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Keywords & Contexts

Advertisement A public notice or announcement advertising products and/or services, usually either in broadcast, print or online media.

Aestheticism The quality of being aesthetic; the pursuit of, or devotion to, what is beautiful or attractive to the senses, esp. as opposed to an ethically or rationally based outlook; adherence to the Aesthetic Movement.

Archetype The original pattern or model from which copies are made; a prototype.

Billboard Poster A form of large outdoor advertising, usually located in commercial areas for both pedestrians and drivers.

Bodega A Spanish word that means a convenience store specializing in Latino-derived foods and products; a wine shop.

Brute A derisive term that refers to a person who is “like an animal”; synonymous with beast.

Caricature Grotesque or ludicrous representation of persons or things by exaggeration of their most characteristic and striking features.

Carmen Miranda Born in Portugal and raised in Brazil, Carmen Miranda was a popular singer, Broadway actress and Hollywood film star in the 1940s and 1950s.

Chromolithograph A form of multicolored print that became popular in advertising in the late 19th century.

Copywriting Writing copy or text for the purpose of advertising a product.

Ethnicity An ethnic group or ethnicity is a population of human beings whose members identify with each other, on the basis of a real or a presumed common genealogy or ancestry.

Feminist Movement A series of historical movements focused on equal rights for women.

Feminized Made feminine; emasculated.

Fetishization The act of making (something) the object of a sexual fetish; the act of having an excessive and irrational commitment to (something).

Gender Social and cultural constructions of masculinities and femininities.

Gender Studies An interdisciplinary academic field focused on gender identity & gendered representation

Globalization The action, process, or fact of making global; esp. (in later use) the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale, widely considered to be at the expense of national identity; geographic separation between people and points of production.

Heteronormative The ideology that proclaims that heterosexuality is the normal sexual orientation of people and that sexual and marital relations are only appropriate between a man and a woman.

Homonormative The ideology that supports the assimilation of heteronormative ideals and constructs into LGBTQ culture and individual identity.

Iconography A pictorial representation or delineation.

Ideology A system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy; the set of beliefs characteristic of a social group or individual.

Infantilized The process involved in making someone the object of infantilization, which is the action of prolonging or perpetuating a state of infancy.

LGBTQ Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer.

Race Race is a deeply historical and scientifically questionable concept that suggests that there are distinct groups of individuals in the world based on skin color and other physical characteristics that result from a shared genetic ancestry. Despite it being a social and cultural construct, race is a deeply held belief that structures how we see ourselves and how we see others.

Racial Myth A belief about a “racial” group that is untrue but culturally resonant.

Senorita A title of respect in the Spanish language that precedes the name of a female, or used without the name in addressing her, who is unmarried.

Sex Biologically-based differences in females and males.

Sexuality Sexual preferences of individuals in terms of partnering.

Signifier A person who or thing which signifies or indicates something.

Stereotype A preconceived and oversimplified idea of the characteristics which typify a person. Also, a person who appears to conform closely to the idea of a type.

Stock Card Stock cards were generic trade cards illustrated and produced by printers for advertisers, who added information about their businesses on the cards.

Tags Tags are classifications along the following categories:

  • Cultural Time Periods
  • Gender
  • Geographic Regions
  • Holidays
  • Life Passages
  • Life Phase
  • Physical Settings
  • Products
  • Race and Ethnic Markers
  • Religions
  • Sexual Orientation
  • Social Constructs

Clicking on a Tag will run a system wide search and return items that have been similarly tagged.

Trade Card An early example of a business card, trade cards were produced by businesses to attract potential customers and clients.

Uncle Sam An iconic personification of the government or people of the United States.

Vaquero A Spanish word that means cowboy, cowherd, herdsman or cattle-driver.

Victorian Refers to the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria and the ideas and cultural practices that were experienced and imagined.