The semiotics of contemporary advertising messages: Decoding visuals

Abstract: Within the discourse analysis, semiotics identifies how signs are used to represent something. In the discourse of advertising it can be a wish, a need, a desire or a worry to be solved, for instance. In this sense, the paper deals with the switch from denotative to connotative meanings of contemporary ads. The approach is based on the assumption that communication is achieved via decoding and encoding messages. The connotative meaning represents the overall message about the meaning of the product which the ad is creating by the use of the image (e.g. the photographed model). The ad functions by showing us a sign with easily readable mythic meaning (e.g. the photographed model is a sign for feminine beauty) as well as by placing this sign next to another, potentially ambiguous, sign (e.g. the name of the perfume) (Barthes 1972).