WEEK 3 - Semiotics Revisited: "Amazing commercial"

It was probably last year when I stumbled across this particular advertisement while randomly surfing the net for “funny videos”. One thing kind of lead to another, and before I knew it – there I was staring at a 1-minute-plus commercial that broke my heart and ended up weeping.

Now, among the 3 of us sisters in the family, I am the hardest-to-cry and will be the one sniggering in the middle while the other 2 sniff and cry beside me whenever there’s a heart-breaking moment playing up front.
So, what is it really that makes this short, 1-minute ad so powerful that even I, the rough-tough kind of gal when it comes to heart-wrenching scenes, ended up dabbing tissues to my eyes?



The connotations of the video:
Whenever we see a sign, an idea usually forms in our head. This is because sign connotes, or links as well as defines things.

Connotation, according to Branston & Stafford (2003), “may link things by association with broader cultural concepts and values, or with meanings from personal history and experience” (p. 15).

This particular ad connotes a very strong message on huge sacrifices, the powerful bond of a family and, most importantly, the power of love that made it all happen.

But what are the components that help creating those messages?


The signifiers that create the aforementioned connotations:
These components are called “signifiers”.

According to Branston & Stafford (2003), “a sign has physical form” (p.11). This is called “signifier”. It might be anything from a physical form that is written on a paper, or even sounds in the air.

If we tune out the sound (which includes the translation) and just focus on the series of images, we get:
An image of a clock ticking

An image of a worried, desperate woman

An image of nurses and doctor carrying an operation

An image of the woman running off with a bundle

An image of nurses running

An image of a laying, head-bandaged man

An image of a machine showing heartbeat rate

An intermission of images of people on the street

Back to the image of the woman, now with a baby and the comatose man

With the baby’s holding the man’s hand

And tears welling up in the comatose man’s eye

And end with an image of a man talking on a recorded video.

The image of the clock ticking + image of the worried, desperate women + image of the surgery + image of the woman running with the bundle + image of the woman with the baby and the comatose man = all connotes the message of the huge sacrifice made by the woman, just so her child can have one last moment with the dying man.

The image of the laying, head-bandaged man + image of machine showing heartbeat rate + image of baby holding the comatose man’s hand + image of tears in the man’s eye = connotes the powerful bond held between the man and the little child.

The images of people on the street connote the unbothered, carefree and indifferent society of the world.

The final image, even though viewers may not be able to make any sense to as what was being said, but viewers can sense the density of the pre-recorded video, right after the image of the comatose man crying, and viewers may deduce it as the man’s conveyance of love = which connotes the power of love.


The Politics of the discourse that are being represented:
The ad struggles over the meaning of sacrificial in a family bond. It is only accepted that if you love your family, you are supposed to be willing to sacrifice anything for them. However, this isn’t always the case.


The Anchorage to the sign:
Stokes (2003) explains that, “images are polysemic – they have multiple meanings and are open to diverse interpretations” (p.71). This means that meanings of images are neither fixed nor single.
This is true to the series of images above, viewers may subject to different interpretation.

However, Branston & Stafford say that one of the way in which we can attempt control over the always potentially unsettling polysemy or ambiguity of visual images is through the use of captions or commentary (2003, p.18). Semiotics calls this process as “anchoring” – a process which tries to select and therefore control the meanings which could legitimately be made by a reader.

Now, when we finally turn on the sound (i.e. translation included) only with the help of the voiced-over narration by the doctor-actor are we finally able to link all the missing pieces of the story. We now know that the woman is the wife of the dying man, the mother of her new-born child; now we know the man is dying of brain tumor, how he has been holding on for a long time and refuses to give up on life; his final message on how much he loves his unborn child – all of which connote exactly the strong message on what it means to sacrifice for the ones that you loved. This is an example of how “anchoring” works.

However, this is not only the anchorage that occurs in the ad: For someone new, or non-Thais, who watch this ad for the first time they may not know what the logo stands for at the end of the ad.

For all they know, the commercial might be advertising on a family campaign, or might even think that it is a short trailer of an upcoming movie!

This commercial is actually a Thai Life Insurance advertisement.

The particular Insurance Agency at the end of the ad is well-known for making such commercials that can tug viewers’ heartstrings. Their adverts are almost all short-drama forms and are clever enough not to show any data or facts on insurance policy etc., but their message is simple: If you love your family, buy our insurance.

Somewhere around second 32-40, there were images of what seemed to be poor people on the street. When we see that image, together with the voiced-narration, it connotes on how people can be carefree and clueless at the same time, unaware of those who love them, pointlessly living their lives searching for meanings. However if we look from the semiotic analysis point of view, the image of the poor people actually adds to their message: Even if you’re poor, if you love your family, buy our insurance.

Grasping with this newly-found knowledge, looking back, I don’t even know why I had cried. It must have meant one thing: No matter how tough I thought I was when it comes heart-rending scenes, being a girl, I still have a soft spot when it comes to what it means to be a family.

References:
Branston, G. and Stafford, R. (2003) The Media Student’s Book: Meanings and media (pp.11-16) London: Routledge, 3rd Edition.

Stokes, J. (2003). Semiotics. How to do media and cultural studies (pp. 70-75). London: Sage Publications