Scholarly record

INTERTEXTUALITY IN PRINTED ADVERTISEMENTS

I. Olehnovica, S. Liepa, D. Olehnovics

Abstract

The present study focuses on the analysis of the types of intertextual techniques as used in printed advertisements. By means of the analytical, the discourse analytical and the descriptive research methods, the printed advertisements featuring the use of intertextuality have been selected and analysed as to the stylistic patterns used to create intertextuality. Intertextuality in printed advertisements is used to attract larger and / or specific audiences, to promote specific features or advantages of a particular brand, product or service, by creating a meaningful image from pre-existing notions. The results of the analysis testify to the fact that for the development of an intertextual relationship, advertisers use direct and indirect references to protagonists of literary works, references to popular social icons like paintings and songs, as well as references to generalizations of popular phenomena. Within the corpus of the printed advertisements collected, visual allusions prevail in the advertisements analysed, because the visual representation of different cultural icons best represent the meaning intended by the advertising campaign. The analysed advertisements contain two types of stylistic patterns, namely, allusion and quotation. The most important reason why such stylistic techniques are used in printed advertising lays in the fact that they capture the audience’s attention and facilitate the promotion of a brand, a service or a product. Most of the advertisements are created with a particular target audience in mind, which is taken into account when creating the design of an advertisement; different stylistic patterns are chosen to increase the public’s awareness of the advertised product by creating a relationship between the advertisement and other cultural icons.

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