A Semiotic Analysis Of Katy Perry

Communication in advertising transpires through decoding and encoding levels of messages from the sender to the receiver via a particular medium. Advertisers use on-linguistic and linguistic cues designed to communicate a desired message towards a targeted audience in order to achieve their ultimate goal of selling their product. This essay examines the Katy Perry ‘Killer Queen’ perfume advertisement with a semiotic analysis approach. Furthermore, it analyses the conglomeration of connotations, denotations, indexical signs, symbolic signs, syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations represented throughout the advert. It additionally explores the approaches of Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Peirce’s and their views on signs within advertising. Moreover, it considers the deeper ideological representations of wealth, power, beauty and authority along with freedom, justice and prosperity the ad connotes in an attempt to sell the perfume. Likewise, it examines the potential impact cultural views have in decoding the messages and debates possible contradictions of Katy Perry’s advertisement. Finally, it discusses the mythical ideology along with the intertextuality references suggested throughout the Katy Perry advertisement. …show more content…
While this does not physically symbolise the tangible product, it provides a representation of what the product possibly embodies. The photographic image is of singer and celebrity Katy Perry, sitting on a toppled throne, holding her new perfume ‘Killer Queen’. The paradigm code of the advertisement is a perfume advert. The ad originated from the United States, with the medium chosen through the mass media via a television ad, magazine’s ad and billboard’s ad. The female gender represented the targeted