Comparison of printed and digital posters in the context of “push” theory

Abstract

While technological advances and digitalization have affected or transformed virtually every medium in the last two decades, visual communication is at the top of the list. An important communication media since the dawn of industrial society - especially in the first three quarters of the twentieth century, the poster is one of the mediums having undergone this transformation. This study compared traditional printed posters and novel digital posters using Harold Innis' "Push" theory. The findings of the comparison were analysed in the context of the role of the poster during the historical process as well as the attitudes and behaviours of the younger generation. The data obtained from the analysis indicate that the printed traditional posters help create a social structure and generation that adopt elitism, publicism, idealism, asceticism, authoritarianism, monism, and collectivism, whereas the digital poster contributes to a social structure and generation that embrace egalitarianism, privatism, realism, hedonism, deliberativism, pluralism, and individualism.