Akèrègbè, Resourcing the Past, Communicating the Present in Shared Cultural Knowledge : A Case Study of GTB Advertising

A communication strategy in advertising can take any shape, provided it meets both intentions of manufacturers and demands of recipients. That is why the study focused the bottle gourd (Akèrègbè) as a communicating device, utilized in a Guaranteed Trust Bank® (GTB) advertisement. The study considered a GTB advertisement that propagates *737# and the image of a palm wine tapper as a device of influencing consumers. The advertisement, collected from the GTB branch of the University of Lagos, Nigeria was processed through the application of denotative and connotative terminologies from the Barthesian perspective. The advertisement constructed a relationship between the past culture (bottle gourd) and present culture (computerization) as a means of persuasion. The investigation demonstrated the application of the alphanumeric code, Bank*737# as the motif of the advertisement with the bottle gourd playing a supportive role of communicating a consistent service and protection to customers. The study concluded that campaigning of a product with the blend of the past and the present resources can increase sales. Besides, such a socio-cultural merger has the capacity to stimulate knowledge not only in the advertising industry but also in the exploration of the Yorùbá cultural past to the entire world