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“What if technology worked in harmony with nature?” : Imagining climate change through Prius advertisements

Author

Listed:
  • Jennifer Garland

    (EM - EMLyon Business School)

  • Ruthanne Huising
  • Jeroen Struben

Abstract

In this article we examine the marketing representations of the Toyota Prius, the first ‘green' mass-produced automobile. Drawing on an interpretive analysis of Prius print advertisements in Canadian publications between 2006–2011 and a matched sample of other automobile advertisements, we observe how the Prius advertisements invoke imagination and how this process is channelled, via the integration of text and images offered in the advertising space, to particular themes and ideas. Through the use of an ambiguous system of signs, audiences are invited to imagine and thereby co-create the significance of hybrid electric vehicles. Three areas of imagining are emphasized by the advertisement structure—nature, harmony and agency—and we analyze these imaginings as potential moments of knowledge creation about climate change. We examine how the activity of imagining in relation to these three areas influences viewers' knowledge and perception of climate change as well as their sense of responsibility for anthropogenic climate change. We discuss the consequences of using ambiguous messages to promote socially and politically charged products for consumers' understanding and imagination.

Suggested Citation

  • Jennifer Garland & Ruthanne Huising & Jeroen Struben, 2013. "“What if technology worked in harmony with nature?” : Imagining climate change through Prius advertisements," Post-Print hal-02311929, HAL.
  • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02311929
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    Cited by:

    1. Evangelia Ktisti & Leonidas Hatzithomas & Christina Boutsouki, 2022. "Green Advertising on Social Media: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-25, November.
    2. Cameron White, 2016. "The conditions of practical action: Neoliberalism and sustainability in the Australian road construction industry," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(8), pages 1501-1515, December.

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