Semiotics: Christmas Advertising

-
In this seminar we looked at how semiotics were also used within Advertisements. This was one of my favourite seminars; I love looking and analysing pieces of art and I've never really thought about the effectiveness of semiotics within advertising and especially Christmas adverts as they have become a sort of trend nowadays; the best way to sell a shop at christmas in todays market place is to have a very effective, most times emotional and relatable, Christmas Advertisement. Christmas Adverts really have become their on genre with intentional festive messages that are so relatable and emotive. When looking at the different adverts we were asked to question the following; 
  • What techniques are used? 
  • Meaning? 
  • Signs? 
  • Relationship/Meaning?
  • Which are the most effective? 
John Lewis Christmas Advert 2016 - #BusterTheBoxer

  • Relatable: putting up presents on Christmas Eve 
  • Wildlife; cute, friendly, bond between them all 
  • Contrast between the inside and outside world; the wild animals are enjoying the christmas spirit as well 
  • Feelings; Jealousy, Envy, Happiness, Loneliness, the feeling of being left out, being an animal and still feeling left out of the fun, the joy and the Christmas Spirit. 
  • Snow is iconic to Christmas time and Winter Spirit 
  • Humour; we can all relate to seeing a dog jumping on a trampoline as being a humorous and effective ploy; we all have been on a trampoline before so we can emote with the dog on wanting to have a fun time
  • Ultimate desire to have fun and great time at Christmas 
  • Christmas is enjoyable for everyone
  • Music; Emotive - "One day I'll Fly Away" - the day the dog has been dreaming about is today - emotive and emotional feeling 
  • Trampoline is a sign of gift-giving and excitement
  • John Lewis have a tendency to use an animal or emotive object for the audience to relate to; this year its "Buster the Dog". #Busterthedog is a marketing ploy to sell the advertisement and get it trending on social media - another relatable semiotic in the sense that it gets people talking about the Christmas Ad. 
  • Name; Buster is such a relatable Dog's name 
  • Steriotypical; Dad putting up the trampoline whilst Mum is putting the young girl to bed; watching tv as a family. 
Sainsbury's Christmas Ad, 2014 
  • True Story; instantly has a much more emotive feeling because the story actually happened - about in the war when the two sides set aside their differences and played football on Christmas Day
  • Army; evoke emotion - relates to someone you know is in the army or relates to someone who lives far away from you who you cannot see at Christmas and wish you could
  • Relate to the emotion of missing something or someone; Christmas time is a time for being with loved ones so the feeling is much more enhanced. 
  • German; Knowledge of England and Germany relations during war - setting aside differences to be united at a festive time
  • Christmas can settle problems 
  • Bond is much stronger at Christmas time
  • We are all much more alike than we think
  • Football; manly sport, community, pride, celebratory, team spirit; some would argue a complete contradiction to war and hate
  • Wishing everyone a Happy Christmas; even if you don't get along
  • Even in times of war Christmas is celebrated
  • Slogan; "Christmas is for Sharing" - summaries the advertisment 
  • Exchanging names; becoming friends 
M&S Christmas Ad 2016
  • Family; Mrs Klaus being the centre of the ad - plot twist
  • Mr Klaus leaving for work; synonymous with Christmas and the iconic story 
  • Humour; Missing Australia 
  • Standard Christmas setting; the beginning of the ad has all the definitons of a classic Christmas setting
  • 'Jake' is a metaphor for most young children at christmas; Common name, fights with sibling, young, excitable, writing a christmas list or message to Santa
  • Mrs Klaus; strong, independent woman, will go at any length or cost to make sure Jake gives the present he would like to give. Powerful woman; unlike some ads it speaks to the working mum. Celebrates that women go out to work and earn a living too instead of it being a male dominated environment. This could speak to M&S customer base - working women 
  • Feminism; trend and popular phrase in todays society, women taking charge
  • Mrs Klaus still has the emotional qualities of a mum; Motherly, Caring, Giving 
  • Sassy action theme; riding the snow ski and helicopter - extravagant, luxurous, powerfully, James Bond-esq, relates to the gifts given at Christmas are often of this nature 
  • Pride within a family structure
  • Colour Red; Seasonal with connotations of love and heart
  • Family; coming together as a family at christmas
  • Teamwork; each family member playing a role at Christmas to make sure everything is done 
  • Slogan; "with love from Mrs Klaus" - the semantic field of love is being explored further with the word being part of the slogan which summarises the whole ad
John Lewis Christmas Ad 2015
  • "Man on the Moon" slogan fits nicely with the overall message of the ad; how old people feel at Christmas - very isolated, alone. Sets a political and very emotive message with the audience straight away - in my opinion the most effective and emotional advert of them all. 
  • Music; "half the world away' sang in a soft and sombre mood makes the emotion more heightened with relatable lyrics
  • Old man; metaphor for being alone and lonely at christmas 
  • The moon is also a symbolic message for how far away these people feel at christmas time; being on the moon really is isolated
  • girl looking through the telescope is very iconic; using her present and then giving herself 
  • younger generation bonding with older generation; secret message running throughout 
  • Balloon; celebration, party, the true meanings behind christmas as well as convention - floats, letting go, floating into nothing
  • Grey and White colour schemes makes it seem very Christmas Oriented
  • Tear; the tear that the Old man sheds is the symbolic moment that the audience notices the effect and pure joy of a gift and why it is so important at this festive period
  • No matter what age you can still give
  • Expresses the real thought between giving gifts; A telescope so then they can interact - a message to put thought into gifts (the real reason behind giving?)
  • Messages of Hope, Celebration, Loneliness and Happiness
  • John Lewis has an effective theme of using a very common relatable object to arouse emotion within the audience; Penguin, Bear, Man on the moon, Buster the dog etc - the audience is so vast therefore so are its emotive ploys
Overall, the group discussed the major themes that run throughout them all as well as the similarities and differences. The main themes that run throughout are the Festive Spirit, Family, Political issues, Current Affairs and coming together at Christmas no matter what the event or problem. Christmas is a time for giving!

This seminar really helped me use my analytical skills in extracting the details and semiotics within advertisements. I am very interested in ads, so this seminar was very interesting. I love analysing artwork and to try it with a new media was unique. I will try and incorporate these themes within my studio work to bring the context and emotive purpose to life. 

Popular posts from this blog

Bauhaus; Form Follows Function

-
Image
https://d7hftxdivxxvm.cloudfront.net/?resize_to=width&src=https%3A%2F%2Fartsy-media-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2FgNXQ3GM5L9A1RLKt7oJ9jQ%252F4682696561_d851e8af0a_o.jpg&width=1100&quality=95 In this recent lecture we looked into Bauhaus, its historical relevance, the alumni it created as well as the Bauhaus Movement and how this has been one of the most significant inspirations in design.  Bauhaus was a experimental art school, located in Germany that mainly was created to challenge questions such as the city of the future and how design influences society. The school is influential for its modern take on art; any design nowadays that involves clean aesthetics, modern features or function following form will have originated within the walls of the Bauhaus School of Art. The Bauhaus was also noted for allowing creative disciplines that expressed feelings, emotions or ideas and anything prior to the Bauhaus t...
Read more

Kinetic Typography 2: Z-Space

-
Image
In this workshop we learned  about 3D space - exploring depth and the z-axis in after effects.  C himamanda Ngozi Adichie's Speech used in Beyonce's World tour Prior to the workshop we were asked to prepare a text, quote, or song lyric to work with which we would then move, rotate and manipulate with Z-Space using After Effects. I chose to use C himamanda Ngozi Adichie's motivational speech about feminism - it has been a hit globally, with thousands of hits on Youtube and even an appearance on Beyonce's 2013 Album. The speech talks about women rights and the role of women in todays society so I believe it is a strong and powerful message to use within my work.  I inputted each word by word and decided to move past the recommended 10 second video so that the audience can really get a full grasp of the quote and the full nature of my intention which was to manipulate the words to what...
Read more