The dip pen as a source of social distinction in Victorian Britain

Hagan, Lauren O’

doi:10.1080/2373518x.2018.1548684

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…These examples concern just three types of historical multimodal artefacts with three specific aims. However, I have employed multimodal ethnohistory effectively for a range of other artefacts, such as school exercise books (O’Hagan, 2018a), writing implements (O’Hagan, 2018b), music memorabilia (O’Hagan, 2019b) and photographs (O’Hagan and Serafinelli, 2022), and aims, including to historicise “contemporary” trends, such as foodstagramming (O’Hagan, 2022), selfies (O’Hagan and Spilioti, 2021), chlorophyll (O’Hagan, 2022a) and protein-enhanced foods (O’Hagan, 2021c).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introducing ethnohistorical research to multimodal studies

O’Hagan

2022

Multimodality & Society

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This paper reflects on the importance of archival research to the analysis of historical multimodal texts. Specifically, it put forwards a “multimodal ethnohistorical” approach, offering a guide to the key principles and resources that underpin the methodology and using examples from past research to demonstrate its effectiveness. The paper argues that multimodal ethnohistory can help address many of the criticisms around text-based multimodal analysis and its lack of attention to the broader social practices, processes and people involved in the production or reception of texts. The proposed methodology, thus, hopes to open up a debate about the need to gain a greater appreciation of the past to place contemporary multimodal texts within a broader trajectory of patterned practices and uses, thereby fostering a deeper awareness of how certain semiotic and compositional choices are rooted in earlier historical conventions of meaning-making but have evolved over time in response to technological change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introducing ethnohistorical research to multimodal studies

O’Hagan

2022

Multimodality & Society

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“…In recent years, both historians and media and communication scholars have attempted to reappraise the concept of lifestyle marketing by placing the phenomenon within a broader history of patterned practices and uses. Studies have been conducted on the use of the lifestyle marketing to sell everything from chocolate (French, 2017), protein-enhanced foods (O’Hagan, 2021) and newspapers (Piggott, 2021) to pianos (Carnevali and Newton, 2013), dip pens (O’Hagan, 2018) and cosmetics (Schweitzer, 2004), to name but a few examples. Obtaining a greater appreciation of the historical development of lifestyle marketing is important because it challenges the assumption that brands of everyday products have only used lifestyle marketing in the past 30 years (Michman et al , 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modernity, beauty and the Swedish “way of life”: lifestyle marketing in Stomatol toothpaste advertisements, 1910–1940

Hagan

2022

JHRM

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Purpose This paper aims to challenge the assumption that brands of everyday products have only used lifestyle marketing in the past 30 years by conducting the first case study of the marketing practices of the Swedish toothpaste brand Stomatol (1910–1940). Through visual social semiotic analysis, it explores how the brand was a pioneer in lifestyle marketing, using discourses of modernity, beauty and the Swedish “way of life” to sell its toothpaste. Design/methodology/approach Two hundred Stomatol advertisements were collected from the Swedish Historical Newspaper Archive and analysed using visual social semiotics. The analysis considers how the idea of a cultural Swedishness centred around modernity and beauty developed between 1910 and 1940, and how both linguistic and semiotic resources were used to make these claims seem credible. Findings At a time when its main adversaries were capitalising upon science in their advertisements to construct authority and credibility, Stomatol instead targeted lifestyle. Modernity, beauty and the Swedish “way of life” were central themes of their marketing campaigns, yet the way these themes were articulated varied between 1910 and 1940 in accordance with changing popular discourse. This made Stomatol more competitive than other toothpaste brands because it was able to sell an experience rather than a product, turning it into Sweden’s most popular toothpaste. Originality/value This paper demonstrates the importance of case studies to challenge the assumption that toothpaste brands have only used lifestyle marketing in the past 30 years (a claim based on Anglocentrism). It also showcases the need to further investigate non-Anglo countries when conducting research into lifestyle marketing to build a more nuanced perspective on its origins and the supposed novelty of (largely) US practices. Thus, Stomatol makes an important case for Sweden as a trailblazer in lifestyle marketing.

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“…This transformed the advertising industry and set a precedent for the consumer economy in which we now live. 14 Today, the use of science in food and drink marketing is so commonplace that we take it as a given, 15 but this was not the case in the nineteenth century. The introduction of scientific discourse into advertising was innovative and novel, creating an artificial demand for products on the basis that trusting consumers thought that they would improve their lives.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Blinded by science? Constructing truth and authority in early twentieth-century Virol advertisements

O’Hagan

2021

History of Retailing and Consumption

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This paper conducts a case study of the marketing of Virola malt extract preparation that was popular in early twentieth-century Britainusing advertisements from British newspapers. Using multimodal critical discourse analysis, it explores how marketers drew upon linguistic/semiotic resources to embed Virol in discourses of scientific knowledge and how these discourses were made to appear true. Through targeted marketing campaigns, Virol established consumer bases framed around three health concerns: malnutrition, constipation and anxiety. Using testimonies, buzzwords, photographs and infographics, Virol created an illusion of scientific rationality, yet the studies or authority figures behind their findings were never explicitly specified, leaving consumers to make assumptions about the product's benefits using their own limited understandings. As women were the primary household shoppers, 'scientific motherhood' (and 'wifehood') was also drawn upon, producing a dichotomy that framed women as responsible for their families' health, yet incapable of this responsibility without expert intervention.

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The dip pen as a source of social distinction in Victorian Britain

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Cited by 5 publications

References 21 publications

Introducing ethnohistorical research to multimodal studies

Introducing ethnohistorical research to multimodal studies

Modernity, beauty and the Swedish “way of life”: lifestyle marketing in Stomatol toothpaste advertisements, 1910–1940

Blinded by science? Constructing truth and authority in early twentieth-century Virol advertisements

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