For this exercise we were asked to choose an advertisement with identifiable signs. This term comes from semiotics as discussed in the 1977 Roland Barthes essay Rhetoric of the Image. According to Barthes, the sign consists of a signifier and a signified, or, in other words, what is depicted and the message it connotates. There is also a second level of meaning, myth, which relates to the viewer’s existing contextual knowledge that contributes to their reading of the image.

I chose an advert from the high-end interiors magazine Elle Decoration, noting that my preconceived assumption would be that the placement in this magazine aims the advert at home lovers with a middle to high income.

My interpretation of this advert is:

Dog collar: domesticated – home

Dog looking back: waiting for someone – country walks

White sky: cold day, British

Hill in background: walking, exertion

Brown grass in foreground: need wellies/ walking boots, exertion. Practical, not picturesque

Washed out colours in landscape: misty, chilly, inclement weather

Wood burner: cosy, home, warm

I have interpreted the advert as a contrast between a typical dog walk in Britain, that is to say, a bit chilly, not particularly picturesque, the type you would need stout boots for, and the cosiness of the domesticity and warmth that awaits by they burner once back home. it is interesting that there is very little text on this advert and none at all on the photograph; the image has been allowed to speak for itself.