ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about the methods and techniques which may be used in analyzing advertising. It focuses on a critical aspect of our mass communications system, the aspect which makes everything else possible. The considerations that follow apply to all kinds of advertising, though, of course, the medium in which the advertisement appears must be taken into consideration. The chapter also focuses on printed advertisements, though the same methodology can be applied, in modified form, to commercials. The copy in advertisements is particularly useful in analyzing the cultural significance of a given advertisement. For a brief example of what may be done with the language of advertising, let us look at an analysis made by Jules Henry in Culture Against Man of a cosmetics advertisement: Consider the advertisement for Pango Peach, a new color introduced by Revlon in 1960.
