How to Analyze an Advertisement Essay

Theres more to denotes message than meets the casual eye. An effective ad, like other forms of communication, deeds best when it strikes a chord in the needs and desires of the receiving consumer a conjunctive that buttocks be both intuitive and highly calculated. The following questions hoexercising help foster your awareness of this process. You may be surprised by the messages and importations you uncover.1. What is the general ambience of the advertizement? What mood does it create? 2. Study the advertisements form. Attempt a simple description of what elements it consists of in term of elements and formal ar regularisement. 3. What near technical decisions? If the advertisement is a photograph, what kind of a shot is it? What signification do you think long shots, medium shots, close-up shots wipe out? What about the lighting, use of chroma, tumble of the shot? 4. What typefaces are employ and what impressions do they convey?5. What techniques are used by the cop ywriter humour, alliteration, definitions of life, comparisons, sexual innuendo, and so on? 6. What is the dealingship in the midst of pictorial elements and written material and what does this tell us? 7. Does the ad essentially provide information or does it try to chip in some kind of emotional response? Or both? 8. What fill is taking place in the advertisement and what significance does it have? (This big businessman be described as the ads plot.) 9. What signs and symbolismic computer codes do we find? Symbolic codes can involve figures e.g. facial nerve expressions, clothing codes and so onWhat can be said about their facial expressions, poses, hairstyle, age, sex, hair colour, ethnicity, education, occupation, relationships (of maven figure to the other)? What role do these symbolic codes play in the ads impact? 10. What sociological, political, economic or cultural attitudes are indirectly glistened in the advertisement i.e. does the ad work ideologically?( An a dvertisement may be about a pair of blue jeans but it might, indirectly, reflect such matters as sexism, alienation, classd thinking, conformism, generational conflict, loneliness, elitism, and so on).11. How important is the watcher/ subscribers own con school text going to be on his/her understanding of the ad? Who is the presumed reader or prevalent for this ad? Excerpted/ adequate from Arthur A. Berger Signs in Contemporary Culture An Introduction to Semiotics, Longman, White Plains, NY online. Available from http//www.medialit.org/ exercise_room/article227.html accessed 24/04/08DECODING ADVERTISING IMAGESAds/ personas have different levels of heart and soulDenotation what can be seen the literal, commonsense or natural nub of the ad (first pitch meaning). Denotation is commonly implied by the use of photography.Connotation the hidden meaning (second order meaning) a range of possible meanings which may depend upon the readers acquaintance, social background and other fa ctors which influence personal sound judgment or interpretation. means in an denote fig can be seen asSyntagmic the linking process between represented object (signifier) and significance (meaning) is unconscious mindReferential it is understood in terms of structural relationships to other signs. Meaning is made up of a system of differences and oppositionsIdeological occurring within a wider framework of ideas or way of thinking about social relationsConventional socially mediated i.e. is according to accepted rules and codesPreferred (or sovereign meaning) is the meaning that the advertiser (presumably) hopes the image will convey. Stuart Hall, though, notes twoother modes of learning ads negotiated readings and oppositional readings (which subvert the presumed intentional or seeming overt meaning of the advertising image).ConnotationThere are a identification number of issues which can be considered when analysing an specific image, factors which can help one to ident ify the intended intension of the signs contained within the image, and of the advertisement as a full-length.Technical Codes (including) television camera angle is the implied angle of vision up/down, at an angle, straight on? Camera distance how far is the implied camera from the subject? Focus is the image in sharp detail or soft focus?Lighting what is highlighted or left in the shadows?Information Valuethe placement of elements within the all image is indicative of a relative symbolic meaning. horizontal reading Left = given, familiarright = new, not yet known straight reading upper = promise, emotivelower = Portfolio, actual, informationComposition boldness the elements of an image attract attention to differing degree according to their position in the whole penning (foreground, background etc.) Framing the presence or absence of framing devices signifies the connection or separation between the different objects/figures Cropping is the cropping from a wider imag e implied?Juxtaposition have two images been juxtaposed to create a particular effect?CaptionsRemember to consider the text in an ad. If an image has no caption it can be considered an open text and therefore open to interpretation. Captions generally function as modifiers to anchor the primary significance of the image, and to reduce possible ambiguities of meaning in the image.Symbolic CodesA symbol is a picture/object which stands for something else, where the meaning is widely understood e.g. a dove symbolises peace or the Holy Spirit in western society. Symbols do not necessarily have only one connotation and have to be selected with care by advertisers it is the image as a whole, the relationship between signs (symbols), which will determine which connotation is intended (a meaning which might be fixed by modifiers such as text captions).Body language/non-verbal codeswhat is the significance of the figures poses or physical posture? what facial expression do the figures ha ve?do the body types (well built, thin, fleshly etc.) entail wider meanings e.g. .stereotypes?Clothing codesdoes the clothing connote specific occupations or nationalities? what connotations about pattern and status does the clothing have?Colour (symbolic assess)Does the colour/colour range used suggest a mood e.g. sorrow, gaiety etc.? Does the colour use suggest an abstract meaning e.g. romance, purity etc.? The kinds of work used the use of bright, dissonant colours might indicate modernism for instance or a sepia range might mention tradition.Issues which might be activated by use of symbolic code includeBranding the use of symbolic signs to connote a obvious brand personal identity for a product which in physical composition cannot be differentiated from other examples of the same product e.g. perfume or cigarettes.Celebrity a meaning structure is created by selling commodities in terms of social (celebrity) identity. The product being sold is given the type attribute s more usually associated with the celebrity e.g. physical strength, elegance etc.. The consumer demoralises the product to buy into the celebritys image (see promise of pleasure principle). foreshadow of pleasure principle setting up links between using up of the product and personal fulfillment or attainment of desired fix of being. The consumer is not buying the product itself, but the emotional promise.Commodification advertising translates statements about objects into statements about human relationships or types of consumer. This implies a denial of individual identity by the translating human beings into objectsObjectification the use of the part (of the human body) to stand for the whole denies human agency or the wholeness of the individual. This is more often associated with the use of female models. Fragmentation of the female body connotes the commodification of female identitythe survey (scopophilia) where the presumed informant is gendered male, the notion of the gaze connotes unequal power relations between the sexes (inequalities which are presumed to mirror those in wider society)Gender stereotyping- this can pertain to ideological expectations as to gender roles and the use of gender stereotypes or sexualisation as a marketing toolRacial or ethnic stereotyping this can relate to the exploitation of social difference e.g. the other (in which one culture is seen as opposed to mainstream western characteristics) in a way which reinforces the social stereotype or attracts by the presumption of exoticismIdeology objects are used as signifiers within the context of wider signifying systems or ideological contexts e.g. western democracy/consumerism, and can only be properly understood via a knowledge of this ideological framework. The spectator constructs meaning according to the codes at his/her disposal i.e. meaning is socially mediated and not individualisticSocial identity the spectator constructs meaning according to the codes as his/her disposal ie the meaning constructed is socially mediated and not purely personal or individual.Context and referenceWhere is the image to be found? You need to consider whether it is/was intended for a magazine, a poster, a street hoarding etc.What is/was the intended public for the image? What impact might identified issues have had upon the design of the image under analysis? When considering a news photograph a number of other questions might be asked such as the news value of the image itself and the relationship between the image itself and the surrounding text.