What is connotation and myth ? How semiotic systems effect human behaviour?
Connotation is the term Barthes uses to describe one of the three ways in which signs work in the second order of signification. It describes the interaction that occurs when the sign meets the feelings or emotions of the users and the values of their culture. The principle of myth is that it transforms history into nature. Signs and codes are generated by myths and in turn serve to maintain them. Myths can be seen as extended metaphors. Like metaphors, myths help us to make sense of our experiences within a culture(Lakoff & Johnson 1980, 185-6).They express and serve to organize shared ways of conceptualizing something within a culture.
How semiotic systems in advertising effect us ? Advertisers attempt to attach products to cultural myth within our society. By using semiotic analysis we are able to identify the attempts to link to these myths. It helps us understand how products are linked to these cultural myths and enables us to more easily identify the advertisers target market. It gives viewers another tool in avoiding consumerism by seeing that in advertising " the hard sell" has been replaced by a more defuse range of functions.
For example :
This is an advertisement for Extreme Polo Sport.
This is a fragrance which is designed to be strongly reflective of masculinity. Although this advert appears to be simple, its connotative meanings allow our interpretation of it to be a pragmatic one, in that its signifiers have particular relevance with regards to the context of the advert. One such group of signifiers is the advertisement's colours, it consists of a bold, aggressive colour scheme of black) white, red and dark blue; and together with the silvery, metallic appearance of the product, this colour scheme serves as a significant group of signifiers which attribute the brand with the same sense of masculinity which is projected by the subject. Hence, the role and importance of this colour scheme in shows that these colours are part of an organised system of signifiers who form significant cultural and aesthetic codes.The aesthetic code which implies that red, black and silver, are masculine colours.
The interaction that occurs when the sign meets the feelings or emotions of the users and the values of their culture.
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ReplyDeleteSemiotics as the key to human knowledge and as to be identified or at least to be closely linked to a new science of logic.
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