Read and annotate Roland Barthes’ “Rhetoric of the Image“ essay from Image – Music – Text, Translated by Stephen Heath. Hill and Wang, 1977. (excerpt) using our Hypothesis group  COMD3504_OL08. 

Questions

  • How do images hold and convey meaning?
  • How do we understand them?
  • What are they trying to say?
  • How do they persuade and influence us?

Following Roland Barthes’ essay, I gained a new perspective on how to approach advertising. Previously, I had the impression that there are numerous factors that go into advertisements, such as the storyline or the target audience. All advertising, specifically photograghed, clearly include 3 interpitations: a linguistic message, a non-coded iconic message, and a coded iconic message. The viewer may not be aware that they are utilizing this to interpret the advertisement, but they are aware of whether it is relevant to them. The commercials must sometimes connect with the audience in order to be understood, but there is also a culture to it, such as what pasta ads link to individuals who shop for groccey or the color scheme red, yellow, and greens, which are commonly represented in Italy. As a result, there is a cultural awareness of who the advertisements are aimed at. We might also conclude from this article that advertisements, like art in a museum, have many different points of view.

The complacency of gender stereotypes that women should be happy with new gadgets that will improve their stay-at-home wife existence is shown in these Happy Hovver commercials from the 1950s. It’s sexist to depict women all dressed up, eager to cook, clean, take care of the kids, and tend to their husbands’ needs while looking fantastic. In the 1950s, women’s roles were to succumb to complacency and obedience to the housewife lifestyle rather than pursue their own happiness. Even on TV sitcoms like I Love Lucy, she was cast in the position of the housewife and is never promoted to look for jobs cause she is depicted as stupid. Let us not forget the intersectionality of Racism in this advertising, which left out the Inclusion of People of Color due to accessibility back then, when the majority of white people had televisions and afford magazines could relate to the ads because they were depicted in the housewife manner. In addition, individuals of color’s wives and husbands both had to struggle to make ends meet, but our white men could acquire well-paying positions that could support the entire family.

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