VERBAL-VISUAL SIGNS AND CONTEXT OF SITUATION IN ENGLISH PRINTED COSMETIC ADVERTISEMENTS
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VERBAL-VISUAL SIGNS AND CONTEXT OF SITUATION IN ENGLISH
PRINTED COSMETIC ADVERTISEMENTS
by
MADE KUSUMA ARISSANA PUTRI
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, FACULTY OF LETTERS, UDAYANA UNIVERSITY
Abstrak
Iklan sebagai media promosi perdagangan merupakan suatu media yang sudah tidak bisa dipisahkan dari kehidupan sosial manusia pada saat ini. Dalam konteks bahasa tertulis, sebuah iklan cetak menggunakan bahasa verbal dan Non-verbal melalui penanda Verbal dan Visual di dalam nya. Namun, dalam proses pembuatan suatu iklan cetak, sebuah perusahaan tidak serta merta hanya mengandalkan kekuatan tulisan dan gambar dalam penyampaian ide dan pesan yang terkandung dalam iklan tersebut. Guna menarik konsumen dan memperkuat pesan tersirat yang terkandung dalam suatu iklan, sebuah perusahaan juga harus memperhatikan konteks dan situasi mengapa iklan tersebut dicetak dan dipublikasikan, juga mencari tahu keterkaitan makna yang terkandung dalam pesan verbal-visual dan konteks situasi iklan cetak tersebut . Makalah ini akan menganalisis penanda Verbal dan Visual dalam konsep Semiotics, sekaligus mencari konteks dan situasi juga menganalisis kesatuan ide yang terkandung dalam pesan Verbal-Visual dan konteks situasi dalam iklan tersebut.
Kata kunci: Penanda verbal, Penanda Visual, Konteks Situasi.
Advertising as a form of commercial promotion is a common activity which cannot be separated in our social daily life. In Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (Hornby: 1995) Advertisement means a notice, picture, or film telling people about a product, job or service. The ultimate objective of advertising is catching consumer attention to think and feel certain things about a company, and influence their purchase behavior. This goal can be made by creating persuasive communication through the verbal and visual signs of the advertisement.
A verbal sign of advertisement is a text which may be in form of word, phrase and sentence, and visual sign is the picture within the advertisement. Both are used because they can work together delivering a certain aim and implicit meaning appearing from the printed advertisement. Dyer (1993:2) states, In order to make the advertisement interesting to be read, the advertiser must pay attention to the context
and situation of the advertisement. So, it can be said that a good advertiser should be aware not only of putting an attractive visual representation of the picture of certain product, and persuasive verbal communication through interesting sentences on a piece of printed advertisement, but also tries to develop the Context of Situation which reveals what is actually the non-verbal goings-on or the total environment in which the text of the advertisement unfolds.
It can be understood that beside the Verbal and Visual signs which correlate each other conveying a certain message, there is also Context of Situation which reveals what is the environment of the text and the coherence between the verbalvisual signs and the Context of Situation, which influence the consumer ability to catch the advertisement meaning.
From the background given above, there are three problems required to be discussed as follows:
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1. What verbal and visual signs are used in each printed cosmetic advertisement?
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2. What are the features of context of situation presented in each printed cosmetic advertisement?
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3. How is the coherence between the verbal-visual signs and the context of situation in each printed cosmetic advertisement?
The aims of this study are as follows:
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1. To find out the verbal and visual messages resulted through the verbal and visual signs in each printed cosmetic advertisement.
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2. To identify the features of context and situation (Field, Tenor, and Mode) which are used in each printed cosmetic advertisement.
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3. To analyze the coherence between the verbal-visual signs and the Context of Situation in each printed cosmetic advertisement.
The data to be analyzed in this study was presented in the form of two printed cosmetics advertisements for women. The advertisements were taken from the English printed magazines namely Marie Claire magazine (February and March 2012 edition). The first advertisement is about Anti-aging eye serum from Origins, and the second one is about the sun protector body lotion from Jergens Natural Glow. The method used in this research was documentation because the data was taken from English printed magazine. The collected data in this research was analyzed by using qualitative method. The structure of text in the advertisements was analyzed based on the concept of advertising proposed by Leech, they were also analyzed based on the dyadic relation of signifier and signified and the concept of organization of signs proposed by Saussure to classify the data based on the verbal and visual signs. After finding the signifier and signified relation of the verbal and visual sign, the text were analyzed based on the theory of context of situation proposed by Halliday, to identify the features of context of situation appearing in the advertisements and the last process was finding the coherence between the verbal-visual message and the Context of Situation in each printed cosmetic advertisement.
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5. Results and Discussions
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5.1 Plate
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The first advertisement was taken from Marie Claire magazine February 2012 edition namely Origins Anti-aging serum.
The verbal signs of the advertisement 1 can be seen through the table below:
|
Components |
Signs | |
|
Signifiers |
Signified | |
|
Headline |
Life puts the wrinkles in. Now nature helps take them out. |
The power of natural substances contained in the serum to take the wrinkles out. |
|
Sub Headline |
88% of the visible wrinklereducing power of a prescription 0% irritation. Plantscription™ Anti-ageing serum. |
Data of dermatological research in percentage. |
|
Body Copy |
Time, sun, pollution, stress-good fortune and bad. That’s what wrinkles are made of. Now, there’s a powerful way to help visibly erase those pesky ageing signs. And it’s from nature although it’s not a prescription, in just 4 weeks, our award-winning antiageing serum with Anogeissus noticeably helps reduce a lifetime of laugh and fret lines, birthdays, and basking in the sun. Youthful bounce is revived. Pair it with its companion eye treatment and visibly help repair 4 major sign of eye ageing. So, here’s to a few less wrinkles in your life. Formulated without Parabens |
The background of the wrinkles problem comes from The existence of these new products to reduce the aging signs. The specification of these awardwinning products to revive the youthful beauty of women in a very short time. The suggestion how to use the product that is given by the advertiser. Introducing Origins as the new Anti-aging formula for your wrinkles in life. Chemical free and safe to be used |
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Signature Line (Logo) |
ORIGINS Powered by Nature. Proven by Science. |
The brand name and the slogan of the products. |
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Standing Details |
See result and read the reviews at origins.com Suggested retail price: Serum $55.00 and Eye treatment $42.50 Connect with us via Facebook and Twitter. |
The website address of the manufacturer. The suggested retail price of the products. Information of how to get access further. |
5.1.2 Visual Signs of Advertisement 1
The visual signs of the advertisement 1 can be seen through the table below:
|
Component |
Signs | |
|
Signifiers |
Signified | |
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Illustrations |
The image of two products of Origins (Anti-aging eye treatment and Anti-aging serum) A creeping plant (Anogeissus plant) twists the products. |
Represent the new release of Origins products in reality. The natural formula contained in the products. |
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The logo of the Origins |
The symbol used by company as its special sign for the product. | |
Based on Concept of Context of Situation by Halliday, there are three features of context of situation in this advertisement 1. They are:
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1) . Field : The advertisement of Origins Product
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2) . Tenor : Advertiser and target consumers
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3) . Mode : Written to be read
The language function of the verbal signs above is best related to the Context of Situation of this advertisement. One of the discourses in the context of situation, Mode of discourse, is also has the same language function as the verbal signs in Origins advertisement because Mode of discourse refers to the language used by the advertiser when playing its role as a seller. Visual signs are best connected to the Field of discourse which describes about what is happening to the social action that is taking place in the advertisement. The field has shown that the Origins advertiser has
an action to advertise the product by locating an attractive picture or image of the Anti-aging serum and eye treatment at the center of advertisement.
Based on the analysis and discussion given above, there are some points presented as conclusion of this study.
Cosmetic advertisement is constructed by the verbal and visual signs in producing meaning. The verbal signs are presented by word, phrase, or sentence that form headline, sub headline, illustration, body copy, slogan, signature line, and standing details, while visual signs are presented by the image/picture which will then give a greater emphasis to the meaning brought by the verbal signs. Each verbal and visual sign has its own set of physiological entity known as the signifier and signified concept. Both of them are printed in many different colors that deliver a certain message to attract the consumers and persuade them to arise their desire in buying the product which is advertised.
The three features of context of situation (Field, Tenor, and Mode) can be found in both cosmetic advertisements. Those three features inform us about the kind of advertisement, the participants who are taking part and the role relationship among them, and also the language used by the advertiser.
In order to attract many people, the message of advertisement should be well understood first. The existence of signifier and signified concept in both verbal and visual signs of the advertisements under study has worked to support each other in creating a special message within the advertisement. In addition to the verbal and visual signs, there is also the Context of Situation which reveals what is actually the non-verbal going-on within the verbal and visual signs of each advertisement. The analysis has shown that there is a coherent idea between the Verbal signs of advertisement and the Mode of discourse in Context of Situation. Mode of Discourse refers to what the participants are expecting the language to do for them in the situation, and the language functions are well explained by the existence of verbal signs in each advertisement. Beside the Verbal-Mode correlation, the Visual signs of advertisement are also in line with the idea given by Field of discourse in the Context
of Situation. Field of Discourse is realized as the social action that is taking place and it is related to what is happening in each content of advertisement which includes the pictures in the advertisement. They are best presented to be the action done by the advertiser (Tenor of Discourse) when focusing both text and pictures in advertisement based on the situation of the target consumers (Tenor of Discourse). At the end, the coherent idea of verbal-visual signs and the Context of Situation (Field, Tenor, and Mode) have made each advertisement understandable and easy to persuade the consumers especially women, in influencing their purchasing behavior toward the cosmetic product presented in the advertisement.
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