Dagli spot d'autore all'Intelligenza artificiale. Un approccio semiotico alla creazione di forme di incanto nella pubblicità contemporanea

Consumers have always imbued objects and experiences with meanings of magic, showing how consumption can act as an authentic vehicle for enchantment. Within this vein, sociologists such as Max Weber, Colin Campbell, and George Ritzer have long questioned the concepts of enchantment, disenchantment, and re-enchantment, in an attempt to understand how these states of being contribute to the creation of meanings within specific sociocultural contexts. Historically, advertising as well possesses the capability to enchant, by creating fictitious worlds, evoking emotions, and promising the attainment of desirable ideals and lifestyle. Nonetheless, nowadays the definitions of enchantment and disenchantment are constantly evolving, influenced by the advent of the Internet and, more broadly, by new technologies. Hence, this article aims to update, by means of a semiotic perspective, the dialectic between enchantment and disenchantment within some of the most promising forms of communication of the contemporary advertising scenario. The first part of the essay tackles especially the narrative, passional, and symbolic dimensions of the advertising language by analyzing an image from the Canadian magazine Adbusters as well as some signature commercials, with a particular focus on a short film made by director David Lynch. The second part explores the construction of meanings of enchantment within complex technological contexts, as in the case of advertisements created through computer-generated imagery (CGI) and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. Three possible forms of enchantment will be outlined throughout the article: “critical disenchantment”, “advertising enchantment”, and “disenchanted enchantment”. This emerging path provides evidence of how enchantment does not disappear within contemporary culture but rather transforms itself, adapting to the languages, aesthetics, and logics of an era marked by the convergence of media, collective imagery, and technology.