Semiotics and Commodity Advertising Semiotics

Abstract: As a symbolic phenomenon, advertising is an indispensable part of people's lives. Semiotics, as a new discipline, provides theoretical support for the study of advertising, and the development of advertising also reflects the practical application of language symbols. Keywords: semiotic analysis of advertising semiotics

? Symbol? It is widely used in modern life. In a sense, human culture is a culture of symbols. Language is a typical symbol. People create languages to convey information and express ideas. People also define the outside world through various other symbols to show the differences between various things. Advertising language is a language system. When analyzing and appreciating advertisements, it is necessary to effectively combine various factors such as language, images and sounds in order to realize the correct interpretation of advertisements.

I. Definition of Semiotics

Saussure thinks that the combination of concept and sound image is called symbol. In the process of human development, symbols always play an important role, and semiotics is a science that studies symbols and their laws.

Saussure believes that every symbol can be divided into signifier and signified, and every symbol is the unity of signifier and signified.

According to the different relationship between the symbol itself and the reference object, Pierce divided the symbol into: image, that is? Does the relationship between the signifier and the signified of a symbol show some kind of * * *? ; Is that a sign? Causality between signifier and signified. ; Is that a symbol? Is the relationship between signifier and signified arbitrary? . This semiotic thought accelerated the formation of semiotics.

Pierce's symbolic dichotomy model can be said to carry forward Saussure's dichotomy model. If a symbol wants to refer to an object, it must be interpreted, and interpretation is thought. Therefore, in order to make the advertisement refer to a commodity successfully, the advertisement creator should choose those forms that are accepted by the public as much as possible. Pierce divided symbols into three categories according to the different relations between symbols themselves and the objects they refer to. Pierce's three kinds of symbols are all applicable to advertisements.

Second, the characteristics of advertising

In today's society, advertising has penetrated into all aspects of economy, culture and society, and its interdependence with the public is getting deeper and deeper. Its connotation is rich and its forms are diverse. Its description of things is unusual. It not only expresses the content of the object, but also shapes the goal in immaterial, associative and emotional aspects.

Advertising has two basic functions: conative function, that is? To impress the audience? ; Reference function, that is? Used of products? . In order to realize these basic functions, advertising design should consider two levels: the expression level of advertising, that is, the corresponding signifier in semiotics. For example, in real estate advertisements, rooms? What does this symbol mean? Room? But in the advertisement, the original signifier? Room? Words have been replaced by various advertising languages, such as? Yangtze River House? 、? Jufuyuan? 、? Silver city garden? Wait a minute. The indicating level of advertisement is the corresponding reference in semiotics. For example, we are familiar with advertising brands in daily life. Like what? Thirst? 、? KFC? 、? Pizza hut? And other well-known brands. These are just symbols in advertising language, which really refer to the products in reality, that is, what they refer to. If you hear me? McDonald's? 、? KFC? We can know that it refers to fast food; Do you hear me? Fruit orange? We can know that it refers to drinks; Do you see it? Apple? 、? Lenovo? Logo, you can know that it refers to home appliances.

Advertising relies on the relevant theories of semiotics, that is, its corresponding expression layer and indication layer to complete its function. Therefore, when studying advertising, we can't and can't be divorced from semiotics. Semiotics and advertising are closely related and inseparable.

Third, the semiotic analysis of advertising

Advertising and symbols are inseparable. Advertising is a public propaganda activity for goods or services to be sold or being sold. Its purpose is to attract the attention of the public, stimulate their desire to buy, and achieve the purpose of promoting their final consumption. As a symbol, advertising embodies human thinking habits and cultural customs, and at the same time, it is constantly building the whole social symbol system; Semiotics also provides a theoretical basis for the creation of advertisements, and the development of advertisements also embodies its symbolic characteristics.

First of all, advertising, as a symbol, is closely connected with text symbols. Cultural differences in different regions, countries and nationalities will inevitably lead to differences in understanding the symbol system. For example, in China, red is used for decoration to celebrate, but in the eyes of westerners, red represents blood and slaughter; Dragon is a symbol of power and nobility in China culture, but it is a symbol of evil in western culture. Therefore, in order to solve the communication barriers caused by cultural differences, advertisers often adopt localized advertising strategies. Therefore, if an advertisement wants to be accepted by the audience, we must first consider whether the selected language symbols can be accepted by people in this field.

Secondly, advertising is closely related to image symbols. In image symbols, the relationship between deixis and meaning shows some homogeneity, and deixis is produced by means of some similar characteristics between signifier and signified. For example, refrigerator advertisements often use fresh vegetables and fruits as symbols, while milk advertisements like to use cows as their typical symbols. In addition to the intuitive image symbols mentioned above, some advertisements, such as the advertisement of Midea refrigerator, show a chicken running out of the refrigerator and using the image function of the image, which requires the audience to exert their creativity to interpret this advertisement and realize that the original refrigerator's fresh-keeping function is so powerful.

Advertising not only embodies culture, but also shapes it. The advertising form of goods is no longer simply to promote a certain product, but to promote a certain consumption concept. At the same time, the choice of products also reflects the self-defined image of consumers. The brands purchased by consumers can understand consumers' personal hobbies, tastes, economic conditions and self-positioning. While advertising itself spreads consumer culture and convinces consumers, consumers also choose brands in self-authentication.

Third, the conclusion

We discussed advertising from the perspective of semiotics. Advertising symbols are a big category of symbols. Advertising, as a symbol, embodies human thinking habits and cultural customs; At the same time, we are constantly building the whole social symbol system and reconstructing people's consumption habits and psychological habits. The process of advertising creation is also the process of unconsciously applying semiotic theory, which shows the relationship between advertising and semiotics. Semiotics provides theoretical support for the development of advertising, and the development of advertising also embodies its semiotic characteristics, so advertising and symbols are inseparable.

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