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1、 第 1 页The Memes in Advertising SlogansI. IntroductionCultural evolution, including the evolution of knowledge, can be modelled through the same basic principles of variation and selection that underlie biological evolution. This implies a shift from genes as (replicating) units of biological informa
2、tion to a new type of (replicating) units of cultural information: memes. Memetics is a new theory for interpreting cultural evolution. A meme, invented to suggest a strong analogy with genes, is a unit of cultural imitation, a self-propagating idea much like a biological or computer virus. The cont
3、agious nature of memes has such a natural affinity with advertising that it drives many marketers to conduct their advertising research from the perspective of memes. In order to use language effectively and strategically, advertisers may resort to different devices, such as idioms, proverbs, common
4、 sayings, famous remarks and classic poems and so on. Those successful ad slogans are mostly the result of the operation of memes.II. The Basic Concepts and Relevant Theories of Memes 2.1 The Definition of Memes In 1976, Richard Dawkins, an eminent Oxford zoologist, first coined the word “meme”in hi
5、s best-selling book The Selfish Gene. At the end of the book, he radically proposes that biology is not the only field where evolution is at work; human culture also evolves and changes. Gene is the biological replicator, so by analogy, “meme” is the cultural replicator which drives the culture evol
6、ution.Dawkins invents the word “meme” form the Greek “Mimeme” which means imitation, but shortens it to sound like “gene”. In this book, Dawkins further elaborates it as follows:Examples of memes are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as ge
7、nes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leading from body to body via sperm or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation. (Dawkins 1976:206) Now several authoritative dictionaries have emb
8、odied the term: according to 第 2 页Oxford English Dictionary, meme is an element of culture that may be considered to be passed on by non-genetic means, esp. imitation, while the American Webster Dictionary defines it as an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a c
9、ulture.Geoff Ayling first gives the definition of meme in advertising, “in the context of advertising, a meme is an idea or concept that has been refined, distilled, stripped down to its bare essentials and then super-simplified in such a way that anybody can grasp its meaning instantly and effortle
10、ssly”. (Ayling 1998:4) 2.2 Three Features of Strong MemesDawkins lists three criteria for any strong memes: (1) Fecundity: the faster the rate of copying is, the more the replicator will spread.(2) Copying-fidelity: the more faithful the copy is, the more will remain of the initial pattern after sev
11、eral rounds of copying. Fidelity here doesnt mean the phototype is transmitted invariably, but means the essence of the original is handed down.(3) Longevity: the longer any instance of the replicating pattern survives, the more copies can be made of it.Dawkins suggests that fecundity is the most im
12、portant aspect for a memes survival. 2.3 The Development Cycle of MemesMeme, as a new replicator, has driven the evolution of culture, which can be inherited like a gene and spread and mutate like a virus. To be replicated, a meme must pass successfully through four subsequent stages:The stage of as
13、similation comes first. To be assimilated, a successful meme must be respectively noticed, understood and accepted by the host. Noticing requires that the meme vehicle be sufficiently salient to attract the hosts attention. Understanding means that the host recognizes the meme as something that can
14、be represented in his or her cognitive system. To be understood, a new idea or phenomenon must connect to cognitive structures that are already available to the individual.The second stage of memetic replication is the retention of the meme in memory. By definition, memes must remain some time in me
15、mory, otherwise they cant be called memes. The longer the meme stays, the more opportunities it will have to spread further by infecting other hosts.The third stage is expression. To be communicated to other individuals, a meme must emerge from its storage as memory pattern and enter into a physical
16、 shape that can 第 3 页be perceived by others. This process may be called “expression”. The most obvious means of expression is speech.Transmission is the end of cycle. To reach another individual, an expression needs a physical carrier or medium which is sufficiently stable to transmit the expression without too
