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Semiotic & Feminist Analysis Essay

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22-02-2012 Media Analysis Project 1 | Semiotic Analysis & Feminist Analysis | Ellen Gough |

Part One: Semiotic Analysis
Defining and Explaining Semiotics 1. What is meant by Semiotics?
Semiotics is the science of signs. It helps us better understand how messages are constructed through different media forms like still images, film, television and other works of art. It is the study of social production of meanings using sign systems which helps us understand how certain things come to have certain meanings. Semiotics was developed as a method of analysis by 20th century by linguistic theorists such as Saunders Peirce, Ferdinand de Saussure and Roland Barthes.
According to Saussure, the fundamental unit of meaning was …show more content…

The colour of the dress is referred to in the tagline “Dare to wear red”.
Special K is marketed towards women who want to lose weight while still getting a proper breakfast. The message coming from the ad is that if you eat Special K, it makes you slimmer. When you’re slimmer you’re more confident, and ergo you have the confidence to “Dare to wear red”. So not only does this product make you look better, it makes you feel better too.
This idea, that the product advertised makes your life better, is used in all types of ads for all types of products. It’s a standard of the advertising industry. Semiotics is the building blocks used to get this idea across to the consumer.

Semiotic Analysis of Ad 1. Introduction
The ad I must analysis for this project is an ad by Volkswagen for the Volkswagen Polo. In the foreground of the image you can see a laptop that has a drink spilled across the keyboard. This has damaged the laptop, indicated by the warning symbol on the screen. In the background is a Volkswagen Polo with a small girl in the back seat who appears to be hiding there. It seems she was the one who spilt the drink over the laptop, and she is now hiding in the back of the Polo from the owner of the laptop, possibly her mother or father. Below the image on the left is the tagline of the ad, “The safest place to be. Polo.” and on the bottom right corner of the ad is Volkswagens icon and tagline.

2. Analysis
The

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