Visualization in medical advertising discourse in Germany

Abstract

A study was made of non-verbal signs used to visualize the printed text of advertising, selected both by belonging to the corresponding subdiscourse and taking into account the territorial feature. Advertising as a type of media text, which has a special composition and influences consumer behavior with the help of specific means, consists of two interrelated codes: a verbal code and a visual code. It has been established that the non-verbal code of this type of text not only transmits information about over-the-counter drugs in order to maintain and enhance sales, but also contains information about the cultural situation of the country, about ethnocultural stereotypes and values prevailing in German society, contributing, in turn, their promotion in society. The authors, setting themselves the goal of identifying the visual resources involved in the creolized advertising texts of leading German pharmaceutical companies, attempt to systematize the idea of the visualization tools used here, correlating with gender parameters, national and cultural characteristics of Germany, its national identity, taking into account technological solutions in the colour picker. The suggestive potential of visual means that affect the potential consumer of over-the-counter medicines due to the appeal to what is close and understandable to him as a representative of a certain cultural community or gender has been determined. It was revealed that in the visual plan, advertising of over-the-counter drugs not only adapts to the cultural environment, reflecting the originality of the national-specific picture of the world of the Germans, their mentality and preferred lifestyle but also reveals a close connection with the symbols of medicine. Cultural signs, directly related to the cultural and value space of Germany, are a universal tool for influencing potential consumers of over-the-counter medicines.