REVIVALS OF THE MYTH IN ADVERTISING CONSTRUCTION
REVIVALS OF THE MYTH IN ADVERTISING CONSTRUCTION

Summary/Abstract: In this paper, our purpose is to demonstrate that the mythologizing symbolic image plays an important role in the advertising construction, leaving, by extension, its mark on the entire cultural and mental landscape of the contemporary world. Among the traditional mythical structures, several models which are able to steer imagination and reading, but above all, enable performative reflexes influencing consumer’s actions, are frequently circulated in the advertising field; they are representative and effective, thus creating fantasy around consumer goods, by inciting desire to buy among customers who can relate to the story portrayed. We are also looking into models of narrative analysis that are most suited to advertising storytelling, focusing mainly on the actantial model proposed by A.J. Greimas and the model developed by Claude Bremond, which bring complementary perspectives: Greimas’ model reveals that a product may be either an adjuvant/helper or an opponent in fulfilling a desire (of the consumer), whereas the Bremondian model integrates the product-consumer relationship in a procedural framework which is influenced by the transformation of the states of degradation and amelioration in order to fulfill a desire.

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