From the Theory of Correspondence to the Theory of Truth: A Semiotic Perspective on the Truth of Advertisements

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Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication ›› 2017, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (8) : 54-66.

From the Theory of Correspondence to the Theory of Truth: A Semiotic Perspective on the Truth of Advertisements

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In most of the previous discussions concerning the truth of advertisements, it is widely held that advertising texts must be in strict agreement with the objective facts, which is, in fact, a belief rooted in the theory of correspondence. However, this theory fails to cover those contentsin advertisements that are not verifiable by immediate human experiences, which, in effect, take up a large part in advertisements. Thus, there is still an absence of convincing conclusions on this issue. Charles Peirce and other scholars of semiotics, based on the interactions between the texts and the interpretive community, proposed a new version of the concept of “truth”, which goes beyond that of the theory of correspondence—truth is the result of the explorations of the texts by the community of reception, “the community consensus” ultimately reached by the community members through their collective explorations with scientific methods. This new concept of truth provides both a new approach and a viable solution to the long controversy over the truth of advertisements among scholars in the field of advertisements. This paper, based on this new concept of truth, proposes the theory of coherence concerning the truth of advertisements and discusses the issue of maintaining truth in advertisements from three aspects: the coherence of style, the coherence of the discourse and communitarian truth. This paper also intends to provide a new perspective and a more comprehensive understanding of the truth of advertisements.

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The truth of advertisements / the new concept of truth / the theory of correspondence / the theory of coherence

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. From the Theory of Correspondence to the Theory of Truth: A Semiotic Perspective on the Truth of Advertisements. Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication. 2017, 39(8): 54-66

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