As the media develops, we can have a variety of options and diverse visual experiences. Still, the visual substances make the world of false images look real by manipulating images, and they can lead to wrong judgement and choice since they are applie...
As the media develops, we can have a variety of options and diverse visual experiences. Still, the visual substances make the world of false images look real by manipulating images, and they can lead to wrong judgement and choice since they are applied as if they are real. Therefore, the education for visual literacy is essential for children who have immature cognitive judgement as they are susceptible to be blinded by visual phenomenon.
In this study, TV advertisements and print advertisements, which are the most common types of media for children, are used to make children’s visual interpretation active. Beyond providing information, advertisements play the role as documentary for the present period which contain social, cultural, economical facts. Advertisement has high value as method for social communication. That’s why multiple researchers warn that we could be ‘visual illiterate’ if we do not find out intention and purpose of advertisements. Therefore, this study will attempt to properly interpret and analyze its hidden messages and meaning of advertisements by applying the methods of advertising criticism. This study will be conducted by letting children creating their own advertisements with visual signs and components of advertisements. These produced advertisements will allow children to make the most of their aesthetic experience, enhance creative composition ability, and richen their sensibility. After the study, children can deeply understand advertisements’ roles and meanings by interpreting visual symbols (signs) produced. After the study is completed, the children's use of symbol and signs on their advertisements will be analyzed using the definition of semiotics by Roland Barthes and by Peirce.
This study was conducted from October 2nd to November 9th, for 7 weeks, against children of 7-10 years old who attended 1:1 visiting art class in K-gu, Seoul. The result for classes are as follows:
Firstly, the students had difficulty in interpreting fast-passed advertising videos and implicitly expressed print advertisements. However, this study found that students’ critical thinking got developed with reading and questioning advertisements thoroughly.
Secondly, with advertising criticism based on the definition of semiotics, I could observe that students interpreted symbols expressed on TV advertisements and print advertisements closely to the producers’ intentions. Also, from the survey, more than 70% of the students answered positively that they can read intention and purpose of visual phenomenon approaching to them. From this result, we can find out that advertisement criticism using semiotics is effective. The study shows that students could interpret visual part of advertisements, and then analyze the hidden intention from the advertisements, and have critical thinking, observe visual phenomenon, improve their ability to express themselves by using visual symbols.
Thirdly, with producing advertisements, learners expanded their visual thought by using CVT system and mind map , and could produce the work reflecting their own purposes by symbolizing the drawn terms. Learners analyzed TV advertisement prior to print advertisement after listening how to read advertisement according to advertisement criticism. Though the students had short, visual cognition against fast-passed screen, they could find out the implicit meaning in the advertisements by using advertisement criticism. Also, after class, self-evaluation about developing visual culture understanding and visual literacy shows the same result. We can conclude that visual literacy class with advertisement criticism is significant since more than 70% of the students gave positive response that they could interpret intention from visual phenomenon and improve their ability to sort out the information which they actually needed.
Nowadays, the period to be exposed to visual media is quickly extending to childhood. Now, visual culture education becomes essential. It is dangerous for children who have incomplete ego if they are exposed to this environment without any caution. We need to continue image literacy class for visual image to recognize these issues, let children look social phenomenon with critical thought.