Popular Culture in Radio-Mediated Ad-Theatre in Kenya

Abstract

This paper analyses radio theatre by its advertising function, hence the term ad-theatre. Previously theatre and drama have been studied by entertainment, cultural, education and edutainment functions, but despite widespread awareness usage of performances to catch consumer attention and promote business, little research has been focused on the rhetorical aspects of theatre. The paper therefore examines three sample advertisements using the technique of theatre to discover the persuasive angle of drama. The study isolates known aspects of popular culture for analysis. These include the use of trending stories and jokes, mass appeal, language of the low-income segments and common social stereotypes as the basis for the construction of persuasive drama. The paper examines several adverts in terms of narrative pattern, social-popular material and analyses guided by Walter Jackson Ong's study of the transition from orality to literacy in Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word (1982).