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Introduction:

Marchand’s concepts of the “great parables” and “visual clichés” are fairly straightforward. But it is important to recognize how advertisers in the 1920s quickly developed a sophisticated visual language to represent social life and link their meanings to products. And while it seems that advertisers simply invented these parables and visual icons, they all resonate with the culture as a whole. So while the “Parable of the Captivated Child” is an invention of advertisers, it did resonate with popular concerns about changing strategies for child rearing. The “Parable of the First Impression” could only work because people did feel disconnected to community in a rapidly changing and largely anonymous urban environment. The visual clichés were also developed through trial and error and only those representations that connected to people and the larger culture became iconic and clichéd.

Module 6: The great parables <See also visual cliches>

 
 
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Ad Library
Here are examples of some of Marchand’s parables. Sometimes they are obvious; sometimes they can require some interpretive work to recognize. See also Visual Clichés for this module.

Learning Objectives

When you have completed this module, you should be able to

  1. •Recognize the set of parables and clichés that Marchand describes.

  2. •Extrapolate from parables and icons the cultural trends (and concerns) that they represent.

  3. •Discover parables and clichés Marchand misses either in past or contemporary advertising.

Writing Assignment

Choose to write about either a parable or visual cliché as outlined by Marchand. The parables are difficult to find but there are a few below. The icons or clichés are more common and you will find plenty of examples in the Clichés Library or you can find your own here or here. As you conduct your analysis follow Marchand’s lead and go beyond simply identifying parables or clichés and write about their cultural significance. For example, what does the “open fridge” represent? Abundance? Prestige? Modern technology and lifestyles? How are such issues connected?

Readings:

Marchand, Chapter 7 “The Great Parables”

Marchand, Chapter 8 “Visual Clichés: Fantasies and Icons”

Lectures “Parables and Clichés” “Midterm Paper” Reading Questions and Key Terms: The following questions should guide your reading. As you write your Reading Response, try to incorporate any of the key terms in bold that are relevant to the ad you have chosen to write about. If you have difficulty with any of these questions or problems with definitions, please bring your questions to the class blog. How is the Parable of the First Impression (208-217) relevant to people’s experience of the historical changes of the 1920s? How does the Parable of the Democracy of Goods 217-223) express the ideological values of an emerging consumer culture? What popular anxieties are expressed by the Parable of Civilization Redeemed (223-228)? What parables are current today? (E.g. SUVs and the escape from civilization). Think about what icons and clichés mean ideologically; how do these images represent the family, the nation, the future, the commodity? What iconography, clichés and fantasies are current today (e.g. the urban basketball court, the soccer mom’s minivan, the club)?Lectures/Lectures.htmlshapeimage_1_link_0