Revolution, Toaster, Sailboats?
On advertising electromobility by French and Italian car manufacturers
(Sabine Heinemann, Institut für Romanistik, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Austria)
Selected symposium: SYMP58 – Social responsibility
Presentation language: English
The change in the brand communication of existing products is due to various social changes. In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on the environmental friendliness of products. This is often associated with the deliberate modification of the brand image and thus of the associative structures associated with a brand (cf. Franzen/Bouwman 2001), which can be seen above all in advertising. In the automotive industry, electromobility has only gained more attention in most European countries in the wake of Fridays for future and the increasingly visible climate policy, alongside technically sophisticated solutions that are geared towards further digitalisation or even autonomous driving and thus more towards driving comfort. In brand communication, electric mobility is now advertised as environmentally friendly using components of green washing - this is done using both verbal and visual elements. Interestingly, in recent months there have been political efforts in France and at the European level to restrict green washing in advertising in the sense of social responsibility towards (potential) customers. In this contribution, a frame-semantic analysis of the brand communication of some selected French and Italian car manufacturers (including Renault, Citroën, Fiat) will first be carried out for classic advertising (above all advertisements/posters) (cf. Heinemann (submitted), Ziem 2012, Joy/Scherry/Deschenes 2009). In addition to linguistic aspects, as indicated, the integration of pictorial elements is also essential, which independently evoke frames (cf. Fillmore 1985; Minsky 1975; Busse 2012). In this context, the text-image relationship is particularly relevant, for example with regard to multimodal metaphors or conceptual blending (cf. Forceville 2016; Pérez Sobrino 2017; Fauconnier 2001; Turner 2008). A comparative examination of advertisements over the last few years should make any politically induced modifications visible with regard to the proportions of green washing and their presentation.
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