The Communication of Luxury: A Semiotic Analysis

of a Luxury Brand’s Perfume Commercial

Brygida Hurek
University of Opole

Abstract: This study explores the mode of communication of luxury in the case
of Chanel. It includes a review of theories regarding the cultural concept
of luxury. It discusses the psychological, historical, cultural and sociological
aspects of luxury in order to explain its dynamics and significance. It also
elucidates the discourse of advertising, and the practice of luxury branding
and communication. The methodological base for the study is semiotics with
its structuralist and post-structuralist approaches to meaning, and its emphasis
on the complexity of cultural systems through discourse. The analytical section
is an in-depth description of a Chanel commercial, deconstructing the com-
ponent parts according to semiotic and discursive categories. It offers
an interpretation of the commercial’s intended (preferred) reading concerning
this particular luxury brand of perfume and conclusions regarding the distin-
guished modes of communicating luxury.

Keywords: luxury, commercial, communication, meaning, brand, value

1. Introduction

The luxury market is currently enormous as it rose to an estimated value

of $1.2 trillion around the world in 2017; however, it has experienced a consid-
erable upsurge since the 1990s. In the period between 1996 and 2017 it rose 6%
annually on average (D’Arpizio, Levato, Kamel and de Montgolfier 2017).
What is more, the market is expected to be on the rise in the near future. Thus,
it is worth devoting special attention to the increase in digital luxury
advertising, which is currently largely made of video commercials and posts
(“Hospitality leads digital transformation of the luxury category” 2018).
Business Insider noted a staggering and rapid 63% growth in digital luxury

Brygida Hurek “The Communication of Luxury: A Semiotic Analysis of a Luxury Brand’s Perfume
Commercial”, Polish Journal of English Studies 4.1(2018): 7–33.
8 Brygida Hurek

expenditures in 2016 (since 2013), while pointing towards some newly

emerging phenomena, for example the amount of money for promotion
of luxury brands in magazines decreased 8%, which suggests only a modest
but steady shift and the luxury brands do not lavish their money on digital
channels yet (Gallagher 2017). Yet it has been projected that all luxury
purchases will be online-influenced in 2025 (D’Arpizio et al. 2017). These
numbers imply the rising power of digitalization in luxury consumption,
as this special segment of shoppers is digitally engaged and “the Internet
is the only medium that can reach all luxury buyers in all markets” (Chehab
and Merks-Benjaminsen 2013).
Nevertheless, it should be noted that luxury brands have always been more
cautious and slower in entering the digital environment, in contrast to other
businesses. Luxury is a complex meaning container that possesses various
intangible characteristics and forms a very distinct part of the market. Its man-
agement has struggled to face the challenges of communicating its essence
through easily accessible online channels (Okonkwo 2009). From the very
beginning, luxury brands have been questioning the appropriateness
and effectiveness of the digital media to transmit their exclusive values.
However, since the digital environment started to advance, there comes
a question: how do the brands manage to transmit their “luxuriousness”?
That is why the exploration of digital luxury advertising seems essential
to obtain a deeper insight into the ways of communicating luxury, which
helps comprehend the luxury advertising’s unique position in the marketing
world.
The study considers a one-minute-long Chanel N˚5 perfume commercial
as a case study.1 A commercial is considered as a purposeful text built of signs
and susceptible to analytical deconstruction (Gottdiener 1995). Therefore,
the study provides a semiotic perspective that aims at analysing many
techniques of communication embedded in the commercial ranging from
language, to pictures and music and attempting to investigate systematically
how these semiotic elements work with each other within the text to create
luxury meaning (Kress and Leeuwen 2006). Additionally, in order to explain
how the meaning is created, the study draws on media semiotics (Chandler

1 Available from official Chanel You Tube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkKROkzYdXs.

 The Communication of Luxury: A Semiotic Analysis 9
of a Luxury Brand’s Perfume Commercial

2002). It elaborates on the very specific role of luxury advertising in brand

strategy, symbolic consumption and the significance of multimodality
in the transmission of meaning.

2. The Fundamentals of Luxury

The word luxury is frequently incorporated in people’s everyday speech

to name or describe certain material objects, services or some ways of living.
Interestingly, this often happens without the awareness of how rich the notion
really is and how differently the concept is realized (Wiedmann, Hennigs
and Siebel 2007). Although it has been recognized that luxuries as products fall
into four distinct categories including: fashion items, fragrances, pampering
goods and alcoholic beverages (Fionda and Moore 2009), there has not yet been
an official agreement on what determines a luxury brand, product or service
(Hudders, Pandelaere and Vyncke 2013). Essentially, the challenge of capturing
the definition of luxury lies in the ever-developing and highly relational nature
of the idea of luxury that depends on many cultural variables. There are
a number of aspects that strongly articulate the very basic traits of luxury. First
of all luxury has always revolved around the notion of exclusiveness,
or scarcity and a high price. In the past, costly fabrics and other pricey
materials that were hard to come by caused the luxury products to be rare,
because not every-one could afford them. The experience of possessing
something exclusive is now cultivated by luxury brands that launch limited
editions, carefully choose places of distribution and generally avoid production
on a large scale, which gives the owner a feeling of privilege of belonging
to a special, very narrow group (Hudders, Pandelaere and Vyncke 2013).
Uniqueness is another facet of luxury that falls within the exclusive
category. Luxury brands are meant to be exceptional and distinctive as much
as it is possible (Hudders, Pandelaere and Vyncke 2013). It is about being
so special that one does not even think of comparing it to something else.
In pursuit of originality of design and unusual external beauty, luxury brands
sometimes tend to decrease the product’s practicality to a minimum to achieve
the outstanding aesthetics (Mortelmans 2005). Finally, luxury brands live
up to their very demanding quality standards. In the past, only the most
affluent people could afford luxuries, as their production was time consuming
and relied on work of highly skilled artisans doing almost everything by hand
10 Brygida Hurek

(Amatulli, De Angelis, Pichierri and Guido 2018). That is why the world
of luxury does not except middle-of-the-road solutions, as the price that one
pays for luxury goods should always stand for the product’s durability
and excellent craftsmanship (Mortelmans 2005). Nevertheless, it cannot be for-
gotten that a cluster of luxury features is not sufficient to define this broad
concept, so it seems essential to elaborate on more abstract dimensions
of luxury.
According to Kapferer and Bastein (2009, 5), “luxury is a culture” and thus
a key element when attempting to grasp the modern identity of luxury is getting
to know the fundamental rules of its “inner dynamics”, which finds its roots
in the historical background. The researchers track the first representations
of luxury and its social practices. Believing in immortality, in some ancient
cultures people started burying their relatives, equipping them with every-
thing they needed in the afterlife; however, with time the objects became
not only better crafted and sophisticated, but also stood for symbols of the power
of the dead. That is why expensive body decorations, fighting gear, horses
and even things as precious as ships were found in some graves. The emergence
of the first civilizations, such as the Egyptian Kingdom, showed a direct
correlation bet-ween luxury and socialization. The religious and ritualistic
traces of luxury in the past are the reasons for one of its most important
characteristics: “Luxury is about elevation” (Kapferer and Bastein 2009, 7).
Another significant part of the discussion about luxury that expands
our understanding of it revolves around the opposite functions of use
and waste: fulfillment of basic needs versus something that goes beyond
the category of necessity, which is (pointless) excess (Mortelmans 2005).
The “needless” characteristic is present today as well and is a major issue when
considering the identity of luxury. To illustrate this, Kapferer and Bastein
emphasize that the core idea of luxury is “needlessly superb, rewarding,
expensive,” which is key to distinguishing a luxury brand from a premium
brand where everything is logically justified. In the meantime, luxury does not
need any functional argumentation, facts and proofs (Kapferer and Bastein
2009). For instance, luxury dining is only about pleasure, not a meal, because
one is left hungry, and wearing a scarf on your shoulder is luxury as your
shoulder is not going to catch a cold (Rapaille 2015). However, there is more
to luxury than going beyond utility.
One may ask what is the added value that makes precious, unique, rare
and superb-quality things luxury. Mortelmans (2005, 508) explains that luxury
 The Communication of Luxury: A Semiotic Analysis 11
of a Luxury Brand’s Perfume Commercial

objects are “meaning-producing devices circulating in a specific cultural envi-

ronment.” The world of tangible things possesses a socially grounded life
in which people rate the objects in line with the meaning that they attach to them.
Objects can be categorized according to their utility, their economic worth
or they can be used to carry symbolic value, such as birthday presents.
The sign-value category, according to the author, separates the object from
its straightforward, factual meaning-giving place to a vast range of unfixed
connotations. Purchasing luxuries falls predominantly within sign-value
correlation, as it does not limit itself to mere functional or even symbolic
motives. A good instance is the acquisition of a brand new luxury vehicle
not for its speed or technologies, but for its ability to mark social position,
status, membership or splendor. Advertising discourse is one of the most
powerful players in the construction of such sign-values. Mortelmans (2005)
states that luxury connotations are ascribed to objects that are used as a sign
of differentiation. In other words, luxury meaning is added when material
culture is harnessed socially to distinguish the owners from the rest, whose
mutual knowledge about luxury is an essential component. Mortelmans (2005)
stresses that the abstract dimension of luxury might cause some ordinary
things to switch to luxury in some circumstances and become a demonstration
of refinement and style, as coding a product as luxury will fail if the object
is not put to use as an indicator of social position.
Luxury goods have the power to answer people’s psychological cravings.
The ability of luxury to carry value on the psychological level is considered
to be one of the most differentiating factors from products not belonging
to the luxury model (Nia and Zaichkowsky 2000). According to Hennings,
Wiedmann and Siebel’s (2007) conceptual model, the overall luxury value
is realized through its pricing and functional dimension, but, more importantly,
it lies in individual and social value. The researchers point out that people not
only make use of the symbolic meaning of luxury goods to manage their actual
or desired self-identity but also use luxury objects to communicate that image
to other people. Moreover, consumers highly appreciate the emotional side
of luxury, whose consumption provides such comforts as sensual enjoyment,
elation and the experience of beauty. The pursuit of self-indulgence triggers
a feeling of completion and reward (Wiedmann, Hennigs and Siebel 2007).
In brief, the definition of luxury ought to embrace a holistic approach, since
it is highly perceptual and operates on different levels. The idea of luxury
is a network of connotations that refer to tangible things, such as vehicles,
12 Brygida Hurek

fragrances, accessories or clothing items, as well as to abstract elements such

as time or experiences. In the face of quickly transforming world-wide markets
and various globalizing consumption cultures, it seems that luxury can be grasped
as a peculiar “transnational type of culture” (Hudders, Pandelaere and Vyncke
2013, 3). Luxury-related concepts also stand for elements such as a required
way of behaving, norms and a rich set of practiced cultural values (Wiedmann,
Hennigs and Siebel 2007).

3. The Discourse of Advertising and Branding

In the modern world, advertising is omnipresent: it pops up at us from every

corner. In spite of its prominence, it seems to be profoundly marginalized
in comparison to others less present forms of culture in our daily live. At the same
time, people recall a commercial’s words and images with greater ease than
those of more highly appreciated forms like poems or art. It is a controversial
genre too, as it evokes emotion, grabs attention, provokes discussions and, more
importantly, it is so strongly entrenched in society that it is considered
as an indispensable element of everyday life (Cook 1992). This strange position
of advertising implies its complex nature and the significant role it plays
as social practice.
According to Cambridge Dictionary, advertising is a business whose core
function is to talk the audience into making a purchase of products or services,
or to make things to be purchased known to others. Advertisements
are characterized as highly purposeful texts that are deliberately crafted
to carry the preferred reading (Barthes 1977; Bignell 2002). However, there
is much more to advertising than pure selling. Modern advertisements do not
openly urge us to consume and to go on endless shopping sprees. They seem
to be more focused on entertaining us. From a semiotic point of view their
objective is to make us actively take part in deconstructing their messages
while plunging us into the pleasant game of decoding what we can see and
hear. Bignell (2002) stresses that advertisements are sophisticated meaning
constructions based on already used signs, codes and social myths.
It is crucial to mention that advertising is not limited to advertisements
understood as isolated texts within the pool of various circulating messages.
Advertising is also a discourse, which means that ads work best with the con-
text of communication, which takes into consideration vital factors that make
 The Communication of Luxury: A Semiotic Analysis 13
of a Luxury Brand’s Perfume Commercial

up the meaning as well. Thanks to a discourse perspective on advertising,

apart from sheer analysis of language, the approach takes notice of music,
images, medium of delivery or participants. It recognizes reasons of the com-
municative act, functions of the text; it takes into account the situation
and all different variables that go with language: voice, behavior, gestures, face
expressions even feelings and intentions. The blending of context and a text gives
a holistic view and thus also gives birth to a model of analysis of adver-
tisements defined to be the sum of intertwined signs represented in various
modes (Cook 1992).
Advertising is closely related to branding. Okonkwo (2016) asserts that
branding has transformed into one of the most vital business segments. Brands
are not essentially the goods; they are not an economic institution, not even
the services. The author defines brands as “a name, term, sign, symbol”
or a constellation of these various elements that serves to distinguish the brand
from its rivals (Okonkwo 2016, 9). A brand is a distinguishable body of every-
thing that the maker has to offer, which stands for the reassurance of quality
and high standards. It is an indicator for the clients that what they intend
to acquire is going to fulfill the brand’s commitments (Room 1989). The im-
mediate recollection and interpretation of particular goods is predominantly
the consequence of effective branding capable of bringing about an emotional
and mental bond with the brand. For Okonkwo (2016), goods are just raw mate-
rials that were given some characteristics and qualities which make them
physical, whereas brands come down to the total of all encounters and mes-
sages experienced by consumers, which leads them to develop a differentiating
image of the brand rooted in the psychological and material advantages. This
implies that branding and its connotations are placed in the subconsciousness
of the purchaser, which turns all consumers into inevitable elements of the
branding structure.
Laura R. Oswald, the author of Creating Value (2015), suggests looking
at branding from a semiotic and cultural perspective. She stresses that culture
and marketing are reciprocally connected and the recurrent encounter
of messages makes for the consumer’s knowledge of various circulating codes:

Brands are sign systems that consumers associate with the brand
name, logo, and other proprietary assets. Brands, like consumers,
are products of their environments. They draw meaning from
their positioning in the competitive set, from the perception
14 Brygida Hurek

of value in the product category and from trends in popular

culture. Brands also contribute to the cultural system because
the relationship between culture and brands is dialectical.
Through the repeated contact with marketing messages, con-
sumers come to associate certain symbols with specific product
categories, and incorporate these codes in turn into their reper-
toire of cultural codes (Oswald 2015, 114).

Brands penetrate the thinking of society, specifically its awareness, through

omnipresent communication that creates links by joining clients with market-
ing symbols in the social domain. In turn, the participants of the market play
a part in the generation of brand definition when they make use of the market-
ing sign in life contexts, behaviors, activities as well as self-produced adver-
tising promotion. A meaning of the brand brought to being by consumers then
travels within culture through different modes (Oswald 2015).
Successful luxury brands exist thanks to extraordinary, purposeful market-
ing plans. Okonkwo (2016) points out that luxury brand managers are aware
that the external pleasantness, sophisticated execution and artistry of the offer-
ings mean nothing when they exist alone. The products can only be success-
fully represented through powerful brands that are able to allure the psyche
of the client. While the products form a solid base for the luxury brand, branding
is what keeps them alive. The author suggests that creating a luxury brand
and its successful direction turns out to be a tremendously lengthy procedure.
It needs a steady coherent plan, inventive approaches, strict supervision
and persistent evaluation. In spite of a great number of brands aspiring
to become luxurious as well as some struggling to launch their own luxury
brands, only a few manage to make it work out. The top luxury brands are those
that can find equilibrium between being never out of fashion through stable
brand philosophy and long tradition; being present and pertinent among
competitive brands and lastly being original in creation of the time to come
(Okonkwo, 2016). The author also stresses that luxury buyers anticipate
unconventionality and freshness in crafting new fashions. Purchasers are not
interested in brands which, before production, ponder about what the con-
sumers might want. Luxury shoppers value those that comprehend the psyche
of the consumer, grasp the dynamics of fluctuating styles and even modes
of thinking faster than the clients do.
 The Communication of Luxury: A Semiotic Analysis 15
of a Luxury Brand’s Perfume Commercial

Kapferer and Bastein (2009) report that luxury’s chief function is the man-
agement of social position, that is what one conveys to others, particularly
in terms of refinement. That is why it has to be dynamic in the cultural sphere.
This facet of luxury is extremely ingenious and diverges from other non-luxury
products. That is the cause of a remarkably contrasting way of communication
employed by the luxury world that is far from hard selling. Within luxury
advertising, something is expressed to construct the dream and to fuel the brand’s
worth, not to make a classic market exchange. Luxury communication takes
place away from the actual purchase. The narration, the language used to speak
about the brand and its offerings is imaginary. Moreover, it has to be indefinite
enough so that many consumers can relate to it and discover their individual
involvement in the dream. This, according to Kapferer and Bastein (2009), suggests
a sophisticated and creative communication with the power to establish social
codes. It must not appear too old-fashioned, explicit or straightforward, but should
revolve around being figurative and emblematic. The consumers are somehow
given a free hand to construct their own meaning out of the subordinate text
and thus satisfy their need to dream. This technique turns out to be especially
in tune with the aim of giving prominence to the spiritual and experiential
feature of luxury expression and consumption.
The aim of producing lasting experiences and strengthening the client’s
hopes, wishes, expectations and urges (facets that are representative of luxury
products) can be effectively achieved by means of visuals. The reason behind
this is that imagery has a projective potential. It provides the consumer with
more space and freedom to make sense of some information in comparison with
a linguistic text. Therefore, it is highly possible that this encourages the consumer
to direct their thinking towards his aspirations or visions – and ultimately
to dream (Amatulli, Angelis, Pichierri and Guido 2018). That is why a visual
commercial has been chosen as an object of analysis here; however, first,
the methodological basis for this analysis will be explained.

4. Basic Concepts and Approaches in Semiotics

Semiotics is one of the crucial prerequisites to an effective analysis of any kinds

of commercials, as they are texts that are deliberately crafted to achieve certain
goals through various component messages. Therefore, it appears essential
to discuss the inner workings of this discipline. Daniel Chandler (2002, 1)
16 Brygida Hurek

warns the reader that semiotics, although it entirely comes down to “the study
of signs”, is at the same time a ubiquitous and diversified subject. Umberto Eco
(1976) provides an extensive explanation of semiotics, asserting that it has to do with
everything that can be regarded as a sign. This means that semiotics relates
not only to what we are used to name as actual “signs” on a daily basis,
but essentially to anything that represents something else. Thus, signs when
looked at from a semiotic perspective comprise of seemingly distant categories
ranging from words both written and spoken, visuals, music, the way we use
our bodies while speaking and tangible objects. However, modern semioticians
do not investigate signs separately but analyze them as a unit of a much bigger
network of signs belonging to, for example, one genre or medium. Their aim
is to track the process of meaning production and expose the way the real life
is depicted (Chandler 2002).
Ferdinand de Saussure developed a structuralist theory of linguistic sign
(Saussure 1983). He claimed that a sign can be broken down into two com-
ponent parts, which is a signifier and a signified. Modern authors most often
define the signifier as a kind of form which the sign obtains, whereas
the signified is the idea to which it relates (Chandler 2002; Oswald 2015).
However, Saussure stresses that the linguistic sign is not a correlation between
the name and the object, but it is a relation between the physical impression
of sound and the idea brought to the mind of the speaker (Saussure 1983). That
is also why he treats these two elements as sheer “psychological” entities.
The interrelation between the signifier and the signified is called “signification”
while the sign is everything that comes out from identification of the signifier
with the signified (Chandler 2002). In semiotics languages split up the sphere
of thinking, giving rise to concepts which form people’s experiences (Bignell
2002). For instance in French “mouton” is the equivalent of English “sheep”
referring to an animal and “mutton” – to a kind of meat. This does not mean
that the French do not differentiate these two things, but they attach more
importance to lamb on account of their highly refined eating culture that takes
precedence over wool and textiles, so valued in the case of England. That
is why the lexicon naming kinds of lamb meat in French is so extensive in com-
parison to English. This case clarifies the way cultural codes shape the importance
people attach to products and their categories and thus shape how these wares
are portrayed in signs, emblems and habitual behaviour. This knowledge is crucial
while looking closer at case studies on luxury, as it explains dissimilarities
in the estimated worth of luxuries in different markets, justifying it with cultural
 The Communication of Luxury: A Semiotic Analysis 17
of a Luxury Brand’s Perfume Commercial

contrasts (Oswald 2015). For Saussure, signs generate meaning when they
are an element of a systematic and conceptual organization: what constitutes
“value” of a sign is the interrelation between other signs belonging to the structure
(Chandler 2002).
Roland Barthes, a French critic, developed crucial semiotic concepts related
to the semiotic-centered deconstruction of modern media (Bignell 2002). Barthes’s
brief essay on Italian food advertising for Panzani pasta (Barthes 1964) puts
Saussure’s ideas of semiotic deconstruction in language to use in the examination
of images. The writer opted to inspect an advertisement on account of the con-
scious and purposive character of communication that this form contains
(Stokes 2003) and provided an insightful analysis of a print advertisement
across two dimensions: the denotative (literal) and connotative (interpretative)
one (Barthes 1964). Firstly, Barthes delves into the linguistic plane, which
is the label with the name of the brand. He notices that Panzani communicates
more than just how the company is called, but more importantly its sound
gives an impression of “Italianicity.” The second function appears when the lin-
guistic message is an indispensable element that accompanies the image and thus
makes it possible to convey the intended message (like in comics). After this
the author goes on to the study of pictures, firstly from the denotative perspective.
However, he emphasizes that there is no way to come across a literal image
with no undertones in the domain of advertising. It would be abstract to consider
visuals in separation from symbolic meaning since each person participating
in a society possesses some knowledge at hand that urges to see more than
what is physically represented by the signifier (Barthes 1964). The next step,
probably the most prominent, is to identify the hidden, non-literal message.
The whole scene represents a conscious way of shopping and the matching
of colors (yellow, green and red) symbolizes Italianicity. Interestingly, Barthes
remarks that a native Italian would scarcely arrive at this connotation, while
it is noticeable for the French that rely on reinforced tourist expectations.
Finally, the entire organization of the image recalls a signified that has its place
in art – still life paintings. The conventional realm of signifieds or connotations
is defined by Barthes as an ideology. Lastly, the author also coins the term
“rhetoric of the image” which stands for the whole arrangement of signifiers
able to imply the signifieds (Barthes 1964).
While denotation is the exact, fixed, or simple message that one derives
from a sign, that is, the utterances or images precisely about an object,
connotation is an interpretation which the thing brings to mind: it is about
18 Brygida Hurek

what it represents from a personal standpoint. In Barthes’s essay, connotation

enacts cultural significations, mythologies and beliefs. The meaning obtained
on the connotative level embodies all the cultural definitions connected with
the particular thing. They originate in previous encounters or recurrent
attachments made between a symbol and certain object (Smith et al. 2004).
If one looks at advertisements, daily reports on TV and other media texts
such as movies, it is obvious that verbal signs, images, and other symbols
are not utilized merely to indicate something, but also in order to precipitate
a variety of associations. Barthes dubbed this societal fact – the joining of signs
and their symbolic meaning to form certain communication – the generation
of “myth.” This term relates to modes of processing about individuals,
goods, locations, or concepts that are constructed to convey certain messages
to the receiver of the material. For instance, if the viewer watches a shoe adver-
tisement, in which a person is getting out of a Rolls-Royce, the scene does
not solely represent a pair of high heels and a make of car. It connects the over-
tones of luxury that are obtainable through the symbol “Rolls-Royce” with
the footwear, implying a mythic signification – this wardrobe item is an element
of socially advantaged lifestyle (Bignell 2002). The high heels and the car were
deliberately arranged together so that they seem alikes since they are both
expensive and stylish – this reveals a metaphorical relation between these two.
However, the fact that one can observe only a glimpse of the shoe is not important
as this sign points to the whole figure, owner of the shoe. This unreal adver-
tisement employs an elaborate mixture of signs in order to invest the identified
things with mythic message. Bignell (2002) states that myth seizes an already
used sign and causes it to operate as a signifier on another rank. The symbol
of “Rolls-Royce” turns into a signifier with the signified concept of luxury,
for instance. In this sense, myth resembles in its structure a certain type
of language that puts to use already circulating signs and builds a brand new
sign structure out of them. It must be mentioned that myth is not a made-
from-scratch, pure and unbiased language. It picks up the operating signs
and the ideas they evoke, and intentionally applies them to fulfill certain social
function.
The idea of a code is pivotal to semiotic analysis (Dyer 2009). The codes
provide a rationale for the social side of sign structures, as they control the linking
of particular definition with symbolic portrayal in a specified culture, for example
relating diamonds to social standing. Codes also explain the shared reading
of such resources as body language, hues and shapes. They structure people’s
 The Communication of Luxury: A Semiotic Analysis 19
of a Luxury Brand’s Perfume Commercial

reasoning about the world according to “prevailing meaning schemes” that

differ across cultures and times. They frequently remain unquestioned and are
assumed to “have always been there,” so are of high importance in people’s
cognition when making sense of things or pondering about them. For instance,
long blond hair interpreted through the frame of femininity points to the signified
of woman (Dyer 2009).
Post-structuralist theoretical model of semiotics shifts the focus from the codes
as ordering principles for signs to the reciprocal relation between codes and how
they are used in the culture. The codes can be looked at according to structural
elements of discourse; however, how they are put into action can be deconstructed
by semantic categories of discourse. The semantic dimension studies the different
roles of the code that develop while codes are utilized in social communicative
acts. This perspective asserts that people do not solely depend on codes to convey
a message, but also make changes to the codes, adapt them in order to individ-
ualize their communication (Oswald 2015). The marketing research emphasizes
the power of placing in context any specific sample of text, regardless whether
it is an advertisement, web page, or an interview with a client by looking at them
as a part of a bigger composition of texts that characterize “the brand, the com-
petitive set, the product category, or a consumer segment” (Oswald 2015, 24).
The meaning implied by a certain advertisement and derived by the receiver
is obviously determined by what can be perceived in the material on a screen
or page. Although people tend not to reflect critically on ads on a daily basis,
it is crucial to precisely figure out what can be observed so that one can generate
more well-grounded interpretations regarding the deeper level of signification.
The investigation of text in advertisements requires delving into language
components as well as pictures, concerning the pictorial representation to be as
relevant as (if not more than) the words. Images are “faster” to read and exert
more influence than language, and principally provide better tool for the ex-
pression of enthusiasm, emotions and creative power. An illustration is utilized
to draw attention to and to guide the eye to the written piece in a journal
and in a video advertisement; language frequently works as a mere strengthening
of a picture or a commercial’s shot. Even though people generally look at pictures,
especially photographs, as if they were mirroring the real-life world and therefore
depict the actuality, one ought to be conscious that the intention of an image
is not “clear” – in the contrary, just like the remaining elements of ads
are deliberately created and controlled (Dyer 2009).
20 Brygida Hurek

Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen (2006) in the book Reading Images
present a framework for the systematic semiotic analysis of any kind of visual
representations. Therefore, their ideas can be applied to the examination
of advertisements, also moving images, so commercials seem to be the right
sample to break down taking on their view on the deconstruction and under-
standing of image. There are many ways of visual construction: one of them
is picturing the relation between two objects in an action. In a still image,
it is realized through a vector created by for example a picture of a hand
in a position that shows somebody else to come closer. In the moving image
the same vector is controlled by movement, so the same scene would display
a hand gesture in motion aimed at the other person. Kress and van Leeuwen
(2006) also distinguish two kinds of participants – the interactive ones (e.g. the pro-
ducer and receiver of a commercial) and the represented ones that makes
up the substance, “everything” which takes part in a representation process
ranging from people, objects to locations. The participants have semantic roles
(e.g. “actor” or “goal”). If there are two characters interacting with each other,
they are both actors, the relation between can be either transactional or non-
transactional. When an image depicts just an occurrence and it is not known
who or what is the cause of it, it is an “event.” The visuals are also capable
of portraying reactions, which are marked by the line of eyesight and glimpse
of the “reactor” while observing the “phenomena.” Reaction processes can also
be transactional, when people react to each other, or not transactional. Other
categories in the multimodal discourse analysis framework include: the des-
cription of attributes, participants taking part in a scene, the circumstances that
comprise of setting. There should also be taken notice of the background
and foreground, the scenery and objects embedded in it. Multimodality consists
also of distance, angle of viewing and positioning of the viewer in relation
to the scene represented. An important part is played also by colors and their
hues; they are able to express certain meanings. When it comes to motion
pictures, additional categories might be crucial to deploy, such as narrative
and narrative devices: caption, dynamic and composition, Movement is capable
of changing the position of the viewer and thus produce impressions that
cannot be evoked by still images (Kress and van Leuween, 2006).
 The Communication of Luxury: A Semiotic Analysis 21
of a Luxury Brand’s Perfume Commercial

5. Case Study – Chanel Luxury Brand Advertisement

The example chosen for the study of luxury communication is the Chanel
perfume commercial of the iconic scent N˚5, released on the official You Tube
channel of Chanel on the twenty-eight of February in 2018. In the commercial
the main character is played by Keira Knightley – a prominent British actress.
The video represents a sequence of actions by a young woman who is leaving
an apartment after an all-night party, interspaced with flashbacks of her recol-
lections of some significant moments of that party. One by one, she recovers
her shoes, scarf, handbag and blazer (all Chanel branded) and leaves the place
leaving the man she had met there behind. The story seems amusing,
captivating and free-flowing, but as it turns out, the commercial is a lavish,
meaning-charged luxury branding production. An in-depth analysis of the com-
mercial requires a detailed description of the video in the first place.
The story starts at a dark but elegant entrance leading to a glamorous living
room in which we can see a greyish round sofa in the middle, grey, gold
and brownish pillows scattered around, a black piano in the back and a huge
white window with creamy, translucent drapes. The whole white interior
is in a mess as if after a party: there are white and pink balloons with glittering
white and gold ribbons attached to them, and white fluffy feathers and pieces
of glimmering confetti. The viewer sees a shot of a woman from the back striding
into this room and looking around a bit. She is wearing a long, greyish dress
revealing her back. When she walks in, there is a delicate glimpse of a light
beam coming from the left. Straight away there is a shot of her hand picking
up a black high-heeled sandal from Chanel, but after that we see the woman
holding it and looking somewhere in the direction of the room with a reflective
gaze as if trying to recollect something.
Immediately after this, we get to watch a quick flashback of what happened
the previous night at the party – in a sequence of quick shots lasting a few
seconds. We see people dancing, having fun in the apartment’s living room
with their hands up in the air, the confetti and ribbons falling down reflecting
light. We can hear that they clap their hands twice, then there is a brisk, warm
woman’s smile, with Keira among the guests and lastly we see just the bottom
of the lady’s dress and a moment when she throws off her shoe with a light
kick while dancing, throwing the confetti into the air. That is the way she had
lost her shoe the previous night, which she has just now grabbed into her hands.
The mental picture of the flashback is topped off with a glimpse of the party
22 Brygida Hurek

from above. We can also notice in this scene two huge, crystal chandeliers
above the guests’ heads. As the action in the commercial continues, the viewers
find themselves back in the empty living room, however, on the other side of it.
In the background there are two massive balcony windows with curtains
in dusty pink colour. The walls are covered with creamy-white moldings.
It can be observed that the floor is dark, probably made of wood. This area
of the room is free from any furniture but there are balloons as if surrounding
the central part of the scene. Keira climbs on a chair and stretches up to reach
her light pink scarf that is hanging from the crystal chandelier, then we catch
a glimpse of Keira’s face: she looks up with enjoyment as he pulls the scarf
down from the lamp. In the next shot, she holds the scarf in her hands, tangles
it and pulls it slightly closer to her chest, and looks to the side – again as if trying
to recall the situation in which she lost, this time, the scarf. After this we step
right into the scene narrating the course of events the night before. We see
Keira again in her own recollection. The bit of her memory is pictured again
in several rapidly shown shots. The scene takes place among guests during
the party, on the dance floor. It can be said that it happens in the middle
of the dancing crowd. Keira turns towards the viewer with a mysterious look
and a mild smile, and with a dynamic gesture made with her scarf.
Later we see a situation from behind the actress’s back: there is a brown-
haired man approaching her, he is wearing a navy blazer paired with a striped
T-shirt. He looks at her with a direct, calm and mystifying gaze. Then we observe
Keira, first from the front and then the whole scene from the side when they
stand in front of each other as she wraps the scarf around the man’s neck.
She pulls the man closer to herself, which we see from behind the man’s back,
from a distance as well as from the side, when they are facing each other.
As they get really close in front of each other, we see their faces in profile: they
exchange deep glances, and then the woman releases the scarf and with one
move throws it back dynamically in the air, where the light-weight scarf lands
on the chandelier. The confetti flows in the room and glitters in the dim light
of the scene.
The viewer is taken back to the empty apartment the morning after. Keira
makes a few steps towards the “camera” as if looking for something more, then
we see her feet as she puts them together in two audible “bangs” against
the floor. Then she snaps her fingers twice while staring somewhere
thoughtfully, once again, as if attempting to bring back certain pictures to her
mind. Each moment of snapping is seen from two different perspectives – from
 The Communication of Luxury: A Semiotic Analysis 23
of a Luxury Brand’s Perfume Commercial

the front showing the whole figure and closer from the side. From this point
the viewer jumps into the scene that has happened the night before. People
at the party are having a good time: they dance, fight using the pillows, and the
feathers are drifting in the air. We can see that the actress is among them trying
to force her way through the crowd with a green quilted Chanel bag on a chain
clutched in her outstretched hand. We see the bag falling on the floor among
feathers and confetti and, then right after it, a shiny copper pillows falls
on it. The moment the pillow hits the floor covering the bag from view,
the viewer sees Keira back in the morning. She notices the bag, uncovers
it and grasps it in her hands. Then, we see her face in close-up, as she starts
to smile with a certain spark of delight in her eyes and from this point
on we delve into her next remembrance of the past night.
We see her hand reaching for the microphone; she grabs it from the floor
and lifts up above her head in a gesture of victory. She opens her mouth
smiling, shouting something. Around her we can observe a pillow-battle,
feathers drifting in the air from one direction to the other. We watch Keira’s
hand as she turns up the volume of music with a golden knob. She is wearing
a black nail polish and a silver ring. Then the viewer watches the room full
of guests who are enjoying themselves, at the back of which Keira sings
to a microphone. The man that approached her before makes a jump and lands
on top of the crowd, which holds him. Keira sings with a gentle voice “Coco”
to the microphone and the memory cuts off.
Keira appears from behind the door frame and walks along the hallway
to look at the mirror on the wall, which is made of small square mirrors in gold
frames put together. We see her reflection in the mirror as she passes, also her
look focused on lipstick stains from kisses. Straight away we observe what
happened in the hall during the party. We see girls, women jostling in front
of the mirrors fixing up their makeup. Keira can be seen in the reflection
of the mirror taking a look in the direction of the camera’s eye. The man, whose
shady figure outline can be distinguished in the right side of the shot, stands
at the door frame and watches her. The viewer observes closely (from three
different angles) as she kisses the mirror softly leaving a mark on it. Then
she looks into the man’s eyes, and he looks at her with a slight mysterious
smile. When she turns away to go, she continues to keep the eye contact,
so he follows her into the bedroom.
The bedroom walls are covered with sea-blue patterns, which look as if they
were painted carelessly. There is a huge gold decoration on the wall, white curtains
24 Brygida Hurek

and a big bed in the middle. The classy furniture is black with polish and gold
ornaments. The bed is dishevelled, there are olive-green pillows on a modern
navy blue sofa and a piece of creamy wrinkled silky fabric laying on the bed.
When she walks in, there is a male hand emerging from the duvet. She takes
her black Chanel blazer and holding the blazer and her Chanel bag she comes
across a white chess pawn laying on the turquoise carpet. She picks up the pawn
and lifts it on the level of her eyes and glances with deliberation. This way
we move on to the next recollection. The bedroom is dim, there is just a yellow-
gold light leaning against the bed. The actress is lying on the bed in a reclining
position facing the man and there is a chessboard between them. A black pawn
is being beaten by the white pawn with Keira’s delicate push, and she sees him
as he takes off his striped shirt showing off his muscular body with tattoos.
Then the man strikes Keira’s pawn and we see that she is about to untie
the knot from the top of her dress still looking into the man’s eyes. The recol-
lection finishes in mid-movement.
While walking through the living room on her way out and putting on her
blazer, Keira glances at the wall where the words are written with a gold spray:
“COCO FOREVER.” Just as she smiles to herself there starts another memory
of what happened the past night. We see a shot when someone’s hand touches
a golden light switch. As the people dance, we see and hear a boy whistling.
Later, we see a shot in which the man goes forward and guides Keira: he holds
her arms with both hands. She looks into his eyes with an intrigued facial
expression. As they stride, we can listen to a clear sound of their foot steps.
When the man turns her around to see something, she opens her mouth in admi-
ration and surprise. The man stands next to her, rests his arm on her shoulder
and also watches the view with content. On the wall there are words: “COCO
FOREVER,” people are cheering and holding cold sparklers. Both Keira
and the man are happy and laugh. This way the last mental image comes to an end.
We follow Keira as she takes a last look at the apartment. Her hand touches
the handle and opens the door. We see her with a pleased smile, already going
down the street. Behind her we can admire the creamy-coloured facades of Paris’s
decorative tenement houses. They are shown from the perspective that reveals
how they stretch along the road. The sunrays are leaning against the high
buildings with wrought balconies. The man rushes to the balcony door shirt-
less and shouts “Coco!”, but she does not look back. We can still hear one more
echoed “Coco!” as the light pink bottle of Coco Chanel N˚5 perfume shows
up against a black background. On the label big letters of different size
 The Communication of Luxury: A Semiotic Analysis 25
of a Luxury Brand’s Perfume Commercial

and thickness spell: “Coco Mademoiselle Chanel Paris.” At the bottom of the bottle
we can read “Eau de parfum intense.” The narrator says what is displayed
underneath the bottle “the new eau de perfume intense” then she adds “Coco
mademoiselle Chanel.”

6. Meanings and Myths in Chanel Advertising

The 2018 commercial from Chanel, although it aims at advertising the iconic
scent Chanel N˚5, obviously communicates far more than a bottle of perfume.
Following the course of the narrative in the video material, one realizes that
there is actually nothing that directly or indirectly refers to perfume. The receiver
is not flooded with elaborate commentaries on what the product is like, what
it does or why it is a better option than something else. The viewers are not
forced to decide whether to make a purchase or not, nor are they provided
with bits of persuasive information, but are encouraged to relax, take their time
and derive their own meaning out of the multitude of images, narrative
sequences and intertextual references. The commercial seems to captivate
one in a pleasing process of meaning making on account of the heavily edited
sequence accompanied with music. The unquestionable supremacy of images
makes this advertisement a great semiotic specimen and, for the sake of moving
images, the multimodal perspective can produce interesting insights when
other modes of communication are taken into consideration. Even though
the commercial lasts only sixty seconds, it is increasingly rich in meaning-
generating elements that build up the implied interpretation. What the viewer
is offered in the first place is a certain identity produced by the brand that
entails a luxurious lifestyle.
Although Keira Knightley is a world-renowned actress starring in this
commercial, one can easily recognize that she does not play herself in this short
brand material. Instead she impersonates “Coco Chanel,” yet not personally
the famous woman that founded the brand and launched the production
of the promoted perfume. Keira represents the “Coco Chanel woman” that any
woman can become. The commercial focuses to a greater extent on what such
a woman is like and what she does, than on what she has got in terms of material
objects, even though those things are a prominent part of the material (playing
a subordinate role). The observer is presented with brand identity that is represented
as an inspiring and powerful female personality that is carried and reinforced
26 Brygida Hurek

in the story. First of all, Keira is dressed comfortably, but she is also undeniably
elegant and classy, as there is nothing over the top or excessive in her look.
She has her hair tied in a messy yet a good-looking bun, she has got a powerful
and stylish grey smoky eye makeup, a grey tulle dress, black leather sandals
with unique decorative heels. Keira’s look seems to be an essence not only
of “French” attachment to simplicity and quality but also of creativity of design
and uniqueness.
The starring of Keira Knightley brings additional connotations that the con-
sumers associate with the brand and the scent. The consumers start to attach
the qualities of the character Keira plays as well as the characteristics of Keira
as a person to the brand’s identity and its luxurious propositions – clothing
items, accessories, makeup products, cat walks and different sorts of events.
The mental bridging between the woman’s lifestyle and the brand results
in the creation of myth. The brand logo takes over all the facets of Keira’s
personality that people commonly identify her with and turns them into
signifieds of the luxury brand. This way Keira adds to the way the consumers
define the brand. As Keira is one of her kind – a classy, beautiful and incredibly
gifted person – the same qualities get associated with the brand.
For the viewer the woman may appear to be an embodiment of femininity,
self-confidence, mystery, joy and power. These characteristics are realized
on the screen through meaningful actions, gestures and behaviours of the main
character in critical situations. Coco presents herself as a complex, strong
and inspiring woman’s personality. Coco is truly self-confident; she communicates
purposefully, often nonverbally. She consciously uses eye contact and her gaze
expresses more than words. Coco is also powerful, decisive, free and takes
the initiative – she decides on her own to leave the building; she is the one that
initiates the flirt on the dancefloor and controls it; she strides confidently
through the crosswalk without turning around when being called by the man
from the balcony. The personality which the main character embodies is not only
bold but also full of happiness, joy and appreciation for life – Coco seizes
the moment at the party, embraces meaningful moments; she starts to sing in front
of others, is able to express her emotions in various ways.
While looking closer at the young lady played by Keira Knightley,
it is worth placing her figure in the perspective of contested roles of femininity
and masculinity, and analyse which codes emerge from the personality the main
character represents. A common, reinforced female archetype takes for granted
such characteristics as vulnerability, fragility, weakness, passiveness and tendency
 The Communication of Luxury: A Semiotic Analysis 27
of a Luxury Brand’s Perfume Commercial

to hesitancy. “Coco” breaks the dominant model of femininity that joins

women with all the qualities regarded as “not strong,” especially when set beside
men. The young woman that the viewer gets to observe in the commercial
presents the opposite – she exhibits all the traces that point towards the inner
strength of character. She does not wait for the things happen to her;
on the contrary, she takes on a proactive position, she is the decision maker,
controls the course of action. Coco chooses a partner and initiates the interaction
with the man without hesitation, sings at the party with hardly any bit of stage
fright, abandons the man with no feeling of guilt. She looks happy with herself,
independent and free while not being afraid to reveal her emotional side
or enter a romantic relation. Coco proves that it is possible to bridge everything
that makes a true woman with incredible inner strength. On the other hand,
the viewer sees a man, although not central to the story, but a complementary
figure showing gentleness, obedience and slight disorientation. The man is left
behind empty-handed, the symbol of which might be the sleeping man’s hand
emerging from the duvet.
Interestingly, for the most part of the story, the “Coco Chanel woman” has
a mild, mysterious smile. She communicates deeply with her gaze, leaves
the apartment in the morning without warning and in full control of her attire.
That is why her figure may bring about intriguing questions that probably
are going to remain unanswered or that will trigger the reader to imagine even
more. We might have an impression that the woman keeps certain secret
as we can only deduce her intentions and thoughts from what she does. We have
also no idea of what happened in the bedroom that night. Moreover, we know
nothing about her romantic relationship with the man. These are the elements
that create a mysterious atmosphere, provide a lot of space for self-interpretation
as specific aspects are left for the imagination of the viewer. Mystery is also
constructed through the use of different tools. That is for example: the shade
of a figure’s outline, a dim lightning of a scene, dark colours, smoky eye makeup
or blurred shots of the crowd when the people are shown as a mass and, lastly,
when we see Keira’s reflection in the mirror. These components are not mystery
in themselves but they strengthen the experience of indirectness and implication
which is pivotal for a luxury brand so that it can stir consumers’ imagination
and thus remain an object of constant desire.
With the motive of mystery comes a prominent factor of dreaming that
cannot be omitted in the analysis. Apart from the signifiers presented so far that
leave the imagination to its own devices, it should be explained how dreams
28 Brygida Hurek

are embedded in the storyline, which has much to do with the organisational
and technical side of the commercial. Dreams are central in the construction
of this story. While the apartment and what can be observed in the interiors
are the remains or evidence of the last night’s party, the mental pictures that
Keira brings to her mind are the second reality in which the most important
part of the action happens. The viewer goes back in time getting to know
Keira’s personal sense of the party experience. The images of Kiera’s recollect-
tions are dreamlike. If one tried to describe images of night dreams, the ways
of capturing them would most probably largely coincide with the modes
of portrayal of the dreamlike scenes in the commercial. Recollections, like dreams,
appear to enclose just the most prominent moments, often symbolic or emotional.
The parts when Keira pictures the memories are short, dark, frequently with
close-ups of meaningful objects or actions and are displayed in a dynamic
sequence of quick shots combined with music that supports the multisensory
experience of dreaming. It is also worth noticing that the dream-like
recollections that take the viewer to the vital points of the party are highly
emotional, which means that they attempt to express what the character felt.
The use of dreams underlines the added value of luxury that comes down
to its intangible worth – it caters to the emotional and projective potential
of people’s nature.
The reader of the commercial is not shown just retrospections but increasingly
emotionally-charged moments that touch upon a wide range of different sorts
of emotions. The feelings that can be identified are: attraction, surprise,
happiness, fun as well as the warmth of somebody else’s presence. Also the emo-
tional side of the dreams is realized through changing perspective and deliberately
created close-ups – the viewers get to see the characters’ interaction from
behind their backs or observe their face expressions in detail. This way the re-
ceivers can more strongly experience the relation between the man and the woman,
their nonverbal communication that needs no words, being therefore full
of guesswork and, lastly, their meaningful exchange of glances that create
an alluring tension.
Another significant subtopic to discuss is the implementation of elements
of magic and symbolism into the story happening on the screen. The most
important aspect of this point is the use of objects in the course of action.
Firstly, the brand items and other things that Keira stumbles across make up
the structure of the commercial (they are all captured in a close-up). However,
they play a far more meaningful role. They are as if magic, they are capable
 The Communication of Luxury: A Semiotic Analysis 29
of a Luxury Brand’s Perfume Commercial

of bringing about mental pictures and recalling emotions. What is more,

the branded items stand for all the experienced moments, revealing that there
is more to them than mere functional, aesthetic or quality-bounded charac-
teristics. They are depicted as entities which possess intangible, added worth,
as containers of experiences and emotions. There are particular stories that
stand behind these items. They are able to tell a story as they have personal
signification. For example, the shoes recall the moments of a carefree and joyful
dance. The light pink scarf reminds of the playful flirting on the dancefloor.
The recovered Chanel handbag is the reminder of the cheerful, lively party.
In the commercial there are also close-ups of non-branded objects and worthwhile
actions, whose use is deeply symbolic. For example, the microphone Keira
grabs from the floor is a sign of boldness, confidence and initiative.
Finally, there are two relevant symbolic moments – as Keira gently kisses
the mirror leaving a lipstick mark on it (the viewer can even hear the kiss),
which might be a sign both of self-love and flirtation, and when she plays chess
with the men on the bed. The latter is undeniably not just a simple board game
but, on the level of connotation, a signified of a “love game,” attraction and flirting
between two people. It should also be remarked that there are a few other
components that create the atmosphere of magic. This is the gleaming confetti
and fluffy feathers working as a kind of “magic dust,” which makes the scenes
appear elusive, unreal. The light beams leaning against objects, appearing
and disappearing, reflecting light – build a mysterious, magical aura. Besides,
Keira does “magic” with a hand gesture when she snaps her fingers in order
to return to the party and recall the images of it. Symbolism brings figurative
and emblematic language into the experience of luxury that is not about being
direct and explicit. Lastly, the implementation of magic gives the consumer
an experience of having to do with a miracle, something whose value cannot
be explained with reasoning. At this point the luxury brand acquires qualities
that are closer to religion.
What amounts to an increasingly powerful motive in the commercial
is the broad meaning of the message “celebrating.” First, the commercial is surely
not exclusively about the glorification of the perfume, but it is essentially a clip
that represents the “celebration” of the whole brand, more precisely its image,
identity and the experience it offers to its consumers. This is mainly because
of the fact that the receiver comes across a large number of brand offerings (scarf,
shoe, blazer, lipstick, bag) entwined in the story line in a subtle, engaging way.
Apart from these items there is the main character of Coco, and, as it can
30 Brygida Hurek

be deduced, it all takes place in Paris. The viewer is told a coherent story with
all necessary elements to pinpoint the experiences of a brand in a specific
cultural environment, linking objects, identity, behaviours and emotions.
Moreover, the viewer observes people virtually celebrating during the party.
However, as the guests dance and cheer with cold sparklers in their hands,
lightning up the golden inscription on a wall (COCO FOREVER), it becomes
obvious that it is not just a simple party, but in a connotative dimension
a celebration of brand’s eternity, immortality, timelessness.
The apartment in a tenement house in which the party took place is not just
a “stage,” a decontextualized environment where something is displayed,
or a scenic backdrop for the action. In order to visualize why the place plays
such a pivotal role it is worth envisioning what would be the implied meaning
of the commercial if the surroundings were changed (for a park, a city square
or a meadow in the countryside). Therefore, the place, interiors and the objects
should be regarded as active meaning constructors. For example, the crystal
chandelier, the use of gold colour (elements of furniture – handles, ornaments,
frames) or a silky fabric on the bed are clear signifiers of opulence and luxury.
The books, graphics and paintings on the floor leaning against the walls as well
as a huge black piano are connotators of class and refinement. There is a cor-
relation between the meaning-generating elements of Keira’s appearance
and the appearance of the apartment. The interiors and objects are not only
classy, in French style, but the furnishing is also full of creative and modern
elements. The minimalistic sofa, a geometrical chest of drawers, or fancy
pillows in the bedroom stand for an inventive design while being of top
quality, even to the untrained eye. This points to the balance that needs
to be kept by luxury brands between being original and being loyal to the tradition
and timelessness.

7. Conclusion

The semiotic analysis of the commercial performed above clearly indicates that
communication of luxury branding demands a multimodal approach, as the expe-
rience of the brand, which is of the utmost importance for the luxury sector,
can only be transmitted this way. The characteristics of luxury brand’s image
almost wholly coincide with the interpretation of lifestyle qualities derived
from the study sample. The motive of magic, dreaming, religion, femininity,
 The Communication of Luxury: A Semiotic Analysis 31
of a Luxury Brand’s Perfume Commercial

celebration and emotions are easy to distinguish, but require a close analytical
look at each component and then another look revealing a synthetic
interpretation in the perspective of the whole luxury brand.
Moreover, luxury communication utilizes people’s projective thinking, their
meaning-making nature, desire to dream, emotions and the need to experience
beauty in a pure state. The analysis reveals that the communication of luxury
is mainly constructed with the aim of transmitting the intangible worth, which
is a really demanding task, because the experience of added value has to be rea-
lized through physical means. That is why the meaning is conveyed through
various modes that range from images, sound, utterances to movement. This
multi semiotic environment activates a whole variety of Barthes’ lexicons to detect
the meaning, which shapes the consumers’ definition of the brand.
The example chosen for the study turned out to be rich on the connotative
level, which reveals that communication constitutes a highly coded text, full
of undertones and symbolic actions and objects. Almost every bit of the video
has the capability to bring about certain connotations. The Chanel commercial
exhibits a deep understanding of the nature of luxury brand. It successfully
manages the relationship between being ahead of its time while keeping itself
close to the core identity of the brand (Frenchness and the founder – Coco
Chanel). The commercial creates an integral environment for the consumers
to immerse themselves in the identity of the brand. However, the most
influential choice is the use of Keira Knightley, herself a brand name. Her role
in the commercial is a powerful impersonation of the chief person in the history
of the brand and stands for the whole philosophy of Chanel. Last, but not least,
it is worth mentioning that this commercial is one in a series of perfume
and branding commercials that feature well-known European and American
actresses who have a history of playing ambivalent characters in top-ranking
artistic films.

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