In defining semiotics in its relation to advertising, Leiss writes, "semiotics highlights the way that we ourselves take part in the creation of meaning in messages, suggesting that we are not mere bystanders in the advertising process, but participants in creating a code that unites the designer and reader
" Such is the case with many of the ads I came across throughout my findings; while the ads certainly possessed a welcomed degree of familiar sociological gender codes and characteristics, there was always another systematic aspect of each ad, signifying a deeper meaning and informing the viewer of an even greater message being conveyed under the surface. .
In addition to the application of semiotics in my assessment of each ad, I also set out to establish various patterns in the depiction of men and women in advertising. The first ad I selected came out of the popular women's magazine Cosmopolitan, and it is a full-page ad for Air Optix Colors: Contact Lenses. The ad features a close-up of a beautiful brunette woman with perfect, pink lips and a revealing white tank top, staring directly back into the eyes of the viewer. The catch is that a dark, digitally-placed line exists down the center of her nose; on one side is the unappealing "before" eye-color (dark and brown and unsexy), especially in comparison to the "after" eye-color (blue and bright and vastly more attractive) found on the other side of that dark line. "You change your style. Why not your eye color?" reads right off the side of this demonstration. The most apparent symbol on display in this ad is the all-too familiar "before and after" technique designed to accentuate the true need for this product while demonstrating the consequences of not having this product. It's a device rooted in self-doubt and dissatisfaction with one's own appearance, and I think it works well in this instance, albeit on a more subconscious level; all the quick-glancing viewers of this ad sees is a beautiful woman made more beautiful by the application of this beauty product.
