Marketing landscapes: The use of landscape values in advertisements of development projects

Advertising acts as a mirror of society, reflecting its values, norms and preferences. Therefore, the widespread use of signs and symbols that represent landscape values in advertising may be regarded as expressing prevailing preferences of the public. This paper examines evidence supporting this claim, based on a study of 85 full-page promotional advertisements of development projects in Israel. We analyze the components of a typical advertisement, showing the various signs and forms that express landscape as well as other values. We then present a comparative semiotic quantitative analysis of the advertisements, focusing on one specific component: the project name. Four main themes were identified in project names, defined as prestige, landscape, heritage and developers’ credibility. Representations of prestige and landscape appeared in project names much more than the other two, implying the attractiveness of landscape features to prospective real-estate buyers, both for their own merit and as symbols of prestige. These preferences are responded by profit-maximizing motivated private developers that provide their projects with landscape amenities such as large man-made parks. However, this trend also increases pressures on natural landscape resources that attract development.

► This paper presents a semiotic quantitative analysis of real estate advertisements.
► Prestige and landscape values were found to be leading themes in public preferences.
► Landscape values are appreciated both for their own merit and as symbols of prestige.
► Our findings seem to express a universal trend.
► We expect minor differences in other places due to cultural heterogeneity.