Signs and Semiotics

During the last class, we learned about sign/signifier/signified and semiotics. One rule for a sign is that a sign does not mean anything unless we assign a meaning to it. For example, everyone--most people-- stop a light when it turns red and goes when it turns green. It is because we have assigned that meaning to those lights, otherwise, green and red would just be colorful lights. The "signifier" would be the light turning green and the "signified" would be that the green light means go.

Semiotics it what people use to evaluate an advertisement. It helps people understand the ad better. My first example is this commercial for the California Lottery.

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This commercial denotes a lady named "Lady Luck". It shows her walking past a few people and good things happen. When she walked by the lady reading a book in the dark, the lights started working and turned on. When she walked by the guy who threw a gutter ball, the ball came out of the gutter and knocked down all the pins. Then at the end, she slapped the guy who was scratching a California black scratcher and he won big money. What the ad is connoting is that if a person buys a California black scratcher, "lady luck" will come their way. When I say lady luck, I am metaphorically speaking.



This billboard, as you can tell, is for Pepsi.It denotes people smiling and doing things with other people like sing karaoke and skateboard. These people look like they are having a good time. It connotes the feeling of happiness and spontaneity. The billboard reads "live for now" meaning live in the moment. Pepsi is basically saying "carpe diem", life is too short, so live in the moment with Pepsi.

This is an ad for women who drink alcohol. The picture denotes a wrinkly faced lady. Her make up and hair is messy. What is connotes is that if a women decides to drink as much alcohol as a man, her features may change, making her look like a man (meaning ugly). This ad is kind of disturbing to me because it makes it seem like women are not allowed to do what men do. I honestly do not believe if a woman "drinks as much as a man", she will start having manly features. I'm sure premature aging will occur, as in men too. Below is a list of problems a woman can develop from drinking alcohol, but men can develop health problems as well. This ad seems kind of biased to me.