THE CONNOTATIVE MEANING OF VERBAL AND VISUAL SIGN ON NIKE SPORT SHOES ADVERTISEMENTS
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THE CONNOTATIVE MEANING OF VERBAL AND VISUAL SIGN ON NIKE SPORT SHOES ADVERTISEMENTS
By
DESAK AYU AGUNG RATNA KOMALA
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LETTERS UDAYANA UNIVERSITY
ABSTRAK
Makna konotatif terdapat pada setiap iklan, yaitu makna verbal and makna visual. Yaitu slogan dan gambar. Makna verbal dibuat dalam bentuk kalimat singkat namun menarik. Hal ini dimaksudkan agar masyarakat tertarik melihat iklan tersebut. Selalu ada pesan tersembunyi dibalik makna konotatif yang ingin disampaikan oleh perusahaan. Sedangkan untuk makna visual ditambahkan untuk mendukung makna verbal. Dengan menggunakan gambar (visual) akan lebih efektif untuk menarik lebih banyak perhatian masyarakat. Misalnya iklan sepatu olahraga dari Nike yang sudah sangat terkenal akan iklan – iklannya yang selalu unik dan menarik perhatian. Terdapat dua iklan yang bisa dijadikan sumber data yaitu iklan Nike Air Max Torch+6 dan Nike Eco yang terdapat di situs resmi Nike yaitu www.nike.com. Adapun dari kedua iklan tersebut terdapat makna konotatif yaitu makna verbal dan makna visual. Kedua makna tersebut saling melengkapi dan mendukung satu sama lain sehingga dapat mengantarkan pesan yang dimaksud oleh perusahaan kepada konsumen dengan baik tanpa meninggalkan kesan ambigu.
Kata kunci : iklan, makna konotatif secara verbal dan visual
Nowadays advertisements become one of our daily needs. We can find many things from advertisement, such as products, jobs, services, etc. An advertisement itself is a form of communication used to encourage or persuade an audience to continue or take some new action. There are a lot of interesting commercial advertisements out of there with connotative meaning. Commercial advertisements are chosen to be analyzed because nowadays people cannot find anything without advertisements; they are really helpful to fill our need every time, that is why advertisement usually uses connotative meaning to attract the customers. By knowing
the connotative meaning in the commercial advertisements, we will be easier to understand the purpose of the advertisement and explain the ambiguity.
According to the background above, this study has some problems, they are:
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1. What are the connotative meanings of the verbal sign and visual sign on Nike Sport Shoes advertisements?
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2. How do the verbal sign and visual sign to relate each other on Nike Sport Shoes advertisements?
The aim of this study are:
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1. To find out the connotative meanings of verbal sign and visual sign on Nike Sport Shoes advertisements.
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2. To analyze the relationship between verbal and visual sign on Nike Sport Shoes advertisements.
The data source of this study was taken from the official website of Nike company; www.nike.com. Those shoe products were chosen because they produced the advertisements that contained verbal sign and visual sign that had connotative meaning and used English in their presentation.
Documentation and observation methods were used in this study. In collecting data, the data were used as the samples of this research that were taken from internet and it was printed. The advertisements were observed by
reading them; later data were classified based on the words and pictures. And then the data were selected, followed by some note taking.
The sign in the advertisement was divided into verbal and visual sign. Verbal sign was identified based on the structure of advertisement based on Leech and Saussure theory then the visual sign was analyzed using Berger and Dyer theory, after the meaning of verbal and visual sign was found and analyzed by the signifier. The last one was the relationship between verbal and visual signs in creating connotative meaning was analyzed.
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5. Analysis of Connotative Meaning of Verbal and Visual Sign on Nike Sport Shoe Advertisements
Table 1. Analysis of Verbal Sign on Advertisement 1
|
Components |
Signs | |
|
Signifier |
Signified concept | |
|
Headline |
STRIKE LIKE LIGHTNING |
A statement about the quality of the product that can support your sport activity. |
|
Body Copy |
JUST DO IT |
A slogan that give an explanation about the feeling of the customers when using this product. |
|
Signature Line (Logo) |
AIR MAX TORCH+6 |
Represent the name of the product. |
|
Standing Details |
The information about website address. | |
From the statements of headline, body copy, signature line, and standing detail were written down in different sizes. The biggest size is the headline “STRIKE LIKE LIGHTNING” and body copy “Just Do It”. They were written down in big size in order to attract people’s attention. According to Sibagraphic.com, purple referred to power, luxury, and ambition. It means that the product bring the powerful feeling with luxury appearance for the customer. The white highlight is the color of goodness, purity, and cleanliness. It means that this product has a goodness point with good quality. The image of the shoes resemble the product in reality. And Nike symbol represents the identity of the company.
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5.1.2 The Relationship between Verbal Sign and Visual Sign on Nike Sport Shoes Advertisements.
The message of the verbal sign in the picture is something named Air Max Torch+6 from Nike Company that would satisfy the audience with its strength and look. The visual sign supported it. The picture showed a pair of shoes with sporty and elegance appearance that will support any kind of sports. In this case the relationship of both sign is logic and supports each other.
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5.2 Analysis of Verbal Sign in Advertisement 2
Table 2. Analysis of Verbal Sign in Advertisement 2
|
Components |
Signs | |
|
Signifier |
Signified | |
|
Headline |
Grow Green with Nike Eco |
A statement to persuade to start a healthy life with shoes named Nike Eco. |
The size of the letters on the headline in advertisement 4 was written down with medium size. It is because the advertiser wanted to show the product and the background more than the headline. In this advertisement
there are two dominating colors, they are green and brown. Green means nature, safety, and hope. It means that the product is safe to use. Brown means stability and natural. It means the advertiser wants give comfortable scene in represent his product. A shape in the picture of advertisement 2 is a single shoe and natural scene with some tress as the background. It referred that the product can support our sport activities as part of healthy life.
There was relation between verbal sign and visual sign. In this case, both of them indicate that concept of Nike Eco sport shoes is healthy life. The verbal sign can present the product with visual sign that can create connotative meaning and can attract the audience. Both sign can support each other with logic and clear message without creating an ambiguous feeling.
The conclusions are the connotative meaning of verbal sign in Nike Sport Shoes advertisements can be found through the structure of advertisements including headline, body copy, signature line, and standing detail. The connotative meaning appears in simple and short sentence or slogan to attract the audience attention. Commonly, people are more interested in simple ones, because they are easier to remember. On the other hand, the use of connotative meaning of visual sign in printed advertisements especially in Nike Sport Shoes advertisements can be found in term of size, colors, shape, contrast, and spatiality. The combination of colors in the advertisements can describe the characteristics and the advantages of the product advertised. The picture was used to lead the eyes to the written text because of its attractiveness. The verbal sign and visual sign are always related to each other. The visual sign always matches the verbal sign and supports each other in order to deliver the message to audience.
Anonim. 2011. The Meaning of Colors. Available from:
http://www.sibagraphics.com/colour.php
Berger, Arthur Asa. 1984. Sign in Contemporary Culture. New York & London: Longman Inc
Hidayat, Felisia .2011. Connotative Meaning of Verbal and Visual Sign on Car Advertisements. Unpublished undergraduate thesis. Denpasar: English Department Udayana University.
Kartika Sari, Komang. 2012. The Meaning of Sign in Advertisements of Accessories in Woman’s Magazines. Unpublished undergraduate thesis. Denpasar: English Department Udayana University.
Wikipedia. 2012. ‘Semiotic elements and classes of signs (Peirce)’.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotic_elements_and_classes_of_signs_%28Pi erce%29
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