Allegorically speaking: Intertextuality of the postmodern culture and its impact on print and television advertising

We propose a framework for classifying postmodern advertising discourse that places intertextuality at the creative center of media convergence. Allegorical references provide connections between advertising texts and other texts. At the same time as technological developments are enabling media to converge in an electronic sense (video and audio integrated with computer networks), the tendency for advertising to depend upon other forms of communication for fall meaning is also growing. This tendency is described and discussed in the context of postmodern thought and of the tension between advertising's utilitarian and aesthetic goals.