ABSTRACT
Advertising is a hard concept to define due to its hybrid discursive characteristics. Ads have traditionally been construed as a form of mercantile discourse and borrowing credibility from other, more reputable, discourses, has been second nature to advertising. This chapter focusses on the recent forms advertising discourse has been assuming since the advent of digital technologies and the boom of social media, which now appear as flexible and versatile conveyors of commercial messages. Advertising transitioned from a traditional media landscape (‘paid media’) to more sophisticated environments where ‘owned media’ coexist with ‘earned media’, with the traditional media adapting themselves to this new communicative paradigm. Emphasis is now on the ever-demanding task of attracting people’s attention to advertising discourse. We have witnessed a transition from a model where ads intruded on people’s lives, eventually causing rejection and boredom, to new discursive forms where active engagement on the part of the audience is sought, in order to foster genuine interest in the message, which will ideally become a part of the audience’s lives, radically altering their attitude towards the brand: instead of seeing the promotional message as an intrusion, it will eventually be seen as content proper, eliciting interest, entertainment and knowledge.
