Bottled Beauty: A Semiotics Analysis of Perfume Advertisements
Date of Award
4-1991
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Sociology
First Advisor
Dr. Gerald Markle
Second Advisor
Ronald C Kramer
Third Advisor
Ronald C Kramer
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Abstract Only
Restricted to Campus until
4-2038
Abstract
This study assesses the social and cultural meaning of perfume advertisements in the United States published during the time period of December 1989 to June 1990. The theoretical orientation is derived from two sources: Neo-Marxism, particularly the concepts of commodity fetishism and objectification, and Eco's (1979) theory of the lie. The method is qualitative, following the principles of semiotics. Fourteen perfume advertisements taken from a variety of contemporary magazines are decoded and analyzed. The data show that perfume advertisements objectify the human body in a variety of complex ways through the depiction of complex and fantastic imagery; the perfume as a product is fetishized in similar ways, through elaborate thematic and artistic modes which are elucidated in the analysis.
Objectification and fetishization are achieved visually; text plays a lesser role in creating the themes and meanings of these advertisements. The study concludes that that which reflects and at the same time creates cultural wants and needs are encoded in perfume advertisements. Reproduced
Recommended Citation
Ragnarsdottir, Asdis G., "Bottled Beauty: A Semiotics Analysis of Perfume Advertisements" (1991). Masters Theses. 3516.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/3516