Controversies over social group representation in advertisements : a case study on Hornbach’s The Smell of Spring narrative ad

Abstract

Till date, advertising contents continue to raise controversy in the media due to miscommunication and misinterpretation. This study examines a proposed television ad, it also looks into the intended message to be communicated and how the audience perceive it. The main focus of the research is to explore how controversy is generated when social groups are negatively represented in advertisement. The research uses two different data sets retrieved from YouTube, that is, an ad and the viewer’s comments to the ad. The YouTube ad and the viewer’s comments are analyzed with multimodal semiotic analysis and thematic analysis respectively. Findings from this study shows an interpretation of the advert from the researcher’s perspective and an analysis of the audience’s response. This research explains how stereotypes associated with the Japanese, has been implemented in the ad’s narrative with a humorous effect. Findings from the data revealed that majority of people from a specific social group found the ad content problematic, thus leading to a lot of controversy. The social group which raised these controversies was identified as Asians. The data sets suggest that Asians found the ad problematic because they identify with the Japanese, shown in the advert. It was gathered that Asians found the ad offensive because it portrayed a wrong impression about Asian women. From this study, it can be said that advertising contents are equally important in defining perceptions towards others in society. Thus, suggesting the importance of being clear with advertising messages.