What better way to explore the manner in which we consume and relate to the photographic image than to turn towards advertising.  This is particularly interesting for me as I admire the work of many of the great American photographers who photographed many of the iconic signs, billboards and brand icons, for example Ed Ruscha, Stephen Shore, Walker Evans, John Vachon and Dorothea Lange.

An important thing to consider when looking at any image, is how we read, recognise and understand the image, as well as how we relate to it and how we derive meaning from it?  Images have many layers of meaning, including the surface or indexical, the iconic and the symbolic meaning. 

The French theorist, Roland Barthes viewed the image as a message and believed that the transfer of meaning was only possible if compatible or plausible means, or systems of signs and symbols, were shared by both the encoder and the decoder. 

This is a concept well known and well used in marketing and advertising where symbolic and implied meaning is one of the core components of a successful campaign.  These deliberately constructed images are easily recognisable and easily understood as they play to our dominant cultural values and ideologies. 

Furthermore, Barthes discusses how images layers of meaning with his ideas of the denotational message of the signifier and the connotational, or implied message, in what is signified. Katherine Frith (2005) also identifies different layers of meaning when viewing adverts, namely the surface meaning, intended meaning and cultural meaning. 

Turning towards adverts I recalled cigarette adverts from the 1980’s. These were something I frequently saw on billboards, in magazines, on television, at sporting events and in cinemas. Below is a print advert and the cinema advert for Peter Stuyvesant.

Both the print and cinema adverts are consistent in using the brand colours of red, white and blue and portray scenes of travelling and luxury. The aeroplane features strongly and there are event two airline names appearing on the print advert. There are scenes of skiing, yachts, roller coasters and icons of the jet-setter lifestyle, all of which match the brand slogan, ‘The International Passport to Smoking Pleasure’.

In analysing my response to these adverts, the dominant reading in is that this is the luxury, jet setting lifestyle of the cool people and they they smoke this particular brand of cigarettes as part of their exclusive lifestyle. The negotiated reading is that this is a lifestyle I could aspire to because they all look so fit and healthy, and they are definitely having a lot of fun. Finally, the oppositional reading is that I know that all cigarettes come with health warnings that do not portray the same message as the advert does. I can’t help but think about how my responses to these adverts must have been quite different in the 80’s as the health messages were not so prevalent.

This leads me to believe that not only does meaning come from the interpretation of the various layers of an image but also the context of the image and the message it is intended to convey. I can also conclude that meaning derived from an image could also change over time depending on the position of the viewer.

In my own photographic practice this means that I should be very clear about my intention before starting out on a project or when creating an image. I should know what I hope to achieve and how I will set out to achieve it using the tools available to me. I will also need to consider how the message will be understood and interpreted by the viewer of the image, and also whether there are any symbols or cultural icons that could be used to convey a specific meaning to the audience.

References:

• Barthes, Roland (1977). Image Music Text. London: Fontana.
• Frith, Katherine. (2005). The Construction of Beauty: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Women’s Magazine Advertising. Journal of Communication. 55. 56-70. 10.1093/joc/55.1.56.