REPRESENTATIONS OF MAN-AUTOMOBILE RELATIONSHIP: A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF BRAZILIAN AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE ADVERTISING

Abstract

Despite the acknowledgement and importance of the study of signs and symbols and, foremost, of the signification processes, there are still many possibilities to be explored in marketing and consumer research based on semiotic theory and on Consumer Culture Theory (CCT). The aim of this research is to analyze the discourse of car insurance advertising in Brazil using the French semiotics discursive perspective, in order to comprehend the meaning articulation in the advertisements in question. The analysis of 125 car insurance ads published between 2000 and 2009 in newspapers from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and in magazines sold nationwide highlights the wealth of meanings that advertising transfers to the car, to brands of insurance companies and finally to the relationship between the consumer and the car as a consumption object. The research also supports studies that indicate the process of creation and development of extended self through the car by practices that reveal extreme care with the object, indicating a machine humanization process.

Keywords
Consumer studies; Consumer Culture Theory; Advertising discourse; Automobile insurance; Semiotics