Semiotic Analysis Of Advertisement

Media Studies Assignment brief

In this essay i have to choose an image from the media and decode it using semiotic analysis.

I have chosen the advert for the fragrance 'Givenchy', this image strongly relies upon the use of photographic imagery, it is symbolic because the actual main image of the man does not look like object it is advertising.

The name suggests this is a product exclusively aimed at men, and you would find this type of advert in men's magizines such as as 'FHM' and 'ZOO' in which the advertisement is situated. The advertisement is very bold making a very big statement its using quite a typical iconic image of a man holding a women to promote the idea of attraction and lust in fragances. However, it is this use of its human subject which lends the advert its significant semiotic significance. , Example D contains a variety of signifiers which all give the subject an unquestionably heterosexual status. In order to place the theme of sex and sexuality on the agenda, the advertisement's softly focused, silver and white photography acts as the signifier which gives both a sense of sensuality to the image and the recipient the appropriate context in which to judge it. Enforcing this sensuality is the associative signifiers of the subjects themselves. Unlike the subjects in the other examples, the male figure in the image is joined by a female, whose nudity and physical contact with him are further signifiers of both the theme of the advert, and the sexuality of the male subject. The positioning, and appearance of both subjects act as further signifiers which help describe the image, and therefore of the product. Both figures are young and in the peak of physical and therefore sexual condition. The naked couple embrace and the woman's head is thrown back in a tableau of orgasmic joy, providing a graphic illustration of her 9 relationship with the man. However, more importantly than the sex being represented is the signified description of the male subject; whose physical strength and apparent ability to please a woman so profoundly portray him as ideal role model for the heterosexual man.

Hence 'Xeryus Rouge,' is portrayed as being for 'homme' in the most original sense, and the signifiers which give the male subject the appropriate resemblance of this, certainly illustrate the fact that the human