A Memetic-adaptation Approach To Chinese Public Service Advertising Language

Public service advertising(hereafter PSA) is commonly defined as advertising that serves the public interest.It communicates social ideas beneficial to the public and tries to make the public change their attitudes and/or behaviors.As a component of modern culture, PSA plays a more and more important role in the society.In light of this phenomenon,this thesis attempts to make a comprehensive study on Chinese PSA language from the perspective of memetic-adaptaion.The aim is centrally achieved by identifying the properties of successful Chinese PSA language and by exploring the factors that might influence its construction and further popularity.Memetics is a new theory for interpreting cultural evolution.As a unit of cultural transmission,meme,like gene,is also subject to selection- "the survival of the fittest",not all the memes can survive in the course of transmission.In terms of memetics,PSA language in mass communication is a manifestation of meme.So in the world of mass communication, what kind of PSA language would be preferred and get popularized to achieve its goals in the society? The author suggests that it has its own memetic selection device in the course of transmission and spreading.By analyzing examples of successful Chinese PSA language taken from monographs and journals on PSA and influential mass media,this thesis identifies the selection criteria concerning Chinese PSA language - novelty,simplicity,authority, formality,conformity,and publicity,based on the selection criteria proposed by Heylighen (1998).It is found that PSA language memes which possess the above-mentioned properties will be effective and popular among the public.To justify the selection criteria,the notion of memetic-adaptation is proposed as theoretical framework by integrating memetics with adaptation theory.Under the framework, the main contextual correlates of memetic adaptation of Chinese PSA language fall on three aspects:mental world,social world and physical world.Research findings are derived from the detailed sample analysis as follows:(1) The adaptation to mental world involves cognitive factors and emotive factors.It is found that simplicity,novelty,and formality are the result of adaptation to mental world.(2) The adaptation to social world is investigated from two aspects:social settings and institutions;culture.It is found PSA language meme generated from complying with social settings and institutions stands for formality and authority.And the adaptation to culture contributes to conformity.(3) The adaptation to physical world, including time and space,will enhance publicity-the broad distribution of the same meme message,which maximizes its popularity in transmission.In summary,it is clear that the selection criteria for Chinese PSA language are just the consequence of adaptation to the three worlds.This thesis hopes to provide new insight for the study of PSA language from the perspective of memetics,and to give some hints to the advertiser on the creation of PSA language as well.