research points to the need for the non-functionalisation of visual signatures, but also indicates the impossibility of this happening in the present time, since commercial competition, while guaranteeing the existence of institutional brands, also feeds the imposition of visibility and closes the door for the "entertainment signature". The theoretical reference is made up of: Andrea Semprini and Gilles Lipovetsky, who base the notions of brand and consumption; Michel Foucault and his work on politics; Leo Huberman and his history of man's wealth; Otavio Ianni and Milton Santos, with their theories on globalization; Lucrécia D'Alessio Ferrara, Claudio Ferlauto, Andre Stolarski and Chico Homem de Melo with their thoughts on graphic design, especially in Brazil; Roberto Corrêa, Lourdes Gabrielli and Tânia Hoff and their works on advertising language; And, finally, Fernando Nogueira da Costa, Niall Ferguson and Noble Foster Hoggson with their historical reflections on the banks / A presente pesquisa se propõe a investigar o papel comunicativo das assinaturas visuais institucionais, seus propósitos e suas características sígnicas. Foram escolhidos como objeto de estudo Banco do Brasil, Bradesco e Itaú, três instituições financeiras nacionais que estão entre as marcas mais lembradas do país e entre os bancos mais valiosos do mundo. As perguntas que dirigem essa pesquisa inquirem a respeito da finalidade das assinaturas visuais, das formas como adquirem significados, e do papel da linguagem publicitária, em especial seus elementos audiovisuais, na exemplificação que visa construir tais sentidos. A fim de responder essas perguntas, o corpus está constituído por comerciais de televisão e pelas assinaturas visuais (símbolos gráficos e logotipos) dos bancos escolhidos. Uma das hipóteses desta pesquisa é que os símbolos e logotipos têm, primariamente, função mnemônica que pode ser subdividida em duas: a primeira é fixar-se na memória do público; a segunda, evocar reminiscências positivas e as narrativas das empresas que os utilizam como assinatura. Outra hipótese é a de que, ainda que os elementos gráficos que constituem as assinaturas visuais sejam capazes de atingir o primeiro objetivo (fixação mnemônica), eles não conseguem, isoladamente, alcançar o segundo (evocação de narrativas). As assinaturas visuais precisam, para tanto, estar atreladas à linguagem publicitária, que “ensina” o público a ler valores nesses símbolos e tipografias. A metodologia utilizada para análise do corpus é a extração e a desconstrução dos textos e a indispensável comparação entre eles e as empresas que referenciam. A conclusão alcançada a partir desta pesquisa aponta para a necessidade de desfuncionalização das assinaturas visuais, mas também indica a impossibilidade de que isso ocorra no tempo presente, pois a concorrência mercantil, ao mesmo tempo que garante a existência das marcas institucionais, também alimenta a imposição da visibilidade e fecha a porta para a “assinatura entretenimento”. O referencial teórico é constituído por: Andrea Semprini e Gilles Lipovetsky, que embasam as noções de marca e consumo; Michel Foucault e sua obra sobre política; Leo Huberman e sua história da riqueza do homem; Otavio Ianni e Milton Santos, com suas teorias sobre globalização; Lucrécia D’Alessio Ferrara, Claudio Ferlauto, Andre Stolarski e Chico Homem de Melo com suas ponderações sobre design gráfico, especialmente no Brasil; Roberto Corrêa, Lourdes Gabrielli e Tânia Hoff e suas obras sobre linguagem publicitária; e, por fim, Fernando Nogueira da Costa, Niall Ferguson e Noble Foster Hoggson com suas reflexões históricas sobre os bancos

This investigation accepts that art is a term of western culture and that advertising is a creation of an historical and social process firmly linked to the economies of western industrialised nations. A cultural niche theory of the visual arts is employed to define the various visual art forms and it is in this context that the development of the notion of fine art, which had its origins during the Renaissance, is investigated with a view to how this led to the commodification of art. The phenomenon of art as a commodity accelerated throughout the nineteenth century and was moulded by the same political, cultural, social, economic and technological forces that gave rise to advertising when, during the second half of the century, the capitalist system of production became geared towards mass production of products for consumption. This was also the period of significant European colonial expansion in southern Afiica and consequently the development of both art and advertising in the region was cast in a colonial, European mould, the effects of which are investigated throughout this research project. This body of research also seeks to explain how the meaning and the value of the art object and its reproduced image, changed and became exchangeable as technology developed. Significantly this occurred at a time when the needs of advertising shifted from a simple system of proclamation and announcement on the periphery of the national economy during the nineteenth century to become a sophisticated system of communication which acts as an influential social institution at the end of this millennium. That this appears to have occurred at a time when the influence of fine art began to decline as a cultural force is significant as it is in this context that advertising has become a primary carrier of meaning in society. This research project works within this paradigm to investigate the history and motives of business support for the arts, particularly the visual arts, in the form of sponsorship with particular reference to a culturally diverse and politically dynamic South Africa. In addition, specific rhetorical devices that advertising employs, as a strategic tool of marketing, to appropriate and (ex)change meaning from the value laden visual art object is investigated with reference to contemporary advertising in South Africa. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal,1998.