The knowledge behind an ad

Nowadays, we have seen thousand millions ads with the endorsement of celebrity. Lending celebrity's qualities and recognition to the product is the main idea of 'the endorsement ad'. I think this is a very impactful approach to advertise one product, especially those celebrity who has great amount of admirers. It can be conveying the characteristic of product straightfowardly.

  

Figure 1

Look at the ad above, what makes me feel interesting is the tempting posture of the man. I will be breaking down the ads by using semiotic tool in order to understand the idea behind this impressive ad.

Denotation 1:
The naked man in midlife (Piers Morgan)
Connotation 1:
Piers Morgan is British journalist and TV host. He is the representation of intelligence due to his profession. 'Human being came into the world in naked', the notion of being naked shows the raw and original ingredient of the product. 

Denotation 2:
Golden 'Burger King' necklace and red carpet
Connotation 2:
Symbolic color of emperor, as well as symbolizing the brand of Burger King.

Denotation 3:
Pillow with casing of British flag
Connotation 3:
Pillow is connotated into sleeping, a cushion support for head and comfort. The furnishing ambient makes people associate with the ancient royalty, and thus the pillow symbolizes one's wealth and fortune, the number of pillows represent the level of wealthy. From here can be seen that British is a economic strong house, and Burger King does business in this country.

Denotation 4:
The tagline 'The scent of seduction'
Connotation 4:
It is describing the man himself, and likewise, Burger King new product. They both are irresistible. 

Denotation 5:
The glowing fire in stove
Connotation 5:
Stove is the tool for cooking or heaten food during ancient time. The modern design of stove shows that Burger King uses developed method to adopt the modern era in preparing food, but also insists using the conventional method to reserve the origin of food.

Figure 2

Ideology:
After breaking down the ad, I found out the main concept behind the ad is utilizing the notion of 'The Creation of Adam' by Machiangelo (figure 2 shown). Obviously, Piers Morgan is posing as Adam, he was the first creation of God. This masterpiece is conveying the intelligence which is given by God as a gift to Adam. The left object is constructed according to the shape of brain. In Burger King's ad, it shows that it's innovation of creating new product that is seductive. Also the ingredients is prepared as royal food, high quality.


References:
Levy, Joel (2002). Really Useful: The Origins of Everyday Things. Buffalo, NY: Firefly.

http://www.wellcorps.com/Explaining-The-Hidden-Meaning-Of-Michelangelos-Creation-of-Adam.html
http://www.impressionism.info/info.html
http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/mary-cassatt