Denotation & Connotation blog tasks: advert analysis

  Denotation & Connotation blog tasks: advert analysis

Create a new blogpost in your GCSE Media blog called 'Denotation and connotation'.

1) Write an analysis of the WaterAid advert above using denotation, connotation and analysis. What can you see? What are the deeper meanings in the advert? What does the advert communicate to the audience? How might an audience react after seeing the advert?

2) Now choose your own choice of advert from Google images. Save it to your documents, insert it into your blogpost and write an analysis using denotation and connotation, explaining what the advert is communicating to the audience.

Extension: Print advert research

Read this design blog on some of the best print adverts of all time. Choose one advert that you feel is particularly powerful in terms of its use of connotations and analyse why it is so successful

Denotation:

-Slogan "Dig Toilets, Not Graves"(Verbal code)

-Boy with solemn expression (Non-verbal, Narrative code)

-WaterAid logo (Symbolic, Verbal code)

-Rudimentary civilisation background (Narrative, Non-verbal code)

Connotation:

-More people are dying than getting aided, implies that the situation is dire and it's encouraging us to help mitigate the damage 

-The boy looks unhappy, gives us a representation of how he feels and the disparity he's witnessed

-The logo has a water droplet, implying that the charity provides water, its also implied in the name "WaterAid" also gives us information on which charity we should donate to.

-The background displays a rural village, which tells us this is in a potential Third World Country with limited and rudimentary technology. 

Analysis:

WaterAid is a company/Charity that provides water to people in need, they're encouraging donations by targeting people's ability to sympathise. They do this by displaying an upset child in a rural setting. The slogan "Dig toilets, Not graves" paints an unfortunate story about the reality of what has been happening in these places lacking essentials.

Extension: Print advert research

Read this design blog on some of the best print adverts of all time. Choose one advert that you feel is particularly powerful in terms of its use of connotations and analyse why it is so successful

Denotation:

-Slogan "Stop and smell the bacon, The Baconator" (Verbal code)
-Wendy's logo (Symbolic, Verbal code)
-Large bacon burger on the side (Non-verbal, narrative code)
-Red and yellow bold colours (Symbolic, Non-verbal code)

Connotation:

-New burger being advertised, they want to draw people in to buy and eat

-Wendy's directs us to the restaurant

-Shows what the burger looks like, made to be large so people get their money's worth and buy it for dinner or for when they're hungry

-Red and yellow are associated with fast-food and make you hungry

Analysis:

Wendy's has a new burger they want to sell to people, in order for it to sell they are advertising it using appealing colours that we associate with food and hunger. The burger is advertised as large so we think it's fulfilling which might prompt people to boy it for dinner. The slogan encourages us to go to the restaurant and targets our senses, mainly smell, which implies the food being advertised smells good.