Semiotic Analysis is Lanvin Paris - Research Paper Example

Semiotic Analysis is Lanvin Paris Introduction Semiotics refers to the study of individual or grouped sign processes, sign and symbols, signification or communication, into sign systems. Central to this is the construction of an understanding of meanings (Chandler 2002). Semiotics often bears important anthropological linkage and dimensions in which it involves the idea that every cultural event or phenomenon can be studied as communication. Though this may be the case however, the realm of the semiotics does not at all exclusively lie in anthropology alone since some focus of the logical dimensions of science; particularly the natural sciences are also its domain. In general, it is the sign systems which serve as the object of study of semiotics (Sebeok and Danesi 2000). Semiosis has the ability to make models, which means that people have the capacity to produce and comprehend the specific types of images required for codifying perceptual inputs (Sebeok and Danesi 2000). Semiosis allows for representation and understanding this representation, which is a capacity of all human beings. The exploratory stage of knowing and understanding an object constitutes a sensory modeling phase required of codifying an image (ibid). This paper attempts to draw understanding of a particular advertising campaign through semiotic analysis, focusing on how either male or female gender is represented in contemporary British culture. For this purpose, the chosen advertising campaign is Lanvin Paris®. Lanvin Paris was founded in 1889 by Jeanne Lanvin and is considered the oldest French couture house. It has become a reference for fashion, accessories, and perfume for the Parisian industry. Lanvin Paris is apparently named after the person who conceived it, and is now recognised worldwide for its elegance in style and refinement. Artists and young talents from several domains surround the fashion firm in which an outstanding cultural heritage is the result. This artistic tradition is perpetuated by Lanvin through its advertising campaigns. Lanvin is geographically situated in the place where it was first established, a street known for its standing in the luxury market, particularly at 15 & 27 Faubourg Saint-Honore, Paris. The Lanvin brand has become a reference for luxury in terms of perfumes and fashion even in the US, Europe, Asia, and other continents. The Significance of Advertising Campaign Fashion advertising, like the kind of advertising pursued by Lanvin, is an excellent example of identity-image producing media. Fashion possesses a cultural language of style which it is acknowledged for, and identity is said to be tied to the nature of the product being worn since they are shown for public display (Rhodes and Zuloago 2003). The domain of high fashion advertising is said to describe a certain identity which is unified according to general types of what they signify – young women, high class people, high status, etc. in which this identity is set by the constant repetition and variation of images (ibid). This set of imagery is created in a unified manner by highly paid artists, designers, photographers, models who promote image identities to the general public by advertising the products according to image-based identity. Products such as high fashion in particular, are marketed to a select few of consumers due to their high cost, although the identity promoted by these products is meant for the general public by advertising them to glossy magazines. Lanvin Paris is an example of this product. It is clear that an advertising image is analyzed semiotically in order to disclose the underlying meaning embodied in a text or an image itself. Since semiotics constitutes the sign systems within texts and their role in creating meaning, the sign becomes an iconic sign as it resembles or implies what it signifies. High fashion media promotes to the public the cultural and socio-economic relevance of their products and thus provides a kind of service to the consumers about them. They tend to impart who is stylish, elegant, rich, and powerful and who is not. This allows for a certain degree of predictability for their consumers in terms of promoting the appearance of a select few. The product serves as the point of consumption of the identity being advertised and as the point of identification within the public milieu (Rhodes and Zuloago 2003). Through advertising, different brands within the same product lines are motivated to compete with one another but are however unified in the same goal of promoting the set of values in relation to the identities connected to the product which they intend to pursue. Glossy magazine pages embody the kind of identity being promoted by these brands, in which consistency to the imagery and products shapes the concept of beautiful young women, expensive objects, and the value of art (Rhodes and Zuloago 2003). The direct, logoed advertisements feature the model/s, designers, theme, and photographers of these products, and the result is an image connected to the taste of the general public. The aforementioned create a unified interaction in which they try to influence the consumers that the point of reference of elegant, sophisticated fashion and good living are these featured products (Kaid and Holtz-Bacha 2006). A brand’s identity is created by the range of colors, sense of style, and beauty of forms, which forms the image of what the general public, must pursue, and thus buy (Rhodes and Zuloago 2003). Not only is the brand associated with these however, but also the images earlier described such as elegance, stylishness, richness, and power (ibid). The Semiotic Analysis of the Advertising Campaign of Lanvin® The image below is an advertisement image of Lanvin® for Lanvin perfume: The image above is a colorful and stylish advertising campaign of Lanvin perfume. The woman in the image wears a yellow-orange long and wide dress whose presentation signifies fire at a glance. The background is set in insignificant colors to emphasize the woman and her dress. The model is of white complexion and fair skin. Her hands are positioned in a manner as if to crawl. The semiotics applied in the image above for Lanvin advertising is significant of style, sophistication, beauty, high class living, and elegance. This is imparted to the audience through the choice of colors, model, style, and an uncommon theme for perfume which is to signify fire. Through human communication, the semiotics presented by the image is signified through the use of mutually-agreed symbols and the context in which these symbols are embodied (Afronord 2001). Semiotics are present in advertising, such as the image used by Lanvin since even our own perception of everyday life involves symbols and codes which are mutually agreed upon by people in society. Thus, a commonality in the sign systems used by both the sender (i. e. Lanvin brand) and the receiver (consumers and the general public) must be present. Advertisements normally construct desired messages ensuring that the desired target audience receives them in a manner for which they are intended, and understand and internalize them according to these intentions. It is in acceptance and internalization in which the general public tends to want to buy the brand, in which the firm has been successful in its image building. The semiotic analysis indicates how the array of visual signs are used in Lanvin advertising campaign in its pursuit to create a positive connection between the advertisement itself and the image and message of the brand (Fourie, 2004a). Since this paper is concerned with how semiotic analysis might throw light on how either male or female gender is represented in Contemporary British culture, it is important to understand the process through which one acquires the meaning of the sign system in one’s culture. In semiotics, culture is not about history or anthropology, but is more about studying the manner that people communicate with one another consciously or unconsciously, “through language, music, and visual images “(Lawes 2002). Semiotics is thus a methodology for understanding packaging, advertising, and other kinds of marketing endeavors which are tailor-made for achieving these (ibid). This process is largely learned through one’s constant interaction with members of that culture in which image internalization and all the other ideas incorporated to it take place. It is important that the image indicates a direction or an inclination which cannot be possibly known by the audience and the general public without their prior exposure to them (Monaco 2000). The viewer would thus become disoriented without the encounter with such signs in the early stages of the advertisement. The Lanvin image would not appear appealing to the viewer without this prior experience. This process implies a so called “syntagmatic-paradigmatic” nature of the semiotic structures such as the elegantly fiery image of a woman in a Lanvin perfume and the notion of how elegantly one should smell when she uses this perfume. Thus, semiotics can speak about things pertaining to culture and communication, such as that wearing a Lanvin perfume would elevate one into a feeling of sophistication, elegance, and high status because of the luxury that it has tailor-made for itself and the corresponding internalization of the general public about this luxury (Leeuwen and Jewitt 2001). Since signifiers and signified are culturally embossed, it will then be easier to understand why images like the one posted in this paper are labeled symbolic signs. The Lanvin advertisement, just as other images, is aware that these signs are rooted in a social and cultural past, representing the heritage of the culture in which they are used (Fourie 2004b). They tend to promote that culture by embodying it within the signs and codes of the image being used for advertisement. The Lanvin perfume represents this culture, which is characteristically and primarily French but which is also European, Caucasian, and western. These are observed in the choice of the model, in which Lanvin used a young Caucasian woman; the use of the theme, and what this theme signifies. Signs and codes exist within a given system of cultural understanding and the corresponding “intertextuality” existing within the semiotic structure (Fourie 2004). We can infer that in the Lanvin image used in this paper, the use of pictorial depth and viewer relativity and common daily symbolic encounters draw the viewers to their cultural significance. Textual language is not needed much in imbibing to the general public the relevant significance of the image since visual communication through image is a more effective means to impart to them the importance of style, sophistication, elegance and beauty by visually showing them what these values are. With this, we can posit that semiotics encompasses a large array of symbols and codes that draw meaning about the social structures in which they are produced and used. The Lanvin advertisement connotes structural intertextuality in its pursuit to create an advertisement that persuades the consumers and the general public about the significance of the brand in relation to elegance and sophistication which every woman with a high status of living must possess. The Lanvin Image and the Female British Culture The Lanvin advertisement used in this paper constructs an image suited to the British culture of the female gender. It is one in which sexual equality is promoted and liberalism thrives. This gender liberalism is seen in how freely the woman in the image shines in her clothes that overwhelms the entire picture. The color of the dress is significant of warmth, in which fire is what is symbolized. The model, a white woman, symbolizes that the British culture attributes beauty to the whites, coupled with slim body as a desired body. The image has opted to use a model with a lean body to complement with the warm color of her clothes, which symbolizes the society’s regard for slim women as beautiful and sexy. Hence, the usage of such body rather than a chubby or one inclined to heaviness. Elegance and style are driving forces of high fashion which the women of Britain pursue and which the image itself embodies. The ad is made sense through learned codes, which are embossed in a culture, just as the Lanvin image. It is important to note that reality is always encoded and since the ad follows the convention codes, it becomes realistic and thus makes sense to people. Even the color codes are evident in the image used in this paper. The aesthetic codes are also apparent in the image through the use of color and an implied sense of style and an artful stance. It is clear that the image of Lanvin perfume used in this paper exemplifies the Western culture in which there is no boundary for art and style. The semiotic analysis of the image provides a depiction of a culture among women in which freedom of choice thrives, symbolized by the manner in which the lady leaps freely as well as her choice of dress which transcends beyond the conventional. This is significant of sexual equality pursued in the British culture today in which women can express their preferences and choices. The theme of the advertisement (fire) captures this in a single image. It implies that if one would use the Lanvin perfume, she would embody all there is to it in the British culture, which is positive embodiment of identity. It is noteworthy to mention that without a unified understanding of the concept which the image wants to embody on the part of Lanvin firm and the consumers and general public, the advertising campaign would not be successful. Conclusion Semiotic analysis is an important undertaking in scrutinizing an advertising campaign. Semiotics is present in understanding culture according to how it is depicted through an advertisement image, which also promotes the culture at the same time. Without a unified understanding of a code, sign, or symbol between the signifier and the signified, the depicted image would not be understood the way the signifier intends for it to be. The realm of high fashion advertising such as Lanvin Paris describes a certain kind of identity which signifies elegance, sophistication, beauty, and high status in which internalization of which is set by constant repetition and variation of images. The Lanvin image used in this paper represents the female culture in Britain which sees the whites/Caucasians as beautiful, signified by the white model. It is also representative of freedom of choice and preference among women which is symbolized by the non-conventional style of dress of the model. The usage of warm color is a significant of bold and warm attitude of the British women. References Afronord, 2001. Drive-through film theory: film semiotics. Tripod. Chandler, Daniel, 2002. Semitics, the basics. Routledge. Fourie, P. J., 2004a. “Institutions, theories, and issues.” Media Studies. Vol. 1. Landsdowne: Creda Communications, p. 638. Fourie, P. J. 2004b. “Content, audiences, and production.” Media Studies. 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