Advertising and Culture

Abstract

Over the past 40 decades, spurred by McLuhan’s prediction and the growing importance of international marketing and communication in a shrinking world, studies on the role of advertising as it relates to culture have grown. Despite the increased interest on the subject, few, if any studies, have dealt with an African country. This article serves as an attempt to bridge that gap. The article used semiotic analysis to explore the cultural values conveyed in 500-plus advertisements in the Nigerian mass media. This semiotic analysis of the 500-plus advertisements determined that, excluding texts, the most common symbols found in Nigerian advertisements were photos of human beings and products. The study also found that Nigerian advertisements did not employ well-established Nigerian ethnic or national symbols. For example, most of the advertisements did not use or combine any of the major or minor Nigerian languages.