Scientific and theoretical principles of genres in modern advertology

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Scientific and theoretical principles of genres in modern advertology

Y. Shmyha

The problem of genre system in today's advertology has an important theoretical and practical sig-nificance. The aim of the study is to determine kind and typology of advertising genres as well as their developing trends and the current state. The differentiation of advertising genres is determined de-pending on advertising channels, advertising targets, and different kinds of audience and trends of advertising development.

The diversity of the genre's palette of advertising requires scientific research, since the issue of genres has a practical and theoretical importance. The practical significance of genre questions is that genre certainty in the setting of a particular creative goal in practice streamlines the process of its achieving. The genre definition of the future text promotes business understanding between the par-ticipants of the advertising activity.

The formation of the advertising genres has taken place consequentially, from the simplest forms of nominative replicas and the monosyllabic name of the subject of advertising to more complex con-structions. In addition, it is important to remember that any genre system is conditional, since the genre is a flexible, mobile structure which often changes. It is characterized by interaction, mutual in-fluence, interpenetration of genres, and their modification.

The main problem of modern genrology in advertising science is the lack of a single criterion for determining the boundaries of the genre, systematization of genres. Such aspects as the volume of the work, the way of creating the image and the subject of the image are considered to be the criterions of genres. There are various approaches to the differentiation of a large array of advertising texts: in the form of sign means, address segments of the audience, types of advertised objects, channels of transmission. The most common and productive among them is the typology of advertising by the nature of the media.

Key words: genre, genre system, typology of advertising genres, advertology.

Шмига Ю. І. Науково-теоретичні засади жанрології в сучасному рекламознавстві

Питання жанрової системи в сучасному рекламознавстві має важливе теоретичне і практичне значення. Метою дослідження є з'ясування природи і типології жанрів реклами, а також тенденцій розвитку та їх сучасного стану. Встановлено диференціацію рекламних жанрів залежно від каналів передачі реклами (її носіїв), цільових орієнтирів рекламування, різних типів аудиторії, напрямів розвитку реклами.

Ключові слова: жанр, жанрова система, типологія жанрів реклами, рекламознавство.

Шмыга Ю. И. Научно-теоретические основы жанрологии в современном рекламоведении

Проблема жанровой системы в современном рекламоведении имеет важное теоретическое и практическое значение. Целью исследования является определение природы и типологии жанров рекламы, а также тенденций развития и их современного состояния. Определена дифференциация рекламных жанров в зависимости от каналов передачи рекламы, целевых ориентиров рекламирования, различных типов аудитории, направлений развития рекламы.

Ключевые слова: жанр, жанровая система, типология жанров рекламы, рекламоведение.

Problems of genrology both in advertology and journalism studies belong to the most complex scientific issues, since genres are in constant development. The current state of the genres' functioning in both forms of mass communication is characterized by their enrichment; genre transformation, diffusion and erosion of the genres boundaries are taking place; so-called synthetic forms prevail. The content of the «genre» concept is now constantly changing and improving; this is partly connected to the insufficient coverage of the genre theory in advertising. Multidimensionality and interconversion of the principles of division into genres are the cause of contradictory approaches to the handling of the genre theory: for example, in literary studies the question of whether the genre concept belongs to the category of content or to the category of form is still unclear.

The topicality of the study is to summarize the scientific and theoretical foundations of the genre, to elucidate the approaches that can become the most productive in the study of the nature and typology of the advertising genres, as well as to make an attempt to evolute some trends of the development and the current state of advertising genres, which may contribute to further improvement both their scientific study and practical application.

II. Problem statement

Our research is based on the consideration of various genre systems. Therefore, the purpose of the article is to clarify the features of various typological approaches to the classification of advertising genres.

The task of scientific research is to study the developing trends, current state and typology of ad-vertising genres.

III. Results

A characteristic feature of modern advertising is the diversity of its genres, which is constantly en-riched and requires scientific research, since the issue of genres has an important practical and theo-retical significance in advertology. The practical significance of the genre issue is that genre certainty in the setting of a particular creative goal in practice streamlines the process of its achiving. Specifica-tion of the genre version of the future text contributes to business understanding in the chain: advertiser - advertising agent - advertising producer - transmission channel (medium), since it allows to rely on the creative reserves of accepted structural patterns.

Unlike journalism studies, which has a long history of genres research, in modern advertology the genrology is in a state of formation. Despite the fact that most researchers in the advertology touch upon the issue of genres in some degree, the problems of genrology are still poorly researched.

Scientific systematization of the rich genre palette of advertising texts, which saturate modern mass communication channels, is just starting. Among those studying this problem, we can name such Ukrainian and Russian researchers, as V. Buhrym, N. Holiadkin, T. Hrynberh, V. Muzykant, V. Polukarov, A. Romanov, Ye. Romat, N. Starykh, V. Uchenova, S. Shomova. Researching the genres of advertising, the scholars came from the fact that in the existing genre variants the most stable, productive structures of works are fixed, that allow the effective achieving of the goal of a certain activity. The genre configurations reflect optimally substantially expressed structures that can contribute to a qualitative solution of current creative tasks.

In the modern advertising communication theory there are various directions of genre forms differ-entiation: by types of sign means, address segments of the audience, types of advertised objects and medium of transmission.

The intensification of the genrology issues study in modern advertology is conditioned by constant growth of diversity, enrichment of the genre palette of advertising types, the need for its systematiza-tion and ordering, generalization and further transfer of professional experience. Without the consid-eration of the «genre» category the systematization of advertising remains incomplete.

It is known that advertology, as well as journalism studies, in the interpretation of the «genre» con-cept relies on aesthetics and literary studies. The basics of the genre comprehension were laid in Aris-totle's «Poetics»: it defined rules, regulations for certain genres, especially dramatic one, which lasted until the eighteenth century. The «genre» concept as such entered for scientific use relatively recently, in the twenties of the twentieth century. Representatives of various philological schools and schools interpreted it ambiguously.

Within the traditional literary studies, three groups of interpretive approaches to the genre were formed. Some researchers focus on the genre forming potential of the structural and compositional properties of a work. Precisely this comprehension of the genre proper to Russian formalists: Yu. Tynianov, B. Tomashevskyi, V. Shklovskyi. B. Tomashevskyi, for example, termed the genres as specific «groups of methods which are combined with each other and are established, depend on the circumstances of the origin, purpose and conditions of the perception of works, on the imitation of old works and traditions that consequently arise» [12, p. 206].

Formalists offered a limited interpretation of the genre, which contributed to the development of the opposite direction of genrology - content-related one. Such scholars as O. Freidenberh, V. Propp, M. Bakhtin, turned attention to the content of genre forms, operating with the «genre essence», «genre content» terms. For example, M. Bakhtin emphasized that the genre form is closely related to the work subject and the worldview of their authors: «In the genres, during the centuries of their existence, the forms of vision and comprehension of the world accumulate» [3, p. 332]. M. Bakhtin differentiated the formal (structural) and purely content-related aspects of the genre. The genre, as a hardened, transformed into a certain literary construction content, is interpreted by H. Hachev and V. Kozhynov [4].

The essence of the third approach lies in the fact that its supporters consider both its parameters - content-related and formal - as genre-determinant: «the genre can be conventionally considered a group of literary works, in which theoretically manifests the joint «external» (size, structure) and «inner» (mood, attitude, conception, in other words - subject and audience) form» [15, p. 57].

In contemporary Ukrainian genrology we can observe rather broad interpretation of the genre from the maximum possible specificity in generic, which is reflected in the «The Art of the Word: Introduc-tion to the Literary Science» textbook by A. Tkachenko [11], to the universalization of this concept by M. Pavlyshyn. M. Pavlyshyn notes that «the genre is any group of texts or speech acts, which, in the opinion of the recipients, has certain determinative features» [8, p. 175]. advertising trend goal

It should be noted that the last two approaches to the nature of the genre are the basis of our study. Interpretation of the genre by American scholars is the best way to take into account the fea-tures of the genre, which is inherent not only in literary but also journalistic and advertising texts. For us the most important in this interpretation is a focusing on an audience that Soviet researchers of the genre have not always took into account, as well as modern Ukrainian scholars.

Researching the comprehension of the genre in modern science, we can not ignore the issue of the sign nature of the genre, which was noted by the representatives of classical literary studies O. Veselovskyi and O. Potebnia, as well as by international and Ukrainian structuralists and post-structuralists. However, genre semiology still has not been studied properly and definitively. At the same time, the study of the conditional-symbolic nature of text and its links with the genre structure can be, in our opinion, rather promising direction in the development of not only the literary generic, but also genrology in the field of journalism studies and advertology. Precisely this interpretation of the genre was initiated by V. Shklovskyi: «Genre - a convention - is an agreement on the meaning and harmonization of signals. The system should be understood both for an author and for a reader. Therefore, the author often reports at the beginning of the work that it is a novel, drama, comedy, el-egy or epistle. The author seems to indicate a way of listening to the subject, a way of perceiving of the work structure» [16, p. 391].

The sign system determines the processes of creating and perceiving the text, hence the genre structure. Encrypted information requires appropriate decoding. This pattern takes on particular impor-tance in advertising genres, because the most important feature of the advertising text is the pragmatic aspect. In the advertising text the recipient must receive the expected information. To some extent, consumer needs are reflected in the genre specifics. If a recipient defined with the purchase and requires specific, accurate information, these needs will be satisfied, for example, with such genre as a television announcement. If a consumer has not yet decided on the purchase, then a seller should catch the consumer interest, should represent a product not only with the help of rational, but also emotional argument, so it is better to choose the genre of a TV or video clip. Such sign as dialogue- ness becomes very important for the interpretation of the genre in advertology, as well as in other ar-eas of creative activity, since modern advertising texts are considered as components of a communi-cative act based on a subjective-subjective model of communication, that is, such that involves not only the impact on a recipient, but also the feedback.

It should be noted that the general theory of genres, despite the long history of its existence, has not yet developed a clear definition of the genre, and discussions on this issue continue. At the same time, the existing theory of genres quite fully reflects the historical researches in this field of science, the further trends of the enrichment and development of this category, and thus creates the foundation for studying the issue of genres in advertology.

The genre can be regarded as an important aspect of not only of aesthetics, literary criticism, other artistic sciences, journalism studies, but also advertology. Comprehension of this category, as it em-phasized by V. Uchenova, S. Shomova, T. Hrynberh, K. Konanykhin, is an important chain in the structure of the advertising process [13]. At the same time, the study of the genre problem in advertol-ogy only begins and therefore requires a generalization of advertising practices and the accumulation of theoretical researches. It is worth noting that the lack of attentive attitude towards the study of genre specificity has led to the fact that it (genre specificity) has often been replaced by general journalistic specifics. Precisely this approach, through the prism of journalistic activity, to the advertising genres was proposed by Russian researcher N. Kokhtiev [6]. In fact, he identifies such text forms, as note, interview, report, correspondence, article, with purely promotional activity. The similar approach is also reflected in the work of V. Muzykant [7]. Of course, the named text structures can embody and adver-tising goals too, but it is unproductively to limit the genres of printed advertising to these genre struc-tures. This is evidenced by the research by V. Uchenova, S. Shomova and others, who in illumination of the genres of printed advertising are not limited to the named genres and add to them manifold genre variations that reflect the specifics of verbal advertisements in periodicals [13].

In the research of the advertising genres typology we relied on the opinion of the world-famous lit-erary critic, culturologist M. Bakhtin that «the genre lives today, but it remembers its past, its origin. The genre is a representative of creative memory in the process of creative development» [1, p. 179]. For comprehension of the advertising genres formation it is important to pay attention also to the genre variants, selected by the scholar, which are formed in everyday common speech communica-tion. M. Bakhtin termed these variants as «primary» genres and distinguished among them replicas, common dialogues, swearing, curses, greetings, farewells, etc. Reasonable is the opinion of re-searchers who consider that the original genre variants of advertising there were a part of the «primary» genres [14]. These original genres include oral advertisement callings, so-called «street voices»: advertisements that often consisted of only one word that named the advertised product: «Apples! Apples!» or «Pies! Pies!». From this embryo grows, as it figuratively noted by researchers, a branched «tree» of various advertising texts. M. Bakhtin described this initial genre milestone of advertising: «It («street voice») did not yet has that specific and organic character as an advertisement of the new time... Streets and squares literally shook with this diverse hype. For every product - food, wine or clothes - there were their own words and their own melody of hype, own intonation, that is, own verbal and musical image» [2, p. 200]. This observation of the authoritative scholar reflects the process of transforming one of the «primary» genres - common callings - into the professional genre of advertisement.

Thus, in the early stages of its existence, an oral advertisement consisted of only one or two words, and then it gradually increased additional informational and expressive layers. While at the early stages of the advertising origin the emotional influence was embodied mainly in intonation, then gradually the information core is enriched by verbal expression (as bright epithets, expressive meta-phors, promises of various benefits to the owners of the advertised goods or supporters of the adver-tised electoral blocs in the conditions of ancient democracy). From the «Apples!» calling a seller goes to the use of rhymed poems, and then to the expanded oral recitative on this topic.

The genre system uses various types of arts, linguistic means and aims to active impact on recep-tors of a recipient, prompting a person to action.

An important stage in enriching of emotional-expressive and suggestive elements of advertising impact is the combination of verbal and figurative aspects. In oral advertising - it is the specific clothes of those who tout and carry the products, symbolic attributes of sale items and crafts. It is worth noting that the process of constant use of common language in the advertising addresses can be observed today in «direct marketing». In this way consistently emerge some genre forming signs of advertising products, among which modern researchers identify the following:

- target orientation of advertiser;

- specifics of the addressee of an advertising message;

- features of the advertised object [13].

Precisely these factors create the basis of the content-compositional blocks, which determine the genre modifications in advertising. However, the system of genres existing in the scientific use and practical experience does not always take all of the above-mentioned features into account.

Let us analyze the existing typology of genres in modern advertology. First of all, it should be noted that the typology of genres is a poorly researched aspect of advertology. Despite the fact that researchers often turn to the study of the advertising genres and their typology, this issue is singled out in rare cases only. Moreover, we can observe significant terminological differences in various scientific and applied sources: genre variants of advertising are defined as medium, varieties [10], forms of advertising [5].

Currently, the system of advertising genres, as it represented in modern scientific and practical works, can not be considered complete, since the advertising genres, as well as journalistic and literary genres, are in constant development and therefore require new scientific researches. However, at the same time, we can state in the modern advertising theory the presence of various approaches to the systematization of genres. First of all, there is a tradition of advertising genres differentiation de-pending on channels of advertising transmission, that is, its medium: there are genres of printed ad-vertising, radio advertising, televised addresses, outdoor advertising [10; 13]. In addition, there are classifications of genres, based on more general principles. For example, V. Uchenova and other re-searchers proposed in their work the systematization of primary advertising genres depending on the target goal of advertising and appeals to different types of audience. But, unfortunately, it is presented in a very general way: neutral colored information announcements; emotional expressive calling [13].

In addition, in the «Advertising: A Palette of Genres» book of the group of authors (V. Uchenova, S. Shomova, etc.) there is a genre system that reflects the directions of advertising development. Re-searchers attribute the vertical direction to the added complexity of genre constructions from short sentences to comprehensive texts that consist of many blocks. Horizontal direction in the development of genres means the differentiation within established genre forms. Let us provide the chain as an example: catalogue - price list - prospectus.

The last approach, in our opinion, essentially complements the traditional differentiation of genre types depending on medium.

There is a distinction between genre variants depending on the sign means used in advertising: oral verbal advertising, written and printed verbal advertising, image advertising.

Ukrainian researcher N. Pankova, considering advertising texts for various parameters, proposes the following differentiation by genres: announcements, interviews, sketches, reports. This distinction, in our opinion, is rather conditional and does not reflect rich and varied genre palette of modern adver-tising in general and according to communicative medium [9].

IV. Conclusions

While monitoring the consideration of various typological approaches to the classification of advertising variants, various patterns forming the genre system of advertising, it is worth to emphasize that the formation of advertising genres has taken place consistently, from the simplest forms of nominative replicas, monosyllabic name of the advertising subject to more complex constructions. Moreover, it is important to remember that any genre system has a conditional nature, because the genre is a flexible, mobile structure that often changes, and it is characterized by interaction, mutual influence, interpenetration of genres, and their modification.

Summarizing, we note that the main problem of modern genrology in advertology is the lack of a single criterion for determining the boundaries of the genre, the systematization of genres. Research-ers consider as the criteria the following: work volume, way of image creation, subject of the image. There are various approaches to the differentiation of a large array of advertising texts: by the type of sign means, address segments of the audience, types of advertised objects, medium (channel) of transmission. The most common and productive among them is the typology of advertising by the na-ture of medium.

The further researches on the topic of genre systematization in modern advertology include the de-velopment of such issues as: genre modifications of advertising creativity, their genesis and system interconnection, etc.

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