商品个性标志的定义及其在美国流行文化中的角色

摘要

Trade characters have been used as successful adver-tising tools in the United States for over one hundred years. American popular culture has quietly become inhabited by all sorts of talking animals and dancing products that are used as a communication system by advertisers. In 1982, a research study found that commercials with advertising-developed characters who became associated with a brand scored above average in their ability to change brand preference (Stewart and Furse). It appears, then, that society is getting the message. However, al-though popular with advertisers and consumers, trade characters have been largely ignored in the study of advertising and popular culture. Through a review of the relevant literature, this paper will determine what trade characters are, and how they are employed in modern advertising practice to communicate to consumers in society.%　　在过去的一个多世纪，商品的个性标志一直是美国人钟爱的广告工具。各种各样被广告商作为传播体系的“会说话的动物”和“会跳舞的产品”已悄无声息地蔓延在美国的流行文化中。1982年，有人在做调查后发现，凡是商品特征明显的广告，在改变品牌偏好的能力上要比同行业其他品牌强。这一点表明社会正在接收商品个性标志这样的讯息。然而，尽管商品个性标志的运用在广告商和消费者中大受欢迎，却几乎被完全遗忘在广告和流行文化研究的角落。本文将从相关文学的角度解析什么是商品个性标志，以及其如何运用在现代广告业中，并与消费者进行交流。