Assignment 1: Media And Society | Semiotic Analysis of Gender in Advertising |
For the purpose of this assignment, to conduct a semiotic analysis method an image of Sky’s Multiroom advertisement was chosen. Berger has some time ago stated that Semiotics can be defined as the science of signs. In relation to this advertisement, Semiotics method helps an underlying commercial to get its message across various viewers. The image appeared in Sky’s Skywatch TV listings magazine is interesting in the way it depicts masculinity and femininity by illustrating a solution to a fight over a remote when everyone want to watch television. For surely, we live in male dominant society and going along with Sassure’s methodology of analysing signs, there are various signifiers and signifieds within this advertisement.
Michael O’Shaughnessy and Jane Stadler (2008, p. 134) state that a carefully composed image can be broken down into signifiers and signified. An advertisement for Sky Multirom image depicts two separate rooms where two males in one room are watching an intense Rugby match of two teams competing against each other and two females in the other room watching a dramatic or a romantic movie series. According to David LeClaire, men and women often have different priorities and may have different point of view if priorities are the same. For example, many men find it more important to watch Rugby, football or any other sporting event, because it characterises men as more physical, brutal and have the right to hold the positions of power which shows a masculine power is present within this image. I would like to note how two men are making an attempt to be more active to remind a reader of male predominance over female figure. In study of an underlying picture, I found that two men watching a rugby match is a perfect sign to help emphasise masculinity which can be