Cultural identity in Turkish advertisements

ABSTRACT

Advertising discourses are made of symbols, stereotypes, and myths, that is why analyzing cultural identities in advertisements could provide information on how to see and think of a society. Cultural identity is at first and foremost a “shared individuality” that social actors develop, activate and modify in contexts of social and historical interaction according to specific issues that lead them to act. Advertising appears as a cultural mirror which gives brands symbolic values and a narrative identity. Generally speaking, national identity has always been a sensitive issue for Turkey. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the advertising discourse constructs the “Turkish being” identity. To that end advertisements offered in the various Turkish media from 1930 until today have been taken into account. Semiotic method has been used. Meaning occurs by progressive enrichment from an elementary core where the constituent values of a society are structured. These values are exploited by narrative structures and later staged through figures which constitute real life.

KEYWORDS:

• Advertising
• brand discourse
• narrative identity
• myths
• stereotypes
• symbolic values

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Halime Yücel

Halime Yücel is Associate Professor at Galatasaray University's Faculty of Communication. Her research interests are advertising, semiotics and visual culture. She publish numerous books and articles on Communication issues (in French and Turkish).