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The Influence of Constructivism

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The Influence of Constructivism
Determining the Influences of Soviet Propaganda on Contemporary Advertising and Promotion

The purpose of this study is to look at the representation of political ideology on Soviet posters and the ways in which this style continues to influence today’s advertising and popular culture.
Though there are many forms of propaganda the forms of propaganda I intend to discuss in this essay are visual. The areas I aim to further my understanding of are the representation of political ideologies on today’s contemporary popular culture. I intend to investigate the idea that the Constructivists created the blueprint for modern consumerism and methods of advertising.
I will investigate semiotics and Marxism in context with my study.
In today’s society of consumerist culture I think the topic of propaganda is interesting as I feel propaganda goes hand in hand with advertising. In today’s society we are relentlessly saturated with loaded words and images, for this reason I wanted to investigate the origins of consumerism and today’s advertising.
The purpose of Soviet propaganda was to create a new type of world; Lenin wanted to remodel the world under Socialist Realism and visual propaganda played an important part in this. Using propaganda to influence people’s thoughts and actions by making them act on feelings rather than rational thought.
I am going to investigate the idea that soviet Marxist ideology continues to influence

To illustrate my idea I am going to discuss the semiotics of a Soviet poster designed by Alexander Rodchenko for Gosizdat (fig.1) in 1924 the poster is a typical example of the stark, distinct and timeless design of the era. The poster features Lilia brick, a muse of Vladimir Mayakovsky and later Alexander Rodchenko. The poster was designed as mass spread agitprop intended to spread the ideals of Socialist Realism with its vision of a widespread literate society. The simplified bold graphic is typical of the work produced during the

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