Semiotic Analysis of An Advertising Image

This document provides an analysis of an advertising campaign by Australia Post from 2007 that aimed to increase letter writing. It begins with background on semiotics and how signs, images and language in advertisements can be analyzed. It then describes the ads, which showed people hugging letter-shaped versions of others, with the text "if you really want to touch someone, send them a letter". Through a semiotic analysis of the images' denotations and connotations, it examines how the ads conveyed the message that receiving a letter is a meaningful way to show someone they are cared for. However, it notes the ads were not universally effective and some found the "body images" uncomfortable. Overall it argues the creative approach effectively targeted nost

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Semiotic Analysis of An Advertising Image

Uploaded by

Archana Vijay

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Semiotic Analysis

of an Advertising
Image

SUBMITTED TO: MS. UMA BHRUGUBANDA

SUBMITTED BY: ARCHANA VIJAY
ROLL NO: H00MAENG20200362
SUBMITTEND ON: 23/11/2020
Advertisements are largely a reflection of our society or generations. It has a huge influence on
the public; be it a normal ad for a product or a campaign ad advertising a cause. It has had this
influence from its very origin traceable to the town crier and the village drummer who used their
lungs to shout out the messages. Then there were signs of shops or drinking houses that indicated
the name of the shop and its owner. All of this leading to one of the earliest known advertising
success story of Pears Soap. Thomas Barratt’s (father of modern advertising) desperate attempt
to be more aggressive to push the product ensuring its survival. He launched a series of ads that
featured cherubic children, which cemented the brand to the values it still holds. These images in
his days were ‘fine art’ and he used them to signify his brand’s quality, simplicity, and purity.

In our very different world, it is quite impossible not to have different interpretations of an ad.
Because different things influence us; it may be the image used in the ad or the text they have
used to communicate, it can even the colour palette that is made use of in the ad. An ad contains
many verbal and non-verbal cues each capable of influencing the consumer in its way.
Knowingly or unknowingly, we analyse an ad (or anything for that matter) the moment it catches
our attention. In the case of advertisements, we try to relate it to our daily lives or our present
society/generation. And this type of relating or analysing is known as semiotic analysis.

Semiotics is the science of signs, which has been present throughout the world, but it is only in
recent time that it has taken shape of a well-organized system of analysis and inquiry. The theory
of signs developed from the works of Ferdinand de Saussure (a Swiss linguist and a founding
figure of Structuralism). His take on structuralism is concerned with how cultural meanings are
produced. He argues it to be structured like a language with is conventions (langue) and
everyday utterances (parole). He also puts forward the idea that generation of meaning happens
through a system of structured difference in language i.e. language constructs meaning from
within itself through a series of phonic and conceptual differences. According to Saussure, a
series of signs that are analysed in terms of the ‘signifier’ and the ‘signified’ (parts of a sign)
forms a signifying system. Sign, which is recognized by most people, has a concrete form /
physical form and that is the signifier. It also refers to something other than itself; that is the
mental association it creates in our mind and that is known as the signified. It is from this theory
of signs, Saussure’s followers Roland Barthes and Roman Jakobson developed the ‘study of
signs’. It aims to establish the basic features of signs and the way they work in our daily social
life.

Signs and semiotics are major concepts in Cultural studies. A semiotic analysis helps connect art
and various other fields that influences people immensely to cultural studies. Terms like
denotation and connotation are quite popular in such analysis. Denotation is identifying the most
basic or literal meaning of a sign. While connotation strives to identify the secondary or cultural
meanings of the sign. Here I have chosen an advertising campaign by Australia Post to do a
semiotic analysis.
These ads of Australian Post launched in the year 2007 was an effort to increase the number of
letters sent through their system. Though the ad is 13 years old, the concept of writing letters and
how valuable they are to the person who receives it and the person who writes it resonated with
me. Putting in some effort to show people, whom we appreciate, respect, adore, or love to show
that they are special is important in this fast-paced world. The images of both the ads shows two
people hugging each other. The first shows an older woman hugging a form of a woman made of
the letter in a very motherly manner. The second has a woman hugging a man. The text in the
ads say ‘if you really want to touch someone, send them a letter’. The images captures the
denotative meaning of the text as it is. The connotative meaning is found in the body language of
the characters. The older woman’s face -who I believe is the mother the girl who wrote the letter-
radiates pure joy in the effort and time her daughter put in to write her a letter. The calmness in
the woman’s body language and the warmth of the hug the man in the letters gives her shows the
love and understanding that is there between them, even though their relationships remains
unclear.
In short, the campaign very successfully portrays what they wanted to show- there is nothing
more touching than receiving a letter. However, this ad was not widely effective across various
cultures as many did openly express a love for touch (this ad did make a huge impact on the
Australian community those days). The ad thus was subjected to critical reviews form audiences
that found the ‘body image’ ‘creepy’ and ‘uncomfortable’. The first time I saw the ad a few years
back, I do admit I found it strange. It made me look twice. So I guess strange is good, it made me
think. The ad is very creative and different for others that were there back in 2007 and even now.

I think it was an excellent approach to reach the target audience, arousing nostalgia is fail–proof.
Personally, I am a person who love to write and still writes letters though I do not make use of
the post, preferring to give them directly. I was and still am a believer no indirect communication
is more personal than a hand-written letter.
BIBLIOGRAPHY