Marketing Communication and Semiotic Analysis - Essay Example

? Marketing Communication Contents Introduction 3 Semiotic Analysis 3 Conclusion 10 Reference 12 Introduction The study aims to demonstrate how semiotics is one of the powerful tools in order to reveal concealed meaning in advertisements. The essay deals with print ads of UCB and aims to depict the underlying meaning of each of the three print ads. The essay begins with an overview of Semiotic analysis, explaining in context to text and images and in which form it was being used by UCB. The second section deals with the overview of the company, United Colours of Benetton and discussion on the relationship between branding and semiotic. In the third section, semiotic analysis is done on the advertisement of United Colours of Benetton and has been interpreted depicting the underlying meaning of the advertisements. Semiotic Analysis Semiotics deals with symbols which occur in the form of pictures and text along with underlying meaning. Since advertisements both print and television tends to make an extensive use of signs and symbols in order to generate awareness about the product and the brand along with cultural meaning (Murphy, 2007). Semiotics has been applied in various fields such as film, medicine, theatre, zoology, architecture and other fields which involve communication and transfer of innovation. Two key notion of semiotic analysis are signs and relations. A text like ‘Star Trek’ can be interpreted as system of sign and the meaning stems from system and sign which ties them together. In semiotic analysis temporary and arbitrary separations are made in between the form and context and attention is mainly focused on the system of sign which makes the text. The essay deals with signs and not text so the discussion will mainly involve signs and its forms. Semiotic is concerned with sign and are made up of three main areas which includes are the sign, codes and the culture. According to Saussure a sign is a combination of sound image and concept by signified and signifier where signifier may constitute actual objects like lines or backgrounds and signified is the actual concept in one’s mind (Tsotra et al, 2004, 4212). Signs are mostly used in advertisements as sign of symbol which are used by corporate to create an identity (Berger, 2004, p. 11). In cases of images or pictorial advertisements takes into consideration three different types of models which are narrative model, rhetorical model and finally the Laokoon model. In the essay image analysis will be used to interpret the three advertisements of Benetton. Semiotics can be related to brand management as it helps the researcher to clarify issues with regards to brand identity, the personality along with the association which the brand communicates in the current environment. By means of locating the meaning of packaging, logo, and the messages send through advertisements, semiotic analysis thus enables marketer’s to tie brand communication with brand legacy and marketing strategy and remain relevant in the changing environment (Oswald, 2007, p.4). Benetton is among the strongest brand globally and one of its biggest advantages adding to the popularity of the brand is the advertising strategy of the brand. One of the biggest accolades for the company was for its practice to separate the products from advertisements. Benetton group is famous for its unusual themes and techniques used in advertising where most of the ads puts u a debate or controversy. Benetton utilised “shock value” along with the reality of the images in order to grab the attention of the viewers to make the brand memorable. Unlike advertisements which usually are centered on the product and image of the brand, advertisements of Benetton address political as well as social issues like child labour, pollution, death, AIDS awareness radical integration and others. The company tries to communicate to the world regarding such issues and not just sell accessories and apparels. Benetton has over the years created worldwide recognition through its advertisements themes which aims to promote diversity and other social causes. Benetton strives to promote it as a socially responsible business and discusses moral issues trough the print campaign globally (Ganesan, 2002). To examine advertisement campaign of Benetton and its relation with semiotic, three print advertisements of Benetton has been chosen through which the analysis would be done in order to determine the semiotic relationship with the brand. It has been analysed that Benetton advertisements stand different from other clothing and apparel brand s and it just not aims to sells its clothing but to generate awareness about social and political issues. Benetton had made many advertisements with only one intention to draw the attention towards important social problems and generate discussion on the same from the public. The above print advertisement has been referred to as “Angel and Devil” which was regarded as offensive to most of the consumers. The above print advertisement shows a rosy cheeked girl next to African-American girl whose hair has been shaped as horns associating her with “Devil.” It was said that the age old Christian culture also never associated light colour or object with good and dark colour with evil and thus the idea that leads to associating the dark girl with the devil tends to be offensive for most of the African-American population and hence and hence created controversy. It does not only depict existence of different culture which constructs the connotation and supports the connotation in an offensive way as the image denotes racism (Barnard, 2005, p. 91). The advertisement was made by Oliverio Toscani, advertising head at Benetton had revolutionized the way all the advertisers create brand image and communicate with the target market. The Italian master with its daring advertisements created unprecedented controversy in 1991 with the launch of “Angel and Devil” campaign. The advertisement had raised moral conflict. The Afro-America has always been treated unfairly and unrealistically in the media and the conflicts were based on the issues that separate one from another rather than unite them. Thus by acknowledging the prohibition and difference the brand had thus made commitment to encourage the cohabitation and break down the differences and barriers and ensure healthy conversation. Benetton through the “Angel and Devil” had planned to integrate the opposites and unite the differences under its brand name and logo. But it created controversy as the normal audience would regard it as a concept on racial discrimination indicating black people with evil and white with angels. On the contrary, the advertisements can also be said to be a subliminal seduction thus makes the audience think as well as remember the advertisement. In addition the role of the titles of the given images should be taken into consideration. All the advertisements are given a general title of “United Colours of Benetton” and also a specific title is also provided to each of the advertisement which is provided in the website of Benetton Press office. The title “Angel and Devil” actually invites connotation, as it perverse not to refer to the dark girl as devil. This advertisement demonstrates the limits in distinguishing between connotation and denotation and thereby suggest connotation which most of them will find objectionable (Barnard, 2005, p. 92). Second print advertisements of Benetton are not conventional one and got featured in its own magazine, Colours magazine. The advertisements include collection of prayers which was inspired by the design a well as meaning of the Tibetan flags. The advertisement was based on the Sichuan earthquake and 30 prayers were made by the monks in Tibet for the victims of earthquake in China (OSOCIO, 2012). The Italian fashion group which is famous for its controversial advertisements and hurting the sensibility of people has now changed its advertising pitch in order to reach the customers. The above advertisement shows a Tibetan monk praying along with a Chinese soldier face to face along with the word Victims written above their head. This advertisement was featured in the Benetton’s colour magazine at its 74th edition and was made to release on the first day of Beijing Olympics. The victims associated in the advertisement are hence believed to be thousands of people who died due to earthquake which occurred in China. There is nothing in comparison to socio political controversy in the process of generating awareness about an advertisement and “United” colours true to their name has again been able to create a buzz in the ad world. The campaign titled “Victims” is open towards interpretation but analysing the past record of Benetton, the Olympic campaign can be said to be far moderate towards the approach. It has touched raw nerves on various grounds, hurt the sentiments of religions and also with respect political agenda generating a shock value from its advertisements and has contributed towards global controversies that in due course of time the brand was called United Colours of Controversies. However the Tibet and China campaign is proactive and has aimed to highlight issue of raging global debate (Choudhary & Bhushan, 2008). Benetton decision to run the advertisement on the opening day of Beijing Olympics 2008 has helped the brand in spurring the effect. Both Tibet as well as China was experiencing odds for about half century; however the earthquake incident has provoked media coverage on China and with the protest in Tibet making the coverage inaccessible. The word ‘victim’ which is displayed in the background of print advertisement in spray painted, gives a feeling of two conflicting issues. China feels that it had done its part and continuing to do in Tibet interest. The Chinese soldier feels that he has provided with security and peace towards the region and thus the prayer is justified. Tibet’s future is integrated into his prayer. On the other hand, in the advertisement the Tibetan monk seems to sympathize with the incident taken place in China. Regardless of the prejudices on both the sides, the monk chose to overlook the issue and remain sympathetic with Chinese soldier. Benetton has understood the basic rights which tends to be humanly universal and aims to promote in an effective and healthy manner through the advertisement campaigns (Madrid, 2008). According to Benetton, the main idea was to send a universal message of tolerance, peace and peaceful environment among the people which does not tend to favour one another. The brand deliberately launched the ad on the opening day of the Olympics in order to celebrate the games (The Inspiration Room, 2012). The third print advertisement talks about reality. Toscani after its advertisements got rebuked by media, government, and also public went ahead and embraced “reality advertising.” Unlike traditional advertisements the images usually do not have product, only the logo. The brand does not show any reality which makes one irresistible in using the product not tell the consumer to buy the clothes and not do the brand implies it. Instead the brand attempts to promote discussion on issues which are of high importance. In “reality advertising” some of the advertisement included dying AIDS victim along with close up of various parts tattooed with “HIV positive.” AIDS and HIV are topics which are socially relevant along with timely, politically controversial. Once the person has been given the label HIV positive, the person gets symbolically branded with new identity. The culture representation is often negative and carries discriminatory and prejudice treatment (Cortese, 2004, p.11). The main aim of the tattooed advertisement was to generate awareness about the disease and made them think about the illness which everyone was aware of it but did not acknowledge the fact. The advertisements were banned in most of the countries as they exploited sufferings (Holz, 2007, p. 9). With the launch of its HIV positive campaign the brand Benetton was fined $32000 by court in French for offense to the patients and people who were suffering from AIDS and HIV with its controversial advertising (Marketing week, 1995). Toscani in 1992 had combined advertisement with politics in order to promote the Benetton image. Toscani thus selected photojournalistic image with regards to AIDS, political violence, environmental disaster and others. The above advertisements are examples of cultures that tend to agree on the relationship between the signifier and signified at denotation level. The level of connotation gives rise to differences in meaning and thus culture arises. The HIV positive advertisement was just to promote awareness about the disease but it entered into controversy as it was said to hurt the feelings and sentiments of the affected people. UCB is known for its creativity and gives rise to controversies. Just by looking at the advertisement on can find out that its UCB as it aims to create creative and meaningful advertisement which will help the society to be aware of many different facts and features. Conclusion In conclusion it can be said that Benetton seemed to take up stand for the betterment of the humanity and helps to create a sense of power among the viewers who tends to agree with the politically correct message send across the Benetton if when the messages are made up of shocking images. Is way it also helps the customers to remember the brand and retain it occasionally. Through the shocking images, Benetton has managed to become an icon in the world of advertising which tries and aims to bring about social change. It has been learned that the strong person behind Benetton’s success is Oliverio Toscani who creates advertisements not in the traditional way but differently. Benetton still maintain a “socially responsible” image and keeps on working on non controversial subjects like child labour, poverty and others. Reference Barnard, M., 2005. Graphic Design As Communication. Routledge. Berger, 2004. Semiotic Analysis. [Pdf]. Available at: [Accessed 4 December 2012]. Choudhary, S. & Bhushan, R., 2008. Tibetan theme in new Benetton ad. [Online]. Available at: < http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2008-08-15/news/27727299_1_benetton-united-colors-ad> [Accessed 5 December 2012]. Cortese, A. J. P., 2004. Provocateur: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising. Rowman & Littlefield. Ganesan, S., 2002. Benetton group: Unconventional advertising. [Pdf]. Available at: < http://teach.beaverton.k12.or.us/~emily_ramberg/FOV1-0006F6A0/FOV1-0008BE28/Benetton%20Article.PDF> [Accessed 5 December 2012]. Holz, K., 2007. 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