Semiotics and Advertising

Semiotics is a huge part of advertising, you probably have seen an advertisement using semiotics and didn't even realize it. Semiotics is the usage of images and or objects to create an association of an adjective with something else completely. To show how common place it is, I just opened up a magazine I had lying on a desk in my room and flipped to the first advertisement I could find and it was, of course, using semiotics.

 

In this print advertisement we see this relatively young Asian girl who more or less looks like an ninja. She is not like what a traditional ninja looks like of course, she has brightly a brightly colored mask and gloves. Along with this she's wearing a trendy modern jacket and watch. With her hands she holds a lollipop, which is contrasted by the Japanese sword across her back. Underneath her it shows a Honda Civic Si Coupe shining and looking extremely clean.

Right away we can understand that the girl represents uniqueness and overall coolness. This is especially enhanced by the fact that she looks like a ninja, and of course we all know that ninjas are the coolest. Yet none of the whole 'silent and hidden in the dark assassin' stuff comes in, simply the coolness factor. This is because of the fact that while she looks like a ninja, at the same she totally does not. She is far more colorful, expressive, modern, and trendy than an actual ninja. So we think that she is a very unique individual who breaks away from the stereotype of what ninjas are. Thus we come to think of the Honda Civic as all these things, that it is unique, cool, and trendy.

Another example of semiotics comes from one of my favorite commercials

In this commercial people inside of a library being to argue over the question of what the best part of an Oreo is, the cookie or the cream? This question over the Oreo eventually leads to everyone fighting and getting so crazy that the police and fire department have to come in. 

The big thing about this commercial was the fact that people were fighting over a question regarding Oreos. This is to show that Oreos are so good, that people will fight like crazy over the idea of what makes them so good. The humor that gets added is the fact that the whole time everyone is fighting, they're whispering because they're still inside of a library. This shows the idea that Oreos are a topic that people discuss at the most random times. The humor also shows that Oreos are a fun brand to have. Overall this commercial associates the facts that Oreos are amazingly tasty and that they are a humorous and fun brand.

Semiotics even has a place with outdoor advertising.

This bench is pretty much a Kit Kat bar you can sit on, it resembles it pretty well. A bench is a very common place thing in a public space, something that we usually come to in order to rest and take a break. We think of benches as places we can rest and so we come to associate this fact with Kit Kat. It works even better for them since Kit Kat's slogan is have a break. On top of this we come think of how fun Kit Kat is, since it's a bench that looks like a gigantic Kit Kat. So we associate the idea of every time we take a break, it is time for a Kit Kat and also that this brand is a very fun one.