Week 3- Decoding Advertising

Notes from the lecture

Barthes & connotation:  signifier + signified = denotative sign (+ connotative signifier)
• denotation: literal understanding - the most immediate reading of a sign - depends on consenus.
• connotation: secondary meaning - a sign may trigger off a range of associations (intertextuality).

TYPES OF ANCHORAGE

• word specific 
• image specific
• dual message 
• interdependent (or convergent) 
• parallel (or divergent)

“The myths which suffuse our lives are insidious precisely because they appear so natural they call out for the detailed analysis which semiotics can deliver.” [Roland Barthes - Mythologies]

Myth
‘myth’ refers to . . . sites in mainstream culture which;
• reflect societal norms or dominant ways of thinking about people or places.
• are structured to send/propagate message which may be ideological (politically motivated) - or serve the interests of select groups in society.

Advertising & Myth

• Ads are particular to time & place  and reflect current political ideas/social ideals/cultural trends.
• Ads reinforce particular cultural myths which are often presented as ‘natural’ - but represent a cultural norm or dominant ideology​

Aspirational selling
• will reflect a target consumer
• plant the ‘seed of need’
• upwardly mobile associations
• link status > consumption

Concealment
• hide/do not show production or economic structure 

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology comprising a five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid. From the bottom of the hierarchy upwards, the needs are: physiological (food and clothing), safety (job security), love and belonging needs (friendship), esteem, and self-actualization.
Needs lower down in the hierarchy must be satisfied before individuals can attend to needs higher up.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology comprising a five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid. From the bottom of the hierarchy upwards, the needs are: physiological (food and clothing), safety (job security), love and belonging needs (friendship), esteem, and self-actualization.
Needs lower down in the hierarchy must be satisfied before individuals can attend to needs higher up.

Magazine ads. frame of reference 

• the advertising business is highly professional and competitive and lucrative - companies in the service sector spend vast amounts of money on advertising and the construction of brand identities etc. 
  
• people who work in the industry are often highly creative and well educated and aware of current cultural trends (and the use of semiotics to convey messages).

Barthes argues that magazine ads are a mix of linguistic and image signs that form these messages 
i) Linguistic Message ​

• non coded (literal reading of linguistic signs)
  
• coded (connotations of linguistic signs) 
  

ii) Image Message

•  non coded (denotative reading of image signs)
  
• coded (symbolic/connotative reading of image signs) and that a close analysis of the ‘coded’ messages will reveal any myths contained within.

Analyzing ads.

Further advert analysis