Semiotic Analysis on Advertisements

Good advertisements to me gets the audience to read, interpret, and then revisit the message that is conveyed. However, messages can be interpreted very differently depending on the reader's culture and their social environment.

Take a look at this print ad:

We see an antelope and a cat chasing after it in the wild. What we interpret from this is that we assume that the antelope is afraid of the typical house cat, however, the cat is being contrasted to a cheetah or some other powerful wild cat. This is effective for the brand Whiskas because it suggests that the food will make your pet cat very healthy and strong--strong enough to perhaps take on a full grown antelope (abstract meaning)!

Another good ad is this TV commercial:

Here several people are stating their opinions on what part of the Orea cookie is the best part: the creme or cookie. I react to this commercial in a nostalgic and somewhat playful childish way, because I think people are all naturally competitive or want to be right/win (abstract meaning). Many other people, not just for example your siblings or family members join in this debate such as police officers and it overall the ad is very playful and sparks debate among the audience.

Lastly, this billboard ad is very engaging and draws my attention:

 

It plays with figure ground, and is simply a big razor in front of a white board. This ad is 3D and with the grass cut/flattened in front of the blades path, it really creates that connection in your head that this razor was able to cut grass, and thus your hair or whatever you want/need to shave (abstract meaning).

Wieden+Kennedy on Coca-Cola

With such a successful brand like Coca-Cola, to me, there isn't much more advertising you can do. However, the ad agency I found that in my opinion successfully took on doing Coca-Cola is Wieden+Kennedy. This company "for the first time in its long history, the most iconic brand in the world replaced the unmistakable red on millions of Coca-Cola cans with the colors of a country, specifically the green, yellow and blue of the Brazilian flag. The new design was live for a two month period and created to show support for the country during an important football tournament." The fresh new look I think does the brand justice, and they are very attractive.

A few months back, this same agency also worked on Coca-Cola's Coke Music campaign, "a teen-focused platform that provides a foundation and consistent voice for the brand’s global music programs, has a new, dynamic visual identity system that can reinvent itself time and time again for the multitude of events and activities across different markets."

I think Wieden+Kennedy is an interesting company because they have locations in many major cities in the world. These include Portland, New York, Sao Paulo, London, Amsterdam, Delhi, Shanghai, and Tokyo. The ads that they produce are very innovative and creative. I also find them beautiful, rather than annoying that often times the word "ads" or "advertising" which can associate with a negative connotation.

Their company won me over also because of their recent blog post summarizing some things that have happened in their office. It's personal and I get a good sense of real people, rather than a group of people trying to brainwash me into purchasing something. That to me, is a great advertising strategy and marketing technique--to make me feel like they are trustworthy!

Advertisments beyond the television screen

When I was growing up, my family did not own a TV. To this day, I have never had cable TV and rarely watch anything. However, advertisements such as commercials still find their way into my life through the various other mediums, which are constantly growing more and more unique.

An example of this is how nowadays, we can stream our favorite shows online via Netflix or Hulu. We can even catch the highlights of our favorite game on Youtube. What we have grown accustomed to is advertisements placed in the area where we want to access our content. I often find myself hovering my mouse at that exact spot over a Youtube video just so I could skip the ad within the next few seconds. Sometimes when I'm watching a show on Hulu, I am prompted and given the choice to either watch a full one minute and a half ad or have several 15 second ads inbetween my show.

Today, it seems that since we have various ways to access content, there has also been a rise of different advertising techniques. We are given more of a choice to skip ads rather than before, where we took that commercial break time to finish our laundry or use the restroom. However, my thought is, have we grown too accustomed to this new standard? Sometimes I feel like my patience is shorter because I do not like waiting 10 seconds for the ad to be over so that I can watch something.