ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the use of geographical maps in print advertisements aimed at promoting objects and services other than maps and mapping. The world of publicity offers a window to understanding shared social imageries about objects. Appearing in advertisements that do not sell maps and freed from its normal tasks (to orient, to locate and to inform), cartography shows unexpected aesthetic, cognitive and connotative functions. A few examples of map-related advertisements are considered and help in evaluating the social appeal of maps and the role they play in the collective imagery. This chapter seeks to introduce a taxonomy of denotative and connotative functions that maps can acquire in this context. It also offers a few reflections about the possible uses of these categories of maps in teaching and in promoting cartography as a varied, and even fun, realm.
