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Decodingadvertisements:IdeologyandmeaninginadvertisingbyJudithWilliamsonP12advertisingsetsupconnectionsbetweencertaintypesofconsumersandcertainproductsandhavingmadetheselinksandcreatedsymbolsofexchangeitcanbeusethemas‘given’P17Thesignconsistsofsignifier,thematerialobject,andthesignified.P18Signifiersarethings,whileformisinvisible;signifiedsareideas,whilecontentimpliesmateriality.P18Therearethreecrucialpointshere.Inthefirstplacethis‘meaningofthesignifier’involvesacorrelationoftwothings:thesignificanceofone(jetty)istransferredtotheother(tyre).Thiscorrelationisnon-sequential;thetwothingsarelinkednotbythelineofanargumentoranarrativebutbytheirplaceinapicture,byitsformalstructure.Inthesecondplacethis‘transferenceofsignificance’doesnotexistascompletedinthead,butrequiresustomaketheconnection;itisnowherestatedthatthetyreisasstrongasthejetty,thereforethismeaningdoesnotexistuntilwecompletethetransferenceourselves.Inthethirdplace,thetransferenceisbasedonthefactthatthefirstobject(jetty)hasasignificancetobetransferred.Theadvertisementdoesnotcreatemeaninginitiallybutinvitesustomakeatransactionwherebyitispassedfromonethingtoanother.Asystemofmeaningmustalreadyexist,inwhichjettiesareseenasstrong,andthissystemisexteriortothead-whichsimplyreferstoit,usingonofitscomponentsasacarrierofvalue(inthecaseofA1,strength,durability)-i.e.Asacurrency.Thesystemwhichprovideadswiththisbasic‘meaning’material-agristofsignificancefortheadmill-arewhatIcall‘ReferentSystems’.Theyareclearlyideologicalsystemsanddrawtheirsignificancefromareasoutsideadvertising.P20SaussuresaysthatwiththewordH-O-R-S-E,wheretheconceptofhorseiswhatissignified,thereferentiswhatkicksyou.Thusthereferentalwaysmeanstheactualthingintherealworld,towhichawordorconceptpoints.Thereferentisexternaltothesign,whereasthesignifiedispartofthesign.(However,theexternal‘reality’referredtobythecollectionofsignsinanadvertisementisitselfamythologicalsystem,anothersetofsigns.ThesemythologiesIcallReferentSystems)P23Thisistheessenceofalladvertising:componentsof‘real’life,outlife,areusedtospeakanewlanguage,theadvertisement’s.P25Usingthestructureofonesysteminordertogivestructuretoanother,ortotranslatethestructureofanother,isaprocesswhichmustinvolveanintermediatestructure,asystemofsystemsor‘meta-system’atthepointwherethetranslationtakeplace:thisistheadvertisement.P26Thesystemofsignsfromwhichtheproductdrawsitsimageisareferentsysteminthatthesignliftedoutofitandplacedintheadrefersbacktoit.Anditisonlybyreferringbacktothissystemasasystemofdifferencesthatthesigncanfunction:itishollowofmeaninginitself,itssignifiedisonlyadistinctionratherthana‘content’.Onlytheformandstructureofthereferentsystemareappropriated(占用)bytheadvertisementsystem;itistherelationshipanddistinctionbetweenparts,ratherthanthepartsthemselves,thatmakeanalready-structuredexternalsystemsovaluabletoadvertising.Thelinksmadebetweenelementsfromareferentsystemandproductsarisefromtheplacetheseelementshaveinthewholesystemratherthanfromtheirinherentqualities.P27Inthemythologicalsystemoffashionandpublicity,asSaussuresays:’inallcases,then,wediscovernotideasgiveninadvancebutvaluesemanatingfromthesystem.’Advertisementsusedistinctionsexistinginsocialmythologiestocreatedistinctionsbetweenproducts:thisseemslikethereverseof‘totemism’,wherethingsareusedtodifferentiategroupsofpeople.P28Itisthedifferenceswhicharetheconnections;however,theadsystemdidnotoriginallycreatethesedifferences,butderivedthemfromthestructureofthereferentsystem,byconnectingthetwo.P29a.differentiation:C.D.≠M.H.↓No.5≠BabeB.TheFinishedConnection:An‘ObjectiveCorrelative’Theresultofconnectingtwosystems(adsystem&mythologicalsystem)inthewayshownaboveisthatthelinksoriginallymade,orratherwhoselogicalbasisexists,intermsofrelationships,verysoontakeonan‘objective’orindependentstatusandexistnotaspartswithinasystembutontheirown:C.D.(≠)M.H.ǁǁNo.5(≠)BabeThisistrueofalladsbutespeciallyinthosewhichclaimtobeeithernaturalorscientific(ineithercase=objective),sinceboth‘nature’and‘science’haveinoursociety,orratherinitsideology,anobjectivestatus.P30Images,ideasorfeelings,then,becomeattachedtocertainproducts,bybeingtransferredfromsignsoutofothersystems(thingsorpeoplewith‘images’)totheproducts,ratherthanoriginatinginthem.Soaproductandanimage/emotionbecomelinkedinourminds,whiletheprocessofthislinkingisunconscious‘Art’seemstoelevatefeelingsorideasthatwemayhaveexperiencedpersonally,toaplanewheretheyappeartolosetheirpersonalqualityandtakeonan‘objective’meaning,independentofanysubject.T.S.Eliotdescribesthis‘linking’orcorrelatingaspectofart,asan‘objectivecorrelative’:‘Theonlywayofexpressingemotionintheformofartisbyfindingan‘objectivecorrelative’:inotherwords,asetofobjects,asituation,achainofevents,whichshallbetheformulaofthatparticularemotion;suchthatwhentheexternalfacts,whichmustterminateinsensoryexperience,aregiven,theemotionisimmediatelyevoked.T.S.Eliot,‘Hamlet’inSelectedEssays,FaberandFaber,1932,p.145.Itisnowthefunctionofthemediatoprovideuswithapparently‘objective’correlativesand‘meanings’(sincearthasbecomeincreasi