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In this essay we will look at form of linguistic approach to examine advertisements and that is semiotic analysis.

Semiotics is understood as a joint term for the traditions of both Saussure and Peirce that was established to make meanings and representations in many forms, perhaps most obviously in the form of texts 1 and media. According to Daniel Chandler semiotics provides a potentially unifying conceptual framework and a set of methods and concepts for use across the full range of signifying practices, which include gesture, posture, dress, writing, speech, photography, the mass media and the Internet. Thus through semiotics analysis we can peruse verbal texts and conjugate the meanings into representations of that reality. The images above features a set of advertising campaign for a camera called Leica M-Monochrom, which was done to promote the release of that model at Leicas Brazil store in Sao Paolo. Without any association with the main company Leica Camera AG based in Wetzlar, Germany, these advertisements come as posters and are also featured in local gadget-tech magazines. The key signifiers would be the paradigmatic sets which are the typewriter font texts, image of camera and its body shots, brand logo, call to action, illustrations of sketches, graphics, and clippings blended into multiple exposures and the distinctive paper-effect background complete with lines rendered in noise and blown-out highlight effects that clearly denotes an attempt to re-create a vintage advertisement. Presenti (2010) mentions that the aged paper-effect graphics is the key effect to be applied often in vintage style. At the same time, Lunatorium Designs (2012) created a set of advertising style binaries for old and modern advertising. Some of the notable binaries are photography/illustration, imagery/verbose, and technicolour/pastel or paints respectively. The totality of the aforementioned adverts characterizes themselves perfectly as a vintage piece. Also, in regards to color, Dyer (1982 p 120) explains that colour palette acts as vital role in branding the sentiment. Advertisements play with pigments to create objective correlative where the colours of the product are explained by its surroundings. This is done to enable the prospects and style of one to boost the other through the visual link. Leica M-Monochrom has opted for a retro spin in accordance to their brand image as a purveyor of high-end cameras and vintage cameras since 1913. The monotonous shades complement well with the longevity of the brand and product whilst regulating the aspects of vintage style advertising. Using vintage as a key point, this advert can be further reviewed via a postmodernist perspective, Jean Baudrillard (1998) as he argues that in postmodernism the distinction between media and reality has collapse, so new art and media artifacts are influenced by ones previous to it. He also rejects the notion of originality and authorship, all new producers can do is re-use and adapt. Through the above campaign it is evident that advertisers are trying to relive previous Leica advertisements back in 50s, 60s and such. It is probably due
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Assemblage of signs (such as words, images, sounds and/or gestures constructed (and interpreted) with reference to the conventions associated with a genre and in a particular medium of communication

to the nature of the product, since it is imperative to prove that the camera is a perfect rebuild of their old version. But what makes it complex is the fact that the stories in the texts are reminiscences of war experience yet it is designed using a classic theme. This then brings us to simulacra, a term coined by Baudrillard (1998) which is simply put as a copy of a copy of a copy. The state of simulacrum as commented by Doug Mann (nd), happens fairly in present age where things are basically dominated by simulations, where things are blended by reality and representation, where the indication of where the former ends and the latter begins is vague. Based from the points given, the aspects of the advertisement can be classed as a case of simulacrum since the design is devoid of originality, and the context makes real and fiction blends together.

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