Assignment six - Reading Images

This advertisement shows how the advertiser tried to fuse eastern and western culture together. In this presentation, I will speak about how each elements in this picture reflect a certain culture/meanings and how some of it actually reflect the insensitive sense of the advertiser.

In this advertisement there are chinese and western elements:

Western:

(1) Grim Reaper
(2) Toaster
(3) The dog ( jack russell is often deem as more western)

Eastern:

(1) The chinese lady
(2) The decoration of the house
(3) The text is in chinese

The advertisement is meant to target the young and modern Chinese market. The target group that are influenced by
the globalization and western culture. The advertisement display a mix of western and eastern culture to portray a modern
society in China. Therefore, only those who have seen/experience the western culture/media will understand what the advertisement is about. An example is the Che Guevara poster - only people who are expose to the culture of Che Guevara will understand the context of the poster.

Hence people who have exposure to the western media/culture, will then understand the meaning of the Grim Reaper. Grim Reaper is a culture symbol of the western media - a figure that was created by the western media. In the western media, the Grim Reaper is a representation of death - if he appear near a human, it represent that the Grim Reaper is trying to take away the human's soul. And it is the western media that always portray the Grim Reaper carrying a slayer. The slayer represent danger as it often show in western media that the Grim Reaper use the slayer as his weapon to take away people's souls/lives. Hence, as this advertisement is show in China, it can be said that the advertisement is targeted at the younger audiences in the country. People that are influence by the western media or globalization can understand the message behind the advertisement.

Another thing is the dog. In traditional chinese culture, families do not keep jack russell in their homes. Jack russell is a breed that is introduced by the western countries. Hence by putting jack russell in the advertisement, it bring about a certain sense of western culture influence.

Toaster is also another item that is brought by the western culture. In the traditional chinese, people use stove and charcoal to toast bread.

Therefore, by placing these western induced items into the advertisement, it "block out" certain group of people in the country - people who are not influence by the western culture. These people (e.g. farmers, older generation) will not understand what Grim Reaper and the slayer means. Although these people can know that jack russell is a kind of dog (because it signify a dog) but they might not feel relate to the advertisement as they never see jack russell before. Hence by introducing western/foreign elements into the advertisement, some groups will be "block out" from the initial message. Although it is targeted at the younger generation in China, it also shows a certain degree of insensitivity. For the chinese culture, people believe in chinese culture and religion more than western culture. Hence to the chinese society, people can associate the notion of death with chinese icon (e.g. vampires, chinese demon, king of Hades, etc) rather than Grim Reaper. Hence people in China will not "feel" for the advertisement because it is "too western" oriented. From these elements, it is an advertisement that is made by a western company who might not have research enough on chinese culture.

We made conclusion that the toaster on fire is dangerous because it is unusual for toaster to be on fire. We know from our everyday life that the toaster is meant to toast bread. If it is on fire, it means that the toast is spoilt. There the advertiser make use of our everyday knowledge to help us make reference to the advertisement. An example is the dog in the chopping board (picture below). The advertisement make use of our everyday’s knowledge of the kitchen and the layout of a normal cooking procedure. By making some “unusual” elements in both pictures, it will attract the viewers’ attention and make them relate to their prior experience. For example, the viewers know that the toaster is to toast bread and hence with fire, they can relate that something is wrong and it is dangerous. The chopping board in the cooking setting, with a dog shows that the dog might be meant to be killed and cooked.



During the tutorial, my classmates comment that it is common for toaster to be on fire. But however, the argument I wanted to make is no person will go to a store and buy a toaster with the intention to have it on fire! Hence the picture with toaster on fire is something unusual - not the normal function of a toaster. Another thing is the fire can be symbol for danger and other stuff. Example fire on the stove is something good - use of fire to cook. While in this case fire is a symbol of danger because it is in a context that depicts danger. Therefore an item can depict different meaning in different context.

Something interesting was brought out during tutorial. The Grim Reaper is made of bone and the dog is biting the hand which is made of bones. People, especially those who are not influence by the western culture, will see that dog is biting the hand because the dog want to eat the bone and not trying to save the woman. This goes to show that the company did not pay enough attention to the details and their meaning. Dog is known to eat bones and hence people will link this when they see this advertisement.

Another thing that the company fail to see is that they fail to notice that the danger and the Grim Reaper are at the opposite end of each other. This will give an impression that the dog is trying to prevent the Grim Reaper from attacking the woman and not trying to save the woman from fire.

People can only made out the meaning of this advertisement when they look at the chinese words below and the wildlife fund logo. The chinese text is "save it. and it will save you." meaning if you save the dog and not throw or kill it, it will one day save your life. It is only then people know that the dog biting the bones of Grim Reaper is to protect its owner. However as the Grim Reaper and the danger that it is representing is at opposite side, people might miss the connection that the Grim Reaper is trying to take away the life of the woman because she is sleeping and unaware of the toaster on fire beside her.

This advertisement is a classic example of how company who did not pay attention to the visual details/connotation of the items they place in the advertisement and the culture of their target market will cause people to misunderstood/ don't understand the meaning of the advertisement. This shows the importance of having understand the target market's culture (in this case is the chinese culture) and the different codes behind each items in the advertisement. Also the placement of the items and the logic of placing them is also very importance (in this advertisement, the danger and Grim Reaper is at opposite side, people might not able to relate that the Grim Reaper is a symbol for the danger of the toaster on fire.)

Rate: 90/100

Ability to read the advertisement in cultural context.