History and Past Activities
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History and Past Activities |
Halldor Stefansson,
EMBL Heidelberg, stefanss@embl-heidelberg.de
Genomes made visible: on the semantics of science ads
A spectacular increase in image advertising occurred in various professional journals of the bio-sciences during the last two decades of the twentieth century. This particular trend within the advertising industry manifests conspicuously the growing influence and importance of commercial interests invested in those fields of science. In this study I investigate representations of the genetic material, <<genes>> and <<genomes>>, as they appear in a selection of commercials recently published in Nature, Science, and Genetic Engineering News. Modern forms of advertising have developed as a major powerhouse for the production of metaphors in consumer society. In science ads one commonly encounters visual expressions of taken-for-granted relationships between nature (genes), culture (science), and the world (society). The production teams of the advertising industry use simple surveys to elicit basics elements of a common world-view among the members of their targeted consumer group. These are then offered for identification, in this particular case, to the members of the bio-scientific community. In interview sessions I follow and document reactions of my informants, the practicing biologists, to a selection of science ads.
Sociology of Science and Technology NETwork - last update: April 2006