Dove For Real Beauty Campaign

In comm. class today we talked about the Dove for Real Beauty campaign. I like this campaign because its main goal is to bring about high self-esteem to young girls and women of all colors, shapes, and sizes. The Dove for Real Beauty campaign wants to make women feel comfortable in their own skin, and not feel like they have to look like skinny, mutant supermodels, as seen in so many types of media, to feel like they are pretty. Their campaign includes TV commercials, print ads, and PR workshops that all stress that women should have confidence in themselves and know that they are beautiful and special in their own way. This print ad shown below is great because many ad campaigns do not choose models that are older. I like this because it shows that at any age a women can be beautiful on the inside as well as the outside. The woman's smile in the ad is a signifier that signifies she is happy, confident, and feels good!   I believe that more companies should promote more positive, feel-good campaigns like Dove!

Semiotics Signifier/Signified

Today in my Advertising & Imagery class we discussed semiotics. Semiotics simply put, is the study of signs and the production of meanings from those signs. The actual sign itself makes up the signifier, and the signified is the concept it represents. In order to obtain a better understanding of signs and what their signified represents, a classmate and I choose an ad and explained one sign and what is signified from that ad. We also explained our findings to the class. From there, we had to come up with five additional signs and their signifieds on our own.

The ad that my partner and I choose was for the alcoholic beverage Absolut Vodka shown here:

This ad is placed on the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. My partner and I chose the pyramid as a sign. The signified for the pyramids shows ancient culture, power, skill, and eternity.  The Luxor sign itself resembles and signifies the Washington monument located in Washington, D.C. It also represents political power, and control, like that of the President living in D.C. It is taking this powerful American monument and placing it next to another great civilization's monument, comparing it to Ancient Egypt. Which brings us to another sign, the  Great Egyptian Sphinx, one of the most monumental sculptures in the ancient world. Its signified represents royal power, with a head of a pharaoh, and a body of a strong lion. The texts in the ad that read, "VEGAS", and "IN AN ABSOLUT WORLD" are signs. The signified for  "VEGAS" represents that being in Vegas could potentially make you rich or more wealthy because of the opportunities for gambling and the chances to "win big." "IN AN ABSOLUT WORLD" signifies that Vegas in a way could make "your" world as "absolute"; just as fantastic  as  the world of the Ancient Egyptians. The Ancient Egyptians had an advanced society that was prosperous and strong! The Absolut Vodka bottle is a sign. Its location at the top of the pyramid signifies that it is of such great importance that many people can view it and look up to it. This ad overall has signifiers that show that Absolut Vodka is powerful, and everlasting.