Advertising and Fashion in Socialist Romania. The Case of the Representation of Voroneț in the Advertisements of the Moda Magazine (1970)

The consumer culture in socialism, the socialist advertising and fashion in Romania in the 1970s are historical research subjects that outline the fundamental context for the analysis of the visual documents represented by the advertising published in the Moda [Fashion] magazine. Considering the means of disseminating the advertising message, namely through the Moda magazine, the characteristics of the advertising discourse present over time in its issues and of the audience sphere (in Romania and abroad), the elements that compose the message of the advertisement and the photomontage directly, the present study also notes the touristic connotation of the advertising message. The advertisement represents a tourism incentive and stimulation, despite the fact that its foreground contains the efforts for promoting a lifestyle and a clothing model, as well as the means for procuring it. The main goal of the present study resides in the contextualisation of socialist advertising in several registers of historical and economical analysis (regarding consumption in socialism), of the socialist advertisement in particular and of the interpretation of the power discourse on the presentation of the modern lives of the citizens of modern socialist Romania in the 1970s (fashion and the promotion of tourism are associated with the daily modern socialist culture).

Full Text