Adverts : a mirror image of Maltese society

Abstract

Advertising in Malta has developed rapidly over the past two centuries and now says a lot about the Maltese way of life. My research looks at how the text in printed advertisements reflects the socio-economic and political context. This is placed in a socio-cultural milieu since only in this way one can achieve a more complete picture of how text developed through the years. My study is divided into two main areas. The first part is diachronic and incorporates: - a short history of advertising and its main functions, - the effects of media ownership on the content of the media - what is context and how it affects text The second part of this work is synchronic and focuses on the reading of adverts printed in a local newspaper in 1970 and in 1998, according to the context in which they appeared. Text is analyzed in the light of the socio-economic factors surrounding it. The research is qualitative in its approach. The Introductory chapter states the objectives of this study. Chapter 2 looks at the history of advertising and the history of print media in Malta. This chapter also includes a description of the present situation of the local print media. I chose the adverts from 1970 and 1998 mainly because the first is the year when printing technology in Maltese press was improved and also because it was a time when culture was undergoing drastic changes. The 1998 context was to represent the contemporary period. Chapter 3 includes an vii analysis of the Maltese context and the importance and influence of culture on advertising. Chapter 4 is the methodology chapter, in which I state the reasons behind my choice of study and method of research. Chapter 5 includes the actual analysis of the selected texts and the results of this analysis, applying the concepts and factors discussed in Chapters 3 and 4. Chapter 6 is a conclusion for this work that summarizes the main points of the study in a holistic approach.