Dual-Coding Theory

I saw an ad on television this week for a local jewelery store. I was intrigued not only by the quality of production of the advertisement, as local businesses usually run hilariously un-polished commercials, but I also noticed some of the dual-coding techniques used in the ad. In the background was a black and white scene of a husband presenting his wife with a diamond necklace for their anniversary. They were in a fancy restaurant, and they were clearly having a pleasant evening, and when he presented her with the necklace she was positively radiant. Meanwhile, the narrator was not talking about the scene that was transpiring, rather the wide selection, low prices, and quality handcrafted jewelery offered by this local business. He advised that buying jewelery there would be a wonderful birthday or anniversary gift for your significant other. The dual-coding in this advertisement deals with hearing about how patronizing this local business would be a smart move, while seeing the results of such an action in the background of the ad. Any guy naturally associates with the husband in the scene, and would be equally thrilled to have his wife be as happy as the woman in the ad. By encoding different aspects of the same message both through video and audio the content of the commercial was received, processed, and stored on multiple cognitive levels. While just a minor example of the effects of dual coding, the fact that I remembered the ad enough to write my blog post about it proves it's methods effective.

PS. I actually remembered my blog post for this week...I think the end of the world might be swiftly approaching.