Identity on Private Universities’ Billboards in Yogyakarta

Abstract

This research discusses identity as the visual means of private universities to attract prospective students. The data was collected by documenting billboard advertisements located on the arterial road of the City of Yogyakarta that contain visual and linguistic aspects. The gathered data are four billboards of private universities. Applying the multimodal analysis of Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen, this study examines the billboard text to understand the visual and linguistic aspects as well as the relation between them to construct the commodification of education discourses. This research has found that identity becomes a highlighted aspect of the billboards of private universities. The visualization of the identity appears as on physical characters and attributes wore by the students or the models. There are three identities generally appearing, (1) university identity, through the alma mater jacket; (2) tribal/ethnic identity, through the physical appearance of the models; and (3) religious identity, through the fashion style. The slogans—e.g. ‘Welcome, the Smart and Humanist Generation’ and Excellent, Inclusive, Humanist, [with] Integrity’—written on the billboards, from the perspective of linguistic, represent the ideology of the educational institutions. The slogan is not only an enhancer but also a means to build and modify the meaning of the advertisement. Furthermore, it also becomes the representation of what kind of higher-education services are offered by the institution. The modification of the message through identity issues shows exclusivity, while the cultural identity indicates the inclusivity on the campus.

A Systematic Review on the Extant of Outdoor Advertisements Literature in Developing Countries

“…In fact, outdoor advertising has been studied for a long period of time and still attracting the attention of researchers even in recent years (Abu Hasna & Ajeeb, 2020;Suprayitno, 2016;Vidiadari, 2020). Studies conducted in Nigeria by researchers such as Idigbe (2012), Chijide (2012) and Ladipo (2012) have shown that billboards as outdoor advertising contributes to economic growth.…”

“…Invariably, it is the vehicle advertising that is active at all times, for the reason that it is ubiquitous and it reinforces brand availability. The application of marketing principles and techniques to promote a social cause, idea or behaviour has been effectively used in many areas such as health, cigarette smoking, infant and maternal mor-tality and so on (Abu Hasna & Ajeeb, 2020;Suprayitno, 2016;Vidiadari, 2020).…”

“…Despite the effectiveness and efficiency of billboards and outdoor marketing towards awareness creation in both developed and developing economies, its relevance and usefulness is questionable in recent days (Vidiadari, 2020). This can be partly as a result of technological advancement and application of new means of promoting products and services using digital means (Swallehe, 2021).…”