There are two parts to the process, the first being, 'the signifier', which is the material aspect of what we see in front of us. The second part is 'the signified', which is the message implied in what we see. This is heavily used in advertising as companies try to sell their goods to us in a subtle way which is also influenced by our cultural history.
The Signifier:
In the image above, advertising the new 'Beetle' car, what we see is a group of Beetle cars on a pedestrian crossing.
The Signified:
This is imitating the very famous album cover of 'The Beatles, Abbey Road', as a signified message. The Beatles were an extremely popular and successful band who conveyed a message of being 'cool' or 'hippie'. We also see an older model of the Beetle just behind the newer models perhaps telling the tale of how long they have been around. The cars being treated as people also adds a message of character to them and how they integrate into society. The advertising appears to be aimed at women not men owing to bright colours and lack of technical data about the cars.
The cars are placed in the same format as the band were on their famous album cover. There was myth surrounding the release of this album, claiming Paul McCartney had died and some people claim the line of the band members resembles a funeral procession. This obviously wasn't true but perhaps the new and updated cars refer to this as they have survived the test of time and are still very much in circulation.
Little Ant & Dec's Farmyard Kitchen -- Out in the Field
The Signifier:
This advertising video shows us two little boys imitating 'Ant and Dec' who are presenters on National Television. We are introduced at the beginning of the video with them looking around a farm for a mothers day present, meeting/talking with the farmer and followed by them making cakes with a chef.
The Signified:
This video appears to be aimed directly at mum's, telling them how rural, fresh and special Morrisons is. This is especially evident in the talk between the two boys and the farmer as he explains how rare and special the cows are. The two boys in the video are treated patience and care, perhaps Morrisons trying to tell us how well looked after our families will be with them? In the kitchen while making cakes, all the ingredients are available at Morrisons and owing to the farm tour, we are influenced to think how fresh everything is. The end result of the video is the boys taking care of mum thanks to the help of advertising store.
Conclusion/Evaluation
I find this subject extremely interesting and wonder how much of the advertising messages I have 'missed' over the years. I have found that I don't always know what message a company is trying to convey to me so it is of great value to me to analyse how this is meant to be accomplished. Some advertising companies are not subtle with their messages and we can't fail to 'get' this but others try to be more clever and reach into our subconscious thoughts to trigger a response. The success of this depends on our experiences and what we have been exposed to through our lives.
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