Semiotics.
...ign unless it is interpreted as a sign. Anything can be a sign as long as someone interprets it as signifying something, referring to or standing for something. Every signs composed of a signifier; the form, which the sign takes, and the signified- the concept it represents. The sign is the whole that results from the association of the signifier with the signification. Here in Fig.2 an image has been selected, this is an illustration of what constitutes a sign, it is an advertisement for a women’s perfume, the role of the advertiser is to differentiate similar products from one another and they do this by associating a product with a specific set of social values, creating adistinct signified. Adverts provide a kind of dictionary constantly keeping us apprised of new consumer signifieds and signifiers. This particular advertisement takes the form of a photographic close up of the head and shoulders and chest of a female model, towards the right hand portion of the advert is the image of the bottle and just above it the name of the perfume, J’adore. A distinctive feature to take note of is the large Dior lettering at the top of the image, which is very recognisable as a brand fashion name, which holds an image. In this advert, the signifier is the bottle of perfume and the French looking model. The signified is French chic, beauty, glamour, femininity, and sophistication portrayed by the model standing in the gold, depicting opulence, so the signifier and signified combined constitute a sign which offers the meaning that Christian Dior is beauty, elegance and glamour. It also sends us an aesthetic signified- The French word j’adore means love; the word is expressed better in the French language, so the sign relies on its cultural background and its brand image as a top worldwide fashion designer. Connotation and denotation are often described in terms of levels of representation or levels of meaning. The first order of signification is that of denotation, at this level there is a sign consisting of a signifier and a signified. Connotation is a second order of signification, which uses the dennotive sign as its signifier and attaches itself to an additional signified. So therefore denotation leads to a chain of connotations. Denotation can be described as the literal or common sense meaning of a sign, so referring to the Dior advert, the first order meaning is a beautiful French women in a bath of gold, touching a perfume bottle. Higher order significations or connotative meanings, such as the French girl, the gold, and the slim line fragrance bottle suggest that the perfume is for very feminine, glamorous women. Therefore connotation refers to its ideological and emotional associations. which may be related to the reader’s class, age, sex, ethnicity and so on. The text in the image printed in a different range of typefaces has the same denotation but may have different connotations, based on the various associations, which means something to the reader. The value of a sig...