Through the looking glass : a comparative study of advertising as a mirror image of social realities

Abstract

Advertisements are motivated producers of symbols. They are "closed fields" of meaning that exist both within and independently of society. In the last fifty years, Malta has been through the aftermath of a war, has graduated from a colonial state to independence, and is now making its bid for a European identity. This study is about the symbols in the last fifty years of Maltese advertising. A sample of newspaper adverts from three periods of time: 1945- 1954, 1960-1969 and 1987-1994, is taken from two Maltese newspapers; the traditionally conservative -- The Sunday Times, and the official newspaper of the Malta Labour Party. This study identifies and compares representations of social reality; namely, of gender roles, national identity and tradition, using Guy Cook's hierarchy of people, text and materials. Advertising is not a faithful record of Maltese social reality. Together with other meaningful processes in society, it spins "webs of significance" which transform and give meaning to reality.