Social advertisement »: when brands communicate about « fighting discriminations » and « promoting diversity »

Résumé

This article examines the discourse of
mainstream commercial brands that
chose to communicate on « social diversity » and « fighting discriminations ». The
semiotic and rhetorical analysis of recent
cases will show that advertising campaigns appropriating topics usually endorsed by institutional or activist discourse
often encounter a paradox: the stereotypical dimension of advertising discourse.
How can such a stereotypical discourse
as advertisement pretend to fight stereotypes and discriminations ? We will
explore the enunciation’s compatibility
between the brand as enunciator, advertising discourse and activist discourse.