Scholarly record

PROVOCATIONS IN ADVERTISING: SOCIAL PRECURSORS AND IMPLICATIONS

S. Tumskiy

Abstract

Being fraught with risks, postmodernity forces social actors not only to rationalize their activities and search for fleeting opportunities but also resort to means of influence that help achieve their targets in the minimal amount of time. The field of advertising is not an exception, as copywriters are in constant search for tools that could help them in maximizing the impact of their advertisements and targeting their potential addressees. The paper aims to analyse the provocative aspects of advertising; its aim is to see how provocative techniques may be applied, what social implications they might have, and in which cases such advertising could prove to be dysfunctional in nature. It further considers the negative as well as the positive aspects of provocation in advertising. The methodology of the research is based on case study approach, analysis of creolized advertising materials, the explicit and implicit means of their influence in particular. The potential impact that may be exerted is considered through the analysis of semantics. The paper outlines the area of application of provocation and provocative strategies in advertising as well as the impact it exerts on the addressees in the process of social interaction. Subsequently, it sheds light on how provocation is used in modern advertising. It concludes that negative provocation may be used in advertising to manipulate the addresseesВ’ actions and galvanize them into buying a product or a service, whereas some types of advertising such as social advertising may benefit its addressees and serve the purpose of resolving a number of social issues.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/SWS.ISCSS.2019.3/S12.085

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