A Semiotic Analysis Of A Print Advertisement

A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF AN ADVERTISEMENT

A logical place to start may be to ask ‘What is semiotics?’ Semiotics is the

scientific study of signs and the way in which these signs construct and
reconstruct meaning. A sign can be simultaneously iconic, indexical and
symbolic. When a sign is iconic it is a very good representation of the
signified meaning, for example, a photo or a painting. If there is some
relationship between the meaning and what is being signified, it is known
as an index (indexical), for example, smoke is an index of fire. A symbol is
where there is no relationship between sign and meaning, (written
language is symbolic).

Saussure composes a sign into two elements, a ‘signifier’ and the

‘signified’. The signifier is the image that we see, for example a painting.
The signified is the mental concept, which is conjured up in the mind of the
receiver when they engage with the signifier (the painting).

“A rose is a symbol of love or passion not because a rose looks like love or
passion or even because the flower causes it. It is just that members of
some cultures have over the years used the rose in certain circumstances
to mean love.”

The first order of signification ‘denotative’ is a process of recognition,

description and identification. Connotation looks further into how we
perceive things at a higher level, letting us go beyond the denotations by
analysing and interpreting and adding fact to the meaning

Within this essay, I shall undertake a semiotic analysis of an

advertisement. But before I focus on this analysis, I will concentrate on
semiotic elements, denotation/connotation and anchoring.