Ad hoc Japonisme

How national identity rhetorics work in Japanese advertising

Bibliographic Data

ID2166044
AuthorsYuko Minowa (0000-0002-7806-4034, Long Island University, corresponding author), Russell William Belk (0000-0001-6674-9792, York University)
Year2017
Volume20
Issue4
Pages329-349
Publication date2017-07-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueConsumption Markets & Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1025-3866 • E-ISSN: 1477-223X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10253866.2016.1239085
OpenAlexW2528293538
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited51

This study examines how a variety of national identity rhetorics are formed with the nuanced aestheticization. We focus on visual rhetorics. We use advertisements for traditional, seasonal gifts in post-postwar Japan as the context of inquiry. Two research questions addressed are: (1) how different rhetorics of national identity are formed between the gifts advertised and the audience, focusing more on visual than merely verbal elements, and (2) how visual genealogy – specific cultural and historical references in contemporary images – is used in rhetorical figures. Underpinned by a critical visual analysis, we apply Western and Japanese art canons to a visual social semiotic approach in order to interpret variations in the semantics of national identity. We discuss three types of rhetorics of national identity: rhe-transfiguration, rhe-truculence, and rhe-trepidation. The study suggests that national identity rhetorics activate a "deep subjectivity" resulting from the aestheticized experience reinforced by the nation's consumption ritual

Advertising · Aesthetics · Art · Business · Identity (music · National identity · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Work (physics · Asian Culture and Media Studies · Engineering · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Media, Gender, and Advertising

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