Semiotic Research

Advertising Language - A Pragmatic Approach to Advertisements in Britain and Japan

Keiko Tanaka.

Semiotics approaches are based on the assumption that communication is achieved by encoding and decoding a message, and this is how Barthes one of the most distinguished scholars tackles advertising language.

Barthes says that there are 3 messages within an advert, linguistic, coded iconic message and non-coded iconic message. The name of the product denotes (in the books example) a pasta and connotes 'Italianicity'. Putting aside linguistics, Barthes argues we are left with pure image. 

It is however said that cultural knowledge/experience however, changes how you see a certain ad and whether or not you see the coded messages, this is the problem and challenge that advertisers have to deal with, and what I will have to look at throughout my project.