Roland Barthes’ “Rhetoric of the Image” essay from Image – Music – Text, Translated by Stephen Heath. Hill and Wang, 1977. (excerpt)

This section of Roland Barthes’ “Rhetoric of the Image” is an examination of a Panzani advertising, and it is presented here as a section from the larger work. The author analyzes the various signals that are communicated by the image, beginning with the linguistic message that is communicated through the captions and labels, which can only be understood by someone who is fluent in the French language. In all of this, he goes into messages with connotative significance, such as the Italianness that is inferred from the name “Panzani,” the trichromatic hues that stand for Italy, and the idea of a comprehensive culinary service that is evoked by a jumbled collection of various things. In addition to this, he investigates iconic messages that are sent through recognizable items that are located in a shared place and that do not require any knowledge codes or institutional stock in order to be understood.

Last but not least, he brings up the point that this final message refers to a basically cultural understanding of our perception. In general, this article sheds light on the ways in which advertising conveys meaning that goes beyond the content that is obvious right away and emphasizes the fact that deciphering commercials takes not only linguistic expertise but also cultural and perceptual comprehension.