Visual means of artistic expression of Italian social advertising

Ivanova Agniya Alekseevna ORCID: 0000-0003-3550-5829 Lecturer, Department of Roman Languages named after T.Z. Cherdantseva, MGIMO MFA of Russia 119454, Russia, g. Moscow, prospekt Vernadskogo, 76, kab. 429 ag.ivanova@my.mgimo.ru

Introduction

Social advertising is a form of communication that contributes to changing public opinion on any issue, regulates the behavior of the population within a specific problem, stabilizes and balances it, forms a civic position. M. I. Piskunova gives this phenomenon the following definition: "Social advertising is information representing public or state interests and aimed at achieving charitable goals, designed in such a way as to have a directed impact on mass, corporate and individual consciousness in order to cause a certain reaction of the target audience"^[10]. The saturation of the modern world with information, including advertising, significantly increases the need to find the most effective technologies for influencing the target audience. This task is also actualized by the fact that we live in an era of modern technologies and wide opportunities for broadcasting messages through visual channels. The specifics of social advertising as a form of mass communication also play a role: as a rule, these messages are created free of charge, which reduces the possibility of providing advertising space for non-commercial messages. In this regard, it can be assumed that for the most effective and rapid impact on the audience, the creators of social messages turn to various means of artistic expression — stylistic figures, which, on the one hand, are universal and have high memorability, on the other hand, in a specific context, they can be correctly decoded by representatives of a certain cultural code.

Scientific interest in the study of visual semantics and visual means of artistic expression was formed in the second half of the XX century by scientists of various specialties. J. Kennedy, studying visual semantics in a psychological aspect, spoke about the possibility of using literary tropes in a visual context, since images can be interpreted literally or have a metaphorical meaning ^{[18, p. 589-605]}. Psychologists K. Dent and L. Rosenberg ^{[17, p. 983-994]} studied the ability of children to understand visual metaphors in relation to verbal metaphors already known to them. In the field of art criticism, V. Aldrich ^{[16, p. 73-86]} proposed to consider all fine art as a metaphor. V. F. Petrenko and E. A. Korotchenko ^{[9, pp. 19-40]} consider visual analogues of literary tropes on examples of samples of fine art, E. A. Eliseeva ^{[3, pp. 81-85]} — on examples of cinematographic art, T. S. Igoshina ^{[6, pp. 134-140]} — on examples of poster materials. The literature review shows that scientific interest in the possibility of using literary tropes in the field of advertising is increasing. Some works present an overview of models of visual metaphors based on the classification of A. P. Chudinov ^{[14, pp. 77-78]}, who studied metaphor as a means of linguistic expression within the framework of political discourse. For example, a number of visual metaphors were identified in the discourse of Russian-language and English-language social advertising in the work of M. V. Terskikh ^{[11, pp. 159-163]}. S. B. Tsoloeva considers an advertising product within the framework of an anthropomorphic metaphorical model ^{[12, pp. 18-188]} and provides statistics on the frequency of certain metaphorical hyphenations in the context of English-language commercial advertising.

Depending on the specifics of the subject presented in the messages of social advertising , it is proposed to consider the means of influence of E. S. Dodukova and T. V. Anisimova ^{[2, pp. 18-29]}: the authors analyze visual metaphors used in environmental messages. V. E. Chernyavskaya and N. E. Gorshkova, after analyzing the materials of Russian and German socio-cultural practice, come to the conclusion about the high effectiveness of the impact of visual metaphors ^{[13, pp. 175-182]}. Other works related to the study of visual means of expression include the works of O. N. Gorbacheva and V. A. Kameneva, who propose to distinguish between visual metaphor, visual comparison and visual allusion, as well as analyze the influencing potential of personification and reification in social advertising ^{[1, pp. 124-127]}.

The absence of works devoted to the study of visual means of artistic expression within the framework of socio-advertising discourse determines the novelty of this study. Its purpose is to highlight the visual means of social advertising in Italy and characterize them.

When selecting the research material, we were guided by such characteristics as the territory of creation and distribution of advertising messages (Italy), the subject of the messages (socially significant information, while we excluded commercial messages), format (visual and cinematic advertising). The source of the research materials are the Internet archive of social advertising posted on the official website of the first Italian charity organization Pubblicit? Progresso, as well as video materials presented in the official accounts of non-profit associations and advertising agencies WWF-Italia, AGD Lecco, Mims Gov, Fondazione Milano Scuole Civiche, L'opinionista Giornale and Ballar? on the Youtube video hosting.

1. Metaphor

As you know, the term "metaphor" refers to the field of linguistics and implies a figurative comparison of one subject with another based on their common feature. Visual metaphor in the context of this study is understood as a way of representing an object by transferring the properties of another object to it. The analysis of the content and decoration of the studied material in the field of social advertising in Italy revealed the following series of metaphorical models:

a) "Planet — house"

The most popular in Italian social advertising is the metaphorical transfer model based on comparing the planet with the native home. One of the first plots ^[34] in which this mechanism of influence was implemented relates to environmental issues and dates back to 1972. The heroes of the plot — a group of friends — gathered together at the dinner table and are having a conversation about the problems of educating the younger generation. At this time, their own children, left unattended by their parents, spoil house plants. The content of their conversation also dissonates with their own behavior, since they casually dump all household garbage and waste from the meal on the floor. Suddenly the picture changes, these same people are depicted getting into a car after a rest in nature, where they leave piles of garbage behind. The voice-over calmly addresses the audience with the question whether they behave like this at home ("In casa vostra non vi comportereste mai cos?, vero?"), but with the next remark his tone changes to aggressively condemning: with harsh phrases he emotionally accuses the audience of polluting the planet ("E allora perch? quando andate nei prati e nei boschi, vi comportate cos?"), placing special emphasis on comparing it with our common home ("Ma i prati e i boschi sono casa vostra, lo capite o no?").

A similar model of metaphorical transfer formed the basis of the campaign ^[41], which took place in 2008 and informed the population about the consequences of climate change caused by excessive consumption of natural resources, as well as the counterproductive effect of technological progress. At first glance, it seems that the video is made in a positive register, since it depicts a happy family gathered at home at the breakfast table — an image that is traditionally used as part of this approach.  However, soon the happy smile on the face of the head of the family is replaced by some concern, he adjusts the collar of his shirt, as if he suddenly felt hot and did not have enough air. The tension also increases due to the sound accompaniment — the ticking of the clock, which symbolizes the lack of time to resolve the crisis situation. Then the frame changes, and the viewer realizes that the house of a happy family and the planet Earth as a whole are placed in a microwave oven, symbolizing, on the one hand, technological progress, on the other, being a metaphor for global warming.

From these examples it can be seen that for Italy the cultural code based on the organization of the living space of the family is significant. Based on the plots of the analyzed videos, we can also conclude about the high priority of the family in the life of Italians: in all the examples given, the heroes of the video are not alone, they are surrounded by loved ones.

b) "Life is a game/competition"

As an example of the implementation of this metaphorical model, we can cite the video clip ^[35] of the AGMEN campaign — the association for the support of parents of children with cancer. The scene represents a football match. Players whose uniform color implements another metaphorical meaning within the framework of the generally accepted system of contrasting good (white) and evil (black) enter the field: black players, on whose side there is a clear advantage — there are 14 of them, apparently personify the types of cancers that children are most susceptible to; football players dressed in white, in the number of 4 people entering into an unequal battle with the enemy, according to the commentator, personify the transplantation of blood, platelets, bone marrow and stem cells. The commentator voices a number of problems that sick children face, especially emphasizing their suspended state while waiting for materials available for transplantation, which is visualized by a child in the locker room, anxiously listening to comments and sincerely rejoicing at the goal scored by his team, which will allow him to continue fighting the disease. One of the videos ^[50] of the AGD Lecco Association, whose activity is to support children and adolescents with diabetes, has a similar artistic and expressive design. The footage shows a football match of the youth national team: during the game, one of the players, as voiced by the commentator, suffering from diabetes, successfully repels the attacks of the opposing team. Diabetes acts as "an opponent before whom it is impossible to give up positions" ("L'avversario a cui non ci si pu? arrendere").

The motive of contrasting good and evil as opponents in the game formed the basis of the plot of the video ^[23] of the Vittime del dovere association, which supports the families of those killed in the line of duty. The frames represent a game of chess, where traditionally black and white figures act as opponents, in this context realizing the metaphor of the confrontation of good and evil. Two hands take turns moving pawns — the weakest pieces, of course, symbolizing simple performers who maintain public law and order and protect the peace of citizens. Defeated during a chess battle, they fall from the field into a pile whose size is not commensurate with the number of pawns in one game, which makes it possible to assume a permanent replacement of fallen white pieces with new ones.

In some cases, the metaphor of team play is used to evoke a sense of solidarity in the audience. For example, in the campaign ^[28] in favor of blood donation initiated by the Italian Ministry of Health, a model of metaphorical transfer of the image of donors to the members of the rowing team is implemented, for the victory of which requires the maximum efforts of all its participants, which implies the need for the participation of society as a whole to solve the problem identified by the campaign — the shortage of donor blood.

c) "Man — animal" (zoonymic metaphor)

Analyzing the messages of a social and advertising nature, it can be concluded that the transfer of animal qualities inherent in humans in most cases is carried out in order to endow a person with negative characteristics.

The image of a sheep as a zoonymic metaphor of human stupidity was used as a visual component of the campaign to eliminate computer illiteracy, which began in 1999, which had the task of explaining to the population that information technology is a tool that significantly expands human capabilities and is a significant innovation of the modern world. A figurative comparison of a company of people spending time drinking alcoholic beverages with a flock of sheep is used in social advertising ^[20] aimed at combating excessive alcohol consumption.

In some cases, especially in animal welfare social advertising, the strategy of communicative influence is not limited to visual zoonymic metaphors, but is accompanied by speech messages made in aggressively condemning tones. In particular, the slogan of a number of social posters aimed at combating the tendency to throw dogs that have become unnecessary, in a sharp categorical form refers to "you" to the people who committed this act with the use of the Italian word bastardo ("bastard"), which is, on the one hand, a term for dogs of mixed breed, with on the other hand, it is an example of obscene vocabulary.

d) "Alcohol driving is death"

The standard model for many cultures is based on the identification of an unhealthy lifestyle with a slow and painful death or severe injury and is used, as a rule, in social advertising of the so-called shocking register, which involves the creation of varying degrees of psychological discomfort in the audience. It appeals to one of the strongest emotional processes — fear. A significant proportion of messages in this category are aimed at combating driving under the influence of alcohol. The symbol of the campaign against alcohol-related traffic accidents, which has become widespread in Florence, has become the traditional image of death, depicted in a black hood, with a blood-red scythe in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other. In another example ^[19], the impact is realized through metonymic transfer: "death" — "cemetery", where death is a consequence of an incorrect behavior model — driving under the influence of alcohol. The video frames depict a young couple returning from a holiday in a car to the sounds of loud music and their own laughter. The driver — a young man — lost control and collided with a concrete fence. The final shots depict him in the cemetery at the grave of his deceased companion and are accompanied by the message: "If you drink while driving, you will die" ("Se guidi e bevi, muori"). Then the inscription changes: "Maybe not" ("O forse, no"), at the same time the camera turns, allowing the viewer to see that the surviving man is confined to a wheelchair.

e) "Lack of intellectual and spiritual development — death"

The metaphor of death is used in Italian social advertising and in relation to the lack of spiritual and mental development. For example, the video clip ^[48] of 1995, broadcast on the main state TV channels, drew attention to the lack of interests of the average Italian. The hero of the video is a young Italian man, judging by the style of clothing — an office employee who is digging a hole with a shovel. A voice-over asks him questions about his leisure time: whether he reads books or newspapers, does sports, visits cultural places. The man answers all the questions in the negative, and then gets the question: does he understand what he is doing. At this moment, the frame changes, and the viewer can see that the man dug his own grave. Thus, a person's lack of spiritual and mental development is equated with death. The campaign ^[38], which took place in 2000, is based on a similar idea, implemented in a slightly more positive way: if in the previous video the lack of development in a person was used as a metaphor for death, then in this one — the expansion of horizons is equated with eternal life. The heroes of the video are two men dressed in costumes of another era, in a cinema discussing the latest events in which they took part. In the course of their conversation, it becomes clear to the viewer that the characters are representatives of the aristocracy of the XVIII century. It is obvious that they managed to live in good health to this day thanks to their active cultural life — visiting libraries, theatrical productions and exhibitions.

f) "Healing — rebirth/rebirth"

The metaphor of rebirth is used in Italian social advertising in two main directions. The first of them relates to the topic of healthcare and involves a comparison with recovery from a disease. For example, the video ^[30] of the association Donne piu` Donne, whose activities are focused around research, prevention and treatment of breast cancer, imitates a ritual structure displaying symbols characteristic of different cultures. The outer boundary of this complex is represented by masonry in the shape of an egg, which, as is known, is considered one of the general cultural symbols of the renaissance. There are women standing along it, turning their hands to the sky. In the outlines of the middle contour, also made of stone, one can guess ankh — the sacred cross of the Egyptians, the so—called node of life, in the upper part of which one can observe a circle with a dot in the center - an astrological symbol of the Sun, in some cultures — a symbol of the origin of the world. A little lower, in the form of a trapezoid, there is a descent underground, through which women cured of cancer return. In another example ^[56], rebirth is equated with the installation of a stoma.

The message of the state campaign ^[40] "Italy is reborn with the help of a flower" ("L'Italia rinasce con un fiore"), launched in 2020 and aimed at informing the population about the need for vaccination against coronavirus infection, is also based on the concept of revival. In this example, the metaphor of rebirth is used in relation to the rise of Italy after the pandemic period, which had severe consequences for the country. The emblem of this campaign was the primrose, a flower that in Italy, as in many other cultures, symbolizes the onset of spring and the rebirth of nature after winter — an idea that acts as the leitmotif of the message.

2. Personification

A number of researchers ^{[8, pp. 387-415; 5, pp. 159-162]} consider personification as a subcategory of ontological metaphor. In this paper, we propose to distinguish personification into a separate figure of visual stylistics, since metaphor, as a rule, is based on some common feature with the subject in relation to which it is used, while with personification such a characteristic is in most cases not obvious. In one of our works we have already talked about the first appearance of personalized images in social advertising messages: For example, we noted that one of the first forms of personification was the representation of Italy in the image of the so—called Tower Italy - a young girl whose head was decorated with a crown of towers symbolizing the security of Italian cities ^{[4, pp. 198-220]}. At the same time , in social advertising of the present time , personification is used in relation to the following phenomena:

a) Bad habits

Personification is used in Italian social advertising in relation to certain addictions, personifying them as an enemy or a false friend of a person. So, in the video ^[50] of the SanPatrignano organization, the collective image of narcotic substances is presented in the guise of a witch dressed in white, who, according to the child leading the narrative about the life of her mother, at first "seemed kind" ("Era una strega vestita di bianco che al principio sembrava buona"), but then turned into "very angry", "took over the body and mind of a woman and destroyed her life" ("Si impadron? del corpo della donna e rovin? la sua vita"). The color symbolism of the created images correlates with the traditional system of color associations and is based on the opposition of white, as a symbol of good and peace, and black, in which the figure is painted — the personification of drugs, as a symbol of evil, death and hopelessness. The change of monochrome to polychrome image, made in warm and cheerful tones, is also a color metaphor that visualizes the contrast of destructive and healthy behaviors. In this case, the assignment of female appearance to drug addiction may be explained by the grammatical features of the noun underlying the collective image: droga (drugs) in Italian is a singular feminine noun.

Social advertising against driving under the influence of alcohol is also based on creating the image of a false friend. According to the plot of the video ^[33], two young people return on a Saturday evening from a holiday by car, when the passenger begins to provoke the driver into a conflict, as well as distract him from the road in every possible way, claiming that he is his best friend. As a result, an accident occurs in which the driver dies, and the passenger stops another passing car and finds himself, thus, a new victim. From the first frames, the viewer perceives the characters of the video exclusively as friends, but the advertising text explains that alcohol is a "fellow traveler", a "friend" whose actions led to a fatal accident.

b) Diseases

The volume of messages in which personification is implemented in relation to diseases is significant. An example is the video clip ^[57] of the 2000 campaign aimed at supporting patients with Parkinson's syndrome. His heroine, waking up in the morning, finds in her bed a stranger dressed in black with an absolutely impassive face — certainly personifying Parkinson's disease. He begins to chase her everywhere and prevents her from performing daily actions: grabs her hands when she drinks, as a result of which she spills water, knocks objects out of her hands, does not allow her to fasten her coat. Desperate, she turns to face him and punches him in the chest, but he does not react, which is confirmed by a text message emphasizing the difficulties experienced by patients with this syndrome, and urging them not to "fight him alone" ("non restare da solo con il Parkinson"), but seek help and support from the Italian Association of Patients with Parkinson's Syndrome. One of the campaigns of the Roche Italia Foundation has a similar artistic design: multiple sclerosis was personified in it, represented in the image of a young woman dressed in black (which is explained by the grammatical gender of the term denoting this disease in Italian), which prevents her healthy double from performing daily actions (pushing down stairs, knocking objects out of her hands and etc.). The speech message is also built on personification: in it, multiple sclerosis is endowed with negative characteristics of a living person — he "does not know good manners" ("La sclerosi multipla non conosce le buone maniere"), "tries to extinguish any enthusiasm" ("Tenta di spegnere i tuoi entusiasmi"), "follows you like the shadow" ("Ti segue sempre come un'ombra"), "wants to hide the beauty of the world from you" ("Decide di nasconderti la bellezza del mondo"), "forgets about you for a while, but suddenly returns when you don't expect it at all" ("Poi per un po' si dimentica di te, ma all'improvviso torna come un dispetto").

c) Abstract phenomena / phenomena of a natural and socio-economic nature

Personification in social advertising is also used to give a human appearance to some natural and socio-economic phenomena. In particular, by order of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, a reporting and informational video message was implemented ^[31], telling about some of the successes of the activities of this organization. His shots depict arid terrain and a funeral procession slowly walking to the burial place of the deceased. At the same time, the visual components are equipped with all the attributes of the funeral ceremony: sad music sounds, women are dressed in black, men take off their hats. The realization that what is happening is metaphorical in nature occurs in the viewer at the moment when the participants of the procession, observing the traditional rite of farewell to the deceased, instead of a handful of earth, throw a handful of seeds into the grave. What is happening is accompanied by a message on the screen, implemented in the form of an oxymoron:  "Today we celebrate the funeral" ("Oggi celebriamo un funerale"), which reveals the meaning of the plot: in the once arid and infertile lands, the issue of improving farming opportunities was resolved, so hunger no longer kills — he died himself, and it was at his funeral that the local population gathered.

Personification is widely used in environmental social advertising: both the planet Earth and individual elements of nature are endowed with human qualities in it. In some cases, this is realized by giving visual images a human appearance or features. For example, in the animated video ^[29], made by Donato Pinto studio, the "humanized" sun and cloud counteract a person who is unreasonably spending natural resources. In the video ^[55], which draws attention to the pollution of the environment by exhaust gases, a tree is endowed with human qualities, hardly moving around the city and suffocating from lack of oxygen.

The personified image of death itself has a traditional representation in Italian culture for many countries in the form of a certain entity in a black robe with a scythe. In this image, in particular, death is presented in an ironically humorous video ^[27], created by order of the administration of the city of Brest. The scene takes place at an interview at the employment center, whose employee comments on the resume of an applicant who previously worked in the automotive sector, but is currently out of work. As soon as the interviewer gives him the floor, the angle changes, and the applicant himself appears in front of the viewer — death, who lost her job due to the reduced number of road accidents, which is associated with the increased consciousness of citizens.

d) Animals

Animal welfare social messages also turn to personification: animals are endowed with human qualities and abilities. So, for example, in the video ^[42] of the campaign aimed at protecting dogs, the narrative is conducted, as it seems at first glance, on behalf of the child: he tells about the death of his own father under the wheels of a car, about the subsequent adoption by his family, about his life with foster parents and their betrayal. Only after seeing the last frames showing the narrator, the viewer realizes that the hero of the video is a dog. Another example ^[32] is a courtroom where pets act as jurors, passing a guilty verdict on a person who abandoned his dog. A similar artistic strategy — changing the roles of an animal and a person — was used in another example ^[58]: a car with a family of dogs inside stops at the curb, the driver — who is also the head of the dog family — opens the trunk, from where he pulls out a man by his tie, leaves him on the road and drives away.

3. Depersonification

When creating social advertising in Italy, they also turn to the reverse personification technique, that is, depersonification — depriving people of human qualities or traits, endowing them with properties typical of inanimate objects. This visual-stylistic tool involves comparing individual parts of the human body with a mechanism, usually based on the similarity of their visual images or functionality. So, the metaphor of the human heart is the motor of the car. For example, in the video clip ^[21] of the campaign of the Italian Ministry of Health, this metaphor is realized both through visual means (the scene is a kind of pit stop, where a person is "serviced" instead of a car) and through speech (voiceover text, soundtrack simulating the noise accompanying car racing). In the campaign ^[24], the purpose of which was to raise public awareness about the importance of early detection of breast cancer, the female body was also compared to a car that needs to be carried out maintenance and troubleshooting at certain intervals.

As you know, in Italy, as in many other countries, a system of temporary hiring of employees is developed, which finds expression in various forms: project or fixed-term contract, internship, probation. All of them are characterized by the short duration of labor relations, there is also often a lack of adequate working conditions, which, on the one hand, is beneficial to the employer, and on the other hand, leads to economic and social instability of the employee. The plot of one ^[25] of a series of humorous social videos that draw public attention to this problem depicts a visit by a potential employer to a store: according to him, he needs "something non-binding, cheap, but at the same time worthy" ("Qualcosanon troppo impegnativo, poco costoso, ma altrettanto valido"). At first glance, it seems to the viewer that we are talking about a piece of clothing, but the seller accompanies the buyer to the showcase, where there is a wide range of temporary workers — motionless and impassive, like robots, they are called nothing else than "thing" (roba). After receiving the payment, the seller informs the employer that he made the right choice, because "he can be used every day" ("Lo pu? utilizzare ogni giorno") and he "will work for a whole year without problems" ("con questo ci fa tranquillo un anno"), and after this period, "when the employee if it ceases to be necessary, you can take another one" ("tra un anno, quando non Le va pi?, ne prende un altro"). The plot of the video is based on a similar metaphorical model ^[26], which draws public attention to the topic of violence against children, who are presented in it in the form of toys.

It should be noted that such "portable" images, assuming the endowment of a person with the properties of inanimate objects or his complete objectification, usually do not carry negative characteristics in relation to this person: that is, if a person has a motor instead of a heart, this does not make him a soulless machine, and if he was turned into a thing, as in in the video with the employer, he is also not a soulless machine, he is a victim of circumstances.

4. Hyperbole, grotesque

The use of visual hyperbole in social advertising is a common method of visualizing information, which, on the one hand, increases the emotional saturation of the message, on the other hand, provides significant efficiency due to the high memorability of the advertising image. An analysis of social advertising in Italy has shown that visual hyperbole is used in messages made mainly in jokingly humorous and shocking registers. As you know, Italians, especially men, marry quite late, compared to Russians, and separate from their parents. This phenomenon was extremely exaggerated in the video ^[54] called "Svezzamento", which literally translates as "weaning", this gives the subject of advertising even more irony: the hero of the video is a man of about seventy years old, leaves his father's house, which is accompanied by dramatic music and tears of a ninety—year-old mother who tries to stop him. However, the man is determined, stating that it is time for him to go his own way in life. The peculiarity of this example lies in the fact that it harmoniously combines two new lines of creating social advertising: on the one hand, self—irony and the ability to recognize one's own shortcomings, on the other, to hyperbolize the prevailing realities of society or stereotypes.

Hyperbolization of the national character trait is used in a video clip ^[36] broadcast on the television channel RAI3 in 2006 and performed in an anecdotal form. He draws attention to the ethical aspect of the overly expressive manner of communication of Italians, which distinguishes them from other peoples of Europe and makes them recognizable among other foreigners. As you know, Italians have an exceptional and extraordinary manner of speech, sometimes very loud, which often becomes the subject of all kinds of jokes and anecdotes. The hero of the video is a married Italian man who makes a date with another woman on the phone while at home. His conversation is so loud that it attracts the attention of his wife, who comes out of the kitchen to hear all the details of what is happening, but the husband is so engrossed in the conversation that he does not even hear her approach.  The message boils down to the fact that high-pitched conversations in public places, including telephone conversations, can cause discomfort to other people, so viewers are encouraged to monitor the power of the voice out of respect for others.

Another video ^[37] is based on the problem of the lack of reading in Italy: the scene is the setting of a traveling circus, in which the sprechtalmeister invites you to see "a unique, impressive, shocking, mind-blowing spectacle not for the faint of heart" ("uno spettacolo incredibile, un numero unico al mondo, estremamente singolare, sconvolgente, scioccante"). At the same time, the description and expressive manner of his speech gives the audience the opportunity to assume that a freak show awaits the audience behind the scenes, but behind the curtain there is an Italian sitting in a chair reading alone - a phenomenon so exceptional that it has acquired a hyperbolized form in the social message.

The visual component of the video clip ^[49] of the Plastic not Fantastic campaign, aimed at raising public awareness about proper waste disposal, has acquired a grotesque form: elegant guests gathered for a dinner party are brought plates full of plastic, which they begin to absorb with undisguised pleasure, confirming the thesis stated by the campaign that plastic has become a full-fledged link in the food chain.

5. Visual allusion

An allusion is usually understood as a stylistic figure referring to some historical, mythological or political event or fact. The study of the plots and artistic and stylistic design of the samples of social advertising in Italy showed that it is characterized by biblical allusions. One of the clearest examples of the appeal to the biblical story of the crucifixion was the social campaign ^[43] of 1990, aimed at combating racism and depicting the process of crucifixion of an African-American man, which was accompanied by a speech message in which, in a rather crude form, a racist was called an inferior being, while a crucified man was equated with a martyr. It is worth noting, however, that this plot was not successful: some time later, the organizers of the campaign were forced to change the style of the posters and video, as well as the rhetoric of the text component, which was caused by an acute negative reaction from the Italian public. Some viewers were outraged by the hostile tone and the obvious contempt of the creators of the message in relation to the beliefs of the indigenous population of Italy. Others were openly outraged by the direct use of religious images in such a shocking context.

The storyline of a series of social videos dedicated to road safety offers a modern interpretation of the biblical commandments. In particular, in one of the videos ^[46], in the context of compliance with traffic rules, a reading of the sixth commandment was proposed — "Thou shalt not kill" ("Non uccidere"). The footage depicts a car moving at high speed, the driver and passengers of which are intoxicated and dressed in typical Halloween carnival costumes. There is a clear similarity between passengers dressed in costumes of infernal entities and inciting the driver to violations and distracting him from the road, with the traditional representation of evil spirits in many linguistic cultures, which is a reference to biblical stories. The finale of the video is obvious: the driver loses control, and the car turns over.

Another video ^[47] refers to the fifth biblical commandment — "Honor your father and mother" ("Onora il padre e la madre") — and depicts a young man who did not listen to his mother's advice to fasten his helmet, which is why, having an accident on a moped, he dies. The plot of the interpretation of the seventh commandment — "Do not commit adultery" ("Non desiderare la donna altrui") — is based on the story of the betrayal of the head of the family: a happy mother, father and son are driving in a car when their idyll is overshadowed by a call to her husband from another woman. The man gets distracted and gets into a fatal accident.

The appeal to the religious context is also observed in another series of social advertising, which also reveals the topic of road safety and is based on the traditional Christian idea of a guardian angel designed to protect a baptized person. In one of the videos ^[53] of this series, the angel was presented in the image of a man. Being invisible to people, he watches his ward, a young girl driving a moped, and reveals to the viewer the meaning of the advertising message: "We can't work miracles if you don't fasten your helmet" ("Non possiamo fare I miracoli, se non tenete il casco allacciato"). In another example ^[52], thanks to the angel's "advice", a young man refuses to drink alcohol at a party, as a result of which he manages to avoid a fatal accident. Both videos are combined with the echo phrase: "Help us protect you" ("Aiutateci a proteggervi"), which reinforces the idea voiced in the main advertising text: in order to avoid a crisis situation, divine intervention alone is not enough, but responsible human behavior and compliance with safety standards are required.

Conclusion

The study of visual means of artistic expression of Italian social advertising allowed us to draw the following conclusions:

 1.                The most popular tool is a visual metaphor, which is used in messages on a wide variety of topics. As the main models, we have identified such metaphorical transfers as "planet — house" (advertising of an ecological nature); "life — game" (advertising of charitable foundations for the support of patients), "man — animal" (endowing a person with negative qualities inherent in animals: for example, a comparison with a sheep is used as a metaphor for stupidity or "herd feeling"); "alcohol driving — death" (advertising road safety); "lack of development — death" (raising the cultural level of the population); "healing — rebirth / rebirth" (advertising in the health sector).

 2. A significant share is represented by advertising messages in which the personification of phenomena of a very different nature is used as a visual means of artistic expression: bad habits, diseases, socio-economic phenomena. Giving objects human forms of the surrounding reality contributes to the visualization of the negative properties of this phenomenon, that is, provides a higher visibility of the problem.

 3. Depersonification in Italian social advertising is based on the similarity of visual or functional properties of objects. However, depriving people or parts of their bodies of the qualities inherent in living objects, as a rule, does not give negative characteristics directly to the object of comparison.

 4. Hyperbolization in social advertising allows you to exaggerate the social problem as much as possible, to give it an exaggerated form. Considering the subject matter in which this technique is most common — advertising aimed at raising the cultural level of the population, we can conclude about the self-irony of Italians as a trait of national character.

 5.                Visual allusion in Italian social advertising is associated with an appeal to biblical motives. The use of religious symbols in a shocking context does not seem acceptable.

The practical application of the results of this study is also possible in the field of creating social advertising in Russia, which is due to the universality of the considered visual means of artistic expression. At the same time, the prospects for further research lie in the study of the cultural code of Italy and its value dominants.