RETHINKING PROCESSES OF MEANING-MAKING TELEVISION ADVERTISEMENTS: THE REPRESENTATION OF CULTURAL IDENTITY IN MEDIA RESEARCH

The study that this article draws on seeks to examine the construction of cultural identity in terms of the way audiences think about television advertisements which might be influenced by their knowledge and experience about audio and visual elements they see and hear on the television as well as the devices they interact with. This study is important to explore cultural identity of a society which has different customs and traditions such as Indonesia. This cultural representation emerges in such a television program as the advertisements are designed using certain ideas which are part of the culture. Conversely, what is represented through such a program might impact on the audiences which might then also relate to cultural identity of the society being studied. This is such an important study as several themes on television advertisements might influence the audiences’ way of thinking about the advertisements, moreover, about their lives. For about four decades previous research in relation to television or broadcast programs has been focused on the impact of the programs on their audiences. In relation to that, to investigate the process of meaning-making a social construction perspective might contribute in terms of how knowledge and experience of the audiences are influenced by their social and cultural backgrounds. The importance of applying such a perspective in this study is that it is useful to broaden such an analysis which is frequently conducted by quantitative method and might provide us a much richer analytical and developmental studies on television advertisements which can then be related to the discussions of cultural identity.