Advertising: The making of the advert- encoding model

Advertising: The making of the advert- encoding model

Introduction to the Encoding/Decoding Model

  • Familiarise yourself with Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding model, a critical theory used to analyse media texts.
  • This model conceptualises the relationship between the producers (encoders) of a message (e.g., an advert) and its consumers (decoders).

Key Aspects of Encoding in Advertising

  • Understand that encoding refers to the intentional and unintentional messages that creators craft in an advert.
  • Various factors like cultural background, beliefs, values of the ad creators can influence encoding.
  • Recognise that encoding includes choosing specific signs, details, layout, audio and visual elements, as part of producing the advert.
  • Knowledge that encoding can use direct marketing techniques or more subtle, indirect appeals to the viewer’s desires, needs or anxieties.

Encoded Messages in Advertising

  • Be aware that adverts often contain multiple encoded messages that aim to inform, persuade or remind viewers.
  • Note how adverts encode a product or service’s features and benefits, as per the marketing aims.
  • Understand that adverts also encode ideologies, such as lifestyle aspirations, societal norms and values, to make these products appeal to viewers on an emotional level.

Considerations for the Encoders

  • Understand that the encoder needs to consider their target audience, the message they want to communicate, and how they want it to be received.
  • The encoder should consider the audience’s beliefs, values, interests, possibly using market research, demographic data, etc.
  • Remember that misunderstandings or differing interpretations can occur if the encoding is not clear or designed with the target audience in mind.

Encoding and Mode of Address

  • Mode of address refers to how an advert speaks to its audience, a key aspect of encoding.
  • Direct mode could involve directly addressing the audience or using a narrative mode, inviting viewers to participate in an unfolding story.
  • Analyse mode of address to understand how it shapes the way an ad communicates its messages and displays its ideologies.

Analysing Encoding in Advertising

  • Develop ability to deconstruct adverts by interpreting the encoded signs, symbols, keywords, themes, narratives and ideologies.
  • Postulating the intended effects that the creators might have hoped for will aid in analysing and understanding how the advert was constructed.
  • Always draw upon wider social, cultural, political and economic contexts when interpreting the advert - a basic tenet of media analysis.