Semiotics and how it applied in the media text of cosmetic advertisement

Jinglu Sun

摘要： As a special media text， advertisement not only carries economic information and promotes material consumption. At the same time in the choice of entertainment and lifestyle， even the audience's mental state and identity are increasingly interdependent with advertising. Advertising， as a symbol， reflects the inertia of human thinking and cultural customs. This essay is aiming to analyze the cosmetic advertisement to locate the position of woman in the field of consumption through combining semiotics and feminism.

關键词：media text; symbolism; feminism; culture; advertisement.

Defining the media always refers to a procedure that comprise senders， messages and receiver （Albertazzi， 2010：7; Tench and Yeomans， 2017， p. 149）. To be more specific， it reveals that media is a kind of communication channel would convey information （Branston and Stafford， 2010） which means media text as a resource of information. However， it seems hard to further detailed this behaviour because that there is hardly a particular form of media text. It could be anything-film， dancing and lyrics， which is to be analysed （Branston et al.， 2010， p. 11）. Also Albrtazzi （2010， p. 7） asserts that the media is changing. In other word， content and medium of media are evolving with the progress of technologies and changing of audience. Hence， semiotics as an approach to explore the meaning conveyed by the media seems to be required （Marsen， 2006， p. 54）. More specifically， semiotics attempt to arrange a specific pattern which suitable for media texts analysing. Semiotics， or the study of signs and symbols， is an approach which stresses the idea that images are just a collection of visual signs that are linked together by the viewer. Analogies， metaphors and symbolism are just a few of the techniques used in semiology. It is important to analyse the interpretation of images in order to understanding the meanings of texts.

With the continuous development of the economy and the increasingly fierce market competition， advertising as a particular media text has become an indispensable part of social life. In addition to transmitting economic information and promoting material consumption （Anon， 2012， p. 239）， it has penetrated into more aspects of social life. In the way of entertainment and lifestyle choosing， even spirit status and identity of the audience is increasingly interdependent with the advertisement. As a symbol， advertising embodies the inertia of human thinking and cultural customs. This essay aims to find out the application of semiotics in advertising and the relationship between these two by analysing the colour， pattern and purposes used in specific case. This essay is aiming to analysing the cosmetic advertisement to locate the position of woman in the field of consumption through combining semiotics and feminism.

Figure 1. “Advertisement of Dior

The sign of language， as a product of human civilization， conveys a specific meaning. According to the theory of Ferdinand de Saussure， language depend on the combination between signified and signifier （Schuh and Culler， 1982， p.725）. To be more specific， Signifier is the imagination or idea that the audience expresses according to the language symbol （signified） based on the cultural background. Derrida （1974， cited in Jonathan， p.126） considers language to be a metaphorical approach and try to prove it plays a key role in highlighting the structure of the text by analyzing the example of visual metaphors. In this Dior print advertisement， in addition to the name of the lipstick series represented by the appearance meaning， advertisers use ‘addict' as an anchorage in order to remind the audience an attractive feature of women and the core value of their products. Dior attempts to demonstrate that consumers could approaching attractive character if they owned this lipstick. Interestingly， the position of the keyword for the ad is exactly where the female models chest is located， where the most attractive part of women. When the viewer's eyes are attracted to the advertisement， whether it is due to text or images， it may fall in the same place. Except that， Under the product brand and name there is a line of pink phrases with hashtag， ‘shine dont be shy， which Hashtag was created on social media to guide a hot topic. The application in print advertising is actually anchoring women with enough strong sense to lead the social trend. This expresses that women do not fear to show their own light. The integrity of the advertisement has been well sublimated through the interpretation of the language.

The entire advertisement， including models and language symbols， conveys an attractive and powerful female image to consumers. The model in this image wears a pink V-neck dress and half of the shoulder strap slides down. Foroni （2016） and Costa （2009） find out that color holds significance for audience among different culture and field. Not only do colors hold meaning in religion and various cultures， but they also influence emotions. Generally， there is a strong gender association with pink in western culture（Koller， 2008， p.400）. At the same time， red lips are a stressed femininity. The sociologist Cornell （2014） once pointed out that women are linked to the color symbol of pink because this aesthetic includes male fantasy and virgin complex. The symbolic meaning of white represents a perfect and relatively positive image in most Western cultures （Adams and Osgood， 1973， p. 53）. The metaphor takes advantage of the viewer's habit of adding tags （Chandler， 2017， p. 70）. Metaphorical movements and colors like these sexually suggestive picture may lead people to think about the experience that the product itself can bring to consumer， which could display females own charm by using this lipstick.

In addition to the elements that represent feminine and noble temperament， there is a strong color contrast that the black leather chair behind the female model. The colors and props with male representations show that women could own a strong character as same as a male's personality， behind the fascinating appearance. This is the use of contrast in supporting feminism， which means that women's expression of their own charm is not necessarily only a weak feature in the traditional sense. Characters such as perseverance and self-confidence can also exude a strong charm. Behind the manifestation of male-related factors in women， it is actually the improvement of women's status and females power.

At the same time， the female model Jennifer Lawrence， an actress who is famous due to her playing character beauty and courage in the hunger game movie， actually represents the concept that advertisers want to convey. The charming beauty of women can be enhanced through insisting powerful thoughts by themselves. The application of this metaphor model is also reflected in the perseverance of the female model in the advertisement and the slightly open lips， as well as the vaguely exposed thighs. This implies that the beauty of women can be combined with the power of men for the consumers. Because the female models eyes are firmly staring at the camera， this is actually a confident and fearless performance. This visual metaphor associates products with specific social values （Chandler， 2017， p. 128）. All of these elements affect the viewer's thoughts and manipulate their buying behavior in a way that is a rhetorical device. This strong contrast with gender stereotyping is also reflected elsewhere.

The use of rhetorical techniques to manipulate consumer psychology and behavior is not only reflected in the use of visual metaphors， but also in intertextuality. It referrers the strong affection from other text exited （Chandler， 2017， p. 198）. Among the images， Dior's products， lipsticks are sandwiched between the index finger and the middle finger. This action will not be unfamiliar to the public， because this is the standard action when smoking. Interestingly， in the 1920s， a successful public relations campaign to promote womens smoking supported by Bernays， which linked the image of cigarettes to the independent image of women （Tench， Ralph， 2017， p. 21）. This correlation was introduced into this advertisement， which also represents the independence of men. It also supports Chandler's （2017， p. 208） theory that the use of intertextuality makes related media texts safer and appealing to viewers. Because of the increased publicity of tobacco hazards， in many cases it is not possible to express a stronger female image through tobacco and women's connections as before. Dior's advertising uses a combination of rhetorical and intertextuality to combine this perspective with the product and communicate the message to the audience. In fact， it can be seen from the information conveyed by the advertiser. Most consumers today consume not only the goods， but also the meaning of goods. In other words， people consume a social identity and are easily tied to it.

However， the use of gender-related intertextuality and rhetorical methods in semiotics also reflects a controversial issue in today's society. Dior's ad attempts to support feminism by strengthening masculinity in women. And through this to attract potential customer groups. This seems to support the theory of Gill （2008）. The increase in identity awareness has led to feminism being encouraged in the advertising market.

At the same time， this also seem to fit today's postmodern feminism. Queer Theory states that gender is not natural， it is constructed and power is played out through language and images （Annesley and Gains， 2012）. It is precisely because of the large use of this gender metaphor and contrast representative things that Dior advertising has broken the public's stereotype of gender. However， Dior's advertising marketing method is still somewhat deliberate， which is one of the shortcomings of semiotics. Instead of paying attention to the importance of the goods themselves， they are more concerned with the society's secret codes and expose ideological structure represented by the commodity symbols to find more potential market targets.

In conclusion， semiotics is an important means of analyzing today's media texts. It can reflect the ideology and cultural trends of today's society. With the deep research on semiotics in different media texts， especially advertising. It's not hard to find that today's advertising efforts in promotion will change with social background and hot topics.

Referencing List

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