The ever entangling web: a study of ideologies and discourse in advertising to women.

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, "it

means just what I choose it to mean--neither more nor less."

"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many

different things."

"The question is," said Humpty

(Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass)

Advertising as Representation

Representation involves the connection between things in the phenomenal world, concepts, and signs (Hall 1997). A magazine advertisement consisting of a two-dimensional image combined with text from which we can derive a particular meaning is the very essence of representation. Through culture, we learn that a photograph signifies something that exists in the real world, an abstract concept, or an imaginary thing. We can decode an ad by using cues found in representative systems of language such as physical gestures, clothing, set, lighting, tropes, and text. The meanings derived can be as simple as the identification of an object such as a toothbrush or chair or as abstract as the notion of the good life or love.

Ad interpretation is part of a larger system called "the circuit of culture" (Hall 1997). Indeed, to discuss representation requires that it be placed in the context of conventions and linguistic tropes that help us make sense of our social worlds (see Thompson and Haytko 1997). We represent something when we desire to share or express some idea, feeling, or concept that we carry in our heads. Loosely speaking, individuals are said to belong to the same culture when they interpret the world in a broadly similar way and can express thoughts and feelings in such a way as to be understood. Culture also includes the organization and regulation of social practices, and it influences conduct by setting out the rules, norms, and conventions of social order (Foucault 1980). Over time, ideological codes tend to fix and naturalize the relationships between conceptual maps and language systems and enable members of a culture to communicate effectively. The system of representation thus becomes a stable cultural convention that is taught and learned by members of a society. As a result, the preferred meaning (Hall 1980) of a cultural text such as an ad may "be this, but not the other."