Semiotics originated with Swiss linguistic analyst Ferdinand de Saussure. He showed that language was a system of signs or signals which enabled people to communicate with each other. The terms he used were: ‘signifier’-something that stands for something else; ‘signified’ – is the idea of the thing it stands for; ‘sign’ – is the union of the two. [1]
Where Saussure related semiotics to language, Roland Barthes (1915 – 1980) used it for images and published his thoughts in the book Mythologies (1957). One of his examples is a bunch of roses which he uses to signify passion. The roses are the signifier and the passion the signified. Each existed previously separately but when brought together the roses were ‘passionified’.
‘The sign has a particular meaning to a person or group of people’ [2]. It is the combination of the object/thing (Signifier) and its meaning (Signified). The sign is always the thing plus meaning.
Judith Williamson [2] discusses the use of semiotics when decoding advertisements rather than using the more traditional ‘form’ and ‘ content’ for reading images. She argues that ‘form’ and ‘content’ can be separated whereas ‘signifiers’ and ‘signifieds’ go together which results in a meaning to a specific viewer or group. Admittedly that may take on a different meaning to different people which is where advertisers use their skill to sell products by appealing to an unconscious aspect of a persons visual knowledge.
The best photographs are the ones that do not give everything away, they leave a certain amount for the viewer to translate themselves. An advertisement is similar in that the more successful ones are more subtle and can work over a period time to gain brand loyalty without being too pushy. The skill is in using visual language that can be understood by the right group of people.
In her study Williamson looks at advertisements and describes them using semiotics. The most interesting is the advert for Goodyear tyres where the new design is shown being tested on a jetty. At first glance the jetty is the signifier and the signified (meaning) emphasises the that the tyres can be trusted to stop your car before falling in to the water. In fact there is another use of the jetty in that its construction has a similarity to a tyre and rather than being the risk element, it can also be used to show strength and toughness, withstanding water and erosion. These are all attributes that the advertiser wants the viewer to attribute to their tyres.
The advertisements she looks at throughout her study show that ‘the work of the signifiers is as much a part of the ideology and social convention as the more obvious signifieds’. ([2], p19.)
Ideology is one of the categories that Negreiros and Howells describe in Visual Culture [1]. They use John Berger as a key author in this area with his book The Ways of Seeing (1972). Political standpoints and sociological aspects allow different meanings to be read in to images.
They also review the work of Pierre Boourdieu, a French Sociologist, who believed texts are produced with twin concepts: ‘habitus’ and ‘field’. The former can be described as ‘people assume and articulate the world vision of their particular social group’. It is their second nature based on childhood and upbringing and held for a lifetime. These dispositions are unconsciously absorbed and operated.
It is these ‘social groups’ that advertisers use to get the best return for their marketing buck. Their choice of content will be matched to the media format and publication.
In ‘The Meanings of Photographs’ chapter of Stephen Bull’s Photography [3], he describes Barthes study of the ‘Panzani’ advert and reiterates the use of ‘connotation’ of a return from the market, of quality fresh food from the home of pasta, when in reality it is factory food made in France. Bull goes on to explain Barthes other observation of connotation in that it is dependant on ideology.
In Barthes usage, ideologoy is a set of beliefs, learned and reinforced by the masses themselves. ‘The connotation of the Panzani advert depends on its position in culture where ideologies of naturalness, authenticity and the experience of other cultures are unquestionably considered desirable. [3], p36.’
Advertising is used a lot by authors and academics in the study of interpreting images because they are well laid out and planned. However, the principles remain the same and are available to a viewer when reading a photograph. Bull uses Martin Parr’s image England (a cup of tea) where the connotation is of ‘Britishness’.
The Panzani advert used red, white and green to emphasise the products ‘Italianicity’. Parr uses red, white and blue for his British cup of tea on a gingham tablecloth. He adds another socio-political angle by using a tea cup with a Chinese pattern. This image can then be read by its viewers as a history of British tea drinking or alternatively recognition of the British Empire and the positive and negative connotations of that period of British history.
References:
- Howells. R and Negreiros. J, Visual Culture, Polity Press, 2nd Edition, 2011
- Williamson. J, Decoding Advertisements, Marion Boyars Publishers, 2002
- Bull. S, Photography, Routledge, 2010
- Barthes. R, Rhetoric of the Image, essay 1967
Martyn Rainbird 