Textual Analysis in Advertising Research: Construction and Deconstruction of Meanings

Stern, Barbara B. 1996. Textual analysis in advertising research: Construction and deconstruction of meanings. Journal of Advertising 25, no. 3: 61-73

Barbara Stern argues that textual analysis is a beneficial approach to understanding the meaning of advertisements, consumer effect, and marketing communications. She believes this process of analysis should involve three steps: identification of textual elements, construction of meaning, and deconstruction of meaning. Identification is the process of “naming the literary attributes” of the advertisements. These attributes include language, poetic devices, and metaphors. Construction involves categorizing the attributes into types or genres, and deconstruction uncovers consumers’ cultural assumptions of these attributes.

The article begins with a discussion on the history and evolution of advertising research. Stern examines the limitations of previous theory and argues that advertising research was “stuck in modernism” and neglected deconstruction in analysis. The article then becomes a sort of “how-to” manual, as she explains how to perform her method of textual analysis.

Although this article is dated, I find the information to be beneficial. I think it is important to know the history behind any topic of study. It allows for a deeper understanding. The article can also be used as a guide to textual analysis. I believe the in-depth explanations of her theory will be useful to my own textual analysis research.