inquiry project proposal

As an interdisciplinary communications major student, advertising and visual communication interests me because those are some classes I have taken, or am taking, that have really piqued my interest and further curiosity. I often wondered from the beginning of this English course how it relates to my major. This inquiry project is a perfect way for me to further explore this connection between visual literature and its effects on audience. I want to learn more about this topic because it is so relevant to not only this course, but currently in my marketing class we are learning about advertising, and in my visual communications course we are learning about the effects visuals/advertising has on its audience using colors. I have studied so much about written text, its importance and its power, so I wonder if written text is the most power, then commercials and advertisements would not necessarily need to use visuals. To me, it is the visuals of advertisements and commercials that provoke the most emotion, which is why there are so many billboards or ads with no to small amounts of text.

As of now, I have learned in my visual communications course that color in advertising, whether it is how a product is packaged or a commercial, evokes the most emotion from its audience. I also know from studying fashion that advertisements send more messages than meets the eye. Companies and industries are not only trying to sell a product sometimes, they may also be selling an image, concept or idealist stereotype. I have studied the fashion industry’s advertisements and its effects on audience in the scope of self-esteem and eating disorders. It is a painful reality and evidence that visual literature evokes life-changing emotions. People do more than respond emotionally to advertisements, they draw conclusions and mold their lives, or at least their perception of life.

An interesting thought and point I would like to further research is as follows: text offers the reader the opportunity to imagine visuals drawn from the actual words- visuals offers the audience to draw textual inferences from the pictures. Because of this, it is difficult to hold the advertisement or company accountable for statements its audience comes up with because it is not actually said in text, it is just inferred. So is there a way the public can have an impact on advertisements so they sell us the actual product, not a stereotype and image if no text directly states the ideal concept? Also, is it a good marketing strategy to use the tactic of selling these concepts and false perceptions of life in order to boost the industry, or is that considered unethical?

To begin my research I would like to interview my visual communications professor to get her take on the subject and gear some questions towards visual literacy’s effects on audience. I know she will have much to say because we both share a great interest in this topic. I would also like to interview my marketing professor because I believe she will have a different take on the subject than my visual communications professor since she will have a business perspective. Some sources I have found are:
1. Media Literacy: Keys to Interpreting Media Messages
2. Extending Social Comparisons: An examination of the Unintended Consequences of Idealized Advertising Images. Charles Gulas and Kim McKeage
3. Effects of Print Ad Pictures and Copy Containing Instructions to Imagine on Mental Imagery that Mediates Attitudes. Laurie Babin, Alivn Burn
4. More Than Pictures? An exploration of Visually Dominant Magazine Ads as Arguments. Sara Morgan