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A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH PRINTED JEWELRY ADVERTISEMENT OF THOMAS SABO GROUP COMPANY

By

I PUTU ANGGA ASMARA PUTRA

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LETTERS AND CULTURE UDAYANA UNIVERSITY

Abstrak

Produk-produk dari pengrajin perhiasan terkenal di dunia yang akan dipasarkan di dunia ini tidak lepas dari promosi. Promosi tersebut bertujuan untuk memperkenalkan produk yang ingin dipasarkan. Dalam hal ini, promosi bisa dilakukan menggunakan berbagai macam media, salah satunya adalah media cetak. Setiap iklan dalam media cetak mengandung unsur verbal dan visual. Dimana unsur tersebut nantinya akan saling mendukung satu sama lain untuk menjadi sebuah kesatuan guna mencapai sebuah tujuan, yaitu menyampaikan informasi terhadap produk yang sedang dipasarkan dan nantinya akan menarik perhatian para calon pembeli untuk membeli produk tersebut. Sehingga semua perusahaan perhiasan di seluruh dunia bersaing untuk membuat dan mempromosikan produk-produk mereka melalui media cetak dengan semenarik dan sekreatif mungkin untuk menarik minat para calon pembeli.

Kata kunci: Signs, verbal, visual

  • 1.    Background of the Study

The term of advertisements is a common phrase heard every day in our lives, it can be easily found whenever and wherever you are, in which it exists in many kinds of form such as: printed advertisement, multimedia advertisement, and many others. It also exists in many kinds of communication tool such as internet, television, newspaper, radio, and magazines. The advertising message can be linguistically or visually communicated (verbal or visual), with both co-occurring in certain contexts. Words and pictures are the basic elements of advertisements

especially printed advertisements. Furthermore, words and pictures can also be called as a signs.

According to the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (Saussure, 1990) there is an interesting thing that can be found in the context of advertisements especially the printed advertisements, that is the signs containing in the advertisements. Talking about signs, there is a field of science which is very relevant to them, namely Semiotics, it is the study of signs and signifying practices. Independently, he worked to better understand how certain structures can produce meaning. In this context, Saussure saw the sign as a physical object with meaning, consisting of what he termed the signifier and the signified. The signifier is a term for the sign itself. In contrast, the signified refers to the mental concept.

Semiotics is closely related to the field of linguistics; and the shortest definition to describe semiotics itself it is the study of signs. Two types of sign can be found in context of the printed advertisements, namely verbal and visual signs. Both of these signs are really important in order to convey the message intended to the audience, with the result that arouse interest or attention of the audiences whilst at the same time passing on truthful information about the product to be sold ( as cited in Chandler 1997: 43 ). For example, jewelry product advertisements as one of many kinds of product advertisements in the world, which requires advertising to publicize their products to their consumers. Therefore, some, even all of jewelry manufacturers in the world then make some creative and attracting advertisements, especially in printed media like magazines to attract the

consumers’ attention. Therefore, printed jewelry advertisements were chosen for analysis because they are very interesting and attractive.

  • 2.    Problems of the Study

What are the signifier and signified concepts of verbal and visual signs employed in the jewelry advertisement of Thomas Sabo Group Company?

  • 3.    Aims of the study

Based on the problems above, this study was aimed to analyze the signifier and signified concepts of verbal and visual signs employed in the jewelry advertisement produced by Thomas Sabo Group Company.

  • 4.    Research method

In doing this study, methodology is important in order to direct the study straight to the topic systematically which consists of three major aspects, they are: Data source, Data collection, and Data analysis.

  • 4.1    Data Source

The data were taken from the Australian famous fashion and jewelry magazine; it is “Shop Til You Drop Magazine” (April 2009 editions). From the source above, one example taken as data source of this study; is an advertisement about a charms bracelet produced by Thomas Sabo Group Company.

  • 4.2    Method and Technique of Collecting Data

The method of collecting data in this study used library research and documentary method, and the technique of collecting data in this study used note taking technique, in which the data

were taken from the fashion magazine by doing these following steps: First, some fashion and jewelry magazines were flicked through, second, some jewelry advertisements were collected, and then those jewelry advertisements were carefully read, the unnecessary data were eliminated, and finally, the jewelry advertisements that meet the requirements were chosen to be the data for this study.

  • 4.3    Method and Technique of Analyzing Data

The data were analyzed based on qualitative method and descriptively presented based on the theory of ‘Dyadic’ relation of signifier and signified proposed by Ferdinand De Saussure.

  • 5.    Analysis of the Verbal and Visual Signs in the jewelry

Advertisement of Thomas Sabo Group Company

  • 5.1    Picture

  • 5.2    Analysis of Verbal and Visual Signs

    • 5.2.1    Verbal Signs

The verbal signs expressed in the advertisements can be seen through the table below:

SIGNS

SIGNIFIER

SIGNIFIED CONCEPT

Charm Club Thomas Sabo

The text explains that the Thomas Sabo Charm Club collection contains a range of Thomas Sabo silver charm bracelets and necklaces with combinable charms.

The Thomas Sabo collection features charms for all occasions with endless possibilities and options to mix and match to create your own personalized jewellery.

The introduction of the product that is being advertised which allows us to make our own jewelry. Create our unique charms bracelet with many kinds of variety of colors and shapes from Thomas Sabo Charm Club.

The logo of the brand pack and

manufacturer

Charm up your life.

The slogan of the brand pack and manufacturer which used a figurative language that invites us to use a product that is being advertised.

For more information, please call:

+61 (02) 9417 6286 or visit

www.thomassabo.com.au.

The website address and the phone number of the manufacturer where we can find the further information about the product via internet or place an order via telephone.

The headline of the advertisement in plate 3 is a signifier itself. The sentence “Charm Club Thomas Sabo” is the signifier, while its signifier concept is the statement states that the Thomas Sabo Charm Club collection contains a range of Thomas Sabo silver charm bracelets and necklaces with combinable charms. The brief explanations given in the body copy also parted support this statement, “The Thomas Sabo collection features charms for all occasions with endless possibilities and options to mix match and create your own personalized jewellery”. This statement signifies the product being advertised which allows us to make our own jewelry different from other manufactures who works in the same field. In Thomas Sabo Charm Club we are able to create our unique charms bracelet with many kinds of variety of colors and shapes.

  • 5.2.2    Visual signs

The visual signs expressed in the advertisement can be seen through the table below:

SIGNS

SIGNIFIER

SIGNIFIED CONCEPT

The image of the silver bracelet with many kind of pendants varieties shape and color, where they can be dismantled pairs.

Resemble the product in reality. Thomas Sabo Charm Club collection contains a range of Thomas Sabo silver charm bracelets and necklaces with combinable charms.

The image of the product is the main attraction in this advertisement. The image shows the silver bracelet with many kinds of pendants varieties shape and color, where they can be dismantled pairs. This picture of the product that is being advertised resembles the product in the reality, charms bracelet with many kind of pendants varieties shape and color. While the picture of one pendant which is apart from its hanger indicating that the pendant can be dismantled pairs.

  • 6.    Conclusion

Each advertisement has its own set of signifier and signified concept and thus produces meaning, both verbally and visually. An interesting advertisement is usually constructed by both verbal and visual signs. The verbal signs in a printed advertisement are represented by the words and sentences contained in the advertisement while the visual signs are represented by the pictures expressed in the advertisement. The verbal

signs in this advertisement are coherent with the visual signs. Each signifier and the signified concept both from verbal and visual signs in the advertisement support each other and to produce meaning.

  • 7.    Bibliography

Chandler, Daniel. 1997. Semiotics for Beginners. (www.documents) URL http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/documents/S4B/semiotic.html

Dyer, Gillian. 1982. Advertising as Communication. London: Clays Ltd.

Hornby, A S. 1995. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Leech, G.1972. English in Advertising A Linguistic study of Advertising. London: Longman Group limited.

Owen, Sharon. 1998. What Values is there in Studying Advertising. URL http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/students/smo9501.html