Global Journal of Management and Business Research, E: Marketing, Volume 21 Issue 4

VI. R epresentation Representation means the use of language to convey something meaningful or to represent the world meaningfully to other people (Hall, 1997). When an advertisement is presented to the viewers, it is called representation in the general sense. “In language, we use signs and symbols - whether they are sounds, written words, electronically produced images, musical notes, even objects - to stand for or represent to other people our concepts, ideas, and feelings” (Hall, 1997). That means using signs and symbols to represent the world is representation. Representation gives us meaning but it is not in a simple way. There are three approaches to how language, paintings, images, sounds, symbols etc., give meaning to the audience. These are the reflective approach, intentional approach, and constructionist approach. Among them, the most acceptable to linguists is the constructionist approach. The most popular supporters of this approach are Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, French literary theorist Roland Barthe, and French philosopher Michel Foucault (Acosta, 2012). According to Michel Foucault, through the use of ‘ discourses’ that is somewhat similar to language, ‘representation’ is the production of ‘knowledge’ that is somewhat similar to meaning (Foucault, 1980). The words, sounds, and images that carry meaning together in a general term are called ‘signs’. Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure referred to the form or the language used to refer to a concept, as the ‘signifier,’ and the corresponding idea it triggers in our brain as the ‘signified.’ Together, these constituted the ‘signs, ’ which he argued are members of a system and are defined in relation to the other members of that system (Culler, 1976, p. 19). In the case of an image the image is a ‘signifier ’ and the concept of that image is the ‘signified. ’ Both of them constitute the ‘sign' that represents and meaning is created. This meaning can differ according to culture. Language and its meaning are related to the culture of the audience as to how the representation will be received by the audience. The red or yellow or green of a traffic light has no meaning of its own: red means 'stop' and green means 'go.' In our culture, we have encoded red meaning 'stop' and green meaning 'go.' Any representation is, therefore, cultural (Hall, 1997). Besides, an image of an advertisement has encoded denotative meaning. If we can decode the cultural codes or codes attached to it, it is possible to find out the connotative meaning of that image. We can do this in the way introduced by the French literary theorist Roland Barthe (Haq, 2008). To get any meaning, in the first level, we have to decode every signifier of the text, sound, image, etc., in the simple way (denotative meaning). But Barthe says that these also have a broader cultural meaning (connotative meaning). According to Barthe this level of meaning is the stage of ‘myth ’ (Barthe, 1957). Following Roland Barthe ’ s semiotic analysis method in this research, the researcher has identified ‘signs' used in the sampled advertisements of ‘skin glowing cream’ marketed by Unilever and has found out the denotative and connotative meanings of those ‘signs.’ The ‘myths’ have also been shown. VII. S emiotic A nalysis of the TVCs In the process of analysis the researcher first identifies the ‘signifiers’ like colors, images, icons, symbols, etc. and the ‘signified’ (the concept) as ‘signs.’ Then, denotative and connotative meanings of those ‘signs’ are found out. Finally, the researcher finds out the relationship between the connotative meanings of those ‘signs’ and the perceptions of general people of Bangladesh about beauty. 1 st TVC of ‘GLOW & Lovely Advanced Multivitamin’ cream: The total duration of this TVC is 25 seconds, and the total number of scenes is 18. For the convenience of the research, from 18 scenes, six scenes have been selected to analyze. Story In this TVC, one of the models looking at the white and glowing face of the other surprisingly says, “Wow! Have you been to the parlor?” In reply, she says, “Not at all.” She asks again, “Then, so much glow, how?” In reply, she says, “From glow and Lovely” She asks again, “Only glow and lovely? She replies again in the affirmative and adds that it reduces dark spots, dark circles, and blackness of sun heat. She also adds that for glow, everything is in one cream. Then, from voice over we can hear, “Entering deep into the skin and reducing dark spots, dark circles, and darkness of sun heat, multivitamins of Glow and Lovely give HD glow. For glow everything is in one cream.” © 2021 Global Journals Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XXI Issue IV Version I Year 2021 ( ) E 7 Glow and Lovely: ‘Old Wine in a New Bottle’