CMNS 223W Quiz: Module 1 Readings
4 Mar 2016
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Advertisements have to translate statements from the world of things, for example, that a car will do so many mpg, into a form that means something in terms of people. High mpg could be translated to the user being a clever saver; being a certain kind of person. Low mpg could be translated to the daredevil who is too trendy to be economizing. Both statements could be made on the purely factual level of use value by the simple figures of 50 or 20 mpg. The ad translates these thing" statements to us as human statements; they are given a humanly symbolic exchange-value". Advertisements provide a structure which is capable of transforming the language of objects to that of people, and vice versa. Diamonds may be marketed by likening them to eternal love, creating a symbolism where the mineral means something not in its own terms, which is a rock, but in human terms, as a sign.
