Semiology And Signs In Advertising

Semiology deals with the analysis of signs and sign systems. The names semiotics and semiology derive from the ancient Greek word semeion, which means ‘sign’. It originated as a means to understand language and hence illustrates how, through the logical and methodological exploration behind communication, media consumers can understand how meaning is created in language. According to (Bignell, 2002), “Semiotics or semiology is a way of analysing meanings by looking at the signs (like words, for instance, but also pictures, symbols etc.) which communicate meanings. Because society is so pervaded by media messages, semiotics can contribute to far more than our understanding of ‘the media’ in the narrow sense of media products.” In this essay,

Signs thus include such aspects in the advertisement as images, setting, characters, and props or objects, words, colour use, font size, a grouping of objects and words and so forth. We can simply refer to all of this as codes and conventions. In terms of the images in the three POWA advertisements the following is noted: “In one photograph, a woman is shown ironing clothes on a board set up in a dark, graffiti-covered subway. In another, a woman is depicted attending to her hair and makeup in front of a dressing table on the corner of a perceived dangerous street at night. Another woman snuggles into a sofa to read a book in her pyjamas, on the side of a deserted railway station” (Davis, 2015). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .

It is also startling that in many communities, the male partner in a relationship still assumes a dominant status and role. The South African media appears to be doing well in promoting democracy broadly speaking, for example, human rights and laws in this regard, especially since our democracy is based on equality and fairness. Yet, it is pivotal and highly necessary that the media adopt a harsh approach to challenge patriarchy since it is guilty of promoting gender stereotypes and white heterosexual male hegemony. For example, the mainstream media is full of ads and images that portray women as the objects of male heterosexual desire. As much as the government and media have a crucial role to play in curbing violence and other forms of injustice related to patriarchy, individuals are also expected, in their capacity, to help fight male