p-ISSN: 2528-5076, e-ISSN: 2302-920X

Humanis

Vol 24.4 Nopember 2020: 350-363

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24843/JH.2020.v24.i04.p02

Terakreditasi Sinta-4, SK No: 23/E/KPT/2019

The Ideology within Covid-19 Public Service Advertisements: A Semiotic Approach

I Komang Sulatra, Desak Putu Eka Pratiwi* Mahasaraswati Denpasar University [[email protected]], [[email protected]] Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia

*Corresponding Author

Abstract

The COVID-19 virus is a new virus linked to the same family of viruses as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The virus is transmitted through direct contact with respiratory droplets of an infected person and touching surfaces contaminated with the virus. COVID-19 patients in Indonesia continue to grow. The Indonesian government has made efforts to break the chain of the spread of the COVID-19. One of them is by creating COVID-19 public service advertisements. Public service advertisement plays an important role in this pandemic to spread positivity which can motivate people to survive in this difficult time. This study aims at analyzing the ideology within COVID-19 public service advertisements by analyzing the meaning of verbal and visual signs used in those advertisements. The data were taken from five selected posters of COVID-19 public service advertisements. The data were collected by observation method and analyzed by qualitative method using theory of Semiotic proposed by Barthes (1998) and theory about ideology by Storey (2009). The analysis is presented in informal method. Our finding shows there are various ideologies used in COVID-19 public service advertisements, such as: prevention is better that cure, the ideology of being cooperative, responsible, productive and optimistic in facing COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 public service advertisements generally deliver a massage that together we can defeat COVID-19.

Keywords: ideology, COVID-19, public service advertisement

Abstrak

COVID-19 merupakan virus baru yang sejenis dengan virus SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). Virus ini menular melalui kontak langsung dengan cairan pernafasan dari orang yang terinfeksi dan menyentuh permukaan-permukaan yang terkontaminasi virus. Pasien COVID-19 di Indonesia terus meningkat. Pemerintah Indonesia telah melakukan upaya untuk memutus rantai penyebaran COVID-19. Salah satunya yaitu dengan membuat iklan layanan masyarakat terkait COVID-19. Iklan layanan masyarakat memainkan peranan penting dalam pandemi ini untuk menyebarkan hal-hal positif yang memotivasi orang-orang untuk bertahan dalam masa yang sulit ini. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menelaah ideologi yang terkadung dalam iklan layanan masyarakat, dengan menelaah tanda verbal dan visual yang digunakan pada iklan tersebut. Data yang digunakan pada penelitian ini yaitu lima poster iklan layanan masyarakat COVID-19 yang diambil dari internet. Data dikumpulkan dengan metode observasi dan dianalisis dengan metode kualitatif. Teori yang digunakan untuk menganalisis data yaitu teori Semiotik dari Barthes (1998) dan teori tentang ideologi dari Storey (2009). Analisis data

350

Info Article

Received       :   21st July 2020

Accepted       :   18th October 2020

Published      :   30th November 2020

dipresentasikan degan metode informal. Temuan kami menunjukan ada beberapa ideologi yang melatarbelakangi iklan layanan masyarakat COVID-19, yaitu: mencegah lebih baik daripada mengobati, ideologi kerjasama, tanggung jawab, produktif dan optimis dalam menghadapi pandemi COVID-19. Secara umum iklan tersebut menyampaikan pesan bahwa bersama kita bisa melawan COVID-19.

Kata kunci: ideologi, COVID-19, iklan layanan masyarakat

INTRODUCTION

According to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic is the defining global health crisis of our time and the greatest challenge we have faced since World War Two. Since its emergence in Asia late last year, the virus has spread to every continent except Antarctica. But the pandemic is much more than a health crisis, it’s also an unprecedented socioeconomic crisis. Stressing every one of the countries it touches, it has the potential to create devastating social, economic and political effects that will leave deep and longstanding scars. Every day, people are losing jobs and income, with no way of knowing when normality will return. Small island nations, heavily dependent on tourism, have empty hotels and deserted beaches. The International Labor Organization estimates that 195 million jobs could be lost. The World Bank projects a US$110 billion decline in remittances this year, which could mean 800 million people will not be able to meet their basic needs.

COVID-19 patients in Indonesia continue to grow day by day. This condition requires all people of the country to be alert. The Indonesian government has made efforts to break the chain of the spread of the Coronavirus. They oblige the citizens to make distance (physical distancing), work from home, study at home, and worship at home. President Joko Widodo decided to implement large-

scale social restriction (Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar) in order to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic. While COVID-19 continues to spread, it is important that communities take action to prevent further transmission, reduce the impacts of the outbreak and support control measures. Everybody has responsibility to prevent the spread of this virus. Therefore, it is very important to stay at home if it is not urgent to go out.

Many non-governmental organizations, companies, and groups of people have participated in preventing the spread of COVID-19. It is done by simply donating money, food supply, face masks for others and also personal protective equipment for health workers. Another important effort is by spreading updated information about COVID-19 including reminder about how to protect ourselves and our loved ones from the virus through social medias and other communication platforms as part of socialization program to educate the society to be aware of their own health. The government and non-governmental organizations specifically created public service advertisements in form of educative posters or videos which can be easily found in public areas and also online sources like official websites and social medias to remind people that they can take a part in preventing and defeating COVID-19.

This study focused on COVID-19 public service advertisements since they are recently very familiar around

us. They can be seen everywhere to remind us to stay safe and healthy. Public service advertisements do not only spread important information for the society but also carry particular messages and life values that very interesting to analyze. Rather than focusing on selling a specific good or service, a public service advertisement aims to make the public aware of an important issue and lead them to take a specific action. These advertisements are created to make more people aware of the issues with the goal that the audience will take action to reduce risks, increase safety or otherwise resolve the issue of focus. Therefore, they serve as a way to influence the public’s opinion.

Cook (1992: 5) states that advertising is a prominent discourse type in virtually all contemporary societies, and we live in a society where it is already well established or rapidly gaining ground. The important distinguishing feature of advertising discourse is its function, because this is always to persuade people to buy a particular product. But, this is not the only function. Dyer (1986: 129) holds that advertisements as a means of representation and meaning construct ideology within themselves through the intervention of external codes which are located in society. He believes that the ideology of advertisements is so powerful; it is naturalized by the image, the neutral realm of signifier. Ideological powers, as Eagleton (1991:195) puts it, is not just a matter of meaning, but of making a meaning stick.

Public service advertisement plays an important role nowadays, especially in this pandemic period, to spread positivity which can motivate people in this difficult time. Public service advertisement uses the techniques of commercial advertising for non-

commercial purposes. It is mainly used as a tool to promote social welfare. When the world is confronted with multiple disorders, communication is the only answer that can create awareness and educate the public by constantly providing information. Public service advertisements are designed purposively to attract people attention so that they are aware of the information and messages within the advertisements. For that reasons public service advertisements are commonly very attractive and unique.

Public service advertisements basically consist of verbal and visual signs which are created attractively. Verbal signs consist of words, phrases or sentences which aim to give information or describe particular issues. Meanwhile visual signs consist of pictures, colors, symbols, or special effects which make the advertisements more interesting and eye-catching. In advertisements, photographs and colors are used to attract people attention. According to Wierzbicka (1996: 287), color is not a universal human concept but it is related with observing because color is only definable via observation. The concept of color is different depending on the culture but some of it have striking similarities. In Mythologies, Barthes (2009) indicates that photographs can be the material for mythological systems, that is to say, secondary (i.e., complex) semiotic systems, which should be seen as inseparable wholes and where distinctions among signifier, signified and sign can be drawn only artificially, for analytical purposes. Saren et.al (2007: 31) argue that⅛the semiotic analysis of ads assumes that the meanings of ads are designed to move out from the page or screen on which they are carried, to shape and lend significance to our experience of reality. We are encouraged to see ourselves, the

products or services which are advertised, and aspects of our social worlds, in terms of the mythic meanings which ads draw on and help to promote.

A sign consists of anything which generates meaning. Saussure (1957) believes that language is constructed by arbitrary signs, the most important construction in semiotics; hence it is considered as a model. For him, sign is a physical object with meaning consisting of what he termed the ‘signifier’ and the ‘signified’. The signifier is a term for the sign itself; the images as we, the audience, perceive it and the members of the same culture, who share the same language (Fiske, 1990: 43).

But according to the notions proposed by Kress & Van Lueween (2009), there are a number of coherent alternative ways of reading the advertisement, and a number of possible subject-positions from which to understand it. The signs in the ad are too ambiguous, too ‘polysemic’ (multiple in their meanings) to decide on one ‘true’ meaning of the ad. These factors, which have to do with the social context of ads and of their readers, make any reading of an ad as a self-contained system of signs with a determinable ideological effect very difficult to justify as ‘true’ (Bignell, 2002: 5). Beasley & Danesi (2002: 31) points out that semiotics ultimately allows us to filter the implicit meanings ad images that swarm and flow through us every day, immunizing us against becoming passive victims of a situation. By understanding the images, the situation is changed, and we become active interpreters of signs.

Goldman (1992: 2) reads ads socially by identifying advertising as a key institution in “producing and reproducing the material and ideological supremacy of commodity relations”. He calls this system ‘commodity hegemony’ because, “they reproduce a sense of commodity

relations as a natural and inevitable part of the lives of different individuals” (Saren, et.al 2007: 129). As Williamson (1978) points out, “ads ask us to participate in ideological ways of seeing ourselves and the world”.

According to Hodge & Kress (1993: 212) ideological forms are structures of meaning (versions of social relationships) that are inseparable from a set of practices that are themselves kinds of meaning. Ideological analysis of discourse must take full account of the ideologies inscribed in discursive practice. Hence, in order to gain a deep insight of the role that advertising plays in our society, it seems to be necessary to ask how advertising organizes and constructs reality, how ideology and meanings are produced within the ad discourse, and why images are the way they are.

Every advertisement has an ideology as its identity. An ideology is a collection of ideas or beliefs shared by a group of people. It may be a connected set of ideas, or a style of thought, or a worldview. There are two main types of ideologies: political ideologies and epistemological ideologies. Political ideologies are sets of ethical ideas about how a country should be run. Epistemological ideologies are sets of ideas about the philosophy, the universe, and how people should make decisions.

The ideology used in the advertisements is the epistemological ideology. It is used to persuade people to do an action as suggested by the advertisers.

This study aims to analyze the meaning of verbal and visual signs in COVID-19 public service advertisements. After analyzing the meaning of verbal and visual signs, we can discover the ideologies within the COVID-19 public service advertisements since the ideology is the core of the

advertisements. Semiotic approach is used in analyzing the data to answer the research problems. Semiotics is the theory and study of signs and symbols, especially as elements of language or other systems of communication. It is used to analyze the meaning of verbal and visual signs found in public service advertisements in order to uncover the ideology within each advertisement.

METHOD

The data were taken from COVID-19 public service advertisements in form of printed advertisement. There are five selected posters used as data source which taken from the internet. The data were collected by observation method and note taking technique. The data were classified into verbal and visual signs. Then they were analyzed by qualitative method using theory of Semiotic proposed by Barthes (1998) and theory about ideology by Storey (2009). First, the researcher analyzed the meaning of verbal and visual signs used in COVID-19 public service advertisements. Then continued by the analysis of the ideology carried by each advertisement. The analysis is presented in informal method.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

In this section five posters of COVID-19 public service advertisement were analyzed by using theory of Semiotic by Barthes (1998) and theory about ideology by Storey (2009), also supported by theory of color terms by Wierzbicka (1996).

Barthes (1998) distinguished the sign into two important parts, they are verbal and visual signs. The verbal sign is the text of the advertisement. It can be the name or slogan of the product or people, information about something, persuasion sentences, or anything else in text form. The visual signs are the signs which appearances are aimed to support the

verbal signs in order to be an interesting package of advertisement. They have deep meaning that can produce message to the reader, not only as a compliment. Both verbal and visual signs carry denotative and connotative meaning. Denotation occurs when a sign is defined literally, obviously or based on its common-sense definition (Chandler, 2007: 137). Denotation is the most common sign that is found in society because it relates with dictionary definition. While connotation is “used to refer to the socio-cultural and ‘personal’ associations (ideological, emotional, etc.) of the sign” (Chandler, 2007: 138).

Barthes (1998) explained that denotative is the relationship between signifier and signified which generates the direct and definite meaning. For Barthes (1998) connotation is the “tone” of a text or the manner which has been decorated. Connotative is the signification level between signifier and signified which generates indirect and indefinite meaning. Barthes advanced his interpretation of denotative and connotative structures to suggest myth as another level of signification. Myth is the most obvious level of signification, but distorts meaning by validating arbitrary cultural assumptions in a way similar to the denotative sign. Both connotation and myth act as cultural codes that are interpreted through semiotic analysis. Within the everyday use of language and images, signs are organized into relationships that code systems of signs to construct meaning.

The meanings embedded within a cultural text are structured through convention. Central to interpretation of the form that carries myth is the context of signification which manifest in ideological representations within a narrative structure. According to Storey (2009) ideology can refer to a systematic body of ideas articulated by a particular

group of people. For example, we could speak of ‘professional ideology’ to refer to the ideas which inform the practices of particular professional groups. Storey (2009) also defines the ideology based on Barthes idea who argues that ideology (or ‘myth’ as Barthes himself calls it) operates mainly at the level of connotations, the secondary, often unconscious meanings that texts and practices carry, or can be made to carry. The analysis of the meaning of verbal and visual signs and the ideology of the advertisements can be seen as follows.

Data 1:

(Source:

https://images.app.goo.gl/3ELxxZvTMUAC KLZs6)

There are several verbal signs provided by the poster above. The first one is “COVID-19 PREVENTION” which means that this public service advertisement gives information for the public about the ways to protect ourselves from COVID-19. It is written in capital letters with tosca/turquoise and pink color. The size of the letters is much bigger than the others. It is aimed to catch people’s attention to look at the advertisement and wonder what the information is about. The second verbal sign is “WASH YOUR HANDS: wash

them often with soap for at least 20 second”. It means that the advertiser persuades people to protect themselves and others from COVID-19 simply by washing hands regularly. Handwashing remains the number one tip for preventing the spread of COVID-19. It’s common sense and it works. However, it must be done properly with soap and water at least 20 second. When soap and water are not available, the next best option is to use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

The third verbal sign is “COUGHING ETIQUETTE: cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze with tissue or the inside of your elbow”. It informs people that another simple and important step they can do to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is to practice coughing etiquette. If there were ever a perfect time to practice good hygiene etiquette, it’s now. It implicitly tells people that in this pandemic time we have to be responsible of ourselves and others, make sure that we do not cause other people to suffer from any kind of disease especially COVID-19. It is a must to cover our mouth when coughing or sneezing either with tissue or the inside of the elbow to avoid the spread of COVID-19 to other people around us. The forth verbal sign is “WEAR MASK: make sure your mask fits well with the nose clip”. It means that wearing face mask is also very helpful to protect yourself and others from COVID-19. It also means that we have to place the mask carefully, ensuring it covers the mouth and nose, and tie it securely to minimize any gaps between the face and the mask. Appropriate use and disposal are essential to ensure that they are effective and to avoid any increase in transmission.

The last verbal sign is “AVOID HUMAN CONTACT: keep a distance of 1 meter away from others”. It implicitly

tells the audience that the more we are in contact with others the higher the risk of COVID-19 transmission. It means that we have to keep a safe distance to slow the spread since COVID-19 spreads mainly among people who are in close contact (within about 6 feet) for a prolonged period. Spread happens when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks, and droplets from their mouth or nose are launched into the air and land in the mouths or noses of people nearby. Avoid human contact is called “physical distancing”. It should be practiced in combination with other everyday preventive actions as mentioned earlier to reduce the spread of COVID-19 more effectively.

In term of visual sign, it can be seen that the background of the poster is dominated by pink and purple color. Pink is associated with romance, love and friendship. While purple associated with wisdom, dignity, devotion, peace, pride, mystery. The combination of these colors generally represent a message that Covid-19 prevention can be done with spirit of love, friendship and personal wisdom. It encourages people to be responsible, caring and loving so that we can stay healthy and live peacefully. There are also the pictures of the virus which represents a serious threat for human life which need to be defeated by doing suggested preventive actions. The other visual signs show pictures of preventive steps such as: picture of hands washing, a girl coughing, a girl wearing a mask, and handshake. Those pictures show how to do COVID-19 preventive actions. All visual signs are used to support the idea which presented by the verbal signs to make it clear and meaningful.

Based on the analysis of verbal and visual signs, it can be concluded that the ideology behind this public service advertisement is prevention is better than

cure. It means that it is better and easier to stop a problem or illness from happening than to stop it after it has happened. It also delivers a message that the government needs to put the preventive care on the front foot to improve health outcomes and reduce the burden on our healthcare system. It should be supported by people awareness on their own health. The case of COVID-19 made people acutely aware of their unhealthy lifestyles. They have begun to see the value of preventive care and have started to take their health into their hands. By doing the preventive action which started from self-awareness, it is believed that sooner or later we can defeat COVID-19.

Data 2:

(source:

https://images.app.goo.gl/4a6z23kPJmM6rT 2o7)

There are three verbal signs found on the public service advertisement above. The first one is “Reduce your risk of COVID-19 infection”. It connotes that people can do simple action to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection. It can be done by limiting interactions with other people as much as possible and taking precautions to prevent getting COVID-19 when interact with others. It is especially important for people at increased risk of severe illness

from COVID-19, and those who live with them, to protect themselves from getting COVID-19. The second verbal sign is “We stay at work you stay at home”. It specifically means that to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection people have to stay at home while health workers stay at work to take care and cure the infected people. By staying at home we can help them to reduce the number of the victims. Everybody can be a hero just by staying at home, not only to protect themselves and family members but also the other people from the spread of COVID-19. The third verbal sign is “Share to your friends and family via social media”. It persuades the audience to share this important information to their friends, family or colleagues. Everybody should know this since it will be more effective if all people did it at the same time. It connotes that we should work together to reduce your risk of COVID-19 infection. It cannot be done alone, it needs commitment and awareness from all the people. Sharing the information to others through social media is also very helpful to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Meanwhile the visual sign shows that the background of the advertisement dominated by tosca or turquoise color. Turquoise is a blend of the color blue and the color green, has some of the same cool and calming attributes. The color turquoise is associated with meanings of refreshing, calming, sophisticated, energy, wisdom, serenity, wholeness, creativity, good luck, friendship, love and patience. The other visual signs are picture of health workers such as doctors and nurses. The doctors wear white suit while the nurses wear turquoise suit. All of them wearing mask and carry stethoscopes which show that they are professional health workers who are on duty, fight against the COVID-19. Doctors and medical residents of all specialties, also nurses, are on the front

lines in the COVID-19 pandemic. They are all heroes who risk their own lives to save others. The last visual signs on the poster are the icons of social media such as the icon of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. It means that social media also take important roles in spreading information more quickly in this pandemic period so that people are still connected to each other. Although they are in physical distancing, they are still able to keep in touch and get information through their social media.

By examining the meaning of verbal and visual signs, the ideology of this public service can be discovered. It carries the ideology of cooperation, work together succeed together. It means that preventing COVID-19 is not only the responsibility of the health workers but also all people in this planet. We have to work together against the COVID-19. We can help the health worker by simply stay at home so we can reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection. It automatically reduces the number of patients in the hospital which ease the health workers’ job in curing the infected people. In addition, it helps the government to reduce the number of the victims in our country.

Data 3:

(Source:

https://images.app.goo.gl/WbXapPV2dtoYfi

Hq9)

Misinformation about Covid-19 is spreading almost as fast as the virus itself. There are so many voices and opinions, it’s creating confusion and heightening anxiety. Misinformation, rumors and myths can be as deadly as COVID-19. The phenomenon is highlighted in the advertisement above which can be seen in the verbal signs. The first verbal sign is “Spread facts, not fear”. During a pandemic, sharing accurate information and stopping the spread of misinformation can save lives. False information about the virus, misleading myths about cures, and incorrect health advice can have devastating consequences. Ironically, misleading information is being widely shared by the individual or group of people, particularly on social media and messaging platforms. So the verbal sign “Spread facts, not fear” encourages people to be wise in sharing information to public to avoid chaos and misunderstanding. The second verbal sign is “Tune out the opinions and listen to the experts”. It means that we have to find accurate information from experts instead of believing inaccurate opinions. We can do several steps to help stop the spread of misinformation, for instance, use only credible, official sources such as the Ministry of Health, WHO and UNICEF. In addition, we can check the facts on official websites or social media platforms before acting, believing advice or sharing information online. The third verbal sign is “Go to COVID-19FACTS.COM to learn more”. It directs the audience to an informational site, covid-19facts.com, which compiles up-to-date information from the World Health Organization and medical experts. It means that it is better to check reliable sources to get accurate information rather than listening to rumors or opinions. By doing so we can

help authorities get real advice out and share official materials.

The visual signs of the public advertisement above are simple but very unique. The background of the poster is simply white. White is associated with goodness, innocence, safety, purity, and cleanliness. It is related with the concept or the message of the advertisement which encourages the audience to spread goodness or positivity instead of spreading negativity and fear. The other visual signs that use in the advertisement are the pictures of chat bubble icon in various shapes. Some of them looks like a bird with an eye and its beak while the other ones look like human with an eye and a nose. It represents the communication among society which spreads information very quickly through social medias and messaging platforms. It reminds us that spreading fake or misleading information is very dangerous and can lead to chaos. That is why we have to use social medias more wisely and think before acting, also do double check before sharing particular information to public.

Based on the explanation above, we can find out the ideology of this public service advertisement. It is the ideology of responsibility, being responsible of what you spread to public. It is crucial since during this COVID-19 pandemic fake news is putting lives at risk. It is our responsibility to consider what we post or share online, we have to share truthful information to educate and motivate others instead of making them more stressful in facing this difficult time. Sharing the facts about COVID-19 and stopping the spread of rumors can help reduce stress and stigma. Understanding the risk to ourselves and people we care about can help us connect with others and make an outbreak less stressful.

Data 4:

(Source:

https://images.app.goo.gl/8vx5boGQaGnEob 2m9)

The COVID-19 pandemic made many of us are staying at home and doing less in terms of social interactions and exercise. This can have a negative effect on our physical and mental health. The public service advertisement above shows some verbal signs which basically persuade people to stay active during quarantine. The first verbal sign in the advertisement is “Stay Productive by Working from Your Home”. It means that to avoid negative impact of being isolated, we have to stay productive by keep working at home. It helps us to reduce boredom at home. In addition, we can spend our precious time more efficiently for positive purpose and we can still can earn money for our daily expenses while staying at home. It is more meaningful than spending time watching TV or playing games all day on bed or sofa. The second verbal sign is “Social distancing and self-quarantine do not mean that you can’t be productive at work”. This verbal sign motivates people to be productive and not wasting time during self-quarantine. Although the government told us to stay home, it does

not mean that we can be lazy and do nothing all day since nobody knows when this pandemic ends. It could take months and even years so that we have to spend our time wisely. If you have no jobs, you even can create it. For example, if you love cooking you can try new recipes and you can sell your cooking by promoting it through your social medias.

With the number of COVID-19 cases on the rise, authorities across the globe have opted for social distancing by closing down public places including schools, companies, offices, malls, movie theatres, gyms, etc. It challenges people to find a way to work from home. The last verbal sign in the advertisement above said, “Utilize various apps and platforms to maintain your productivity. For example, Microsoft Teams as a virtual working space and to keep in touch with your co-workers, Zoom to do meeting online, and many more!”. It informs the audience that there are so many choices out there to support us working from home. No reasons to be unproductive since the technology provides us various easy ways to connect with others and do our business from home. We can use applications like Microsoft Teams or Zoom to maintain our productivity and keep our business running well. Nowadays, many private offices have followed suit by allowing employees to work from home. With technology at their disposal, Work from Home (WFH) is no longer an inconvenience.

The visual signs show that the background of the poster above is dominated by purple which associated with wisdom, dignity, devotion, peace, pride, mystery. The color purple has a variety of effects on the mind and body, including uplifting spirits, calming the mind and nerves, enhancing the sacred, creating feelings of spirituality,

increasing nurturing tendencies and sensitivity, and encouraging imagination and creativity. By using purple as the background color, the advertiser hopes that it can give those effects and spirit for the readers. Another visual sign is a woman sitting on a red chair while working on her laptop. She wears a red shirt, red hairband and red shoes which are matching and eye-catching. There is also a plant which has beautiful red leaves standing next to her. Red color seems dominating. Red is the color of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love. Red is a very emotionally intense color and is used to indicate courage. In the advertisement red brings text and images to the foreground. So that the readers attracted on the main focus of the advertisement which is WFH (Work from Home) which represented by that woman and other attributes she wears and things around her. It overall implicitly represents the energy, determination, passion, love and desire to work from home.

The ideology of the above advertisement is the ideology of being productive. It gives a message for the audience, “Where there’s a will there’s a way”. It is a proverb that means if someone is determined to do something, he/she will find a way to accomplish it regardless of obstacles. Working from home can be both a blessing and a curse. Working and living in the same space can make it difficult to create separate spaces of work and play. But there is always a solution for any problems. If you’re finding yourself way less productive than you’d like to be while working at home, you can make some strategies for example: create a dedicated office space, get on a schedule, equip yourself to work mobile, identify and eliminate time wasters, etc. It helps you maximize your

efficiency and help you hit refresh on your work life.

Data 5:

(Source: https://images.app.goo.gl/j49AQhYxw12392 eP6)

There is only one verbal sign that can be seen in the advertisement above. It is “Yes! We can defeat COVID-19”. It shows optimism and spirit to defeat COVID-19. The advertiser used pronoun “we” as the subject of the sentence which means that the action of defeating COVID-19 must be done together by all people in our country or even all people in the entire world. Since the outbreak and the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, our way of life and operating system have suddenly changed. The whole world is trying to adapt to face the spread of this virus that threatens the entire humanity. In a reaction that is now globalized, unprecedented and often drastic measures are being taken by all countries to protect the populations and eradicate this pandemic that knows no borders. We are going through a difficult and complex ordeal that requires from all of us an unprecedented mobilization of our resources and efforts, but also, and above all, of our solidarity. More than ever, the interest and the protection of the human being must be at the center of our

primary concerns. More than ever, our relations at the local, national, regional and international levels must be cemented by the strength of our solidarity and the ardor of our optimism.

The visual signs are dominated by red color. As mentioned earlier, red is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love. In this case red represents a war against COVID-19. Red is also widely used to indicate danger. It implied that we are now in danger and facing a very serious attack of COVID-19 which kills everything. It is not only killing people but also business, products, habits, tourism, lifestyles and many more. The world will never be the same after this pandemic. There is also a picture of fist which shows power, strength and spirit to fight against the virus. The virus itself is appeared on the poster right behind the picture of the fist. It represents the war between the virus and the human. Its color is black which associated with night, power, elegance, formality, death, evil, and mystery. In this advertisement, black implies death, evil, and mystery. It means that the virus is evil, mysterious and causes death. It makes people suffering and ruins all aspects of human life.

Based on the explanation above, the ideology of this advertisement is the ideology of optimism. Optimism in a time like this is very crucial. This ideology persuades people to remain as optimistic as possible. Optimism is a vital weapon in this global duel. How you show up in a crisis has a significant impact. Positive thoughts and actions focus on strength, success, opportunities and collaboration. Together we can defeat COVID-19. We have to believe that human intelligence will prevail. There must be a room for optimism and faith at this time. We must act and fight. Fear will weaken rather than embolden, it

will undermine our health. Depression will sap our energy and make us give up but optimism, faith and hope will compel us to do the right thing in a time. Remaining optimistic during challenging times can unlock exciting social innovations for positive impact.

CONCLUSION

Based on the discussion above it can be concluded that COVID-19 public service advertisements generally deliver a message that together we can defeat COVID-19 by following COVID-19 preventive steps, obeying government regulations and always be positive. By observing and analyzing the verbal and visual signs used in the advertisements, it can be concluded that the COVID-19 public service advertisements have various ideologies. The ideology of the first advertisement is prevention is better than cure. It means that it is better and easier to stop a problem or illness from happening, by doing the preventive actions, than to stop it after it has happened. The ideology of the second advertisement is the ideology of cooperation, work together succeed together. It means that preventing COVID-19 is not only the responsibility of the health workers but also all people in this planet. The ideology of the third advertisement is the ideology of responsibility, being responsible of what you spread to public. It means that have to spread truthful information about COVID-19 and stop the spread of fear and rumors. The forth advertisement has the ideology of being productive. It motivates people to be productive and not wasting time during self-quarantine by keep working from home. The last advertisement carries the ideology of optimism. Remaining optimistic during challenging times can unlock exciting social innovations for positive impact.

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