A Semiotic Analysis of Magazine Adsfor Men's Fragrances

This essay concerns a semiotic analysis of advertisements whose similarity is based on the fact that all concern the advertising of men's fragrances, and all were found in the within the textual context of print advertising.

In more specific terms, the advertised products included Dune, Polo Extreme Sport, Xeryus Rouge, and Cool Water. The adverts were located within recent editions of the popular men's magazines, namely Sky, FHM, and Esquire. Thus this essay will individually analyse these advertisements in terms of their status as signs, whose associative meanings not only gave a favourable impression of the product, but were also compatible with, and complementary to, the masculine context in which they were situated; thus illustrating Umberto Eco's claim that the medium and message may be 'charged with cultural signification.'

Although all of the advertisements do not physically represent the product, they all provide an important iconic representation of both the product a...