Contradictions, agendas and interpretation of the South African clothing sector

The ReDress Consultancy comments on the power of the media when portraying South Africa's clothing and textile sector.

These few samples of cartoons and media headlines clearly demonstrate the contradictions, tractions and agenda driven policies within South Africa’s clothing and textile sector over the past six years.

These images and texts can be used within the framework of the interpretive paradigm, where media reports and imagery is subjected to the “reception” and “interpretation” of the reader without fully understanding the context.

However, the “subjective human interpretation in the making of the meaning” of these words and imagery when placed in a single collective environment as this series reflects shifts the message from when they were first seen individually.

The collective of text and imagery as portrayed in this example helps to develop meaning and perspective, which may result in the reader changing their initial interpretation of the imagery and meaning of the text.

Furthermore, such a collective of media output helps portray quickly and succinctly a narrative that unravels a complex web of industrial development and policy.

Ref: Professor Ruth Teer-Tomaselli ,University of KwaZulu-Natal
Paradigms of Media Research
12 February 2008