Semiotic Analysis Of Unilever's Dove Advertising

This essay will take on a semiotic approach to show how meaning can be created in an audience, and will illustrate this by doing a semiotic analysis of two magazine-advertisements and then discussing how codes and context are central in “anchoring” meaning. (Barthes 1977:38). As the relationship between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary and therefore the meaning is fixed in cultural values according to most of post modernist theory, we can argue that the potential interpretations of any given text are therefore endless as:
'Decoding' involves not simply basic recognition and comprehension of what a text 'says' but also the interpretation and evaluation of its meaning with reference to relevant codes (Chandler: 1994).

Chandler further

2) serves as a more accurate representation of 'reality' than the one usually seen in other hair advertisements by actual hair models. As illustrated in Figure 1, the small text in the circle promotes the idea that a woman's breasts are always the first thing men look at and also makes a reality claim by not mentioning anything about the disproportionate breasts being fake.

Without this anchorage, one possible interpretation of this advertisement (Fig.1) could have been that it represented real hair in a fake world. However, the text constrains the interpretation of the image as one that promotes the dominant ideology that equates feminine beauty with large breasts. This supports Barthes’ argument that the principle function of anchorage is ideological. However, Bignell sees that "while the advertisement is for a woman to look at, it is constructed with reference to a wider social code in which being feminine means taking pleasure in looking at oneself, and taking pleasure in being looked at by men" (Bignell 1997: 71). Bignell therefore in his writings seems to empower the woman in his analysis of advertisement models, noting that women simultaneously enjoy looking and being looked

Psychological studies indicate that even though sexual images do tend to successfully catch our attention, if the viewer makes an effort to think about the advertisement more analytically, their response is usually negative. Danesi and Beasley also echoed this point with their statement explaining that when people become aware of the underlying message within advertisements, they are usually "alarmed and repulsed by the 'hidden' message" (Beasley and Danesi