The advertisement I’m analyzing is for a perfume called Nina by Nina Ricci.

The

advert represents a fairytale like concept. A woman in a baby pink gown is walking

towards a branch where the apple shaped perfume bottle is hanging before her. . Red

apples are falling out of the door behind her while she gazes up curiously at the scent.

This is the denoted meaning of the images in this text. Denotation is the level of

signification that it most obvious and literal about the image, but each of the

individual images in the picture has certain representative meanings.

When we look at the apple shaped fragrance on it’s own we only see a bottle.

However in the context of the image it has symbolic meaning. The bottle is hanging

off a branch and reflecting the story of Adam and Eve’s Garden of Eden. This is

represented as a forbidden fruit, a temptation. This signifies that potential buyers are

tempted towards the scent, it’s mysterious, and people are always drawn to mystery,

and the idea that they want that which they can’t have.

The woman in the advert has a sense of purity, she is dressed in a baby pink princess

like gown, her hair is fair and flowing, and her make up is completely neutral

suggesting virginity. Although these images work separately in their own right,

combined they bring a whole new semiology. The images are polysemic which means

that they work in conjunction to provide a deeper level of meaning than the symbols

do separately. The polysemia like the image itself is very simple in what it is trying to

convey. When we combine the images we have one story. A virgin is walking

towards that which is forbidden. Dozens of red apples tumble after her as she is

hypnotised by the beauty of the glass apple, and the mystical scent that’s trapped

inside waiting for her. Just like our model, the potential buyer is tempted, we want to
know what is so special about this bottle, and how the scent reflects the fairy tale like

aspect of the advertisement.

This is the overall connotation that can be reached by the polysemia of this text.

When producing media text it is important to control and limit the use of polysemia

so as not to give mixed messages, and take away the fundamental symbology of the

image itself. In this particular media text polysemia is limited by a strict colour

scheme so it avoids making it more complicated to the eye, allowing more focus on

the symbolism of the text. The reason polysemia works in this instance is that the

images are thematically similar. A virginal woman, an apple and a branch combined

are found in several of the most famous myths in the world, Adam and Eve and Snow

White being the two most recognised.

Natasha Jimenez