Executive Summary
The following report will provide information on how semiotics play a role in effective advertising. Information will be included on the following types of advertising:
1. Print Advertising
-advantages and disadvantages of this type of advertising
-understanding effective use of semiotics in print advertisements 2. Television Advertising
-advantages and disadvantages of this type of advertising
-understanding how signs play an important role in television advertisements 3. Billboard Advertising
-advantages and disadvantages of this type of advertising
-understanding effective use of semiotics on billboards
Recommendations
-Improvements on the three types of advertisements
-How to improve the effectiveness of semiotics to reap the most value
Introduction
In the world of consumerism, there are many things that can influence, persuade, or dissuade a person from purchasing something. Some people might rely mostly on word of mouth, while others might rely on testing the items out themselves. No matter how the person ends up deciding, there was some sort of advertising involved. Advertising comes in a variety of forms, however this paper will explore the advertising areas of print, television advertisement, and billboard advertisements with a focus on semiotics.
Body
To begin, let’s understand what semiotics, specifically visual semiotics, means. Semiotics is the study of signs and the interactions one has with them (Merriam Webster, 2013). Essentially, semiotics is how the eye follows an advertisement and the information and interpretation they generate from it. This is extremely important as advertising nowadays is extremely visual. Signs and symbols are very important to memory, especially things like packaging, color, and letters (De Mooij, 2005). Other things, such as sounds, patterns, and movements are also very important in establishing memory.
The first method of advertising that will be discussed is print advertisement. Print advertisement is anything from newspaper adverts, to magazines and flyers. With print advertisement, there is very easy success at targeting specific audiences. Fashion magazine readers will be targeted with fashion apparel ads and various other things related to fashion, thus no space is wasted on trying to advertise other things. Figure 1 shows a boat in a boating print magazine. Segmentation is very important in advertising as it differentiates varying target audiences. 
Another advantage to print advertisements are that they can be easily positioned to reap the most attention with specific audiences. Positioning is key when making the most out of advertising; a yacht review wouldn’t be posted in the obituary section of a newspaper, instead it would be posted in the sports and outdoors section. The overall impact of print advertising is very powerful, especially since it generates loyalty; people will tend to refer many times to the same print advert and source in which it was printed in (Noronha, 2011). It is clear that the print advertisements don’t represent the objects physically, however they do express important components of them, as well as having a strong sense of plausibility. A major disadvantage of print advertisement, however, is the fact that there are so many advertisements happening at once that are all fighting to win the viewers attention. In addition, another disadvantage to print advertisement is that the symbols and things being advertised are culturally agreed conventions (Goddard, 2002).
There is a possibility that a black triangle in an ad or logo may be acceptable in one society, but highly offensive in another. Signs and symbols that can generate more than one meaning are polysemic (Lacey, 1998). If there is a symbol or something offensive printed, it becomes tangible and will be there for quite some time. This becomes disadvantageous to the advertiser because it makes the advertisement’s effectiveness fall short of its full potential.
Now how does semiotics play a role in print advertising? Advertisers must create adverts that are stimulating and interesting enough for the viewer to be motivated to interpret them. Ads simply don’t mean anything by themselves, it is up to the viewer to make meaning of them; when this meaning is understood is when the advert becomes effective thus giving value to the product (Goldman, Papson, and Kersey, 2003).
The next type of advertising that will be discusses is television advertising. Unlike print advertising, television advertising has the advantage, or sometimes disadvantage, of movement and sound. According to Beasley and Danesi (2002), “Joseph Conrad wrote: ‘He who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument, but in the right word. The power of sound has always been greater than the power of sense.’” Television advertisements have the advantage of being more effective because they have more elements that attract the attention of the viewer.
There are two linguistic sign components, the signifier and the signified. The signifier is the image, sound, or words, while the signified is the concept these images, sounds, and words represent (Parsa, n.d.). For the television advert to work, the viewer must verify the message; this will allow the signified and signifier to be attached. By using images, narration, and sounds in the advert, in addition to the viewer’s existing knowledge, the signifier and signified become meaningful. When all of these components click together is when the advert becomes effective, and thus creates value (Goldman, Papson, and Kersey, 2003). These signs support the concealed meanings of the advertisement and are imperative to the effective force of television advertising (Hackley, 2010).
Analysis of Magazine Advertisement Using Semiotics

Table 1Sample
SignSeagram’s Gin magazine advertisement
SignifiersAn image of an athletic and happy couple close to each other holding a drink SignifiedA couple that is in harmony, beauty, joy, freshness

Gin and tonic is a popular cocktail and is something almost everyone knows goes well together. The lightness and harmony of the two beverages is backed up with the happiness of the tennis couple. It is ironic that gin and tonic go well together, just like a man and a woman playing tennis together. Advertisements use situations like this one to mimic certain qualities in the advertised product.
The last type of advertising that will be discussed is billboard advertising. Using billboards as a method of advertising is very effective as they are cost efficient and can be seen by many over controlled amounts of time. Billboards display information quickly in bold, visually stimulating, and interesting ways, something that is good for the human’s short attention span (Rampur, 2012). A disadvantage to billboards is that not every viewer will be interested in the advertisement. Because a billboard is so large, and meant to be looked at very quickly, not a lot of information can be presented at one time.
In relation to semiotics, billboards are very effective at displaying logos and/or trademarks, please see Figure 4. These are not the brand itself, but a representative symbol. Billboards, like print and television advertisements, are only effective if they link with the viewer. The advertisement needs to correlate with a desire, whether it be cultural or psychological (Danesi, 2008). Without some desire or cultural knowledge, no matter how ambiguous the advertisement is, the message will simply not be absorbed and will be ineffective.

Recommendations
For print, billboard, and television advertisements, a possible area to improve upon to make the advertisement more effective would be to create the ad with more knowledge of varying cultural connotations to ensure it will be accepted by most. This would make the advertisement more effective, which in return would bring more value to the advertiser.
In addition, when creating the advertisement, the creator needs to understand the processes that the eye and mind take to accept, comprehend, and remember the message being portrayed. This could be achieved by understanding the target audience better. Market research is vital for anything or anyone trying to reap the most benefits and be most effective. With research there is a possibility in discovering new methods of using semiotics in advertising.
Conclusion
Print, television, and billboard advertisements are everywhere and are almost unavoidable. Each have advantages and disadvantages, but they also all use semiotics to make them more effective. By using semiotics and understanding their power, these types of advertisements have been effective in connecting the portrayed message of the ad to many people all over the world. Connecting signs, signifiers, and signified with each other has allowed for more advertisements to be more meaningful and effective, which all in all creates value. Seeing that semiotics will always be around, it is solely up to the advertiser to use them to create valuable messages.
References
Beasley R., Danesi M. (2002) Persuasive Signs: The Semiotics of Advertising, 1 edn., Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Danesi, M. (2008) Why It Sells; Decoding the Meanings of Brand Names, Logos, Ads, and Other Marketing and Advertising Ploys, 1 edn., Lanham, MD: Rowan and Littlefield.
De Mooij, M. (2005) Global Marketing and Advertising: Understanding Cultural Paradoxes, 2nd edn., USA: Sage Publications, Inc. Figure 1: Motorboat and Yachting, n.d. (image online), Available at: http://www.ipcadvertising.com/resource/ip36634hh1aniiwvvtb4lgnm.jpg (Accessed: 9th April 2013).
Figure 2: Playboy Magazine, The Seagram’s Gin and Tonic Secret, C. 1977 (image online), Available at: http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/0/6/7/5/1/2/webimg/254809902_o.jpg (Accessed: 9th April 2013).
Figure 3: Sam Wallbank, 2010 (image online), Available at: http://ivanteh-runningman.blogspot.co.uk/2011_01_01_archive.html (Accessed: 9th April 2013).
Figure 4: Nike, n.d. (image online), Available at: http://visionwidget.com/outdoor-billboard-advertising.html (Accessed: 9th April 2013).
Goddard A. (2002) The Language of Advertising, 2nd edn., USA and Canada: Routledge.
Goldman R., Papson S., Kersey N. (2003) The Semiotics of Advertising, Available at: http://it.stlawu.edu/~global/pagessemiotics/menuframesem.html (Accessed: 9th April 2013).
Hackley, C. (2010) Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Approach, 2nd edn., London: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Lacey, N. (1998) Image and Representation: Key Concepts in Media Studies, 1st edn., New York, N.Y.: PALGRAVE.
Merriam Webster (2013) “semiotics”, Available at: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/semiotics (Accessed: 9th April
2013).
Noronha, M. (2011) 3 Reasons Why Print Advertising is Still A Lethal Weapon for A Winning Marketing Campaign, Available at: http://www.noobpreneur.com/2011/04/23/3-reasons-why-print-advertising-is-still-a-lethal-weapon-for-a-winning-marketing-campaign/ (Accessed: 9th April 2013).
Parsa, A.F. (n.d.) Visual Semiotics: How Still Images Mean? Interpreting Still Images By Using Semiotic Approaches, Turkey: Ege University.
Rampur S. (2012) Billboard Advertising Effectiveness, Available at: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/billboard-advertising-effectiveness.html (Accessed: 9th April 2013).
