Populärmusik i TV-reklam : En kvalitativ undersökning av musiken som betydelsebärande teckensystem

This paper examines a popular music song (Heartbeats by Jose Gonzalez) as a sign system in television advertising. The study was conducted through qualitative questionnaires in connection to an audio-visual method of analysis called Masking. The method facilitates the analysis of isolated parts in the audio-visual spectrum by masking/hiding parts of the audio-visual totality.The survey had seven respondents where a hermeneutic epistemological approach was used. For the analysis Cooper's theory of brand identity (Practical and Symbolic Attitudes to Buying Brands) was used together with an interaction model for music in audio-visual advertising called "Modes of music-image interaction”. The results showed that the music was associated with values as genuine, honest, responsibility, purity, independence and innovation. The music's symbolic values helped to position the brand in a lifestyle context. The music also helped to express the target group’s identity and attitudes by being innovative and independent. It also enhanced the perception of the visual colour rendition in the film. In general the television advertisement perceived more positive and entertaining when the music was present. In other words the music's social and cultural position contributed to raise the film's credibility. A deeper social and cultural value was created in the movie through resonance between symbolic values of the music and symbolic values of the film.

Med musik som försäljningsredskap : En studie av musikens kommunikationsvärde i TV-reklam

This essay examines the persuasive side of music and its affect on consumer behavior when utilized in television commercials. It includes an interpretation of twelve study cases, in which three groups of four people is presented the same commercial, with different music being the only item dividing the groups. This is followed by a few questions about the product. The aim is then to see how the answers differ from one group to another, and how they match the music’s presupposed connotations suggested in the theory part of the essay, thus, observing the communicative, and eventually persuasive, power of music in television commercials. The main question is: how might music utilized in a television commercial power people’s opinions about the product in that commercial. The results show how music may alter people’s opinions about the product in the commercial, and that the interviewees’ opinions, in most cases, match the music’s presupposed connotations. The study’s results confirm what was previously found by Adolfsson in 2007. By comparing results from then and now it adds to the understanding of musical meaning in everyday life.