A Study on the ways of using memory in advertisements and its meaning: Focusing on Hyundai Motor's PR advertisements in China and Europe

Abstract

This study deals with the ways of using memory in advertisements and its meaning through PR advertisements of Hyundai Motor Company released in China and Europe. To this end, this study dealt with the fact that advertisements in theoretical discussions make the meaning of products understood as a cultural or social dimension. In particular, it was discussed that corporate PR advertisements have a broader and covertly operated ideological meaning than general product advertisements. This study viewed corporate PR advertisements as a 'brand story text' and set narrative theory as a research methodology to see how memories are reproduced in advertisements. The research results are as follows. First of all, the Chinese advertisement 'Family Photo' contained the familial ideology that the value of happiness can be acquired through a return to the family. Here, family photography is a medium for the protagonist to remember the past, and Hyundai Motors become a means of presenting or realizing the memory. European advertisement 'Next Awaits' emphasizes the value of progress through the story of national reconstruction. To this end, it shows the achievements of Hyundai Motor as well as Hyundai Group. In particular, in advertisement, memory is used to compare the company's narrative with modern Korean history and human history. The memory summoned for this is the founder's track record and role, and advertisement refers to the corporate value of progress through this. Furthermore, advertisement emphasizes that the past remembered by advertisement can acquire universality, while maintaining that corporate value is a value that should be pursued from the standpoint of humanity and world history beyond a company or country. Ultimately, these advertisements are understood to have utilized memory as a way to newly build the myth of 'hyundai' into the myth of 'contemporary' of familialism, nationalism, and historical progress.