Critical literacy and digital stock images; The interests of the uninteresting images

Abstract

Stock photos from commercial image banks are extensively used in a variety of texts, such as news reports, organizational websites, sponsored social media posts, and information brochures. This article aims at showing how and why commercial digital image banks can be apt resources for critical literacy work, demonstrated through a quantitative and qualitative analysis of 150 stock images of teenagers from Scandinaviaʼs most influential commercial image bank, Colourbox. The analysis maps social interests and ideals that Colourbox are inscribed with, including representations of gender and ethnicity. Based on the findings, the article argues that critical literacy work with stock photos can bring increased critical awareness of visual images, of visual representation of social actors, and of digital technologies as sociocultural phenomena. The study is theoretically informed by social semiotic perspectives on multimodality and digital technology in combination with critical literacy studies, including critical discourse analysis.