How to Analyze an Advertisement Essay

Theres more to advertisings message than meets the casual eye. An effective ad, like other forms of communication, works best when it strikes a chord in the needs and desires of the receiving consumer a connection that can be both intuitive and highly calculated. The following questions can help foster your cognizance of this surgical process. You may be surprised by the messages and meanings you uncover.1. What is the general ambience of the advertisement? What mood does it create? 2. Study the advertisements form. Attempt a unprejudiced description of what elements it consists of in terms of elements and formal arrangement. 3. What about technical decisions? If the advertisement is a photograph, what kind of a shot is it? What significance do you think coherent shots, medium shots, close-up shots take away? What about the lighting, use of colour, angle of the shot? 4. What typefaces are used and what impressions do they convey?5. What techniques are used by the copywriter hum our, alliteration, definitions of life, comparisons, sexual innuendo, and so on? 6. What is the relationship between pictorial elements and written material and what does this tell us? 7. Does the ad essentially provide information or does it try to draw some kind of emotional response? Or both? 8. What action is taking place in the advertisement and what significance does it adopt? (This top executive be described as the ads plot.) 9. What signs and symbolic codes do we find? Symbolic codes can involve figures e.g. facial expressions, clothing codes etc.What can be said about their facial expressions, poses, hairstyle, age, sex, hair colour, ethnicity, education, occupation, relationships (of one figure to the other)? What role do these symbolic codes play in the ads impact? 10. What sociological, political, frugal or cultural attitudes are indirectly reflected in the advertisement i.e. does the ad work ideologically?( An advertisement may be about a span of blue jeans but i t might, indirectly, reflect such matters as sexism, alienation, stereotyped thinking, conformism, generational conflict, loneliness, elitism, and so on).11. How important is the spectator/readers own context difference to be on his/her understanding of the ad? Who is the presumed reader or public for this ad? Excerpted/adapted from Arthur A. Berger Signs in Contemporary Culture An Introduction to Semiotics, Longman, White Plains, NY online. operable from http//www.medialit.org/reading_room/article227.html accessed 24/04/08DECODING ADVERTISING IMAGESAds/images have different levels of meaningDenotation what can be seen the literal, commonsense or natural meaning of the ad (first regulate 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 knowledge, social background and other factors which influence personal judgement or interpretation.Meaning in a n advertising image can be seen asSyntagmic the linking process between represented object (signifier) and significance (meaning) is unconsciousReferential 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 jibe to accepted rules and codesPreferred (or dominant meaning) is the meaning that the advertiser (presumably) hopes the image will convey. Stuart Hall, though, notes twoother modes of reading ads negotiated readings and oppositional readings (which subvert the presumed intentional or seeming obvious meaning of the advertising image).ConnotationThere are a sum of issues which can be considered when analysing an specific image, factors which can help one to identify the mean connotation of the signs contained within the image, and of the advertisement as a who le.Technical Codes (including)tv 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 remaining in the shadows?Information Valuethe placement of elements within the whole image is indicative of a relative symbolic meaning. horizontal reading Left = given, old(prenominal)right = new, not yet knownvertical reading upper = promise, emotivelower = Portfolio, actual, informationCompositionSalience the elements of an image attract prudence to differing degree according to their position in the whole composition (foreground, background etc.) Framing the presence or absence of framing devices signifies the connection or insularity between the different objects/figures Cropping is the cropping from a wider image implied?Juxtaposition have two images been juxtaposed to create a particular effect?CaptionsRemembe r 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 essential 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 mean (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 have?do the body types (well built, thin, fleshly etc.) connote wider meanings e.g. .stereotypes?Clothing codesdoes the clothing connote specific occupations or nationalities? what connotations about class and status does the clothing have? twist (symbolic value)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, worth etc.? The kinds of colours used the use of bright, dissonant colours might indicate modernity for instance or a sepia range might signify tradition.Issues which might be activated by use of symbolic code includeBranding the use of symbolic signs to connote a distinct brand individuation for a product which in physical composition cannot be differentiated from other examples of the same product e.g. perfume or cigarettes. renown a meaning structure is created by selling commodities in terms of social (celebrity) identity. The product being sold is given the character attributes more unremarkably associated with the celebrity e.g. physical strength, elegance etc.. The consumer buys t he product to buy into the celebritys image (see promise of pleasure principle).Promise of pleasure principle mountain up links between consumption of the product and personal fulfillment or attainment of desired state of being. The consumer is not buying the product itself, but the emotional promise.Commodification advertising translates statements about objects into statements about humankind 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 gaze (scopophilia) where the presumed spectator 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 relate 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 developing 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 laissez-faire(a)Social 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 AudienceWhere 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.