Examples Of Semiotics In Advertising

Semiotics in advertising

Amit Kumar,

Abstract

The primary goal of the paper is to identify the underlying concepts of semiotics in print advertisements. It describes the basics of semiotics and its application in the field of advertisements. It also studies how advertisers use semiotics to manipulate consumer behavior and perception and how marketers are constantly constructing and deconstructing signs and symbols to market their product through advertisements. It also seeks to find the semiotic analysis of certain advertisements and how their messages are interpreted.

Keywords

Semiotics, print advertisements, creative advertisements, Ideology.

Introduction Semiotics is also known as the Semiotic studies or Semiology, is a branch of

They are all around us, on the transport, in the city, in the films, in our mail, on the internet, on our phones. They follow us no matter where we are and what we do. We are surrounded by advertisements of products and services that we are not even sure that we need them. These advertisements try to communicate, persuade and lead to some action. Billions are spend on advertisements each year. Each of the products being advertised tries to create a better, if not really a new, “you”. They claim to offer solutions that can make consumers life easier and happier. Advertisements are a lot about strong imagery and human perceptions. It has visual interpretations perceived through cognition and language and is dependent on social, cultural and personal frames. It is about the visual communication that is achieved by processing the visual information and message contained in the advertisements and deriving a meaning out of it. Pictures that we see in the ads are tricky to elucidate their implications .To a humble buyer, the reality always eludes. If we look into those ads and examine them we may unfold certain social and cultural realities. What an advertiser means through their advertisements depends on how the signs are organized. They construct the meaning of sign value associated with constructing the identities and use these signs to convey their points quickly and

The ad shows a Indian pundit with the McDonalds logo on his forehead which symbolizes the religious mark that these pundits usually have on their heads. It beautifully shows how MacDonald’s standing true to its commitment of globalization now offers pure veg burgers on religious holydays during festive seasons. Another example of Nivea cream ad shows football players standing in football stadium covering their faces with their hands. This is an unusual image since while defending a goal, instead of protecting their groin which is the most sensitive part of their body; they are more concerned about their faces. The ad very creatively shows how important it is to protect your skin. The signifier here are those players while signified is the product itself which is nivea men’s