Semiotic Analysis of Advertising

LOOK! It's a Semiotic!

This week in class we learnt about semiotics. Proposed in the early 1900’s by Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Sanders Peirce; semiotics is the study of signs and symbols as elements of communicative behaviour. 

The intent of advertising is to associate desire for products and services and to arouse feelings of positivity towards brands.

To achieve this, advertisers must construct campaigns that are compelling enough that viewers are motivated to decipher them. Still, the ads cannot mean anything on their own, they must be interpreted by the viewers to give them meaning.

Semiotics within advertising can be analysed in two respects; Denotation and Connotation.

Denotation refers to the literal interpretation of the advertisement - what you see and hear.

While Connotation, refers to the associations that are connected to it such as symbolic meanings, socio-cultural and personal associations.

For our next blog, we were told apply semiotics analysis to three ads; one printed ad, one tv commercial and one outdoor related ad.

For the printed ad I choose the following Duracell advertisement. Developed by advertising agency Grey in Singapore, this is certainly a unique way to promote longer-lasting batteries.

Terrifying but brilliant, this is one of those print ads that shouldn't work but somehow does. The advertisement for Duracell batteries features a sinister-looking doll in the doorway of a little girl's playroom. The little girl is playing with a new, more pleasant looking toy doll, while the one in the doorway is reaching with its arms extended towards the girl as if to say ‘Play with me!’, accompanied by the tagline 'Some toys never die'. The lighting of the scene is quite dark and eerie, and the presence of the old doll is made more frightening with the long overcast shadow stretching along the floor.

It's a bit left-field, and completely terrifying, but it’s this twisted and sinister looking aspect of the ad which makes it stand out. I remember as a child I would go through more batteries for my toys than my parents would for the use of their cameras or the tv remote. I cannot say for a fact that toys are the most common use of electronic batteries within the typical family household, but the caption of ‘Some toys never die’ works so well for this purpose. The fact the doll is standing in the open doorway shows that it has long since been discarded and forgotten by the girl. And the message of the caption is supposed to reinforce that if the old doll was supported by Duracell batteries, then perhaps the toy would have never been discarded to begin with.

Sometimes you have to look backwards in order to move forward, and Radio Shack took this very literally when they revived a cast of classic 80s characters in their wacky Super Bowl commercial.

The commercial is set within one of Radio Shack’s stores being minded by a couple of employees. At first glance you can see the selection of store merchandise is very outdated, with old fashioned fax machines, boom boxes that sport cassettes players, and massive low resolution computer monitors that would take up half the space of your desk. Then after a quick phone call, a cast of classic 80s characters enter the store such as Kid and Play, Cheers‘ Cliff Clavin, 1984 Olympics Mary Lou Retton, Child’s Play‘s Chuckie, Hulk Hogan, the California Raisins, Q*Bert, to name just a few. The characters then continue to ransack the store completely of all its merchandise, ridding it of its VCR’s and fax machines.

After the mayhem we are given a shot of the entire store baring nothing but empty bracket shelves and torn up carpeting. The shot then changes are we are introduced to a new, surprisingly spacious and modern looking Radio Shack displaying sexy products from Samsung and Beats. 

It’s a funny, self-effacing ad, which confronts the electronics retailer’s reputation for being somewhat less than cutting-edge by depicting icons of the 1980s and the display of outdated merchandise. It shows that Radio Shack is able to laugh at itself and realises its need to change. The shot of the empty raided store contrasted with the, modern, tasteful store is a way of showcasing the message of “Out with the old, in with the new”. It’s a way for Radio Shack to reassure its consumers that there is a promise of good things to come and that they are ready to become a part of the 21^st century.

Placed at the opening of a tunnel, this creative billboard was launched by Oldtimer restaurants, a leading Austrian chain of motorway rest stops.  The billboard is a picture of a woman’s face with her mouth wide open. The idea is that the billboard promotes an “All you can eat rest stop” as you drive right into the open mouth!

The huge poster was placed at the entrance of a tunnel along a highway, giving the impression that vehicles going inside is disappearing into the woman’s mouth appearing on the poster. The cars going into the mouth symbolise food, which is reflective of the concept of all you can eat. This campaign is very effective as for one, it’s practically impossible to ignore when it is such a unique concept and because it is placed right in front to the drivers field of vision. What works towards making this ad so unique is the fact that it includes the driver of the car to become a part of the campaign’s symbolic meaning- they are the food that is going into the mouth. The ad is also strategically placed. The road, which appears to be alongside a mountain range, is likely quite a rural area with few towns nearby. So the idea of motorway rest stops, particularly after a long drive, would be quite ideal to many drivers.

If you wish to learn any further information about semiotics, watch the video below.

Thanks for reading!