Psychological Analysis of Media Text: The Animal Image in Advertising Narratives

Introduction. The increasing role of advertising in the communicative space determines the urgency of undertaking psychological research on advertising narratives. This study, for the first time, presents the method for psychological analysis of media products and explains the mechanisms of using images of animals for modeling the processes advertising uses to transmit existential messages. Methods. The meanings transmitted by advertising were revealed using the method of immanent analysis. The study employed the semantic differential technique to verify judgements on the transformation of animal images in advertising narratives. Using semantic differential scales the respondents assessed images of animals such as: a cat, a dog, a wolf, a bear, and a raccoon; and also of a ‘human' image, as well as a ‘raccoon' as the main character of the advertising video. The study sample was comprised of 77 high-school and 26 university students (total N = 103). Results. The study established the duality of the semantic structure of the analyzed video. It transmits not only pragmatic meanings (justified by its commercial purposes), but also existential ones. Existential meanings are used as a means of attracting consumers' attention to the advertised product, while determining a deep psychological impact of the message. In advertising narratives an individual's perception of the animal image rests upon its anthropomorphic characteristics transformed in the artistic space of a promotional video. The study revealed negative changes in the semantics of the animal image under the influence of its presentation in advertising. Discussion. Comparing the ‘raccoon' semantics with the semantics of a ‘human' and the animals with stereotyped meanings revealed its semantic status and led to the assumption that the anthropomorphic ‘ordinariness' of this animal actualizes consumers' processes of identification and transmission of existential meanings important to forming their motivation. Comparing the semantics of the non-contextual ‘raccoon' stimulus with the semantics of a ‘raccoon' as the main character of the advertising video allowed authors to determine semantic transformations of the animal image in advertising narratives. The study also considered an issue of potentially provoking suicidal behaviour by watching the analyzed advertising video.