Context, motivation and choice of multimodality in television advertisements of selected companies in Ghana

Abstract

This study is a case study of television advertisements of selected companies in Ghana. It examines the choice and motivations for the use of multimodality in the advertisements. Data for the study consisted of selected advertisements from some communication companies, banks, insurance companies as well as alcoholic beverages in Ghana and was obtained and downloaded from YouTube. The study employed the qualitative research design in the analysis of data. Using Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA) and Visual Semiotic Theory (VST) as the theoretical frameworks, the advertisements were individually analysed, paying particular attention to the contributions of the various semiotic resources and modes to the messages the advertisements convey. The study concludes that written and verbal texts are used in the various advertisements to complement each other in the dissemination of the messages. Another conclusion drawn is that gestures, as well as other semiotic resources and modes are used to conceal and/or send particular messages that are subtly and tacitly expressed to block and at the same time pick out particular audiences. It is concluded in the study that some of the advertisements used famous personalities in society to project their products and also tap into their huge fan base. It is also concluded that the choice and use of certain modes acknowledge the existence of competition among the companies and project the ideologies of certain companies. The research again, concludes that the release of the various advertisements in terms of timing does not generally show competition though the closeness of the dates of some advertisements appear to suggest the existence of competition. The study recommends that multimodal text producers should not lose sight of the fact that readers are not only influenced by the multimodal aspect of texts but also the extra linguistic elements