Cultural Capital of the Audience and the Graphic Form of Press Advertisements

This article attempts to empirically verify the theory of aesthetic taste formulated by Pierre Bourdieu. The research material consists of press advertisements. 2140 advertisements from five nationwide magazines aimed at different audiences were analyzed using the content analysis technique, which was enriched with qualitative elements. The analysis was conducted from August 2012 to September 2013. The article is part of a larger research project analyzing the aesthetics of Polish press advertisements. Results of the analysis indicate that the hypotheses, which can be derived from Bourdieu’s work, are accurate. Advertisements addressed to people with higher levels of cultural capital are simpler in relation to the form, and they often refer to global culture (they avoid local contexts). Moreover, this type of advertising is likely to take place in the city and people presented there, as opposed to advertising addressed to poorer and less educated people, are not the average people as they usually appear with the attributes of social prestige.

Cultural Capital of the Audience and the Graphic Form of Press Advertisements

This article attempts to empirically verify the theory of aesthetic taste formulated by Pierre Bourdieu. The research material consists of press advertisements. 2140 advertisements from five nationwide magazines aimed at different audiences were analyzed using the content analysis technique, which was enriched with qualitative elements. The analysis was conducted from August 2012 to September 2013. The article is part of a larger research project analyzing the aesthetics of Polish press advertisements. Results of the analysis indicate that the hypotheses, which can be derived from Bourdieu’s work, are accurate. Advertisements addressed to people with higher levels of cultural capital are simpler in relation to the form, and they often refer to global culture (they avoid local contexts). Moreover, this type of advertising is likely to take place in the city and people presented there, as opposed to advertising addressed to poorer and less educated people, are not the average people as they usually appear with the attributes of social prestige.