Textual Analysis in Advertising Research: Construction and Deconstruction of Meanings

Abstract A postmodern literary method of textual analysis is presented as a systematic approach to understanding the meaning of an advertising text. The method has three steps: identification of textual elements (the parts or literary attributes), construction of meaning (the whole, a sum of parts), and deconstruction (the unsaid assumptions that challenge singular meaning). The steps are demonstrated in a workbench analysis of a single advertisement. The author proposes that the addition of deconstruction to literary analysis of advertising text contributes to behavioral and cultural research on advertising by enabling researchers to “read” advertisements as expressions of contemporary consumer culture. Traditional language devices long thought to influence affective responses and memory are reexamined and future research directions suggested.