Denotation and Connotation

1) Write an analysis of the WaterAid advert above using denotation, connotation and analysis. What does the advert communicate to the audience?

In this media text, the denotations are: a young boy wearing a blue top who looks upset, beside him there's a clay wall, in the background you can see a house and some trees and lastly bold text. Connotations of the young boy who is not smiling is that he hasn't drank any water because of the area he's living there hardly might be any rain. The connotation of the blue top he's wearing is that it indicates life and health. The connotations of the bold text, "Dig toilets Not graves" infers that loads of people are dying from the lack of water and so they need to dig graves but there's less digging of toilets because no one is drinking water. The producers want to convey to their target audience that if people donate a few pounds to the company, they'll be able to dig more toilets so people can drink water and not die.

2) Now choose your own choice of advert from Google images. Save it to your documents, insert it into your blogpost and write an analysis using denotation and connotation, explaining what the advert is communicating to the audience.

In this media text, the denotations are: a little girl, the background is all grey and finally the bold, red and black text. The connotations for the little girl, Amy, is that she is upset because she is one of the 80,000 of people who is homeless and has to wake up on Christmas day without a roof over her head. The connotations for the grey background specifies that it's really depressing, lonely, sad and dingy; the company included the grey background to overpower the fact that grey is a dull colour and can fit in with the mention of kids being homeless on Christmas. The connotations for the bold, black text is to catch the eye of the reader to continue reading, also the colour black represents death and fear. This means that the people who are homeless are feeling scared because they have no where to live and some of them probably have kids. The connotations for the red, bold text symbolises danger and financial needs of survival and self-preservation. The producers/creators of the advert want to convey to their target audience that if people donate £3, they will try help the homeless families so the little children will have their Christmas back and can live their normal lives. Also, so that they can be saved and won't die in the streets but as an old age.

Extension- Print advert research: Read this design blog on some of the best print adverts of all time. Choose one advert that you feel is particularly powerful in terms of its use of connotations and analyse why it is so successful.

This advert is particularly powerful in terms of its use of connotations and analyse because the French ministry of Health wanted to spread the word about the growing problem of childhood obesity, warning parents that "obesity starts at a young age". The print ad is plain but effective: it shows a fat belly on top of an ice cream cone. The creator/s of this content used bright and cheerful colours for the background but still manages to send a message to young kids and carers. The connotations for the ice cream cone with a fat belly on top is so that the belly can symbolise an ice cream and that that's how obesity starts, by kids eating sugary food such as ice cream.