A semiological analysis of equality-themed advertising designs on the digital natives

While digitalization is becoming one of the most distinctive features of the 21st century, everything is changing rapidly and the time flows fastly. Undoubtedly, humanity does not remain constant, in relation to this dramatic speed in the essence of change and tries to adapt to the era. Although it is difficult to predict how the future is going to be like, there is an inevitable fact that, in the next few years humanity will face to different experiences that have never been experienced. New experiences in innovations and the tendency to adapt to technology increase the importance of interaction that leads peoples unification in human life. It is known that humanity has experienced many destructions caused by technological transformations since the first periods of history. In consequence of this, the breaking points between periods has caused a radical change in many areas of life, from life of individuals to the way of societies function. As Herbert Marshall McLuhan (1911- 1980) stated, communication technologies have an undisputable power and effect in individuals perception of the world and their interpretation of it according to their own horizons. Since mass media which is highly influenced by technology, reforms humanity in an unbelievable way on the same scale. The time passed from the agricultural society to the robotic society and the transformations experienced in this process did not occur independently from the individuals, in the face to this, it brought the individual together with the digital culture. In this way, radical changes occured from the perception of the world of human beings to the use of thinking skills. Undoubtedly, the world view of every generation, cultural habits, life patterns, beliefs, attitudes, interests and behavior patterns contain differences from each other. As all scientific studies that make research on generations reveal the reasons that make up the differences between generations, they analyse individuals both in the time they were born and also with the sociological, cultural and technological developments they experience. Moreover, they evaluate them together with many variables such as migration, war, disease and geographical location. Researchers use 15-20-year periods to analyse generations that are generally accepted in generation grouping and consider this cycle together with the mentioned variations, thus revealing the differences between generations and naming them to represent the period in which the generation lives. The phenomena, Digital Natives (Generation Z), are the generation of those born into the digital world in the period when digital transformation occurs at a great pace. Young people of this new period, are the subject of a lot of research today as companies, experts and researchers from many different areas try to understand the generation. The key point that sharply separates the generation from its predecessors is the technological changes that started in the 1990s and gained tremendous momentum towards the present. This generation, born into the center of technology, is actually the period itself. It is clear that the effects of digitalization can be seen in almost every field and led to many phenomena such as different social values and changing world views. Farther, the shortening of distances in the rapidly globalizing world brought many advantages for humanity, as the global convergence that emerged with the increase of this interactive communication caused a loss of significance in meaning. In this way, a situation or development occurring in any part of the world has directly affected the whole world and therefore the individual on a global basis. As the generated effects are on a large or small scale varies from society to society, and they are shaped according to the attitudes and behaviors of the people at that time. Today, it is seen that many brands are trying to increase their voices with the help of corporate social responsibility campaigns in order to raise awareness, to eliminate the problems or to minimize damages of all kinds of problems that concern people. Undoubtedly, one of the most effective communication methods used by brands is advertisements. In order to make difference, advertisements should analyze the characteristics of the audience to the smallest detail to which they will address with the right strategy and should use communication tools suitable for the requirements of the age. In this context, in the study it is tried to reveal the emotional and cognitive interests (participation) of the generation known as Digital Natives towards the messages given in social benefit advertising designs. Thusly, the study, which examines the campaigns prepared by brands to mobilize the Digital Natives, identified as the most diverse generation in history, representing a large part of the world population today, in the context of social problems, aims to obtain findings using the online survey technique to reveal the interests of the generation in advertising designs with social benefit content. Before the survey study, a wide literature review was carried out to be used in the study in order to establish the theoretical background of the research. In this context, firstly, industrial revolutions, equality and globalization issues were discussed, social responsibility based campaigns developed by brands, hybrid advertising designs, digital culture and the changes experienced as a result were included in the study. After this selected advertisement campaings published by institutions both on conventional and through new media themed equality implemented both America and Turkey-based advertising film is discussed. The researcher analyzed the narrative and thematic content included in the relevant advertising designs with a semiotic and linguistic approach in order to create an answer key in the survey study, and all the obtained findings are presented as a chapter in the study. A comprehensive literature review was carried out by the researcher on the concept of generation and theories about the subject of the study, The Digital Natives, before the questionnaire form was created. The study also includes four indepth interviews, two people to consult their opinions on social benefit advertising designs, and two to consult on generation. The questionnaire form created with the support of an expert team was carried out online due to the coinciding with the New Type Corona Virus Pandemic (Covid-19) period. 10 pilot interviews (preliminary studies) were held in May 2020 for the control of errors and incomprehensible expressions in the survey study. Since no problems were encountered, the preparation of field research has started on 15.05.2020 with the final approval given by the researcher. The survey was conducted between the dates of 18.05.2020 - 29.05.2020 on 384 people suitable for the sampling characteristics using CAWI (computer assisted online interview) methodology. The focus of the study was composed of 384 students from the Digital Native generation who were born between 1997 and 2012, and studied at universities in Istanbul were composed of students who study in departments other than Communication, Visual Design, Graphic Design. Due to the fact that the subject has a comprehensive range of content in the questionnaire form prepared in a structured way, it was composed of multiple choice, open and closed ended 18 questions, and 25 questions in total for both advertisements In order to determine the criteria of the participants demographic questions including multiple choice, closed and open ended question were used. The research also included many questions that test the tendencies and orientations of individuals such as Digital Natives' media following habits, attitudes towards social problems, technology usage levels, shopping patterns, and reading habits. A total of 384 questionnaires were conducted on university students who were selected equally and randomly between men and women. After the survey results were analyzed by the consulting company through SPSS programs, the frequency and percentage distribution charts were processed in Microsoft Excel. These data were analyzed and interpreted by the researcher. The study also included poster designs with the theme of equality using augmented reality, developed by the researcher herself. According to the study findings, digital natives, which the researcher supports in her literature review, are more sensitive to moving images. That is the reason the posters are designed using augmented reality technology. In addition, it is thought that the activities of digital natives will be made more visible in the content to be developed in terms of graphic design of such interactive applications. The study is thought to be a useful resource for many areas including advertisement, marketing, education, communication, graphic design, new media, public relations with the results have been reached based on the findings obtained. Key Words: Digital Natives, Generation Z, Graphic Design, Communication, Interest, Participation, Digital Culture, Equality, Corporate Social Responsibility, Social Good, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Technological Transformation, Digitalization, Industrial Revolutions, Semiotics, Linguistics.