Your Very Own “Rhetoric of the Image”

Choose an ad campaign to analyze according to the template laid out by Barthes in his essay, “Rhetoric of the Image.” From the ad campaign, take two images as the focus of your analysis. Barthes observes that in a visual advertisement, the signification of the image is intentional, decided upon prior to its creation and transmitted as clearly as possible by the advertisers. As does Barthes, you will break your chosen images into their component messages, both linguistic (which may include denotational and connotational messages) and iconic (which will include denotational—what is “there”—and connotational—what is a matter of viewer experience and interpretation). Remember that any image will have multiple iconic messages, coded and uncoded—be sure you identify at least two coded iconic messages per image. Once you have performed your analysis of your chosen images, spend one to several paragraphs discussing the demands or rhetorical appeals the ad campaign as a whole makes of its observer. Through its individual advertisements, what does the campaign ask its observer to do or believe, and how? The answer is more complicated than simply, “The ad campaign wants the observer to buy its advertised product or service.” What bigger story or purpose or euphoric value is being offered to the viewer? What picture of reality is the photographic image being deployed to promote? Why is it important to read advertisements and other “highly intentional” messages closely? If we fail to do so, what might we miss, and why does it matter?