Decoding myth-making through Semiotics in-order to Decolonize advertising.
Published originally as a chapter in book Semiotics and Visual Communication IV: Myths of Today. (2024) https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-0364-0548-9/
Introduction
This paper investigates the current visual practise and printed expression of 2D visual communication in Mexico City by focusing on a billboard advertising campaign for the luxury Mexican department store Palacio de Hierro. First the 2D advertising is deconstructed through the analysis of advertising tools & techniques supported through semiotic & design theory. This is followed by a Visual Social Semiotics analysis influenced by various semioticians such as: Roland Barthes’s application of Saussure’s semiotic theory (1974) applied to popular visual culture in Rhetoric of the Image(1977c) (1999); Danesi’s observations on media semiotics (1999, 2013); Harrison (2003) Jewitt & Olyama (2001) on Visual Social Semiotics, and Stuart Hall’s observations on audiences through encoding and decoding (1980). Then the final research method applied to understand the campaign from a consumer perspective is Photo elicitation (Glaw 2017).
The objective of this analysis is to uncover the primary and secondary messaging broadcast by the advertisements to the consumer through semiotics, and map how the messaging is constructed through the application of advertising tools and techniques. This is a unique analysis as other investigations such as papers published in the Journal of Advertising have explored Semiotics and advertising (Hirschman 2003) (Domzal 2013), and how 2D advertising in developing countries has affected society (Nelson 2020) but this is the first one using semiotics to understand how a myth is constructed through racist messaging that is built during the creation process through the application of various advertising tools and techniques. This paper asks How are the power relationships in Mexican 2D advertising constructed through the application of advertising tools and techniques?
As a former creative director this author believes that “Advertising is a designed communication that reinterprets signs and symbols in order to persuade” Jones (2020). This is because advertising appropriates different signs and symbols from popular culture, and re-configures them to create new messages.
The term colonise is also an important concept within this paper and is defined in the Cambridge dictionary as a “means to send people to live in and govern another country” (2023) and an example of this is when the nation state of Britain was colonised by the Romans and they installed infrastructure like roads
The final term that forms part of this paper is decolonising, which this author defines as “involving removing or rewriting rules and concepts left by colonial-era thinking that still control or influence society (Jones 2020).
Visual Social Semiotics applied to decode branded myths in advertising
Canadian Semiotician Marcel Danesi, believes that “brands are one of the most important modes of communication in the modern media environment” (Danesi 2006. p3). Branded communication has paid for most of the messages this author has created in their 20 year advertising career in Mexico, where they have reworked popular culture into branded messages (Jones 2023) therefore they propose that advertising messages reinforce social and cultural values through myth creation. As Barthes notes ‘a myth is a type of speech’ (1972 pg. 109) and myth is history in form and concept. (1972 p 137) ‘Form’ in this case are images of race & class, and the ‘concept’ is the way race & class is constructed through the manipulation of elements such as: image, text, and a brand logo, to create a mythical visual narrative.
It is important to note that according to advertising academic Kelly (2005) the process of how ad agencies “encode meaning” into messages remains “under-explored”, and that is why this research is valuable to understand the process of the tools and techniques used to construct these sponsored mythical messages.
Applying Barthes’ Saussurian semiotic model of ‘signifier + signified = sign’ (1972) to advertising can decode insights such as ‘myth creation’ into symbolic messaging applied to global brands such as Marlborough, (1972 Barthes p115) and the insights of this campaign reveal the spreading of the myth of ‘American freedom’ and American masculinity while omitting the indigenous genocide. (Anderson 2007)
In addition to how messages are constructed through decoding signs it is also valuable to understand how audiences perceive messages. This study focuses on two of cultural theorist Stuart Hall’s positions — dominant-hegemonic- and oppositional (1980). As there are two main audiences who receive the message broadcast for the campaign in question. One is the intended ‘rich’ consumers, and the other is the ‘lower socio-economic level’ passer-by. In the next section we will decode a case study of an outdoor campaign.
The billboard campaign in question
The brand is Palacio De Hierro and the original advertising campaign consisted of various magazine, newspaper ads, and billboards along with television and radio ads. The same messages, models, and themes were used in all the paid media. This study examines four ads from the billboard campaign, and will focus on one of the ads called Freckles (Fig 2).
The Mexican Company behind the ads.
Palacio de Hierro is a department store that sells luxury brands to the wealthy markets in major urban centers in Mexico. In marketing terms this ‘target’ group is referred to as A and A+. The Chain of luxury department stores is owned by one of the richest families in Mexico, the Bailleres. This family has created its own anti-Marxist private university, (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México) ITAM, and imposed their personal social values (Patterson 2007) by approving this long-running advertising campaign that promotes the white ideal lifestyle and reinforces class structure. (Jones 2019)
Four billboards that form the ‘diverse’ campaign
The Palacio Campaign for this study attempts to make the brand appear ‘diverse.’ A press article describes it as “…a campaign that breaks stereotypes” (SDP)
The ads include models who have European features that represent the following stereotypes:
androgyny (fig 5); Marked skin (fig 3); Old age (fig 4); and, overweight (fig 6).
In the following section the billboards will be examined through two research methods. That of semiotics and Photo elicitation, this is to understand how the ads are constructed and then, to recognize how the consumer perceives the advertising,
We will now map the construction of the Palacio advertisements (Table 1), by examining the tools and techniques used to create them.
Tools and techniques applied to construct myths in 2D.
As part of this authors PhD research- which will be published in the coming year- the full explanation of how advertising tools and techniques are applied to analyze 2D advertising is explained in detail. However, for the purposes of this study into ‘myth making’ it is important to understand that each of the tools or techniques listed are defined often by using design or semiotic theory, or the authors own supply definition. These tools or techniques are then applied to the billboard campaign in question in order to understand how the ads are constructed. Some of the various categories for techniquesinclude: text, brand, message, Gaze, main image, style. Then examples for tools include: Printing, ad size, media, typography, layout, color system, material, human figure, race etc. (Table 1)
Tools:
As an example, we will now analyse one tool ‘Typography’ and how ‘layout’ and the technique of ‘Brands’ function together in the construction of the message.
Typography assists the brand name in projecting an image that the consumer will not confuse with another. This is formed through; typeface selection and the arrangement of the letters; and then applying two of Canadian typographers Carl Dair’s (2012) theories;
A) contrast of size; and
B) contrast of color. (Fig 7)
Based on the authors over 20 years’ experience as an Art Director working daily with letters, he is making the following analysis of the typography contained in Freckles (Fig 3) . The font selected is a Sans Serif and is specifically called Franklin Gothic Extra Condensed and was a very popular font in the 1950s, and again in the digital age. To the main target audience this typeface appears very contemporary and fashion forward, which re-enforces the launch of a new campaign. Selecting a font that is not associated to another brand is very important, so that the brand name can have its own unique visual appeal vs. its competition.
Typographer Carl Dair has many concepts contained in his 1967 book Design with Type, and if we apply his theory of “Contrast of color”, we notice that the letters that are painted in golden yellow visually “move towards” the consumer, bringing the most important concept of beauty directly at the consumers eye, and the “use of a second color for contrast” which is white on the billboard, complements the lettering of the logo making it the main focal point on the ad. The gold used is the official colour that is applied to their company packaging and has been used previously in their advertising campaigns. Golden yellow is associated with the metal gold, and therefore wealth. (Kress 2002)
The logo typography El Palacio de Hierro is made up of a serif script. This remits a classic image that appears to be hand drawn. The art of calligraphy was practiced by the ruling class in new Spain when creating and signing documents over 500 yrs. ago and the logo remits this time period. Concluding that the tool of typography used in this ad broadcasts a message of both tradition and modernity which is supporting the contradictions in the myth of Mexico. This myth was put forth by the ruling class after the 1920’s Mexican revolution (Moreno p. 234).
By performing this analysis of the tools and techniques of: typography, brand, layout, among others reveal how a branded myth can be constructed (fig 9). These ads are repeated over time in various media using ‘frequency’ or the ‘theory of repetition’ (Vuokko 1997) and can be supported by Barthes observations of how repetition can naturalize a denoted message and turn it into a connoted message” (1977c.1999. pg. 162).
In the next section we will explore how and why advertising projects two messages: The one the client pays for; and a secondary message that supports branded cultural and historical myths.
Constructing the myth through two messages.
Advertising messages are designed to broadcast a specific message; however, many contain a second level of communication often promoting racial inequality, ideology, or gender bias. (Jones 2016. 2018) The following semiotic analysis is of the primary and secondary messaging that appears within this campaign. It is important to note that in his book Rhetoric of the Image, Barthes states that the photograph analyzed offers us ‘three messages:’
-a linguistic message,
-a coded iconic message, and a
- non-coded iconic message. (1977c. 1999). However, for this research we believe that advertisements have two main messages (Jones 2015): one from the client e.g., Palacio has a new clothing collection, and the secondary messages that reflect the cultural and societal norms when the ad was created e.g., rich white people wear this product. However, it is important to note that this message can be divided into two because it can be interpreted differently depending on who is looking at the ad. The intended ‘target’ audience of rich people approx. 8% of Mexican population (Fig 10), or 42% of Mexicans are living below the national poverty line (INEGI 2013)
The main messages delivered by the client to the audience when looking at the billboard campaign is that the Totally Palacio Collections are available at the ‘diverse’ Palacio de Hierro. This message is supported through the central idea of the campaign that represents ‘diversity’ by featuring a different ‘stereotype’ in each ad: old age; unconventional beauty; androgyny; and overweight. As reported in the Mexican press (SDP 2018) at the launch of this campaign “Palacio de Hierro wants to break stereotypes” and promote “diversity” and this message is what the brand and the ad agency want to be ‘interpreted’ by the viewers of the campaign. Unfortunately, the main issue of diversity is not reflected in the ads by the fact that all of the models are white and do not feature anyone who represents 90% of the Mexican population which are people of colour. The ads show only white models representing 10% of the total population, and no racial diversity is presented. (Jones 2015. 2016)
Theoretical Framework in order to decode how the myth is constructed
Barthes refers to denotation and connotation, (1977, 1999 pg. 155). Which is where myth occurs when the consumer reads the connotative meaning as denotative. What is connotative to the audience seeing the ad depends on which class level is looking at it. The higher economic class consumer will see an attractive young white woman who is proud of her skin including her dark freckles because she is wearing expensive designer clothing. A lower social economic class will see a ‘Güerra’ (Mexican slang for white female) with brown spots on her face that match her brown hair, wearing clothing that is not worn usually by people ‘like them,’ from a brand that doesn’t speak to them, and from a brand they cannot afford. This type of advertising has a second message that creates an ‘us’ vs ‘them’ situation of “otherness” as proposed by theorist Jacques Derrida (1973), or Mountz (2009) where the consumer feels different, and inferior to the model in the ad. This inferiority complex can be re-enforced through ‘scale’ where the large billboards looming over the pedestrians support the lifestyles of the wealthy class.
In the Palacio billboards (Fig 3,4,5,6,), the intended audience of ‘high socio-economic class’ will interpret the message as the advertising agency intended the message to be portrayed from a dominant-hegemonic position (Hall 1980). That El Palacio de Hierro supports stereotypes of: gender; beauty; age; weight, but they all have to be encased in a white skin. According to Hall there are audiences who will decode the message differently than what it was intended, this is Hall’s third position called ‘oppositional.’ These ads would be seen by a lower socio-economic audience that cannot afford these types of clothes or accessories. They will interpret the message as these clothes are for ‘richer white people.’ This is because people with coloured skin are not featured in the advertisements, so there is no one for the ‘oppositional’ audience to identify with. This form of omitting or erasure is discussed by Boaventura de Sousa Santos in his 2018 book The End of the Cognitive Empire with the concept of ‘sociology of absences.’
Thus far, this research has applied two methods to analyze the campaign and to decode how the ads are constructed and then, to understand how the consumer reacts to the advertising. However, this is just the authors opinion as a white male from a country that colonizes, who is applying theory to practice. What about the Mexican consumer and what do they think? Do Mexicans have the same opinion as the findings that this research has revealed?
Understanding the campaign from a consumer perspective by applying Photo elicitation.
In order to answer that question, photo elicitation research was performed with the Mexican public. The definition of “Photo elicitation is using photographs or other visual mediums in an interview to generate verbal discussion to create data and knowledge. Different layers of meaning can be discovered as this method evokes deep emotions, memories, and ideas.” (Glaw 2017)
During August 2021 when the pandemic was still raging in Mexico City, 8 x 1 hr semi-structured interviews were held with eight different Mexicans from various social economic backgrounds, gender, education levels, and race. Please note that during this research Mexican covid restrictions were in effect and it was difficult to randomly select people off the street to interview, or have focus groups. Therefore, the subjects chosen were mostly people who were known or introduced to the researcher of this paper. When the chance to meet and interview people came up, the opportunity was taken, as he didn’t know when the next moment would present its self. During the interview process the subjects were shown printed versions of the Palacio campaign on A4 paper and a list of prepared questions was asked. The campaign in question was not being broadcast in Mexico. Below are some examples of sound bites taken from the eight interviews that revealed certain points of view and thoughts on the Palacio advertising campaign.
Person D identifies as a Hispanic male said ““brand is trying to be ‘woke’.”
“Mexicans are mentally colonised””
Person G Latino stated:
“Brand is showing (consumer) power through money and hairstyles”
“Models do not look Mexican, (but could be) but look like they are …. Nordic”
“The ads show not what Mexicans are but what they want to be…aspirational”
Person E a mestizo male advertising worker said… “Model doesn’t exist in Mexico- he is European. He is fake.”
“It is fashionable to be woke. Palacio is trying to speak to a younger audience…”
Person F who identifies as white said ““I want to be like them (models)””
Person H who identifies as a middle-class artist, sees that
“The ad supports violence against women, as I see blood spattered across her face”
Person C female who identifies as from lower socio-economic level said ““It is a store for people with money”
“People from the country such as FARMER do not have European features”
“If you put a Moreno in elegant clothing they may not look right”
“Advertising makes fun of indigenous people””
As you can observe through ‘photo elicitation’ these thoughts of Mexican consumers reflect many of this papers findings about race and class.
Findings: Decoding myth-making
The ‘anti-stereotypes’ billboard campaign from El Palacio de Hierro is a constructed visual communication, designed through the application of various advertising tools and techniques. This advertising campaign broadcast two messages. The second level of messaging confronts the economically challenged viewer with the harsh realities of life in Mexico, by presenting designer commodities that only the wealthy can afford. Even though the ads celebrate diversity, it is only white diversity, and does not recognize the diversity of the other 90% of the population. The advertisements also are important through what they don’t show, which are people of colour. This omission reenforces the concept of ‘erasure’, where what is not shown is forgotten.
The Palacio de Hierro advertisement campaign can also be considered a contemporary version of Las Pinturas de Castas (Casta paintings) (Fig 11) that still classifying Mexicans with the whiter ruling class presented in a position of power (Fig 12). Pinturas de Castas were paintings created over 500 years ago in ‘New Spain’ that categorized citizens based on their skin colour and parentage with lighter skinned citizens presented in more favourable situations. Examples of 15 different painted categorizations are on display in Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City (Fig 11) and appear in other nation states in Latin America. In the advertisement (Fig 12) we have a constructed 2D visual communication depicting wealthy white citizens wearing luxury goods in a traditional and prosperous location. The palacio de hierro ads are a contemporary visual form that reflects colonial thinking. Reflecting the social and cultural values (Kelly) created over 500 years ago that are now so ingrained in Mexican society that they are not questioned, and are part of the construction of modern Mexico. (Jones 2018)
By asking How are the power relationships in Mexican 2D advertising assembled through the application of advertising tools and techniques to encode brands we can observe how and why brand meaning is constructed to create a branded communication. Revealing that the tools and techniques of: brand, layout, typography, and others, demonstrate how a branded myth can be built.
This research’s findings reveal that the power representations that are presented through 2D advertising is the constructed myth of the lighter-skinned ruling class, transcribes into messaging that often presents light skinned models, creating a myth that white is better, and is thus aspiring for consumers.
This is why we need to remove colonial thinking from 2D messaging by decolonizing some of the advertising design process.
Next steps: Decolonizing the advertising process.
In order to decolonize the advertising process, the following steps are proposed:
A) First step is that people who work in advertising need to acknowledge their ‘white’ privilege (Smith 2021). This will set the stage and allow the discussion to move on to more important steps.
B) The second point is that secondary advertising messages broadcast by 2D advertising (Jones 2015) need to be explored through semiotic research. As this paper demonstrates … an analysis of the final message could be performed through semiotic analysis on the advertising before it is published, so that adjustments can be made before production. Thereby removing colonial thinking from one of the processes.
C) Agencies and brands need to recognize the role ‘tools and techniques’ play in creating myths and supporting these damaging 500-year-old colonial narratives that erase or harm some sectors of Mexican society. After recognition, the tools & techniques can be wisely appropriated to construct a more egalitarian branded message.
For example, the tool of ‘casting’ of models. Where Mexican academic Tipa (2020) recognizes that the process of choosing actors is a racist one based on skin colour and recommends that the advertising industry discuss. They could adopt a principal that promotes the casting of models that reflect all different ethnic groups in Mexico. This action is Infront of the camera. But what about behind it?
D) The hiring of more people of colour, from different social classes and includes them as part of the advertising process will capture any unseen ‘damaging’ messages. Those messages that the ruling class are paying for and often creating but do not see or recognize the inequality they show.
This paper has explored decoding myth-making through the method of Semiotics that according to Harrison (49) is a “useful tool for analyzing images and their relationship to text.” in-order to Decolonize advertising. Concluding that in order to decolonize advertising Mexican brands and advertising agencies are advised to recognize and adopt some of the above decolonizing proposals that will allow for the creation of ethically designed visual communication. With the objective of the consumer being able to resist the racist myth, built through paid messaging.
TABLE 1.
Table 1. Chart of the Tools & Techniques as applied to the outdoor billboard. El Palacio de Hierro. Title Belleza.
IMAGES
Fig 1. Billboard and family in Mexico City. March 8 2021, Photo by Roberto Aguilera. https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10225765408109010&set=pcb.10225765418509270 (accessed April 1 2021)
Fig 2. Marlboro ad. Medium is print. Source https://www.businessinsider.com/marlboro-man-cigarette-brand-history-vintage-ads-2020-2?r=MX&IR=T (accessed March 15th 2023)
Fig 3. Freckles. “MI BELLEZA NO TIENE NADA QUE ESCONDER” Billboard. Espectacular. 2018. Client: Palacio de Hierro. Mexico City. Palacio Billboard broadcast in Mexico City, and other cities where Palacio De Hierro has stores. First air date 6 03 2018. Images obtained from news article. Source. 03/03/2018. Excelsior. https://www.excelsior.com.mx/de-la-red/2018/03/03/1223987
(Last accessed 15 March. 2023)
Fig 4. “MI JUVENTUD SE GANA CON LOS AÑOS” Billboard. 2018. Client: Palacio de Hierro. Mexico City. Source. 03/03/2018. Excelsior. https://www.excelsior.com.mx/de-la-red/2018/03/03/1223987
(Last accessed 15 March. 2023)
Fig 5. “MI GÉNERO NO TIENE GÉNERO” Billboard. 2018. Client: Palacio de Hierro. Mexico City. Source. 03/03/2018. Excelsior. https://www.excelsior.com.mx/de-la-red/2018/03/03/1223987
(Last accessed 15 March. 2023)
Fig 6. “SOY LA MEDIDA PERFECTA” Billboard. 2018. Client: Palacio de Hierro. Mexico City. Source. 03/03/2018. Excelsior. https://www.excelsior.com.mx/de-la-red/2018/03/03/1223987 (Last accessed 15 March. 2023)
Fig 7. Closeup of headline. From fig 3 Freckles ad.
Fig 8. Closeup of the Palacio de Hierro logo. Taken from Fig 3.
Fig 9. Palacio ad. The tools and techniques are shown how they apply to different elements used to construct the ad fig 3. (6 03 2018).
Fig 10. Number of adults in Mexico 2020 by wealth range. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1234470/mexico-adults-wealth-group/ (last seen March 15 2023)
Fig. 11. “Español y española con niño español”. Óleo sobre tela, siglo XVIII. CONACULTA.-INAH.-MEX; Reproduccion Autorizada por el Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e
Historia” Artist unknown. Photographer; Gerardo Cordero A.
Fig 12. Anuncio Palacio de Hierro . 2019 https://www.revistaneo.com/articles/2019/08/12/nueva-campana-de-el-palacio-de-hierro
(Last seen Oct 8 2022)
Bibliography
Anderson, M.C., 2007. Cowboy imperialism and Hollywood film. Peter Lang.
Barthes: (1972) Mythologies. London: Cape.
Barthes, Roland (1977a), “The Photographic Message,” reproduced in Image, Music, Text, trans. Stephen Heath, (New York: Hill and Wang, 1977), 17.
Barthes, Roland (1977b): Image-Music-Text. London: Fontana
Barthes Roland, (1977c) “The Rhetoric of the Image,” reproduced in Image, Music, Text, trans. Stephen Heath, (New York: Hill and Wang, 1977), 44.
Barthes, R, (1999) “The rhetoric of the image”, (Ed.) Evans, J. & Hall, S., Visual culture: the reader, 33–40. London: Sage Publications Ltd
Boaventura de Sousa Santos (2018) The End of the Cognitive Empire. North Carolina. Duke University Press. Kindle edition.
Cambridge, Dictionary (2023) https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/colonize
(Last seen March 16th 2023)
CIA (2015) https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mx.html
(Accessed: 27 May 2021)
Dair, C. (1967) “Design with Type.” Toronto. University of Toronto press.
Danesi, M. (1999) “Of Cigarettes, high heels, and other interesting things.” New York, N.Y. St. Martin’s Press.
Danesi, M. (2002) “Understanding Media Semiotics.” London. Arnold.
Danesi, M. (2006) “Brands”. New York. Taylor & Francis.
Danesi, M. (2007) “The Quest for meaning. A guide to semiotic theory and practice. “Toronto. University of Toronto Press.
Danesi Marcel (2011) What’s in a Brand Name? A Note on the Onomastics of Brand Naming, Journal of Onomastics. Names, Taylor & Francis online 59:3, 175–185, DOI: 10.1179/002777311X13082331190119
Danesi, M. (2013). “Encyclopedia of Media and Communication.” Toronto. University of Toronto press.
Davis, Meredith. (2012) Graphic Design Theory. Thames & Hudson. London.
Derrida, Jacques (1973). Speech and Phenomena and Other Essays on Husserl’s Theory of Signs. Trans. David B. Allison. Evanston: Ill.: Northwestern University Press.
Domzal, T.J. and Kernan, J.B., 1993. Mirror, mirror: Some postmodern reflections on global advertising. Journal of advertising, 22(4), pp.1–20.
Forbes (2021) http://www.forbes.com/profile/alberto-bailleres-gonzalez/ (Accessed: 3rd October 2022)
Glaw, Xanthe. Inder, Kerry. Kable, Ashley. Hazelton, Michael (2017). International Journal of Qualitative Methods Volume 16: 1–8
ª The Author(s) 2017 Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1609406917748215 journals.sagepub.com/home/ijq
Hall, S., (1980). Encoding/decoding. Culture, media, language, pp.128–138.
Harrison, Claire (2003) Visual social semiotics: Understanding how still images make meaning Technical Communication; Feb 2003; 50, 1; ProQuest Central pg. 46
Hirschman, E.C., 2003. Men, Dogs, Guns, and Cars — The Semiotics of Rugged Individualism. Journal of Advertising, 32(1), pp.9–22.
Hodge, Robert. Kress, Gunther R. (1988) “Social semiotics” Cambridge: Polity
Hodge, Robert. Gunther Kress. (1988) Social Semiotics. Cambridge. Polity press.
INEGI (2013) “Clases medias en México” (PDF). INEGI. 2013–06–12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013–07–15. Retrieved 2013–07–19.http://www.inegi.org.mx/inegi/contenidos/espanol/prensa/Boletines/Boletin/Comunicados/Especiales/2013/junio/comunica6.pdf
Jewitt, Carey, and Rumiko Olyama (2001). Visual meaning: a social semiotic approach.” In Handbook of visual analysis, eds. T. van Leeween and C. Jewitt. London. UK. Sage Publications. Pp 134–156.
Jones, Carl. W, (2015) Ads send out more than the clients’ message. Hacker, Maker, Teacher, Thief: Advertising’s Next Generation. Creative Social. Lulu. Also, online at https://medium.com/hacker-maker-teacher-thief/ads-send-out-more-than-the-clients-message-d92d368c69e1 (last accessed March 15th 2023)
Jones, Carl. (2016) “Advertising tools and techniques appropriated to construct the global brand Mr. Clean” Proceedings of the world congress of the IASS/AIS 12th WCS Sofia 2014 New Semiotics. NBU press. Sofia.
Jones, C.W. (2018) Racism and Classism in Mexican Advertising. Springer. Switzerland.
Jones, C.W. (2019) Personal Branding using advertising tools and techniques a case study: El Crayolas. Cambridge Scholars. UK
Jones, Carl (2020) https://theconversation.com/brands-may-support-black-lives-matter-but-advertising-still-needs-to-decolonise-133394
(Last seen March 17th 2023)
Jones Carl W. (2023) http://www.carlwjones.com (last seen march 15 2023)
Kelly, Aidan, Lawlor Katrina, and Donohoe Stephanie (2005),”Advertising Ideology and the Encoding of Advertising Meaning: an Ethnographic and Discursive Approach”, in NA — Advances in Consumer Research Volume 32, eds. Geeta Menon and Akshay R. Rao, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 645–646
Kress, G. Van Leeuwen, T. (1996) Reading images: The grammar of Visual Design. London. Routledge.
Kress, G. Van Leeuwen, T. (2002) Colour as a semiotic mode: notes for a grammar of colour
Journal Visual Communication. vol 1. Issue 3. London. Sage. https://doi.org/10.1177/14703572020010030
Mountz, Alison (2009). “The Other”. Key Concepts in Political Geography: p. 332.
Moreno, Julio. (2003) Yankee Don’t Go Home! The University of North Carolina Press. Kindle Edition.
Nelson, Michelle R., Rachel Powell, Gail M. Ferguson, and Kathy Tian. “Using subvertising to build families’ persuasion knowledge in Jamaica.” Journal of Advertising 49, no. 4 (2020): 477–494.
Oxford. Tool. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/203258?rskey=SqEfwX&result=1&isAdvanced=false#eid
(Last accessed: March 15th 2023).
Oxford. Technique.
http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/198458?redirectedFrom=technique#eid
(Last accessed: March 15th 2023)
Patterson, Jorge, Zepeda. (2007) “Los Amos de Mexico” Mexico D.F. Editorial Planeta Mexicana.
Saussure, Ferdinand de (1996), “The Object of Linguistics”, in Paul Cobley (ed.) The communication Theory ReaderRoutledge. London pp. 37–48.
Saussure, Ferdinand de, (1996) “Linguistic Value”, in Paul Cobley (ed.) The communication Theory Reader. Routledge. London pp.99–114.
Saussure, Ferdinand de (1974) “course in general linguistics”, Translated from French by Wade Baskin. (ed.) Charles Bally and Albert Sèchehaye Harper Collins.
SDP. (2018) Palacio de Hierro News article: (2018) https://www.sdpnoticias.com/estilo-de-vida/2018/03/06/el-palacio-de-hierro-lanza-campana-que-busca-romper-con-estereotipos . (Seen April 2nd 2022)
Smith, Tuhiwai Linda. (2021) Decolonizing Methodologies. (3rd Ed.) London. Zed Books.
Tipa, Juris (2020) Colourism in Commercial and Governmental Advertising in Mexico: ‘International Latino’, Racism and Ethics. In journal Advertising for the human good. (Ed.) Carl Jones. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/wpcc.379
Vuokko, Pirjo (1997), “The Determinants of Advertising Repetition Effects,” in Measuring Advertising Effectiveness, William D.Wells, ed., Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 239–60.
Weed, Keith. (2019) http://streamstudio.world-television.com/CCUIv3/frameset.aspx?ticket=1029-1533-21153&target=en-default-&status=ondemand&browser=ns-0-1-0-0-0&stream=html5-video-500
(Accessed March 9 2019)
Wells, James M. and Preece, Warren E. (2022) “typography”. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 29 Dec. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/technology/typography (Accessed 18 March 2023.)
