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Part Three Analyzing the Communication Process
Belch: Advertising and
Promotion, Sixth Edition
III. Analyzing the
Communication Process
5. The Communication
Process
© The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2003
to deliver its message. However, the product name and picture help communicate a feeling
of attraction and fascination between the man and woman shown in the ad.
To better understand the symbolic meaning that might be conveyed in a communication,
advertising and marketing researchers have begun focusing attention on semiotics,
which studies the nature of meaning and asks how our reality—words, gestures, myths,
signs, symbols, products/services, theories—acquire meaning. 3 Semiotics is important
in marketing communications since products and brands acquire meaning through the
way they are advertised and consumers use products and brands to express their social
identities. Consumer researcher Michael Solomon notes: “From a semiotic perspective,
every marketing message has three basic components: an object, a sign or symbol and
an interpretant. The object is the product that is the focus of the message (e.g., Marlboro
cigarettes). The sign is the sensory imagery that represents the intended meanings of the
object (e.g., the Marlboro cowboy). The interpretant is the meaning derived (e.g.,
rugged, individualistic, American).” 4
Marketers may use individuals trained in semiotics and related fields such as cultural
anthropology to better understand the conscious and subconscious meanings the
nonverbal signs and symbols in their ads transmit to consumers. For example, Levi
Strauss & Co.’s former agency, TBWA/Chiat/Day, hired a cultural anthropologist to
help it better understand the image and meaning of clothing and fashion among young
consumers. As part of the process, the agency research team recruited hip-looking
young people in the streets of the East Village section of New York City, an area
picked because they felt it is the best reflection of today’s youth life. Those chosen
were handed a piece of red cardboard and a white marker and asked to “write down
something you believe in; something that’s true about you or your world.” The process
provided the agency with insight into the teen market and was the impetus for an ad
campaign featuring teenagers holding placards inscribed with their philosophical messages.
5 Exhibit 5-3 shows the thinking behind the various elements of one of the ads
used in the campaign as explained by Sean Dee, the director of the Levi’s brand.
Some advertising and marketing people are skeptical about the value of semiotics.
They question whether social scientists read too much into advertising messages and
are overly intellectual in interpreting them. However, the meaning of an advertising
Exhibit 5-3 Semiotic analysis is used to describe the various elements of this Levi’s ad