How to Analyze an

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Finding Ads' Hidden Messages

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There's more to advertising's message than meets the casual eye. An effective ad, like other
forms of communication, works best when it strikes a chord in the needs and desires of the
receiving consumer -- a connection that can be both intuitive and highly calculated.

The following questions can help foster an awareness of this process. Use them for class or
group discussions or your own individual analysis of ads or commercials. You may be surprised
by the messages and meanings you uncover.

1. What is the general ambience of the advertisement? What mood does it create? How does
it do this?

2. What is the design of the advertisement? Does it use axial balance or some other form?
How are the basic components or elements arranged?

3. What is the relationship between pictorial elements and written material and what does
this tell us?

4. What is the use of space in the advertisement? Is there a lot of 'white space" or is it full of
graphic and written elements?

5. What signs and symbols do we find? What role do they play in the ad's impact?

 
6. If there are figures (men, women, children, animals) what are they like? What can be said
about their facial expressions, poses, hairstyle, age, sex, hair color, ethnicity, education,
occupation, relationships (of one to the other)?

7. What does the background tell us? Where is the advertisement taking place and what
significance does this background have?

8. What action is taking place in the advertisement and what significance does it have?
(This might be described as the ad's "plot.")

9. What theme or themes do we find in the advertisement? What is it about? (The plot of an
advertisement may involve a man and a woman drinking but the theme might be
jealousy, faithlessness, ambition, passion, etc.)

10. What about the language used? Does it essentially provide information or does it try to
generate some kind of emotional response? Or both? What
techniques are used by the copywriter: humor, alliteration,
definitions" of life, comparisons, sexual innuendo, and so
on?

11. What typefaces are used and what impressions do they

12. What is the item being advertised and what role does it
play in American culture and society?

13. What about aesthetic decisions? If the advertisement is a photograph, what kind of a shot
is it? What significance do long shots, medium shots, close-up shots have? What about
the lighting, use of color, angle of the shot?

 
 14. What sociological, political, economic or cultural attitudes are indirectly reflected in the
advertisement? An advertisement may be about a pair of blue jeans but it might,
indirectly, reflect such matters as sexism, alienation, stereotyped thinking, conformism,
generational conflict, loneliness, elitism, and so on.

 
Footnotes:

Excerpted with permission from Signs in Contemporary Culture: An Introduction to Semiotics

Author:

Arthur Asa Berger is professor emeritus of Broadcast & Electronic Communication Arts at San
Francisco State University, where he taught from 1965 to 2003. He is the author of more than
100 articles and 60 books on media, popular culture, tourism and related concerns.

ds, Fads and Consumer Culture :

Slide 2:
Hours per year spent by average citizen watching TV: 1679 (p. 63) Price of air-time for a 30-second
commercial during 2006 Superbowl: $2.5 million (p. 2) Total amount spent on advertising in the US
(2005): $280 billion (p. 113) Total amount spent on advertising in the rest of the world: $241 billion (p.
114) Americans who expressed interest in products to block adverts (2004): 69% (p. 6) Some facts and
figures

Slide 3:
Advertising as communication Berger's model of “focal points in the study of communication” (p. 52)
Audience Art Artist Society Medium

Slide 4:
Analysing advertisements Berger uses different approaches to analyse advertisements, including:
Semiotic analysis Psychoanalytic theory Sociological analysis Feminist analysis Historical analysis
Myth/ritual analysis
Slide 5:
Semiotic analysis Semiotics is the study of signs – how things can be used to deliver some kind of
message. The important point to remember when considering how things functions as signs is that the
meaning attached to them is arbitrary. The meaning of signs is a convention that is learnt within a
group/society, it is not a natural and universal meaning. What signs, symbols and codes can be found in
the advertisement?

Slide 6:
Psychoanalytic theory Freud suggested that our ego continually balances the primitive subconscious
desires for satiation of our id against our superego, which provides critical self-examination and
anticipates the potential damage of actions proposed by our id. Advertisers frequently try to encourage
our id in order to get us to notice and desire their product How does the advertisement make use of the
human psyche to sell products?

Slide 7:
Sociological analysis Consider how elements of the text are relevant to such matters as socio-economic
class, gender, race, sexuality, status and role. How does the advertisement reflect social concerns, and
the problems of people in their daily lives?

Slide 8:
Feminist analysis As a specialist application of sociological analysis, feminist analysis is particularly
concerned with power structures in society, especially those that keep women in an inferior position.
How does the advert reflect the values of male-dominated society?

Slide 9:
Historical analysis Here the advert can be evaluated in terms of the changes that have taken place in
advertising over the years, how the advert fits into a larger campaign and/or previous advertising
campaigns. How does the advertisement relate to historical events?

Slide 10:
Myth/ritual analysis Advertisements often contain allusion to contemporary popular culture. In addition,
there is a vast wealth of shared cultural knowledge relating to mythical knowledge, such as biblical
stories or classical mythology. How does the advertisement relate to ancient myths?
Slide 11:
An example: Fidji perfume advertisment How might we use Berger's six different approaches to analyse
and understand this advertisement?

Slide 12:
Semiotic analysis empty space position of mouth in photo posture of mouth/lips Polynesian woman?
long, dark hair orchid Fiji: the tropics (escape) language: French

Slide 13:
Psychoanalytic theory the snake: phallic symbol the snake: anxiety the word 'sex' contained in the
advert (subliminal) removal to the tropics, away from the civilising influence of home N.B. This advert
appeared in some countries without the snake. Why?

Slide 14:
value and importance of romantic heterosexual love target audience: young women seeking escape?
prestige product: expensive perfume, French language and associations with high culture role of
women: providers of sexual pleasure, temptress ethnic assumptions: women from less developed
nations seen as less repressed, more passionate (more primitive) Sociological analysis

Slide 15:
Feminist analysis snake: phallic symbol? = subjugation, dominance women's role as objects of male
pleasure objectification of women in adverts: accessible to the male gaze, on show to gratify male
desires holding the “desirable” bottle of perfume, but perfume's purpose is to please men: women
perpetuate male dominance? return to paradise = return to male dominance? (Garden of Eden: “And
[your husband] shall rule over you”)

Slide 16:
Historical analysis Cleopatra killed by a snakebite Advertising: historical context

Slide 17:
Myth/ritual analysis Medusa Garden of Eden Women as dangerous, snakelike, venomous Temptation
Slide 18:
Interactive oral assignment: instructions You (the whole class) have been chosen as the committee that
will nominate and choose the best print advertisement of all time. 1. Work in pairs (preparation: HMWK)
Each pair will nominate one advert. You need to select that advert, and prepare a short presentation of
the meaning contained within that advert. 2. The meeting (the IOA: next lesson) Each pair presents their
advert, after which the whole group discusses the adverts and decides on the winner. Criterion: The
advert that communicates the most meaning

Slide 19:
Interactive oral assignment: further information 1. Preparation Your mark for the A criterion will largely
be determined by the preparation you do. How well have you understood the advertisement? How well
are you able to analyse its content and meaning? 2. The task During the task, you will be running the
meeting yourselves. Your ability to contribute to the ongoing discussion, and interact with the others is
part of how you will be assessed on criterion C. How clearly you present your ideas, particularly the
analysis of your advert, will be assessed on criterion B. Remember to consult the marking criteria for
information on how you will be assessed in this task.

Slide 20:
Berger, Arthur Asa (2007) Ads, Fads and Consumer Culture: advertising's impact on American character
and society. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield References