Category: Advertisement

The Ad Your Ad Could Be Like: Critiquing Semiotic Analysis Through Old Spice Advertisements

Abstract

This essay aims to view the semiotic analysis in advertisements and critically analyze its impact. We will be critiquing two ads of Old Spice’s ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’ campaign using semiotic analysis and then measuring the efficacy of the analysis. Through this exercise, we will see a semiotic analysis in action and recognize the drawbacks in utilizing the same as method of examining advertisements

The representation of masculinity has come a long way from its rigid structures and is now considered to be comparatively fluid. Advertisements tap on to features we as a society unconsciously crave to emulate. Advertisements also have the potential to shape and alter the ways gender is perceived among the collective. Thus the features of gender that advertisements choose to emphasize on and their eventual success or failure rate depends on the codes they utilize in their narrative.

Beginning with an introduction to the application of semiotics in real life and advertisements, we will hope to recognize certain elements crucial to the workings of a semiotic analysis as well as comment on the disadvantages that accompany a semiotic analysis.

Introduction

We live in a commercialized world where our choice of products actively defines us. When you pick one product over the other, you are basically picking one or two qualities over the other. The twenty first century product is not merely defined by its utility but also by what it can offer to you as an individual, and what it can offer to your identity, your image in a world saturated by images. Our choices are largely influenced by advertisements. Goldman observes:

Advertisements saturate our social lives… Our ability to recognize and decipher the advertising images that confront us depends on our photographic literacy and our familiarity with the social logic of advertising and consumerism. Yet, because ads are so pervasive and our reading of them so routine, we tend to take for granted the deep social assumptions embedded in advertisements. We do not ordinarily recognize advertising as a sphere of ideology. (Goldman 1992, 2)

Reading advertisements thus gives us information of the social positions that are constructed, the relations that arise and the underlying hegemony that operates, all of which in turn resonate with the viewer.

In order to delve into semiotic analysis, we need to know what constitutes a sign. The idea of sign and the theory attached to it was developed in great length by Ferdinand de Saussure. According to Saussure, a sign constituted a signifier and a signified. The signifier would be the object or concept whereas the signified would be the image or sound attached to it. (Noth 1995)

Gillian Rose in her book Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to the Interpretation of Visual Materials (2001) discusses Williamson’s project in which two perfume advertisements are analyzed. Both targeting women, uses different qualities to lure in the viewer. Chanel’s advertisement consists of a close up of the actress Catherine Denevue aligned with the bottle, bringing in ideas of elegance, feminine grace and sophistication. Babe, on the other hand, portrays Margaux Hemmingway in a dynamic leaping stance, signaling youth. The actresses are specifically mentioned as the personal attributes or the general perception of these actresses adds to the larger narrative. Consequently, one can also view this polarity as capitalizing on different aspects of femininity. This difference is essential as the product is ultimately the same.

As she points out, actually there’s very little difference between the products that advertisers aim to sell, so advertisers have to create difference. Thus two bottles of perfume are sold not only in terms of what they apparently are (sophisticated or youthful) but also in terms of what they apparently are not (youthful or sophisticated). (Rose 2001, 87)

In this paper, we will attempt something of a similar nature as we analyze advertisements for Old Spice’s male grooming products, how their narrative plays on the idea of the perfect man and ‘achieving’ perfection through their products.

Old Spice’s The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

Old Spice’s ‘The Man your Man could Smell Like’ advertising campaign was a successful strategy that capitalized on the very difference mentioned above. We will be discussing two advertisements under the campaign including the introductory ad ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’ and ‘Questions’, both lasting thirty three seconds. Unlike other advertisements that choose to portray a ‘realistic’ narrative, these advertisements act as an open text: ripe for interpretation and filled with signs.

Both ads are compact with the narrative becoming more and more fantastical and absurd as it progresses. The monologue is structured to recall a response from the audience and is directly targeting the audience as well. The man in question is Isaiah Mustafa, a former football player with a toned physique. The camera moves along with him, acting as our eyes into his world. The audience’s familiarity with the actor is crucial as it is through this connection that the audience gets lured into the world of signs. He is a signifier for the numerous qualities Old Spice wishes to endorse. The desirable qualities of Mustafa are transferred to Old Spice products and women, the target audience wishes for the transfer of the same to their male partners.

The introductory advertisement ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’ begins with Isaiah Mustafa looking straight into the camera, shirtless and in a bathroom with only a towel on, showing his muscular body, maintaining eye contact throughout. Starting with ‘Hello Ladies’, he moves on to a series of short quips that serve as orders rather than comments: ‘Look at your man, now back to me, now back at your man, now back to me’. These are followed by comparisons: the audience’s supposed partners who don’t measure up to him as well as their products(ladies scented bodywash) which don’t measure up to Old Spice. This is continued by more commands that constantly demand your attention. These commands are meant to be fast paced and disorienting coupled with constantly changing scenery. This in turn forces the viewer to turn to the visuals for respite. The images seem absurd and unconnected but are strategically planned. The setting, the increasing close-up and his half-nakedness make the atmosphere seem intimate, an idea which is extended to his relationship with the viewer. He seems unfazed by the changing scenery in the background, giving off an air of confidence and ownership. It is when he brings to focus, the bottle of Old Spice body wash that the scenery changes. His appearance too changes as he dons a blue scarf and white cargoes, walking on a yacht. The costume and yacht are signifiers of wealth, usually attributed to the rich white male. The scenery change with the introduction of Old Spice indicates that the consumer’s life too would change with the same.

The bottle of body wash in his hand gets replaced by ‘an oyster with two tickets to the thing you love’ which then becomes diamonds. This scene achieves two objectives: denoting that the Old Spice man is well aware of what a woman desires, albeit stereotypical, as well as showing that he’s capable of fulfilling her needs. The ad ends with full shot of him riding a horse, yet again a symbol of wealth and virility.

The second ad ‘Questions’ is a follow up both literally and chronologically as it opens where it left. Mustafa stands in a tropical setting, a shower next to him, reinforcing the product in hand. The monologue follows a similar pattern as the one before varying slowly. His gaze is fixated on the camera, symbolizing confidence, trustworthiness and a personal connection with the audience. The scene then shifts to an exotic setting with a waterfall in the background. His words serve as anchorage, connecting the experience of using Old Spice to exoticism, adventure and nature. The rawness of the woods can be connected to the untamed masculine aura that he exudes and which the audience would like to emulate. After a series of unbelievable events, the ad ends with Mustafa in a Jacuzzi that breaks to reveal him sitting on a motorcycle, wearing jeans. The jeans and the motorcycle together symbolize passion and desire.

Conclusion: The danger of signs

The Old Spice ads were part of marketing campaign to revive Old Spice’s authority in the male grooming products market. Overshadowed by brands like Axe which lured their consumers with provocative women, rugged men and the promise of ‘getting laid’, Old Spice lost out on the younger audience. (Khan n.d.) Entrusted with revamping the image of Old Spice, Weiden and Kennedy, an ad agency did its research. They realized that much of male grooming products were largely bought by women who shopped for their men, and finalized on their target audience. Secondly, they created an advertisement that was as ridiculous and as symbolic as possible to distinguish themselves from the stream of narrative based advertisements flooding the market then.

Old Spice’s ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’ campaign is an active acknowledgment as well embrace of the semiotics that goes behind creating an advertisement. However it can also be the perfect campaign to display the negatives of using semiotic analysis to both create an advertisement as well as to critique the end result.

The Old Spice ads choose to highlight the qualities over the actual product itself. While the campaign ended in better sales, it is a gamble and could have remained an artistic endeavor, not entirely connecting with the audience. They have pitted ladies scented body wash against Old Spice while appealing to a female audience. A feminist critique, especially of much of their print ads will reveal the display of power imbalances.

The critique of semiotic analysis here largely lies in the samples chosen for the analysis. As compared to other modes of critique, the pattern of choosing comes off as random. The samples chosen are chosen in such a way that they support the argument and do not leave room for failure. This can come off as biased. Even I chose these two ads knowing they could be interpreted better semiotically as compared to other ads of the same product.

Saussurean semiotics while stating the arbitrary relation between the signifier and signified, does not help in an analysis where there are too many meanings to pick from. The multitude of meanings does require a certain level of expertise to know which to pick. As a result, semiotic analysis not only relies on the individual’s interpretive capabilities but can also come off as intellectually elitist. (Sturrock 1986) Also, visual and iconic semiotics has not received the same amount of in-depth research as linguistic semiotics. Berger comments:

…in its concern for the relationship of elements and production of meaning in a text, it ignores the quality of the work itself. That is, semiotics is not really concerned with art, but rather with meaning and modes of cognition. (Berger 2011, 37)

Finally, semiotic analysis focuses purely on the signs and not on the institutions that produce them. While we can argue that the success of certain signs over others inform us of the dominant codes that exist within the society and the hegemonic relations they possess, there is no acknowledgement of the power structures that help produce meaning. The usage of Isaiah Mustafa could be argued as a fetishization and objectification of the fit, African American physique for commercial purposes through psychoanalysis.

Semiology with its extensive vocabulary, lack of a definitive framework, obscuration of concepts and distancing of the analysis from ‘reality’ makes it a difficult and unreliable field to work in. The unreliability could be attributed to the instability of the signs themselves. Thus semiotic analysis alone could pose its interpreter certain negatives despite the wealth of ‘hidden’ knowledge it offers.

Bibliography

1. Berger, Arthur Asa. 2011. Media Analysis Techniques. Washington DC: SAGE Publications.
2. Goldman, Robert. 1992. Reading Ads Socially. London: Routledge.
3. Khan, Rohaid. http://www.scribd.com/doc/15308205/Old-Spice-History-by-rohaid-khan.
4. Noth, Winfried. 1995. Handbook of Semiotics. Indiana: Indiana University Press.
5. Old Spice. “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”. YouTube video, 0:32. February 5, 2010. https://youtu.be/uLTIowBF0kE
6. Old Spice. “Questions”. YouTube video, 0:32. June 30, 2010. https://youtu.be/owGykVbfgUE
7. Rose, Gillian. 2001. Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to the Interpretation of Visual Materials. New Delhi: SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd.
8. Sturrock, John. 1986. Structuralism. London: Palladin.

The Relationships Between Advertising And Consumerism In The Super Bowl

The most widely watched sporting event of the year is the Super Bowl. People watch the Super Bowl for the game, and the advertisements. The game is mostly for advertisements. The actual game is played for 17 minutes. In 2014, they discovered that the ball was in play for 8.5 percent of the televised broadcast. The commercials were 48 minutes and the network promos were 7 minutes. The commercial times are $5 million for thirty seconds of airtime. Advertisers make these to create messages of their product. People watch the game to see the commercials. More than $330 million was spent on the Super Bowl commercials in 2014.

The Superbowl is a great way for companies to advertise their product. The beer and liquor industry is an economic role in commercialized college and professional sports. Liquor industry advertisements have heavily influence in sports broadcasts. The companies make images that make feelings, and moods. Beer and liquor advertisers make the brand a series of images that construct a desirable world to their consumers. The commercials from the late 1950s to 1960s had middle-aged white couples sharing a cold beer in their backyards and in their homes. In these commercials beer makes the middle-class couple happy to drink it. Then in the 1970s, women weren’t in the commercials.

These commercials have men drinking with other men in public places. The Super Bowl in 2003 had fifty-five commercials and fifteen of the commercials were beer and liquor. Twelve of these commercials were by Anheuser-Busch and they had the stadium scoreboard that had a Budweiser sign. They had ownership of this Super Bowl. The Superbowl isn’t just for the advertisement of beer. People that have a party for the Superbowl will spend money on game day food, athletic wear and decorations. The stores will take advantage of this shopping by making sure they bought decorations, food and other Super Bowl items. There are 43 million viewers that plan to host a party, and restaurants can expect people to buy a lot of food. People plan to watch the game because they get to watch their favorite national brands on commercials. The Super Bowl is used for advertising and consumerism because there are a lot of people watching the game.

References

1. Shay, Matthew. “184 Million Americans to Watch 2015 Super Bowl, According to NRF Survey.” NRF, 21 Jan. 2015, nrf.com/media-center/press-releases/184-million-americans-watch-2015-super-bowl-according-nrf-survey.
2. Desk, National. “Super Bowl 2015 Promises about 17 Minutes of Football, Study Says.” Pennlive, 29 Jan. 2015, www.pennlive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/01/super_bowl_2015_promises_about.html.
3. Male Consumer as Loser: Beer and Liquor Ads in Mega Sports Media
4. Author(s): Michael A. Messner and Jeffrey Montez de Oca
5. Mandelbaum, Michael. “The Meaning of the Super Bowl.” The American Interest, 7 Aug. 2017, www.the-american-interest.com/2016/02/05/the-meaning-of-the-super-bowl/.

A Multimodal Discourse Analysis Of Djarum 76 The Island Version Advertisement

ABSTRACT

The study identifed and analyzed linguistic, visual, audio, strenghteness and weakness components associated with the selected advertisement of Djarum 76. The research uses descriptive qualitative method to analyze and elaborate the data. Data analysed in this research are the words and sentences converted to written text of Djarum 76 advertisement. The steps of data collection technique are by downloading the advertisement, reading and listening the text, checking the video verbally and visually, and identifying the data. The results showed that such linguistic, visual, audio, strenghteness and weakness resources as verbal, visual and verbal-visual texts enhance the semantic quality of the advertisement. In the whole, the study emphasizes the advertisement as unique and best concept as possible to describe the ciggarate is consumed by various groups and situations. Eventhough the superiority of the product is not conveyed.

INTRODUCTION

Advertising is a form of information carried out by a person, agency / agency, or company, the contents of which are interesting messages about a product or service aimed at the public. The purpose and purpose of advertising is to persuade / encourage the public to become interested in using the products / services offered.

Advertisements usually are placed in various media so that it is seen by many people, both offline and online media. Some of these media include newspapers, magazines, tabloids, television, news sites, blogs, social media, search engines, and public places.

In general, advertisements take the form of non-personal information about a product or service, company, brand, and others, with compensation for certain costs. All communication in the form of advertisements aims to attract attention or persuade others to buy or do something that benefits the ad maker.

One of the advertisements take of non-personal information about a product is cigarettes. Cigarettes are cylinders of paper measuring between 70-120 mm long, with a diameter of 10 mm, which contains tobacco leaves that have been chopped. Cigarettes are burned at its tip and let to burn so the smoke inhaled through the mouth at the other tip. The basic ingredients of cigarettes are tobacco. Tobacco consists of various chemicals that make someone addicted of it, even though try don’t want to try it again. The dangers of smoking on body health have been studied and proven by many people. The adverse effects of smoking are clearly known (Wikipedia, 2016).

Research shows “smoking habits increase the risk of various diseases such as heart disease and vascular disorders, lung cancer, oral cavity cancer, laryngeal cancer, ocular cancer, bronchitis, high blood pressure, impotence and pregnancy disorders and defects in the fetus”. In fact, smoking is hard to break and is rarely recognized by people as a bad habit. “Especially people who smoke to distract themselves from stress and emotional distress, it is more difficult to break away from this habit than smokers who do not have a background of depression” (Mewengkang, 2001).

Djarum 76 is one of the famous cigarettes in Indonesia. It was named Djarum 76 because the cigarettes brand was introduced in 1976. This product is sold in stretched packaging, two wide cigarettes, and ten long cigarettes. Meanwhile, the cigarette itself is rolled up in white paper. PT. Djarum is a cigarette company in Indonesia based in Kudus, Central Java, Indonesia. Djarum’s history begins when Oei Wie Gwan bought a small kretek business was named Djarum Gramophon in 1951, then the name was changed to Djarum. Oei started selling the kretek with the “Djarum” brand that turned out to be a success in the market. After the fire destroyed the company in 1963, shortly afterwards Oei die. Djarum again and modernized the equipment at the factory.

Some research of multimodal analysis in the advertisement has been done by several people. Savitri and Rosa (2019) in their journal entitled A study of multimodal analysis in smartphone advertisement. the study also carry out by Ayodeji Olowu and Susan Olajoke Akinkurolere (2015) in their journal entitled a multimodal discourse analysis of selected advertisement of malaria drugs. the research is also conducted by Chunyu Hu & Mengxi Luo (2016) in their journal entitled A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Tmall’s Double Eleven Advertisement.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Multimodal is a study of semiotics aspects as a study of signs in the society (Saussure, 1969: 16). Chandler (2007: 2) explains that semiotics involves a study not only about signs in daily conversation, but also about everything referring to the others. Moreover, the signs are figure, sound, gesture, and object. Bateman and Schmidt (2012: 28) use language terms (verbal and written), visual, acoustic, and place as the signs studied in semiotics. The signs is also called as Multimodal. A text said as multimodal text if the text has two or more semotics system. There are five semiotics system: (a) Linguistic, consists of words, generic structure, and verbal and written language grammatical; (b) Visual, consists of color, vector, the angle of moving and unmoving objects; (c) Audio, consists of volume, harmony and music rythm and sound effect; (d) Gesture, consists of move, speed, and the silent in face expression and body language; and (e) Location, consists of the position of the object„ direction, layout, and distance based on layout.

According to O’Halloran and Smith (in Sinar, 2012:133), multimodal analysis includes the analysis of all communications which have interaction and integration of texts based on two or more semiotics sources or as a communication media to reach the communicative function of the text. Simply, multimodal analysis emphasizes that verbal and non verbal communication media have important role to express meaning. Kress and Leeuwen (in Sinar, 2012: 132) state that reprentative and interactive meanings by image exist in analyse multimodal can be done by three system: (a) information value; (b) salience; and, (c) framing, exist. The theory Kress and Leeuwen (1996) are used in analyzing the aspects of visual text. To reveal the meaning in the message of advertisement.

Advertising (advertisement has a variety of purposes, among others, for „marketing‟ products in the form of ideas and materials. Goddard (1998: 3) said that in the process of marketing ideas or materials a cumulative effect will be produced in the long term. This effect, used to construct reality, is created by communicating verbal and visual language displayed in pictures, graphics, layouts, colors combined with sounds, words, phrases, clauses, sentences and other effects.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research uses descriptive qualitative method to analyze and elaborate the data based on Rakhmat (2005) and Mahsun (2007). Rakhmat (2005: 25) says that descriptive aims to collect the actual information in detail. Meanwhile, Mahsun (2007: 257) states that qualitative method focuses on the description, elaboration, and filteration of meaning and also the placement of the data to its context and often explain the data by words than numeric. Data analysed in this research are the words and sentences converted to written text of Djarum 76 advertisement of PT. Djarum from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOqcoJ7pXeU in consideration that the data is interesting and with short duration for an video electronic advertisement. The steps of data collection technique are by downloading the advertisement, reading and listening the text, checking the video verbally and visually, and identifying the data. Verbal texts transcribe to be written text. Descriptive analysis technique is used to obtain the result and the conclusion.

DISCUSSION/FINDINGS

The first Value Brand is from Djarum 76. Djarum 76 is one of the biggest and famous cogarette brand in Indonesia produced by PT. Djarum. Among the rows of commercial television videos, Djarum 76 often attracts attention by emphasizing the figure of Om Jin who is always considered bring the solution. Even though it is strange, Djarum 76 advertisements are easily remembered by the people of Indonesia. The picture covers substantial part of the image. The reasearch describes the analysis of advertisement based on the multimodal theory by Kress and Leeuwen (2006). the following are the five semiotic systems in Djarum 76 advertisement.

Linguistics Analysis

The language variety is informal used which meant to express the natural use of the language as in the daily life. The language in this advertisement also heard with the sundanese dialect. Orally, the verbal utterances in the commercial as follows: “saya beri tiga permintaan” “Aku mau pulang” “Sama” “Sepi rek” “haa aku mau mereka balek” hahaha.

There are three of written language in the commercial. the first one is “Djarum 76” showed as the last image mean much become the key point of what is being advertised, the second is “yang penting heppiii…” as tagline positioned at the right significantly portray supporting message. The product which can observe the entire of problem, the difficulty and the barrier by relax and “heppiii” and the last of written language in the commercial is “Merokok dapat menyebabkan kanker, serangan jantung, impotensi, gangguan kehamilan dan Janin”. As the last tagline to warn the custumer about the effect cause by smoking. The backsound and the utterances designed to support the commercial. There are backsounds which sounded as follow “76”, and Djarum..Djarum..Djarum..76…..

Visual Analysis

Visually, the advertisement portrays 33 second in process in experience the three young men to send them home and also return back to the first place. The advertisement of Djarum 76 created the commercial with a genie, the three young men, beach, magic lamp, twigs and wood.It uses motion images. It starts from the images of the three young men who were stranded on an island and found a magic lamp, then the genie came out of the lamp. the genie offered 3 requests to them. the two young men asked to return home but the last young man asked him to sent back his friends caused by he felt lonely. Djarum 76 exploited colors and view of the island. it showed the blue colour of the sea and the green colour of the forest. The focus of the message are the area of the beach, a goblin and the three of the young man. There is a painting that looks like Javanese custom carvings which are connotatively looks like clouds accompanying the sun.

Audio Analysis

There are two sound that support the commercial: “76…” the scene appear to initial the commercial whichcreflects the commercial of 76 is familiar to the consumer’s ears because the similar commercial has been presented in previous time. The last scene appear logo Djarum 76 and followed by the song “Djarum Djarum Djarum 76…” which label as the famous cigarette

Strenghtheness

The commercial illustrates that Djarum 76 is a cigarette for various groups and situations. this is reflected in the clothes of each different youth like the first young man wearing neat clothes that illustrates that he is an employee. the second young man dressed more casually which illustrates that his daily life does not work under the company. then the last man seen dressed like he was on vacation at the beach. Advertising can be impactful for many reasons, and humor can help drive brand loyalty and bring remembrance to consumers cognitively. There is humour quality that makes people interested to view the ad more than once.

Weakness

The ad does not focus on the superiority of the product. So that consumers’ attention is limited to the humor of advertisements that are served. So that so the short ad is not enough to make consumers extremely interested to the product. For the new consumers the ad is quite difficult to understand because it does not reflect the ciggarete in each video session.

CONCLUSION

One of the advertisement function is to promote and market the product. With the unique and best concept of the product advertisement can deliver the meaning and describe the product to the customers perfectly. Advertisement can change people.s perspective about the product. From the commertcial of Djarum 76 products we can conclude that they make the advertisement as unique and best concept as possible to describe the ciggarate is consumed by various groups and situations. Eventhough the superiority of the product is not conveyed. In the Djarum 76 advertisement, the multimodal construction successfully conveys and realizes the purpose of the ad—promoting the festival culture and trigger consumption. Based on the previous analysis, the research questions are hereby answered.

REFERENCES

1. Anstey, M and Bull, G. (2010). Helping Teachers to Explore Multimodal Texts: An electronic journal for leaders in Education. Ayodeji Olowu & Susan Olajoke Akinkurolere.2015. A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Selected Advertisement of Malaria Drugs. Nigeria
2. Bateman, J. a., & Schmidt, K.-H. (2012). Multimodal Film Analysis: How Films Mean, routledge Studies in Multimodality. london: routledge.
3. Chadler, Daniel. (2007). Semiotics: The Basics. 2nd Ed. London: Routledge.
4. Chunyu Hu & Mengxi Luo (2016). A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Tmall’s Double Eleven Advertisement. China
5. Cheong, YinYuen.(2004).”The construal of ldeational meaning in print advertisements”. Dalam Kay L. O’Halloran (Editor) Multimodal Discourse Analysis: Systemic Functional Perspectives. London: Continuum. Hal. 163 -195.
6. Halliday, M.A.K. (2004). Introduction to Functional Grammar. (Ed. By Matthiesen, C.) London: Printer. https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djarum_76
7. Kussoy, Meklandy Jhovfany. Bahaya Merokok Bagi Kesehatan. Sulawesi Utara : Universitas Klabat.
8. Maulydia Tamara Savitri & Rusdi Noor Rosa.2019. A study of multimodal analysys in smartphone advertisemen Mewengkang, R.S. (Ed). (2001). Jantung Kuat bernapas lega. Bandung: IPH.
9. Saussure, Ferdinand de. 1959. Course in General Linguistics (translated to Indonesia by Wade Baskin). New York: The Philosophical Library.
10. Sinar, T. S. (2012). Teori dan Analisis Wacana: Pendekatan Linguistik Sistemik Fungsional. Medan: Mitra.

A Semiotic Analysis On The “Anyway, You Didn’t Burn The Schlitz” Advertisement

Advertisements are used by marketing teams to promote their products and increase sales, but there is a tendency to use stereotyping. We see individuals classed together in groups according to their gender, race and age. Gender stereotyping has been extensively used to portray women as dependent on a man for his protection and provision, (Eisend, Dens & De 2019), shows that this gender stereotyping makes for successful advertising campaign, but does have a negative effect on society. This semiotic analysis will have a look at the denotation, connotation, main signs as well as the semiology of the colours used in the “Anyway, you didn’t burn the Schlitz” advert.

According to Seiler (2005), we discern the principles at work in the media text through a semiological analysis. However, in order to discuss the semiology, we first need to explain the advertisement denotatively. The first thing that one notices in the advertisement is that there is a man and a woman in the middle of the scene. She is crying, holding a handkerchief to her eyes, and he is comforting her. She is wearing a grey dress with a red and white striped apron and he is wearing a suit. There are yellow frilly curtains around the window. The window blinds are closed. There is a yellow table cloth on the table and it is set for two peoples, with cutlery for a two-course meal – a starter and a main. There are red napkins, and a round red tray that holds two bottles of Schlitz beer. There is a beer glasses at each setting. Behind the couple we can see a stove. There is a pot on the stove, with a red spiral stove plate that is still on, we can see that some food has spilt onto the hot plate and stove. The man is holding a frying pan that has smoke coming off of it. The copy of the advert is “There’s hope for any young bride who knows her man well enough to serve him Schlitz beer. For what man (or woman) can resist the taste of Schlitz Beer…a taste millions prefer to the taste of any other beer. No, we’re not just saying that. Here’s the simple proof: Schlitz tastes so good to so many people, it’s first in sales in the U.S.A.” Then there is a with a Schlitz logo and header that says “The Beer that made Milwaukee Famous”. Now that the reader has a picture in their mind of what the advertisement looks like, we can move on to having a look at the connotation of the piece.

According to Barthes (1964, as cited in Serban, 2002), at the first level of semiological analysis is the dissection. In this case, we are looking at the connotation. The advertising industry has long portrayed men and women in traditional roles, especially in the case of women who were depicted as lowly and substandard, with lower-ranking abilities and aspirations (Grau & Zotos, 2016), and completely reliant upon a man for protection (Zotos & Tsichla, 2014). Judging by the paper tear on the left-hand side of the image, this appears to be an advertisement from a woman’s magazine, as opposed to an advert from a newspaper, which confirms that the promoters designed the advert with the intention of persuading women that beer will make men happy. At the time when the advert was set, the 1950s, as the homemaker the women were the decision makers in the home with regards to groceries and perishable home provisions. We get the impression that she is a young newlywed who isn’t confident in her cooking skills, or in her role as a wife; and that her sole aim in life is to look after her husband. The woman, clearly upset, is holding a handkerchief up to her eyes in a manner that gives the impression that she is weak because she can’t control her emotions, especially in such a trivial matter as a burned dinner in the bigger picture of things. A burned dinner is generally not something to be so distressed about; unless one is afraid of the consequences. In other words, either they are poverty stricken, or the husband has a dangerous temper. The mise-en-scene of the advert does not imply either of these scenarios. She is looking up at him adoringly, in a posture that gives the impression of submission. The man is smiling as he waves his hand dismissively over the dinner table and on to the bottles of beer. His attitude implies that all it takes is a beer to keep a man in a good mood. It is made clear to us that even though his wife has spoiled dinner, the beer is immune to her lack of culinary expertise.

Semiotic signs are made up of a signifier and the signified, however the relationship between the two is based on an individual’s personal judgement and associations (Seiler, 2005). An example of signs in the advert is that the woman is wearing a red and white striped apron (the signifier), and her husband is wearing a suit (the signifier) which shows that he is the breadwinner (the signified), while she is the homemaker (the signified). The smoking pan (the signifier) reveals that the dinner is burnt (the signified). Depicted in this way, the advert gives the message that a lot of women were having trouble with burning the dinner, or even managing their homemaker duties. She has let her husband down. Does this devalue her? How is she going to become a mother and care for her family if she can’t successfully prepare a dinner for two?

At this point of the analysis we start the second operation of articulation (Barthes 1964, as cited in Serban, 2002) and examine the signs at a deeper level. Signs, in the context of semiology, can be in the form of an image, a word, an expression on a face, or even in portrayed in a colour. We see that yellow and red are the predominant colours in the advert. The colours used in this Schlitz advert are notable, and have been used for a reason. The effect and reactions that colours will tend to incite on the human subconscious can be powerful indeed, and can also predict the buying behaviour of a consumer (Aslam, 2006). People associate colours with pre-defined meanings (Kauppinen-Räisänen & Jauffret, 2018). For example, we tend to accept that yellow is cheery, frivolous and carefree. It is also the colour most usually associated with sunshine. Does this symbolise the honeymoon phase of a marriage? Is everything sunny and cheerful, but beneath the surface, issues are brewing as shown in the colour red, and smoking pan? Red is used symbolically to signify love, to get attention and signify danger, and red, used in the advert certainly seems to do all three. Also, worth noting, is that the round, red tray holding the beer looks just like a dinner plate. This is interesting because, due to the dinner being burned, the beer now replaces the meal, while the actual dinner plates that were going to be used for the meal, are a dull grey, the same grey as her dress and the chairs. This implies that the plates are not important because they will not be used. The white handkerchief is an interesting addition. A bride is often given a white handkerchief for her wedding day and a white lace or cotton handkerchief also signifies femininity. Not to be dismissed is the ideology in William Shakespeare’s Othello, where the handkerchief as a symbol of love and fidelity, was ultimately the cause of a tragedy (Tao, 2014). A white handkerchief or flag is also used as a universal signal to convey surrender. The use of colour by marketers is becoming an important semiotic sign, one that is worth making note of.

In conclusion, the semiology in the Schlitz advertisement confirms that in middle of the 20th century, gender stereotypes were used to sell products, and successfully as well. Although a text or a media piece will have different meanings, and each meaning is understood and interpreted differently by each individual according to their own life experiences (Barthes, 1964), the advertisement utilizes blatant examples of sexism that doesn’t take much effort at all to notice. This was quite obvious in what was observed of the connotations, signs and colour semiology in the advert. A modern-day glance at the Schlitz advertisement shrieks of gender inequality, and many people today will be astounded that it went to print. However, the lifestyle of the era that the advert was set in, demanded that women were the homemaker and were financially, socially and emotionally dependant on her husband. Women accepted that being a homemaker was their role in life, that their aspirations and dreams were to be sacrificed for the good of the family. They may even have been to classes, or read books on how to be the perfect housewife. Women thus, would probably have been amused by the advert, and perhaps even identified with it.

The Super Bowl As One Of The Biggest Advertising Platform

INTRODUCTION

The sole purpose of the business is to sell products and services for profit. Advertising helps businesses to make a profit, on the other hand, helps consumers choose which products and services to buy and the consumer to choose the most appropriate option. Today, the advertising industry has become a huge industry, offering a wide range of products and services. As a result, competition increases, and each business requires the best promotion of their products and services. This led to the development of a new advertising techniques and the rise in prices of today’s advertising agencies. The goal of an advertising campaign is to provide an opportunity to deliver the product to the right people by raising awareness about the product, its benefits. This is important for business success. One of the biggest advertising platforms is the Super Bowl. During the commercial break of a typical TV show, viewers tend to focus elsewhere, while the Super Bowl is different. The Super Bowl is a popular name in the National Football League (NFL) championship. It is the world’s most-watched sporting event every year, and in 2018 it aired in more than 170 countries, with an average of 104.3 million viewers. The advertisement is part of the show, and the Super Bowl ad takes 30 seconds to get a brand in the spotlight of more than 100 million people. The impact hit record highs, with brands paying $ 5.2 million per ad in the 2020 quarter. Super Bowl advertising prices have doubled in the last 10 years. Super Bowl ads have become a costly part of the game-like experience. From the beginning, several advertisements have been placed to promote the commercial idea of Super Bowl. For example, one of the most famous Apple’s 1984 ads won an award and helped make Apple the company it is today.

Super bowl advertisement and marketing strategies

Most of the time super bowl marketing/advertisement becomes as big as the NFL game. That’s the reason why there is so much opportunities for marketers to post their advertisement at super bowl. Its very hard to get that exceptionally large audience anywhere else except super bowl. An average cost of 30 seconds advertisement in super bowl cost around $5.6 million USD. Here are some ways that you can market your product during super bowl.

Make it simple but perfectly executed

There is no need to complicate the idea of your campaign. It only needs to be perfectly executed. Amazon’s Alexa Lost Her Voice was one of the good example of simple concept but really flawless timing, casting and filming. This suggests that from pre-launch of your campaign you need to ensure that every element flows smoothly and everything needs to be working perfectly.

Collaboration with right Influencers/celebrities

The collaboration with celebrities can be very beneficial of the super bowl advertisement as it draws more attention of the fans towards the campaign. Doritos advertisement campaign is a perfect example of working along with celebrities. And the amazon is another one. On YouTube alone those two campaigns combined has over 42 million views.

Merged promotion for Super bowl marketing campaigns

In this 21st century we can’t ignore role of social media in a success of any advertisement. People don’t expect marketers to stop at 30 to 60 seconds of quality content in an advertisement, they have to use more universal approach that combines both social and digital marketing campaigns, besides TV advertisements. Nowadays the trend is to make people curious by putting small teasers before the campaigns in YouTube or to start a conversation on Twitter or Facebook which leads to an engagement with people and might go viral even before an event.

Consideration of female fans as well

As we have seen in past as well, super bowl advertisements are more focused on men. As most of the fans used to be male but now the situation is changed and more and more women fans are watching super bowl in present time. So, it would be breakthrough as well as something new if advertisement focused on female fans could be made. It would be more successful advertisement and would reach to more bigger audience group.

Advertising activities on the digital era become very important to optimize the distribution of information about goods or services to consumers in a business activity. One of the advertisements that can be done is the use of both traditional and digital advertisements that can help marketing quickly and scalably. Advertising opportunities have expanded to varieties Internet formats such as display, search and online video ads, yet commercial television advertisement persists as the premier branding mechanism in the eyes of advertisers. Related to advertising and marketing topic, Super Bowl is the largest advertising event of the year especially in USA and Its very popular event that can reached a record up to 106.5 million people watched based on Super Bowl XLIV (Madden, L 2013,). This event has very high potential to create significant increases in “brand capital”. Also for the industry that wants to contribute to promoting their industry name on this event will be so much effective since it known the number of people who has interest and watched this event are very high. Furthermore, the brand cannot choose how many impressions it receives in each market despite substantive variations in the market in Super Bowl viewers based on NFL team performance and local preferences for both teams competing in one match (Hartmann, WR & Klapper, D 2014).

Commercial advertising is normally costly a lot, depends on the event or the commercial event that shows up on television based on rating of viewer. This can be the reason putting commercial ads on superbowl cost very high, Due the high interest of people watching this annual event are making so many of the huge company competed to put their name and advertise their product on this event, despite the cost to capturing that kind of mass audience is very high and it can be reached up to $2.5 million to $3 million to purchase just a 30-second ads on superbowl event XLIV (Flint 2010), but its worthy as every second of the ads show up will be seeing by millions of people at one time and it will definitely benefical .

How effective superbowl ads, doritos example

Superbowl is a huge platform where the National league football championship is held. As being a well-known platform, it has its own identity and due to this advertisement plays a very vital role in Superbowl. Every special thing has a pro and cons likewise Superbowl also has the advantage and disadvantage regrading advertising. As far as we have seen that Superbowl has lots of positive effect towards the advertising sector. Superbowl is seen by all around the world and has a huge audience so every company’s want its product to be advertise in the Superbowl so that the product will come to notice and which leads to brand recognition. The advertisement is just shown for short period of a time but the advertisement will get lots of love that after the match also people will still talk about the ad. this is really good platform for those company who are not in the big-name entities. After the brand recognition and the advertisement turn up on all the social media sites the video will gets viral and overall, the product will increase its sales. For an example Doritos, in 2020 February 2 the Doritos collaborate with hits song ‘OLD TOWN ROAD’ which was sung by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus. It was the top commercial videos watched by the viewer on the Sunday Superbowl LIV. After the Superbowl ad the Doritos experienced a 37% spike in online sales right after that. Although no matter how many people see the Superbowl but to spend 5 million dollars on single ad would be a really high cost for the company to spend. In spite for a small company due to its large charge for the ad the small company could not afford this kind of deal. Superbowl advertisement are always entertaining so that they also forget the key point to show that why the viewer should purchase that product.

Overall Superbowl is and will be the greatest platform for the marketing sector. It is a platform where the brand can recognize overnight.

Refrences

1. Hartmann, WR & Klapper, D 2014, ‘Do Superbowl Ads Affect Brand Share?’, Working Papers (Faculty) — Stanford Graduate School of Business, pp. 1–21, viewed 20 May 2020, .
2. Madden, L 2013, ‘Remember When a Super Bowl Ad Cost $37,500?’, Forbes.com, p. 36, viewed 20 May 2020, .
3. Quesenberry, KA & Coolsen, MK 2014, ‘What Makes a Super Bowl Ad Super? Five-Act Dramatic Form Affects Consumer Super Bowl Advertising Ratings’, Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 437–454, viewed 20 May 2020, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=98560564&site=ehost-live
4. Ad Army Group. 2020. Why Advertising Is Important In Today’s Economy – Ad Army Group. [online] Available at: [Accessed 20 May 2020].
5. 2020. [online] Available at: [Accessed 20 May 2020].
6. http://www.jkradvertising.com/pros-and-cons/
7. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-football-nfl-superbowl-advertising-idUSKBN1ZX2JO

Super Bowl Commercials: Trends With A Profit

We see advertisements all around us. They are on television, in magazines, on the Internet, all over social media and plastered up on large billboards everywhere. Ads are nothing new. Many of us have noticed them all of our lives and have just come to accept them, without realizing how effective ads really are and how advertisers use many subliminal techniques to get the advertisements to work on consumers. A television commercial is used to spark interest in a product or services, and even now with the growing interest in social media, without this influential and dominant form of advertisements, the majority of the companies and their respective products and services would not maximize their ability to reach various consumer bases. One of the biggest television platforms being the Super Bowl.

Watched by an average of 100 million people yearly, the Super Bowl is one of the most watched events in the U.S. and, as such, companies often attempt to capture the attention of the audience through a variety of entertaining and amusing commercials that are aired during the commercial breaks. But even with its high turnout the Superbowl is not the ideal ad space for all companies, especially with a 5 million dollar stake, and climbing. When pursuing this space companies need to consider things like budget, investment and turn out because you can have an amazing and engaging ad but that still might not prompt people to buy your product and while big brands like beer manufacturers can’t really go wrong because people will buy, the ads will pay for themselves, and social engagement might be the goal, but it might not be worth it for smaller brands.

Once past weighing the pros and cons of this 30 second, million dollar ad they move on to what their ad will be about. Who will be in it? Who are we targeting? What kind of tone will it have? Will it be at the beginning or end? Thing like this are essential because all companies have a budget and they need to make sure they make a quality commercial to get the most bang from their buck. With these ads companies tend to take risks and speak from the heart because that is what’s most effective along with knowing who you want the ad to reach and design it to appeal to them. Companies such as, Skittles and Doritos usually tend to lean on the fun and relevant side, which is great because no one wants to hear nagging from a commercial about snacks that are fun, while other companies, like Stella Artois and Chrysler can get away with taking a more serious and somber tone because their target audience are older and can understand heavier topics.

And although it’s unrealistic to expect someone to buy a car after watching a Super Bowl ad, some brands use this time to bring awareness and stand up for issues they believe in.

In 2018 and even in 2019, Coca Cola has released commercials preaching messages of diversity and inclusion. Here you see people and creatures of all sorts and in all different places and situations all drinking a coke, with the ending message being “Different is beautiful, and together is beautiful too.” Then in 2017, 84 Lumber, a brand that no one would expect having a commercial in the Super Bowl because of the slim probability of its revenue increasing, did have one, and a very powerful one at that. The company’s CEO, Maggie Hardy Magerko, explained that the commercial wasn’t aired to be controversial but to show that they’re a company of opportunity. In the video, called ‘The Journey Begins,’ a Mexican woman and her daughter are seen rising early for a long voyage. They pack their belongings, including personal photographs, and join other voyagers on a trek that appears to be a border crossing. The two cross fields, streams and railroad tracks, while traveling by truck, train and foot and camping by firelight. The rest aired on their website after being deemed too political.

At the end of the day, the Super Bowl and its commercials get the job done. It has the biggest audience, not even the royal weddings or the Olympics compare in viewer size! Everyone watches and/or talks about these ads and maybe the person watching won’t buy the product but in 30 seconds these companies make a lasting impression on them and will prompt them to spread the word.

Works Cited

1. Brown, Joel. “What Makes a Memorable Super Bowl Ad?” Boston University, 1 Feb. 2018, www.bu.edu/articles/2019/what-makes-a-memorable-super-bowl-ad/.
2. Calfas, Jennifer. “Here’s How Much It Costs to Buy a Commercial During Super Bowl 2019.” Money, 3 Feb. 2019, money.com/money/5633822/super-bowl-2019-commercial-ad-costs/.
3. Grabianowski, Ed. “How Super Bowl Commercials Work.” HowStuffWorks, HowStuffWorks, 9 Jan. 2012, entertainment.howstuffworks.com/super-bowl-commercial4.htm.
4. Morabito, Greg. “Coca-Cola’s New Super Bowl Commercial Draws Inspiration From Andy Warhol.” Eater, Eater, 28 Jan. 2019, www.eater.com/2019/1/28/18200891/coca-cola-super-bowl-commercial-2019.
5. Nittle, Nadra. “What Makes a Super Bowl Ad Successful? An Ad Exec Explains.” Vox, Vox, 3 Feb. 2019, www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/1/25/18197609/super-bowl-ads-commercials-doritos-sprint-skittles.
6. Payne, Marissa. “84 Lumber CEO: Super Bowl Ad Showing Trump’s Wall Wasn’t Intended to Be Political.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 7 Feb. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/02/04/company-re-tools-rejected-super-bowl-ad-but-you-can-still-see-the-original/.
7. Perez, Sarah. “Super Bowl LIII Set Streaming Records, While TV Viewership Saw Massive Drop.” TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 5 Feb. 2019, techcrunch.com/2019/02/05/super-bowl-liii-set-streaming-records-while-tv-viewership-saw-massive-drop/.
8. Wasserman, Todd. “Super Bowl Ad Effectiveness: Is the Spend Worth $5 Million?” Videa, 15 Jan. 2019, videa.tv/2019/01/super-bowl-ad-effectiveness-is-the-spend-worth-5-million/.

Digital Vs. TV Advertising

On the 26th August 1963, the BBC transmitted the first ever HD picture on TV. It is hard to believe how much all things have changed since then, including the way in which we advertise.

Traditionally, watching TV brought family and friends together like a social occasion. They would gather round a single TV set watching everything from the latest episode of Coronation Street to Saturday night game shows. Children would write their Christmas lists based on adverts they seen during the breaks, but that era is rapidly disappearing.

Watching TV on multiple devices in separate rooms has become the new norm. Only 23% of people opt to watch broadcastings on a TV as their first choice whilst 42% state their laptop and desktop is their favourite viewing device, smartphones follow with 13% watching whilst on the move.

It was only back in 2014 when 65% of people indicated they preferred watching shows on a TV set. The sharp decline of TV watching within recent years is due to a number of factors, such as the rise of video platforms such as YouTube and Netflix combined with the development of digital devices such as smartphones and tablets. As mobile devices have developed, people have moved away from traditional linear video viewing. On mobile alone, YouTube now reaches more 18-49 year olds than any network, broadcast or cable.

A number of companies use TV commercials to advertise their products and services to a mass audience of viewers. With the changes in the sector moving towards digital viewing, is traditional advertising still the best use of your budget?

87% of people state they check their emails, browse social media platforms, go to the bathroom or get a drink during the TV ads. Therefore, traditional TV ads may no longer be the best use of your marketing budget and it may be beneficial to consider digital advertising.

Almost half of 18 to 24 year olds have already moved to other platforms such as YouTube to view TV programmes and videos within the past five years. In 2018, the number of monthly viewers watching linear TV dropped from 76 hours and 55 minutes to 64 hours and 21 minutes.

YouTube is the second most-used search engine in the world, it has a user base of 1.3 billion and counting with almost 5 billion videos viewed each day therefore giving your ads a larger reach in compassion to TV advertising.

Every year the number of people using social media increases as a result, people are opting to scroll their platforms as a form of past time rather than watching TV. The average internet user spends 15minutes longer each day on social media than they do watching tv. This highlights that traditional advertising alone no longer offers the widest reach and the importance of social advertising.

Whilst TV is still a successful way to deliver mass reach, businesses need to consider where people are engaged and watching, therefore at times a media blend is best. If your target demographic is 18-49 years olds, we recommend YouTube as the best platform to advertise your products to get the best ROI in comparison to traditional TV advertising. If your target audience is older than 45 years old supplementing your TV ads with complimentary digital ones, will reach a wider audience making the best use of your budgets. If you would like to find out more on how Digital advertising could help your business get in touch with us today.

A Multimodal Analysis Study In Smartphone Billboards Advertisement

Abstract

This research aims to analyze multimodal in Apple smartphones billboards advertisements. The multimodal theory by Kress and van Leeuwen and generic structure analysis theory by Cheong were applied to analyze this research. The method used in this research was a descriptive research method. The data in this research were images uploaded by photographers of Apple’s smartphone billboards advertisements. The source data of this research was obtained from Google.com. The finding of this research obtained that the semiotic systems in Apple’s smartphone billboards advertisements are in harmony and complete each other. The analysis also shows that there are five generic structures found in this advertisement video; lead, display, announcement, emblem, call and visit. In the intervening time, the other structures (tag and enhancer) are not found in this advertisement.

Introduction

Nowadays, smartphones’ companies tend to use visual aids more than texts in their advertisements. The use of visual aids attracts the attention of the consumers in the targeted society. The means of advertising developed over the decades. People used to read advertisements in newspapers and magazines. Now with the technology evolution we witnessed, we see the advertisements on TVs, our smartphones, tablets, computers, and billboards. The advertising companies try to do their best to convey meaning through the ads they make. Companies spend more money on advertising than they do on manufacturing their products. The competition never stops when it comes to smartphones’ companies. This study will focus on studying the advertisements of Apple’s billboards because of the reach; which refers to the total number of different people or households exposed, at least once, to a medium during a given period. Advertisements can be studied from different linguistics perspectives. They can be analyzed from sociolinguistics, pragmatics, morphology, and discourse analysis perspectives. In this research, the advertisements had been analyzed from discourse analysis perspective by using multimodal approach which is related to verbal and visual elements in advertisements. Also, the research focuses on multimodal systems based on Cheong’s generic structure analysis and Kress and Leeuwen’s multimodal theory. This study used the semiotic approaches as a tool to justify how visual advertisements that contain semiotic systems are studied. It is assumed that the use of semiotic systems in smartphones’ advertisements is an easy way to have the consumer making a purchase of a product.

Literature Review

Advertising and Smartphones’ advertisements

According to Caton (2013), advertising is a way of grabbing the consumer’s attention to make a purchase of a certain product. Similarly, Afroz (2013), demonstrated in his article that through advertising, the consumer is informed about available products or services and about the ways in which they may meet his/her needs. Moreover, Russel (2013) in Commercial Advertising, explained that advertising as a definite business may be more conveniently said to have been born when merchants and manufacturers first began to employ someone else to promote their sales. Advertisements are composed of several elements that play a role in creating an interaction between the consumer and the advertised product according to Caton (2013). Overtime, advertisements developed and started taking new forms. Billboards, magazines, and newspapers were the first generation of advertisements. With the evolution of technology, Radio and TV advertisements became prevalent methods of advertising. Recently, the internet has emerged as a new type of media advertising according to Park, Shenoy, and Salvendy (2008). Mobile advertising is defined by The Mobile Marketing Associations as “a form of advertising that transmits advertisement messages to users through mobile phones or other wireless communication devices” Chen and Hsieh (2012). Smartphones are different from standard mobile phones in terms of the operating system, they have been attracting a substantial number of users and have become an apparent necessity in people’s lives. People use smartphones for social networking purposes, for features and functions they offer like reading e-books, answering e-mails, sending messages, and playing games. Smartphone advertisements play an increasing role in the decision-making process in supporting consumer purchases (Kim & Han, 2014). Advertisements on smartphones have become more urbane, adapting to device screens that are not appropriate for showing traditional online advertising. However, little is known about the meaning behind the semiotic tools used in the smartphones’ billboards advertisements.

Multimodality

Recently, there are several studies that have been done on multimodal. Starting with the definition, multimodal discourse analysis considers how texts draw on modes of communication such as images, film, video, and sound in combination with words to make meaning. When it comes to multimodal texts, the meanings of these texts can be realized visually in how the images convey aspects of the real world Paltridge (2012). Multimodality mainly focuses on the study of the interrelationships between various communicative modes, no matter whether they are visual or auditory, words or image according to Liu (2013). It’s believed that images can serve as language since they are organized in the same way that language is. It’s also believed that language is based on convention and is, therefore, less polysemous than images according to Ventola, Charles, and Kaltenbacher (2004). Moreover, they studied the relationships between language and images in printed media and demonstrated how language and images can be distinguished from one another looking at their semiotic structure, their semantic characteristics and the cognitive operations they typically entail. Also, they shed light on the relationship between language and visuals. Rosa (2014) analyzed Sunsilk Nutrient Sampo Ginseng advertisement by using semiotic approach which focuses on multimodal system proposed by Cheong (2004). In the same way, Muslimah (2015) analyzed Baby Skin of Maybelline New York advertisement by using semiotic approach which focuses on verbal and visual elements in advertisement by using Cheong and Royce’s theory. The author concluded that visual images and verbal texts in the advertisements interact each other to make meaning and that the aim of cooperation between them is to deliver the message of the advertisements to the customers. Similarly, Savitri and Rosa (2019) analyzed multimodal in Samsung Galaxy S9 audiovisual advertisement based on the systemic functional linguistics theory by Halliday (2004), multimodal theory by Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) and generic structure analysis theory by Cheong (2004). In their findings, Savitri and Rosa concluded that every semiotic system; linguistic, visual, gesture, audio and location in the ads they studied have the same potential in conveying meaning. Nowadays, the means of adverting developed where we started to read articles on the innovative ways of advertising and how they can be analyzed through the decoding of the message behind the semiotic elements used in these ads. For instance, Savitri and Rosa (2019) discussed the meanings in the Samsung Galaxy S9 promotion video that was presented in one of Samsung’s conferences. Meanwhile, this research will analyze the semiotic systems found in advertisement by using Kress and van Leeuwen’s multimodal theory and Cheong’s generic structure.

Semiotics in Advertisements

According to Bignell (2002), ‘Semiotics’ (or semiology) is one of the most powerful and influential ways of thinking about media. Semiotics or semiology is derived from the ancient Greek word ‘semeion’, which means ‘sign’. Semiotics is a way of analyzing meanings by examining the signs such as words, font, framing, etc. which convey meaning. In advertising, semiotics serve as signs and symbols that are associated with displays, themes, symbols, colors, images, verbal announcements, sign language. These symbolic terms connect the customers to their products. It is important to understand how consumers interpret the information quoted in an advertisement. Scholars have done researches on the effect of semiotics on consumers. For instance, Paltridge (2012) believes that there is a social relationship between the image and the viewer. He suggested that for example, a horizontal image suggests involvement as the viewer is on the same level as the subject of the image and a high angle shot might suggest superiority and a low angle shot may suggest respect. Moreover, Parsa (2014) studied visual semiotics in order to interpret still images by using semiotic approaches. Kress and van Leeuween (2006) introduced visual code or grammar of visual design. They believe that verbal structures and visual structures can be used to express meanings drawn from common cultural sources. Also, they assume that image, color, music, typography and other visual modes are similar to language and they can at the same time accomplish and comprehend the three broad communicative metafunctions as language does. In their view, image and other visual modes can represent objects and their relations outside the representational system. There are many ideational choices available for visual sign-making in visual communication. They stated that “image and other visual modes have the capacity to form texts, complexes of signs which internally cohere with each other and externally with the context in and for which they were produced”. Besides, image and other visual modes can represent a particular social relation between the producer, the viewer and the item represented. Meanwhile, the researcher will study semiotics in the smartphones’ billboards advertisements based on the multimodal theories provided by Kress and van Leeuwen, and Cheong to interpret the meanings of these semiotics.

Research Method

This research used descriptive method because the researcher analyzed the data descriptively. The result was in a form of explanation. The multimodal analysis in this research was described by using semiotic approach in Apple’s billboards advertisements. The data in this study were images of Apple’s billboards advertisements uploaded by photographers and found on Google.com. In getting the data, the researcher downloaded pictures of Apple’s billboards advertisements consisting of image, written text and logo brands. After that, the researcher identified and transcribed the information on texts and visuals found in the billboards’ advertisements. These advertisements were analyzed based on the multimodal theory by Kress and Leeuwen (2001), systemic functional linguistic theory by Halliday Matthiessen (2004), and generic structure theory by Cheong (2004).

Conclusion and Suggestions

It can be concluded that the semiotic systems; visual, gesture, and location based on the results of the analysis in Apple’s billboards advertisements have the same potential in conveying meaning. The researcher’s analysis shows that the discussed semiotic systems found in the advertisements are in harmony and complete each other. Moreover, it shows that the discussed semiotic systems put emphasis on the characteristics of the products and the brand to make them unique to the audience. Furthermore, five generic structures could be found in the billboards’ advertisements; lead, display, announcement, emblem, call and visit. Based on the analysis, it concluded that the goals of the billboards’ advertisements are to attract the consumer’s attention and interest to make a purchase of the advertised product. This study analyzed multimodal analysis in Apple billboards’ advertisements in order to see how semiotic systems convey meaning. In this study, the researcher collected 9 Apple billboards’ advertisements. The researcher then analyzed the meaning of the billboard’s advertisements through multimodal analysis and metafunctions. Thus, the researcher suggested the future researcher will examine another sample of different advertisements and to use mixed method to measure the consumer’s behavior toward making a purchase of a product based on his perception of the semiotic tools in the billboard’s advertisements. The result of this study is still in general analysis. it is suggested to the future researcher to use this study as a reference to develop a different multimodal analysis study.

How Is Inappropriate Language Used In Adverts

For my written task I will be talking about the language and taboo and the inappropriate usage of language in advertisements and how those advertisements affect people in general. In my opinion I think that there are many advertisements that influences us either in a good way or in a bad way, I think that advertisements have a high power of influencing the society and sometimes it is good but other times it is bad. Young aged people usually get easily influenced by advertisements as they are not thinking deep enough or do things just out of curiosity. I think that having inappropriate taboo language makes this worse for our generation because not only teenagers get influenced by this, it’s the smaller children like the age of 5-10 year olds that get influenced so quickly because they are so curious about everything. Once they get influenced by these words they learn so quickly as they are young in age.

Inappropriate language has been used in many advertisements in America, for example this advertisement that I have shown. It has an inappropriate form of addressing a problem, the problem that it is addressing is a problem about feminism and gender inequality. As I have done my research about this topic of advertisements I have also came to a conclusion in which game advertisements have the most bad/ inappropriate language compared to other companies that have advertisements of their own.

There are also many fashion industries that have inappropriate language/ way of showing racism. In my opinion I think that this is not a good thing as fashion industries gain a lot of attention and many customers worldwide, so having these kinds of adverts affect a lot of people. They may get offended and that also may lead to the fashion industry having a decline in the customers and also the profit that the industry has/ business. There are of course many industries that have adverts that are problematic or they are inappropriate towards some areas of the audience that is viewing the advertisement or product.

As I have said, they obviously gain/ attract attention of medias, celebrities, people in general from all over the world and they make this problem a huge deal than it was or sometimes this is a good thing because there are problems that are undercover, that are not a big deal to the society but should be talked about in the society. One example is this dunkin donut advertisement where it is very racist, where the woman is covered in charcoal in which I think is a racist act towards the ‘black’ people.

Impacts Of Advertising On Indian Values And Culture

Introduction

To understand or analyse the impacts of advertising, we must first understand what advertising essentially means for the society.The term advertising simply put can be defined or explained as a tool or means to inform and persuade the audience and/or customers of the product or service offered to meet and/or satisfy their needs.It is said with great power comes the fear of misuse, advertising is also one such power, that comes with both good and bad, thus the effects or impacts of advertising on the society are seen prevailing in both the forms positive as well as negative. It remains in most cases however largely subjective unless there’s an involvement of facts that were stated or claimed otherwise.You see, advertising believe it or not can be accepted as a form of art, for no other reason but that advertising applies the use of art to promote services and product.

To quote Plato, “Art is powerful, and therefore dangerous.” Any and every form of art, all of art moves people, powerfully.Poetry, theatre, music, paintings, dance all evoke and stir up extremely strong emotions.They remain as an aware of or an unaware of constant influence on the behaviours, lifestyle, ideologies and even the character and intellect of people.Thus it is a given that advertisements largely influences the mass audience or the preceptors.

Advertising has existed since the beginning of time, only in less developed forms, for example the mere use of simple methods of communication, some prevail today as well, like the hawkers or vendors biding against one anther louder each time narrating their own jingles with facts and schemes or in the form of bhopus or whistles or bells like that of an ice-cream truck or the dhaar wala.These methods of advertising or promotions are largely different from the traditional bookish advertising, but they did and in certain positions still do work to grab attention and promoting products and services.

Advertising being a medium oriented communication to or for the society, according to changes in the medium and technological advancements, it has updated itself. The growth of industrialisation and entrepreneurship has lead to a significant growth and need of advertising industry. Advertising as an industry is subjected to moderations and advancements depending on innovations and discovery.Simply put, it is an industry that is subjected to change from time to time according to the discovery of new mediums and platforms to reach and communicate to or with the end consumer or the mass audience.

Talking about the core purpose of this paper, how media affects or the impacts of advertising on the society. Like any other form of art, advertising is also subjected to the perception of the viewer that absorbs the data being presented to him. Generalising and talking about the effect of advertising on society arguments can be made on a number of factors, negatively as sometimes the claims made might be false in reality, they could be deceptive and misleading, possibility of being misinterpreted, other times as it helps boost monopoly or aids price rise, creating a false need of a product or service. Positively, as creators of change, creating awareness, encouraging healthy competition, generation of employment, enhancing creativity and out of the box thinking.

Indian Culture & Advertising

India is a culturally rich country and has always been deeply immersed and drenched in traditions and values.As geographically vast the country is, the diverse the people are. The people of the country follow different practises, have different faiths, eat different food, speak different languages however the temperament of the masses remains rooted, unique and most importantly similar throughout the nation.The core concepts or fundamentals of the Indian culture are honesty, modesty, adaptability, pride, innovativeness, light-heartedness and of course unity. Religious beliefs play an important role in culture, the core values of religions across the country are more or less similar.Thus the core values across the boundaries of the states are more or less at the core the same.

Advertising is a tool that is key to every business enterprise to succeed and establish themselves in the modern world.Advertising not only helps business tap or reach the existing markets but also helps expanding the market. Advertising plays a vital role in creating or evoking a sentimental attachment or stirring up an emotion towards the brand, product or service in the minds of the audience that makes the market or the consumers. India has one of the fastest growing advertising industries in the world. Television in India remains the most booming and ever-lasting platform or form of advertising for ads among the traditional means and forms of advertising. The rise of this Industry reflects the country’s rapid transformation.

Impacts of Advertising

Advertising is a power and with great power comes greater responsibility. The advertising industry today is aware of the influential strengths of their industry on the local masses. Advertising though a boon and oxygen to the lives of business plays a lot of tricks that may or may not have fruitful impacts on the society.

Research shows that modern advertising seems to be encouraging the concepts of spending more, saving less, borrowing more, and consuming larger or greater quantities of material goods.Promoting concepts of pilling debts and borrowed loans to buy or purchase material goods or utilize luxury services that may or may not be essentially of greater magnitude or need.

Values are also an aspect that has seen a deal of effects and impacts by advertising. Through dramas and stories relating to modern times with a slight change for better or for worse, that reflect the community or society at a certain decree, advertising promotes the ‘normalising culture.’ Now, this works two ways, normalising the right things are extremely important. Normalising the period and pads through ads that cast lead actors like Akshay Kumar, work for the betterment of the community.While on the other hand, an advertising campaign that promotes fairness or lighter skin tone being true confidence and attractive over dusky skin tones gives out wrong and incorrect moral message when we as a country have such rich diversity, having almost every type and shade of colour, have grown up united.

Advertising campaigns like Jaago grahak Jaago, and Do boond zindagi ke naam – the polio campaign have created lasting impacts for bringing about change and spreading awareness about matters of great magnitude and importance. Advertising not only spreads awareness but also is are supposed to be a reliable source of information.

Monetising the deeply rooted values of togetherness by depiction of sentimentally driven advertisements like the ICICI life insurance campaigns by emotionally targeting their consumers to evoke the feelings of need of security for the family as an imperative responsibility. Such campaigns monetise by emotionally targeting the soft family values that prevail across the society and arouse the consciousness of the consumer.

Portrayals of heavy stereotypes in the advertising industry tends to mould the society further more in those specific directions. For example the depiction of women restricted to or confined in the kitchen or the four walls of the house, root the wrong traditions of women being treated wrongly or even the portrayal of women in the J.K Cement advertisement, showing a women in a bikini, now what does a women in a bikini have to do with cement? A violation of dignity and respect is what I believe it to be, while some people might enjoy this.

Westernising and conflicts arising there after are common domino effects witnessed in the advertising industry. Certain ads that westernise the community to negatives extents such that they contradict to the existing values of the Indian traditional system create multiple backlashes and also influence the young naive minds to follow and adapt to western cultures entirely. While they also help curb the traditions that should have never existed in the first place and that is a positive difference.

The advertising industry has realised the potential and nature of the market, they know the thought process and psychology of their audience, to manipulate and hit the write emotion and points to hit, and after taping the market, how to appropriately follow them to deliver them such that it leaves a direct and lasting impact on the mass audience. Indians are governed by their emotions, even our practical and logical reasonings and states have an emotional influence.

Some survey helped me understand that advertisements also generate or arouse in the minds of the masses a superficial need of a product. Simply put, there was created a need, for a product that is not in reality a need perse. Such manipulation, often leads to people purchasing unnecessary goods and service just for the sake of it.

Some surveys also saw the participants making references to the jingles or slogans of the brand or product and service when asked why were they purchasing certain products.

Festivities are of extreme importance, generally, in our country.Every household may not be hosting an extravagant celebration but all in all every citizen has their spirits high as a whole.

Creating ad campaigns around topics and subjects of festivities, influences the mass audience. Such campaigns largely engage values, traditions and culture depicting values of togetherness, sharing and love.Campaigns like Cadnury’s kuch meetha hojaye, have had fruitful and positive impacts on the society and community.

The recent case of the tanishq advertisement, that portrayed a united front, and the beauty of a cross culture marriage, we saw the brand withdrawing the ad from all social media platforms due to the fear or already being the recipients of cruel backlash.When in reality, that advertisement was nothing but peaceful and beared a vital positive message that today’s society needs to hear. Despite the imperative and strikingly obvious reasons as to why the ad must be or ought to be aired back on all platforms, it is not, and that is because of a certain group of people. My point being advertisements have a power to influence the mass audience however, sometimes the mass audience impacts advertising.

Conclusion

Advertising holds great power. It is a form of art, and art is powerful, thus influential. The indian audience and consumer base is highly emotional and value centric, and thus comparatively easy to mold Advertising has diverse effects on the society and its values both negative and positive.

Advertising is a tool that is key to every business enterprise to succeed and establish themselves in the modern world.Modern advertising seems to be encouraging the concepts of spending more, saving less, borrowing more, and consuming larger or greater quantities of material goods.

The advertising industry has a large scope and are aware of their potential and nature of the market.Advertising campaigns like Jaago grahak Jaago, and Do boond zindagi ke naam – the polio campaign have created lasting impacts for bringing about change and spreading awareness about matters of great magnitude and importance.To conclude, I would like to state and acknowledge that my research has led me to conclude that advertising has a heavy influence of the mass audience in ways more that one. Advertising influences and leaves impacts larger than just promoting a product to satisfy the needs of the consumer.

Content shown plays a tricky role, since it is a form of art,it is largely subjective, more often than not you’ll find groups of people feel certain discomfort from a particular advertisement while the mass population feels comfortable and in fact, might even enjoy that particular campaign or set of advertisements. Advertisement is a need that has been a part and parcel of social life ever since the beginning of time and thus, it is a given that advertising influences and has a significant impact on the mass audience, some create an impact larger than the other, some for the better and some otherwise.Advertising is a industry with humongous and incomparable potential, like any and every form of media, advertising done right can do wonders.