The flyer above is designed to advertise an 80s themed party at “The Haunt” in Brighton. This short essay will examine and explain its key features as practical examples of the language used in advertising.

Advertisements are usually constructed using signs, representing things or ideas, and written texts. Any message, any meaning, can only be communicated through the sign system that comprehends signifier, the actual look of the sign, and signified, the concepts and ideas understood through that sign (O’Shaughnessy, Stadler and Casey, 2016). In our mediated world, advertisements are decidedly visual expressions of culture and society (Page, 2006). Due to the differences within everyone’s personal experience, advertisements can be “polysemic” and carry different meanings depending on the reader. Therefore, the meanings of signs and texts in the language of advertising are often constructed relying on the general knowledge of the society, a process called “intertextuality”.

O’Shaughnessy, Stadler and Casey (2016) explain how intertextuality is defined as the act of knowingly borrowing and referring to other texts, very often from popular culture, in order to interpret another text. In the case of the flyer, the text I am referring to, to advertise the party, is a line from the lyrics of the famous song “Footloose” from the homonym 1984 film. The movie has become so popular that its songs are considered the hymns of the 80s and the disco culture of those years. Thus, using the line “Kick off the Sunday shoes” has a strong connotational impact on the reader, who is brought to associate the advertised party with the remembrance of the movie’s environment and style.

“Association” is, indeed, one of the techniques that Prelipceanu (2013) consider as very powerful in what she defines as “the language of persuasion”. According to the author, the use of os association to connect a product or a service with something already liked by the target customer can have a very strong emotional transfer with feelings such as nostalgia.

The theme of the movie on the flyer is reinforced by the use of bright neon colours on a background that resembles a disco ball, which gives an idea of what the party would be like. In a smaller size, the information about the date and time and the logo of the club act as “anchorage”, a caption that limits polysemy by articulating the preferred meaning of the text (Barthes, 1977). Specifically for the flyer, the logo specifies that it is a party that is being advertised and not something else.

It could be argued, in conclusion, that the features described above are persuasive and could induce customers to act unconsciously. That would be a valid argument since very often consumers value products not as simple items, but as tokens of happiness, love and better lives (Prelipceanu, 2013). However, it is up to every person to question everything they see and it is up to every advertiser to make responsible choices in what messages it is right to transmit.

References

• Barthes, R. & Heath, S. (1977) Image, music, text: essays. London: Fontana Press.
• O’Shaughnessy, M., Stadler, J. & Casey, S. (2016) Media & society (6th edn.). Australia: Oxford University Press.
• Page, J.T. (2006) “Myth and Photography in Advertising: A Semiotic Analysis”, Visual Communication Quarterly, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 90-109.
• PRELIPCEANU, C. (2013) “ADVERTISING AND LANGUAGE MANIPULATION”, Diversitate si Identitate Culturala in Europa, vol. 10/2, no. 2013, pp. 247-254.

Vogue’s 100 years issue

This short essay will examine the cover of the Vogue’s 100 years anniversary issue which featured HRH The Duchess of Cambridge. The semiotic analysis will, at first, explore the signifiers and all the denotative elements and then move on onto the connotative meanings that are intended to the readers.

O’Shaughnessy, Stadler & Casey (2016) define semiology as the science of signs and the idea that all communication is based on them, through certain rules and structures. One important distinction that needs to be done is the relationship between the two sides of a sign: the signifier and the signified. The first is the appearance of the sign while the second, perhaps the most important, is the cultural value and the associated meanings of the sign. In a magazine cover, for example, the signifiers would be the photography techniques used, the font and sizes of the texts and the general appearance whereas the signifieds would be all the messages that are transmitted to the readers through those means.

Signifier and signified also represent the two levels of meaning transmitted by the signs: denotation and connotation. A sign’s denotation is the purely descriptive analysis of it, on a value-free level, but its connotation refers to the set of values and emotions the readers associate with it (ibid). McLoughlin (2000) argues that connotative and denotative elements are equally important as they both convey information about the type of magazine one is reading.

In the specific case of the cover above, the first noticeable factors are the code and conventions of magazines’ language. These are standardised methods of communicating meaning and organising signs, such as the font and the size of the title and the subtitle, and where they are positioned (O’Shaughnessy, Stadler & Casey, 2016). In the first subtitle, The Duchess is addressed by her formal title of Her Royal Highness (HRH) while the second one specifies the recurrence of the anniversary. The picture chosen for the cover is a very bright one where the Duchess, the main focus point, is smiling genuinely in what seems to be a rural and natural setting in the blurred background. She is wearing a white shirt, a leather jacket and a hat that recalls the whole environment, and she is lying towards the reader while crossing her hands and showing the wedding ring on her finger. The colours are simple and neutral shades of yellow and brown that perfectly fit the Duchess’ colours, and the brightness is given by her broad smile and the warm sun that hits her from the left as the camera angle is frontal.

Probably the message behind this cover is one of authenticity since the magazine is portraying an institutional figure and everything, from the colours to the font, suggest that idea of balance and grace. However, the most remarkable element in the picture is the very visible wedding ring which reminds us of the values of the royal family but also makes a statement on the power of the monarchy, that has been stable for a long time through difficulties and changes, just as Vogue has been the leading fashion magazine for a hundred years. It could be argued that it is a case of metonymy which is, as O’Sullivan (1994) defined it, when a single element shows parts of the implied whole meaning. Accordingly, the choice itself of the Duchess on the 100 years issue’s cover may be related to the timeless elegance the magazine is trying to transmit.

References

• McLoughlin, L. (2000) The language of magazines. London: Routledge.
• O’Shaughnessy, M., Stadler, J. & Casey, S. (2016) Media & society (6th edn.). Australia: Oxford University Press.
• O’Sullivan, T. (1994) Key concepts in communication and cultural studies (2nd edn) London; New York: Routledge.

It’s fire by the parliament as an incident causes 5 victims and over 10 injuries.

It was just past 5pm yesterday when a big roar interrupted the busy London life near the Parliament House. “5  innocent people lost their lives and almost 15 were injured in what seems to be a gas malfunction”- declared the Mayor of London’s office earlier this morning, expressing their condolences to the families of the victims. Emergency services worked hard together with the police to restore the street from the total chaos and investigations have now started to assess what were the actual causes of this tragedy while the PM reassures it was not a case of terrorism.

Comment:

The language used wants to be quite straightforward and objective recounting the facts of the incident. Citing the Mayor, the Police and the PM is a way of communicating safety and control over what happened so that the services come across as efficient. Since there were some victims I used a reference to their families to show support and care towards this delicate topic. The last part is a reference to the previous terroristic attacks that happened in Europe and in London in particular, since this incident was not related to a terrorists’ group but it also expresses disagreement with the Mayor that defined the victims “innocent”, almost insinuating a criminal involvement.

Welcome to your brand new blog at University of Brighton Blog Network.

To get started, simply log in, edit or delete this post and check out all the other options available to you.

For assistance, visit our comprehensive support site and check out our Edublogs User Guide guide.

You can also subscribe to our brilliant free publication, The Edublogger, which is jammed with helpful tips, ideas and more.