Advanced analytic concepts

In this unit we will consider some slightly more advanced analytic concepts that will allow us to get to the heart of the analysis of advertisements. Taking the idea of the sign from Unit 2, we extend it to the two levels of signification which are called denotation and connotation. These aspects of meaning are largely tied to the image component of an advertisement. The other concepts that we look at here involve the interplay between text and image: anchorage, which provides some guidance to the reader of how to interpret the image, and relevance, which is concerned with how the overall message emerging from the components of the advertisement is determined by the reader. The ideas of denotation/connotation and anchorage derive from work in semiotics going back to the original work of Saussure, as developed primarily by Roland Barthes.

- denotation/connotation;
- anchorage;
- relevance.