The language of advertising: a semiotic analysis of advertisements as narrative discourse

Abstract Advertisements are present in every moment of daily life. Through advertisements, people get information about products and eventually purchase them. To make an advertisement appealing, the text, colours, music, and the people featured in it must be carefully selected. These elements are examined in detail during the creation of advertisements. The narrative of an advertisement also conveys numerous messages to its audience. It is crucial to analyse what the advertisement communicates and how the target audience perceives it. Semiotics is one of the appropriate methods to achieve this goal. In this study, first, advertisements as a narrative discourse is discussed, followed by an exploration of the relationship between advertisements and semiotics. While establishing this relationship, the photograph used in the ‘Nikon Advertisement Poster’ in 2022, which is the focus of this research, is analysed as a visual sign, revealing various characteristics and facts. During the analysis, Peirce’s triad of signs in relation to their object – indexical, iconic, and symbolic relations – and the findings of visual semiotics are utilized. Carried out across both horizontal and vertical dimensions, this study holds significance in demonstrating how the semantic universe is formed through particular signs and how an advertising poster can be examined within a semiotic framework.