Maltepe Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi Dergisi

Öz

People defined as consumers are now surrounded by unlimited consumption opportunities with the help of ever-developing digital technology. Critical approaches to individual-consumption relations have increasingly come to the fore since the mid-twentieth century. One of the most well-known of these critical theories is the "simulacra and simulation" theory of the French thinker Jean Baudrillard. The theory states that it is closely related to the individuals’ consumption practices and its identity. But more importantly, by deconstructing reality, the individuals live in a new dimension of reality. In the contemporary world people no longer have the ability to distinguish between the real world and the world of images. Today, advertisements sell images rather than objects, using the opportunities of all developing technologies. All products can be simulated thanks to simulacra embedded in advertising messages. As a result, we are living in a period where simulacra that influence human perception dominate, the poles between concepts are destroyed (implosion) and products are simulated through the manipulation of consumption. This research was based on the approach in Baudrillard's books "Simulation and Simulation" and "Consumer Society". In the research, the "50 Creative Advertisements" section on the "dijitalajanslar.com" platform was analyzed accordingly. Purposeful sampling method was used in the research and the advertisements selected for the research were analyzed with the semiotic method in terms of cause-effect relationships within the framework of Peirce's definition of sign and sign. In this approach, Baudrillard's theory mentioned above also contributed to the interpretation of the data.