Advertising and illustrated poetry in the new literary ecosystem: a survey in the frame of YouTube

Abstract

Many researchers have recently highlighted the emergence of a new literary system and reading paradigm in which school is losing prominence in favour of new ways of mediation, such as the social networks and the Internet. Within this changing situation, the present work is focused on a Calvin Klein’s eau de cologne “Eternity” advertisement, where a poem by E. E. Cummings plays a main role. It can be thus considered a special case of illustrated poetry, insofar as verses and images come together for constructing the meaning, as it happens in poetry picture books as well. In fact, it is compared with a picture book illustrated by Mati McDonough based upon the same poem, in order to demonstrate its similarities. Considering that, this advertisement could provoke aesthetic responses in the viewers, although they are not immersed in a conventional literary context such as school or book reading. So, in order to confirm that hypothesis, we analyse the comments of YouTube users about the advertisement. The results show that most comments do focus on the aesthetic aspects of the advertisement, albeit not on literary ones. However, it leads thus to the conclusion that, because of this aesthetic potential and its similarities with poetry picture books, it could be an adequate instrument for literary education, especially with the right reading mediation.