Analysis of PETA Advertisement

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Semiology is a useful tool in the analysis of media texts and allows the deeper layers of meaning to be revealed. According to Rayner, Wall and Kruger “semiology is an attempt to create a science of the study of sign systems and their role in the construction and reconstruction of meaning in media texts” (Image Analysis, 2004). The text that will be analysed is advertisement for PETA featuring Pamela Anderson, which aims to sell an ideology of beauty and femininity, as well as sexual empowerment through self-objectification (see appendix for image). This essay will analyse the chosen text through the use of semiology. The essay will analyse the connotations, denotations and myth of the text among other elements. The text is part of a campaign promoting vegetarianism, created by the animal rights advocacy group PETA, featuring actress and model Pamela Anderson in a two-piece swimsuit. Anderson is posing is seated on a flat surface with her legs bent at the knee, leaning back slightly on her hands and pushing her chest out. Her facial expression is sultry and seductive. Dotted lines have been painted on her body, dividing it into sections which are labelled with what the corresponding cut of meat would be called. The anchorage of the text reads: “All animals have the same parts. Have a heart, go vegetarian”. An anchorage is the caption on a text that “anchors” the preferred meaning of an image (Chandler, 2013). This text similar to other campaigns that PETA have created, nearly all of which feature nude or scantily-clad female celebrities who are sometimes posed with baby animals. In contrast, the male celebrities that feature in their campaigns are seldom nude. If they are, it is almost always from the waist up. This is common i... ... middle of paper ... ...con.com/seo/I/ideology.html# Lazar, M. M. (2013). The Right to Be Beautiful: Postfeminist Identity and Consumer Beauty Advertising. In R. Gill, & C. Scharff, New Femininities: Postfeminism, Neoliberalism and Subjectivity (pp. 37-51). Basingstroke: Palgrave Macmillan. New Zealand Ministry of Education . (2013). Codes and Conventions . Retrieved from Teaching Media Studies : http://media-studies.tki.org.nz/Teaching-media-studies/Media-concepts/Codes-and-conventions Rayner, P., Wall, P., & Kruger, S. (2004). Image Analysis. In P. Rayner, P. Wall, & S. Kruger, AS Media Studies: The Essential Introduction (2nd ed., p. 4). London: Routledge. Sommers, C. H. (1994). Who Stole Feminism? How Women Betrayed Women. New York: Simon and Schuster. Sturken, M., & Cartwright , L. (2004). Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture. London: Oxford University Press.

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