Dove Campaign for Real Beauty

In Advertising and Imagery class, we discussed the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. The goal of the campaign is to make women comfortable and confident in the way they look. It' sthe idea that you can just be who you are, look the way you do, and not have to feel bad about it. This campaign boosts women's self-esteem and lets them know that they don't need to be the skinny, young conditioned super model to be beautiful. The campaign features print ads, television commercials, and public relations meetings which stress the confidence that women should feel about their own unique beauty.

This is an excellent campaign because it concentrates on the positives of self-esteem and recognizes real, everyday women. The image shown is from Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty. One signifier is the young woman's confident facial expression. Her expression signifies that she feels happy, confident, and proud of the way she looks. She confidently shows off her freckles, unafraid of what people have to say. She truly feels beautiful :).

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Semiotics: The Signifier and Signified

Semiotics is defined as the systematic study of signs, or, more precisely, of the production of meanings from sign systems, linguistics, and non-linguistics. There are two parts of a sign. One part is the signifier, the form which the sign takes. The other part is the signifier, which is the concept it represents. Signification is the relationship between the signifier and signified. In class, we were asked to chosse an ad and explain one sign and what is signified from it. We then had to come up with the additional signs and find signifieds of our own.

My partner and I chose an ad for a German Doc Morris Pharmacy condom. We chose the facial hair (hair and mustache) as our first sign. The facial hair, which resembles that of Adolf Hitler, signifies that the next Hitler could possibly be conceived in the act of unprotected sex. It signifies this by warning people that having unprotected sex, that they might be blamed for the next Hitler. The sperm itself signifies the one possible cell that is going to become the next historical villian. The millions of other sperm cells surrounding the main one (Hitler) signify the other potential cells to be conceived. The blue shades, which color the ad signify the relaxed effect of the safety you will feel if you do have protected sex. The condom itself represents the product available for the actual proctice of safe sex. It signifies the safety of using it. The blank white background signifies the sexual purity, or in a way, cleanliness (I know it sounds funny) of having protected sex and implies that it will be okay if you use the condom.

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