The Dove "Campaign for Real Beauty"

Today in class we discussed a campaign launched by Dove in 2004 which was aimed at increasing the self-esteem of all persons (women in specific) and re-defining the image of mainstream media "beauty".  We also learned that Dove is owned by Unilever, who also owns Axe.  Axe products use overtly sexual women who are the "idealized" stereotype of beauty to market its products to younger men.  This stark hypocrisy, to me, proves that Unilever was simply lending a sympathetic ear to make money.  Just as young boys spend money on the fantasy of meeting "beautiful" women, Dove's consumers purchased the product because of its advertising -- even though the marketing messages are not and have not necessarily been realized.

One signifier in this ad is the use of cascading Dove logos.  To me, it signifies that the use of Dove product will help you to grow (self-esteem, beauty, etc) over time, and the fact that it is moving left to right shows a movement towards the future.

I am not a big fan of this campaign.  Call me cynical, but to me it seems like Dove just did this to make money off of its target market.  Just as they use a completely different marketing technique for its Axe products.  Unilever is a business, and at the end of the day, I think they care more about their bottom line than about empowering those who purchase their product.  That is just my opinion, of course.

Semiotics from a Newbie's Perspective

Recently in class we were tasked with finding five semiotic characteristics of an advertisement.  I chose an ad for the Hummer H3 that I thought was visually stimulating.  Let us see how we can break it into semiotics.

Can't you just hear Erkel squawking "Did I do that?"

1.  The signifier is the orange background.  It signifies a bright or fresh idea in the form of the Hummer.
2.  The signifier is the brush guard on the front of the truck.  It signifies strength and invincibility.
3.  The signifier is the bold font.  It represents boldness and masculinity.
4.  The signifiers are the periods at the end of the short sentences.  They represent a powerful statement worthy of absorbing one thought at a time.
5.  The signifier is the appearance of zero-gravity as the truck breaks through.  This represents the shock-value of seeing such an interesting new truck.

Alright, I hope that this is an appropriate basic analysis of some signified/signifier semiotics.  (Say that five times fast!)  Thanks for reading!