Media Semiotics

The sexiest pages in the magazines are two things - jeans and fragrance advertisements . There is nothing more provocative than people getting all wet in jeans , or women and men staring passionately at each other when incensed by perfume . Once in a while , companies even put perfumed pages in the magazines to let you smell feel what those models smell and feel too

Ads are powerful things . A simple ad in a magazine may seem harmless but the mere act of looking at it sends your brain into clockwork . Seeing something beautiful creates

desire , envy , want , and most importantly the impulse to purchase . Just like that , the ad has done its job

This essay aims to read , analyze , and compare three men 's fragrance advertisements - Armani Code Black , Azzaro , and Aramis . Contrary to what we may perceive of the market for fragrances , men actually comprise of a big chunk of the consumers . The concept of the metrosexual , or the straight but very stylish , trend-conscious man , has dictated that fragrance for men is practically like underwear . You don 't see it , but it HAS to be there

Advertising is not a form of communication but a way of using forms of communication to achieve effects ' It is , however , always dealt with in media and communication studies because it supports the commercial values of the media . Its effect on the economy is huge . The income it generates gives us commercials and TV and radio shows , as well as cheap newss and magazines . It creates jobs by creating greater demands for products

Burton asserts that advertising is as significant within the media for its accepted use of persuasion , just as news is significant for its position as an informer . Advertising , therefore , does not waste airtime and news or billboard space . All the elements in an advertisement are intentional and studied thoroughly by a group of creative directors and marketers

In this light , we can see advertising as a `miniature of the basic process of communication ' It has three sources : the original organization that funds the entire project , the creative team or advertising agency that brainstorms and executes the project , and the medium that broadcasts the advertisement or the image . It is encoded for a specific media - in this case , for billboards or print , which are the channels of communication

The ad , or the message , carefully and laboriously constructed to be attractive to the audience , carry a meaning to be decoded . In this case it is to sell the product through a variety of meanings . The feedback is established by researching on how much the target market reacted to the ad by purchasing or not purchasing the product

Advertising uses different modes of visual communication . In to analyze and criticize these ads , we must employ an image and content analysis of each of them . Image analysis seeks to break down the elements present in the image and find out how the meaning of the image is constructed into it

Ads are more often than...