Over the course of a lifetime one will come across many, many advertisements. The purpose of advertising is to promote or sell one’s company, products or message. By coming up with creative and intriguing ideas and putting them into the form of advertising, companies work to gain prospective customers. Once they have these customers hooked, their work is not only for the purpose of gaining more customers but also to keep their current customers loyal.
When looking through a number of advertisements I began to think about denotation and connotation; denotation is what we see, and connotation is the way we see it. Connotation is affected by our personal beliefs and experiences and our cultural values.
The advertisement that I chose to focus on is an advertisement created to promote cigarette sales.
WHAT is seen in this advertisement is a woman smoking a cigarette and some text; that is the denotation of this ad.
HOW I view this advertisement is based on my own upbringings and values. Because both my parents smoke, it is in my nature to hate smoking. I see the addiction that they have for this nasty habit, and it makes me despise smoking and cigarettes. I see this advertisement working to promote cigarette sales and even further than that, it works to promote smoking. In this picture, the smoking woman appears to be happy, implying that smoking is a good thing that makes people happy. This advertisement, although it is so far from the truth, is successful. It works to appeal to the senses of its viewers. “The coolness, the true mildness, the ripe, delicate taste and fragrance…” (Neatorama: smoking ad). This almost sounds as though this advertisement was trying to sell some type of fruit or dessert. In fact, we know that cigarettes are harmful to those smoking as well as everyone around them. Cigarettes do not have a “delicate taste and fragrance”, they have an awful taste and scent that leaves everything in sight smelling just as bad (Neatorama: smoking ad).
Works Cited
Neatorama: smoking ad. 6 October 2009.
Reilly, Ian. Semiotics! 6 October 2009. 6 October 2009.
When looking through a number of advertisements I began to think about denotation and connotation; denotation is what we see, and connotation is the way we see it. Connotation is affected by our personal beliefs and experiences and our cultural values.
The advertisement that I chose to focus on is an advertisement created to promote cigarette sales.
WHAT is seen in this advertisement is a woman smoking a cigarette and some text; that is the denotation of this ad.
HOW I view this advertisement is based on my own upbringings and values. Because both my parents smoke, it is in my nature to hate smoking. I see the addiction that they have for this nasty habit, and it makes me despise smoking and cigarettes. I see this advertisement working to promote cigarette sales and even further than that, it works to promote smoking. In this picture, the smoking woman appears to be happy, implying that smoking is a good thing that makes people happy. This advertisement, although it is so far from the truth, is successful. It works to appeal to the senses of its viewers. “The coolness, the true mildness, the ripe, delicate taste and fragrance…” (Neatorama: smoking ad). This almost sounds as though this advertisement was trying to sell some type of fruit or dessert. In fact, we know that cigarettes are harmful to those smoking as well as everyone around them. Cigarettes do not have a “delicate taste and fragrance”, they have an awful taste and scent that leaves everything in sight smelling just as bad (Neatorama: smoking ad).
Works Cited
Neatorama: smoking ad. 6 October 2009
Reilly, Ian. Semiotics! 6 October 2009. 6 October 2009
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