From 'Meaning Transfer' To 'Meaning Attachment'

This dissertation presents an outline of the transformation from symbolic 'meaning transfer' to social-functional 'meaning attachment', the structural transformation in the production and communication of the TV advertising meaning system. It analyzes the conflicts among different social relationships and powers and the risks brought by these conflicts as well. It also examines the community of interests consisted of the media of TV, advertising agent and advertiser under the impact of the commercialization of communication, survey the institutional abuse and the reason leading to different kinds of colluding for interest, and then sociologically gives a deep rethought of the social function and values resulted from TV advertising's entering into the public sphere, and thus argues that we should properly use TV advertising's social meaning to positively construct audience's public identity. Only by constructing the public identity can we make the audience take part in the power gaming and strugglling in the public sphere of mass media, protect and defend the public sphere, the topmost principle of mass media. And thus we can avoid the possible mistakes of 'meaning attachment' and thereform bring us the new possibilities of theoretic discussion in the sociologically critical study on TV advertising.