Signifier-Signified.
Before embarking on this exercise I read both Rhetoric of the Image by Roland Barthes and Decoding Advertisements by Judith Williamson. Both went far beyond what is required for this piece but gave an insight into how adverts are constructed and aimed at their target audiences.
The Advert I have chosen is one for a new Dulux paint. The picture shows a man mixing a tin of paint and adding new ingredients. The man is not dressed as a shopkeeper in a hardware store but as a cocktail waiter and his surroundings are those of a cocktail bar. The paint tin is plain metal and the added ingredients are pouring from the sort of beakers more normally found in a scientific laboratory. On the shelves, instead of bottles for use in cocktails, are ranged glass test tubes of various colours.
What is being signified by what signifiers:
I’ll start with the space and its appearance of opulence. It is clearly not a place where one would normally find paint being mixed. What is signified is this is a place where one finds the finer things in life. This is signified not only by the decor but also by the man himself, with the perfect cut of his clothes, his crisp white shirt, the real bow tie and the well manicured moustache.
The science behind the product is signified by the use of the laboratory glassware signifiers which are clearly labeled with the new ingredients, “Moisture Resistance”, and, “Soft Sheen”. The plain tin signifies the newness of the product that as yet appears to have no name.
On the shelves in the background are coloured containers that invite you to consider a connoted connection and think about what colours you might employ. The shiny wood of the bar connotes at what is possible and the clean cut bar man denotes ease of use.
Even the placing of the verbal massages is carefully thought out. I have already mentioned the flasks so I will move on to the “Mix more than colour....” message. It is nicely placed nearer to the paint can than to the flasks indicating the acceleration of the fluids as they fall. The AkzoNobel logo is adjacent to the largest container in the picture and is a signifier of an industrial giant lurking benignly in the background. The placing of the “Dulux lets colour” logo at the bottom right is deliberate as the western eye will most likely scan out of the picture at that point with “Dulux” the last word read.
On a practical level I would also point out the lack of protection in the way of clothing, gloves, eye protectors, and secure stands for the containers.
The advert hints at much while revealing almost nothing. All paints have moisture resistance; it’s the very reason we use them. Soft sheen has about as much meaning as radiant hair or glowing skin. All that is truthfully being said is that Dulux make a range of paints, the rest is fluff.
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