Advertising photography under a dialogic perspective

Abstract

The Brazilian Army makes public calls every year in order to fullfil vacancies in many professional areas. The entrance exam to Escola Preparatória de Cadetes do Exército (EsPCEx) is one of them. The objective of this article is to investigate the use of the discursive genre advertising photography as an informational tool as well as its effective range. Also, to analyze the receiver's view on the matter, in other words, how photography dialogues with the readers. The study was carried out upon the framework of Mikhail Bahktin’s circle and used a dialogical perspective. The research surveyed 370 cadets - male and female, with ages ranging from 18 to 24 years old - from Agulhas Negras Military Academy (AMAN) Basic Course (1st Year). Two pieces of advertisement were presented to the cadets as well as a questionnaire via Google Forms, which consisted of 13 questions (open-ended and closed-ended) that covered the following variables: theme, compositional shape, evaluative tone and presumed reader.  The verb and visual elements were found very important for the composition of meaning. The change of the picture of a man for the one of a woman triggered perceptions that went beyond the male and female genders.