rity with the ways of experiencing it in a represented form. However as Gillian Dyer states in Advertising as Communication;We must recognise that the images conveyed by the media have, over the last thirty years, become so sophisticated and persuasive that they now organise our experiences and understanding in a crucially significant way. Advertisements encourage extravagant expectations because they are more dramatic and vivid than the reality - reality cannot match up to the image. Therefore cultural knowledge is obtained through the medias sign system. Which is evident through my knowledge of many countries and cultures without ever travelling overseas. Stereotypical elements of particular cultures shown through the media allow me to have perceived meanings and understandings of other cultures. However the stereotypes of culture portrayed through media signs are predominately tourist stereotypes. There are many advertisements in the print, audio and visual media that portray cultural knowledge. Particular signs that we can link to specific cultures, due to the familiarisation with them through the media. For example the television commercial for Simpson washing machines which showed Indian Dhobi washer women banging their clothes against a washing machine to clean them, instead of a nearby rock. Using the tag line The hardest working appliances in the world, suggesting that the product is trustworthy and has stamina. The sign systems that the media used where firstly the opening shot of the Ganges River in the foreground with Indian temples in the background. You then see a mass of Indian women in traditional dress washing clothes in a traditional manner. Although hard working the commercial suggested that their product was also as strong as a rock. The use of the washing machine as a rock for clothes washing and the dumbfounded look on their faces when they saw the electrical plug, suggests that India is a third world country and t...
