The commodification of religion as symbolic interactionism in advertising

Mohd Fauzi Harun

The commodification of religion as symbolic interactionism in advertising

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Title

The commodification of religion as symbolic interactionism in advertising

Type

Article

Main Author

Mohd Fauzi Harun

Additional Authors

Nur Safinas Albakry
Abdul Halim Husain
Harleny Abd Arif

Subject

HF Commerce

ISSN

2222-6990

Language Code

eng

Bibliographic Details

Place of Production

Tanjong Malim

Publisher

Fakulti Seni, Komputeran dan Industri Kreatif

Year of publication

2021

Degree Type

Others

Corporate Name

Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris

Abstract

The power of media is not to simply inform, but to transform the viewers’ beliefs, and to influence people positively and/or negatively based on their interpretations. Thus, this study was conducted to understand Islamic commodification signs on advertisement and to explore the effects of semantic noise interpretation based on the visual communication design meaning used. Symbolic interactionism and communication model are the two important theories in the visual field that are used as the main framework of the study. The study began with content analysis of 7 billboards as case study and continued with semi-structured interviews to get in-depth feedback from 12 informants. Maximum variation sampling was selected ranging from industry practitioner, educator to students from the same field. Thematic analysis is applied in this qualitative study, and subsequent analysis using symbolic interactionism theory in describing the result. The Islamic element is often appear in images and text as part of culture preferences. The ads seem to be more influenced by religion which raises issues of ethical that can mislead content; convey religion-related messages about products. The commodification of visual communication design has become the mediating link to greatly enhance the effectiveness of advertising even though it may cause confusion that affect the recipient's understanding of the actual message (communication noise). Even though the used of Islamic symbols is emotional stimulus that engage ideas to the targeted group (Malay-Muslim) but these ads do not symbolise a highly significant guarantee as a successful motivation aspect of communication. Advertiser should emphasize more over everything else such as product type, function and benefits of the product itself. Although cultural elements are very important in advertising, an understanding of the appropriateness of a symbol in the communication element is necessary to marketer or advertiser to avoid exaggeration and misrepresentation of products by the multi-racial audience. Keywords: Advertising, Islamic Commodification, Visual Communication Design, Symbolic Interactionism

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