Rerouting the Ideologically Coercive Advertising Messages of Lancôme’s La Vie Este Belle

Journal: SAGE Visual Communication

Abstract:

The research proposes a theory about the subversive potential of ad cut-ups for rerouting the coercive consumption messages of television advertising. It does so through reference to an interpretive explanation of a video ad cut-up, which in its particular formal construction and narrative subject, represents an exemplary, paradigmatic case of the phenomenon under study. The clip has been analysed using critical discourse analysis, which focuses on the source ad and revision’s formal and rhetorical structures, and in relation to Louis Althusser’s ideological work on interpellation. Using reediting techniques referred to as détournement publicité (advertising hijacking) cut-up re-editors seek to subvert advertising messages, where in doing so they are able to expose aspects of the ideologically regulating nature of advertising. For this reason and because of critical nature of the chosen video ad cut-up, the clip provides an ideal subject for analysis and examination as a prototypical case of advertising hijacking.

Source: Manual