The Symbolization Of The Health In Commercial Advertising And Its Consumption

Health is one of the most basic human needs. In masscommunication,health becomes a social topic from a private body state.Withthe development of science,technology and medicine, human can artificiallyinterfere with health.many people choose a product for one reason that it isgood for health.So health becomes an important factor for advertisement toattracts consumers.The concept of Health is divided into several different levels: not to getsick,to function effectively,to synthetically make use of different body parts,toadapt to the society in physiology, psychology and morality. In this paper,health specially refers to the health of body, not including mental health. Healthis both physiological needs and spiritual goals.according to its dual attribute，health needs can be divided into fixing health needs and promoting healthneeds.Fixing health needs correspond to not to get sick， which makeconsumers feel safe. Ads which appeal fixing health needs pay more attentionto material effect. Promoting health needs correspond to function effectivelyand synthetically make use of different body parts.Ads which appeal fixinghealth needs tend to claim that consumers can be successful and berespected by buying healthy products.Advertisement communicate information through symbols.The informationaffect consumers’purchasing behavior together with their ideas andpsychological factors. In this paper,the visual symbols of health is divided intothree categories:character symbols, environment symbols and artifact symbols.As for character symbols,the image of specialist are used because theirspeech is more easily believed. The image of people who buy the products isoften used to show the changes brought buy the products.advertisement makenew definition of health and unhealth.The image of stars are used to call morepeople’s attention.Moreover purchasing and bring positive attitude andhigher social status. As for environment symbols,by using the naturalenvironment,advertisement try to convince the product is health for the rawmaterial is natural and safe.by using the image of delicate family andhouse,advertisement try to tell consumers that healthy product is related to higher social identity. As for artifact symbols,the image of products cannot besolely used to represent that it is healthy.But when consumers are makingdecision,it is important for consumers to think of the information inadvertisement. Other artifact symbols except products are often used toconvey information by metaphor,which makes advertisement interesting.In advertisement,linguistic symbols also play an important in persuading.Language a supplement for visual symbols.on the other hand language canalso be the summary and distillation of images. There are2traits in thesignificant of advertising language.firstly, antithesis structure are oftenused.secondly, special words such as "every" are often used to stress themeaning. As for the logic of language in advertisement, there are3ways toexpress. Firstly, highlight the characteristics of health and weakening theunhealthy aspects. Secondly,instead of directly telling them topurchase,advertisement persuade through double speech which expresscares for consumers,shaping their consumption patterns. Thirdly,combinehealth with beauty, success, blessing, traditional culture concept and toenhance persuasion.As an important form of mass communication, advertising cancommunicate health information to the public, and emphasized theimportance of health to social members through "agenda setting".However,advertising is also a commercial behavior, so the false health communicationappears. The concept of health is sometimes improper or false which misleadconsumers. some advertisements are even disguised as other forms of TVprogramming,cheating consumers that the product is health. Advertisersshould use symbols rationally, follow the advertising ethics and make abalance between business interests and social responsibility.