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Image of Schlitz Advertisement (Tom, 2014)

Image via BoredPanda

For my complex image I chose an old advertisement that many people may have heard of. This particular advertisement was created for an audience in the 1950’s.

The sign is an image of a poster which includes a woman holding a pan with burnt food and a man embracing her, for a beer advertisement. The denotations of this image include the woman burning her cooking and the man smiling with the highlighting signifier of the text exclaiming “Don’t worry darling, you didn’t burn the beer” whilst pointing to the Schlitz red and white logo and the beer bottles. 

The connotations of this image evoke the concept in the target audience’s mind that beer is one of the most important things in life. This advertisement portrays the idea that although the woman burnt the dinner it does not matter as the man still has his Sheltz beer. We can tell by the smile on the man’s face that he loves the beer and therefore is not concerned about the burnt food. The use of the man being in a suit is a signifier, used to make men of this time period believe that coming home after a long day of work and drinking beer is a manly thing to do, as in the semiotic approach objects such as clothing can carry meaning (Hall, 1997). This was done to encourage consumption of the product and that is why the Sheltz logo is placed near the man’s hand. The poster utilised humour through the text to engage the audience so that their brand would be associated with a happy image.

Image of Semiotics (Writing Commons, n.d)

Image via Writing Commons

However, images can be decoded in many ways. Although the creator of this ad intended to be light-hearted and witty, this image can also be interpreted in a way that views it as sexist and offensive. Especially in modern society as we continue to become more educated, we view this ad from a resistant point of view. As Foucault argues through discursive formation, not all meanings remain the same in different time periods (Hall, 1997). For example, having the woman cooking dinner for the man is seen as old-fashioned and falls into traditional stereotypes, showing that this poster is outdated.

In the image, the woman is seen crying and emotional after burning the food while the man is smiling and contempt, this is yet again showcasing negative stereotypes and many women would not feel accurately represented by this. This is influenced by the ideology that women are equal to men, and hope that in the 21st century, we are seen as such. Instead, this advertisement focuses on the belief that women are seen as less than men and that their role is to answer to them. This highlights that the perception of this poster can be changed by different groups, as typically men would find this humorous whilst women are more likely to find it offensive due to their personal experiences with sexism. Analysing images show us that meaning is actively interpreted and it is not always the meaning that was intended by the creator (Hall, 1997).

References:

Hall. S, 1997 The work of representation, Representation: cultural representations and signifying practices, London, Sage, pp. 13–74, Viewed 18 March 2023 <https://uow.leganto.exlibrisgroup.com/leganto/readinglist/citation/3654963750006666/file/viewer?auth=SAML>

Tom, 2014, 23 Vintage Ads That Would Be Banned Today, image, Boredpanda, Viewed 18 March 2023,   <https://www.boredpanda.com/vintage-ads/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic>

Writing Commons, n.d, Semiotics: Sign, Signifier, signified, Writing Commons, Viewed 18 March 2023,  <https://writingcommons.org/section/literacy/semiotics-sign-signifier-signified/>