By: Mallory Pelton

SEMIOTICS

Semiotics in other words is the science of signs and symbols.  Semiotics can often times be very tricky and complicated.  Some people consider semiotics to be the

study of meaning and making.  Overall, the use of semiotics is to study the structure and meaning of language more in

depth. The picture below demonstrates an example of semiotics. This picture represents a sign that signifies men

and women’s bathroom.

WHAT IS SEMIOTICS?

Semiotics is known to come from two sources. The first source is Ferdinand de Saussure (bottom left) and the

second source that it comes from is Charles Sanders Peirce (bottom right). Saussure was the founder of semiology and Pierce was the founder of semiotics. A lot of their studies on semiotics has been recognized in philosophy as well as

in psychology.

SEMIOTIC HISTORY

Signs are made up of sounds and images, also known as signifiers. These signifiers then represent concepts of

certain sounds and images. Signs can really be anything, a facial expression, colors, clothes and even body language. Every single culture is filled with signifiers. Signs can have

exactly the same meaning in cultures or completely different meanings depending on the culture. One example of how sign conveys a certain meaning in the U.S. culture

along with many others are high fives or more recently fist bumps. This is a sign that represents excitement,

encouragement and is used to congratulate people on accomplishments. Signs create meaning overtime, they don’t just evolve out of the air. Signs evolve historically overtime. Take clothes for example, dresses became the thing that women would wear and still to this day women tend to wear dresses and if a male is seen wearing a dress

is it out of the ordinary.

SIGNS AND CULTURE

COMMON SIGNS IN THE U.S. CULTURE

• Icons: they signify by resemblance. Icons are usually signs that are closely related to the things they represent and look exactly like them. It

is a pattern or sign that physically resembles what it stands for. For example the warning sign on roads of possible deer crossing by. The sign shows an exact picture of a deer in order to warn people that they could

be crossing by the road and to be careful. • Indexes: These are signs that signify by cause and effect. Indexes can be

defined by some sensory feature such as something that is directly visible, audible or smellable that then correlates with and implies something

broader than language. An example of this would be a a no smoking sign. • Symbols: signify on the basis of convention. The only reason why you

know what symbols mean is because you associate it with a certain relationship overtime. An example of a symbol is stoplights. Green means go , yellow means slow down, and red means stop. These are

symbols that are just known. You don’t have to tell someone what they mean.

ICONS, INDEXES AND SYMBOLS

ICONS, INDEXES, AND SYMBOLS EXAMPLES

I am going to use semiotics in my analysis by taking apart the image I am using and figuring out what the signifier is

and the signified. I am going to do this by taking a look into the deeper meaning of the sign. I am going to see if the sign demonstrates any hidden signs or in other words codes. I am also going to see if there is a denotation or connotation that is associated with the sign. Since the

image represents an icon I am going to figure out what the icon resembles and whether that icon is symbolic or not.

THE USE OF SEMIOTICS DURING AN ANALYSIS

IMAGE BEING ANALYZED

This image represents both connotation, denotation, metonymy, and intertextuality. Overall the image is trying to relate the bottle to the famous icon Marilyn Monroe.

Connotations exhibit an inferred meaning or in other words a figurative meaning. Denotation is the literal meaning of the image. It is the meaning that is obvious and evident.

Metonymy means that there is something that is communicating by association by making connections

between things. Intertextuality is a term that deals with relation between texts and is used to show how texts

borrow from one an another.

KEY CONCEPTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE IMAGE

The literal meaning that is evident in this image is the vodka bottle being touched with a silk cloth. It is evident that there is a bottle of vodka and that there is skirt being

blown upward from an air vent below.

DENOTATION

The connotation in this image is tricky because there are a lot of different pieces to it. Due to the negative space, the white space and the empty space we see a large focus on the bottle itself, this then creates the viewer to only focus on the bottle and exhibit uncertainty of why there is a silk

skirt wrapped around the bottle. Another connotation associated with the image is that it is an ad that shows

feminity and purity. Another connotation that is associated with this image is that women are objects of male desire

and implies that the person has no feelings. The last connotation that could be associated with this image is a

sense of health due to the transparency of the bottle.

CONNOTATION

This image shows metonymy because it has a spotlight and stage effect to it with words that say ‘Absolut Marilyn’

and since Marilyn Monroe was a famous icon in Hollywood it is showing

metonymy connecting between the two. It shows a type of seductiveness because of the skirt being blown up by an air vent below. This demonstrates metonymy because Marilyn Monroe was known to be seductive and hold many photo shoots with silk clothes and air blowing up her skirts or hair creating a seductive and glamorous look. The ad is implying that if you want to be sexy and glamorous like

Marilyn Monroe than you should buy this bottle.

METONYMY

This ad uses intertextuality because the silk cloth is shaped exactly like the famous ‘Seven year itch’ photo of Marilyn

Monroe that was publicly shot.

INTERTEXTUALITY

The hidden codes that are being applied are that women are objects of male desire. They are using an attractive

famous female icon to make the bottle seem more desirable. The are trying to make the bottle fashionable

and desirable so that people will buy it. They are doing this be using a seductive stage like theme with a scandalous

skirt being wrapped around the bottle. By doing this they are objectifying women like they do in many other ads. The

hidden codes here is that if you buy Absolut you will be considered fashionable and cool just like Marilyn Monroe.

CODES

The interpretation of the text is that it demonstrates the act of drinking Absolut vodka to be fashionable and cool just

like Marilyn Monroe. It conveys meaning behind Marilyn, it uses the same wardrobe as her and stage like effect in order to sell a product. The curvy text flowing into the

cloth compliments the shape of the skirt. The viewer can then relate a sense of meaning with a famous Hollywood setting and this makes the product glamorous. The text

conveys meaning about Marilyn Monroe because it is using her name after Absolut to show how iconic, fashionable,

famous and cool she is in order to make their product sell. They use her name so that when people are at the store

looking at bottles they associate an attractive, fashionable, famous Hollywood women and are more likely to buy it

because it creates a meaning inside them that makes them feel good about there selves.

SYNTAGMATIC ANALYSIS