Analysis of the ‘Diesel’ Web site Using Roland BARTHES’ ‘Mythologies’ Theory
Traditionally, it is believed that semiological analysis was pioneered by two men, the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) and American philosopher Charles Saunders Peirce (1839-1914) (Berger: 1982, cited in Boyd-Barrett, 1987).
From the onset, Peirce constructed a triangular model to illustrate the interaction between what he termed sign-object-interpretant. In this context, a ’sign’ refers to anything from which meaning is generated. Saussure, meanwhile, saw the sign as a physical object with meaning, consisting of what he termed the signifier and the signified. The signifier is a term for the sign itself; the image as we the audience perceive it. The signified, in contrast, refers to the mental concept, which is said to be broadly common to all members of the same culture, who share the same language (Fiske, 1990). Perhaps the most famous definition of what semiotics comprises is offered by Saussure, who wrote:
We can therefore imagine a science which would study the life of signs within society… It is called semiology, from the Greek semion (’sign’). It would teach us what signs consist of, what laws govern them. Since it does not yet exist we cannot say what it will be, but it has a right to existence; its place is assured in advance. (In Fiske, 1990).
Before embarking upon a semiotic analysis of any kind, it will be best to understand the framework of semiotics, which can be summarised into three main areas of study as follows:
The sign itself: This consists of the study of different varieties of signs in relation to the different ways that these signs convey meaning, and of the way they relate to the people who use them. For signs are human constructs and can only be understood in terms of the uses people put them to.
That to which the sign refers: The codes or systems into which signs are organised This study covers the ways that a variety of codes have developed in order to meet the needs of a society or culture, or to exploit the channels of communication available for their transmission.
The users of the sign: This is where the culture within which these codes and signs operate. This in turn depends on the use of these codes and signs for its own existence and form, (Fiske, 1990).
Barthes (1993) semiological method of reading the sign systems of culture (Trifonas, 2001) evolved from earlier work on semiotics by Saussure. The semiotics theory identified the sign to be an element of language composed of the relationship between a signifier and a signified (Trifonas, 2001). The signifier being what the object denotes and the signified what the object connotes, with these connotations varying from person to person and culture to culture.
As Eagleton (1994) states ideology means, literally, the study or knowledge of ideas; and as such it belongs to the great dream of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment that it might somehow be possible to chart the human mind with the sort of delicate precision with which we can map the motions of the body. Ideology in this sense is concerned with ideas as social phenomena to uncover the laws of a system of social thought. Gouldner (1994) goes further to state that ideologies may organize social action and social solidarities in ways irrelevant to, or cutting across, the traditional structures of society, family, neighbourhood, or church. They may even bind men who have little in common except a shared idea. They also become the self-consciousness of ordinary language; they are a metalanguage. Geertz (1993) argues that ideology is at hand as a set of rhetorical or suasive discourses to provide men and women with an alternative, more conscious understanding of the social order and their place within it. Althusser (1965) looks at ideology in the sense that it is such an organic part of every social totality. It is as if human societies could not survive without these specific formations, these systems of representations (at various levels), their ideologies. He goes on to proclaim that in ideology the real relation is inevitably invested in the imaginary relation, a relation that expresses a will (conservative, conformist, reformist or revolutionary), a hope or a nostalgia, rather than describing reality.
Barthes took Saussure’s work as previously mentioned and placed it into popular culture believing that the sign (signifier and signified) created meaning and held unspoken representations, which became established in culture as natural. Barthes, wanted to prove that, what is popularly called the nature of things (Thody and Course, 1999) was in fact a social construct, which was only made meaningful in society, and was a way of conforming to ideology. Barthes was particularly interested in the myth surrounding signs that sustain capitalism; however, signs also function as a way of creating and maintaining stereotypes.
Now, the Diesel website can be seen as a soft virtual text, as it combines, groovy music on the background, graphics (Flash Technology) and symbols, which is accessible through the World Wide Web via the internet. The combination of text, known as a website, is not self-contained as there is freedom to explore the WWW through hypertext. This is obviously important to Diesel’s website as its online stores contact details cover most parts of Europe, the USA, and other parts of the world via its virtual store.
The Diesels website is addressed in the English language as it seems to depict a picture of the future fashion of its clothing line. Although, the website is addressed in the English Language, the first impression one gets is that its target market is mainly within the European continent. This comes from the fact that most North American Clothing Brands (i.e. Canada, America and Britain are the only known English speaking countries), tend to opt for a clothing range which are baggy and loose fit in nature, while in Europe, a straight fit clothing type is the norm on a wider scale (popular culture of body types in clothing and health adverts in most European countries support this fact unlike North America).
Diesel first entered the world of e-commerce in 1997 selling Jeans online in Finland and Sweden. In 1998, it opened its first internet based virtual store for home delivery of products to customers in selected markets in Europe. The diesel website has a commercial purpose of enhancing sales, (Danesi, 1999) and obviously would act as a way of increasing the company’s profile.
This means the website falls into the text of a commercial genre, in particular a Jeans wear company. The website like other websites, promotes consumerism as a way of life. It gives the impression of a young crowd mostly in their 20’s and early 30’s feeling comfortable in their newly acquired Diesel clothing and having a good time dancing in a Modern European Theatrical Manner.
In today’s marketing strategies the creation of a personality for a product, is to make it attractive to specific types of people in segmented markets. The diesel website has been aimed at a particular segment of people, possibly the younger generation between the ages of 16 to 35, and promotes their products by relying on ‘a handful of hedonistic themes, such as happiness, youth, success, status, luxury, fashion, and beauty’, (Danesi, 1999).
In practice, Barthes theory works on both a literal and mythic level. The images on the Diesel website can be taken on a literal level such as the picture of a group of different people, both male and female, all dressed up wearing different styles of the diesel clothing label. However, it is the mythic level that people mindlessly absorb from images in advertisements (Danesi, 1999).
The patterns already present in today’s and tomorrows everyday existence (i.e. now and the future), which reflect the popular culture of the youth of today and what is to come, can be said to be the best depiction of the diesel website. The organisation seems to have looked at the current trends around the world with regard to youth, at its current state, and what the future trend is likely to accept and want, in shaping their website to fit with the previously mentioned.
The use of the rainbow sign in different colours as one moves from one group of individuals, all dressed in diesel label clothes and the cyclical flash of stars in different colours as well gives the impression of youthful exuberance. I.e. we are young, healthy, youthful and cheerful; we are here now and into the future; anything is possible.
Also, as one sieves through the musical notations at the bottom of the diesel website, there are individual accessories such as watches, bags, boots, and sunglasses that pop up. It shows that they are not only a company that manufactures jeans wear, but also other accessories. Adding to this, when viewing the different textures and fabrics for the diesel jeans wear on the website, the respondent could choose the jeans wear fabric they want. Also gathered are colourful groups of people, all seen jumping and dancing. At intervals (between viewing its products), a shaped depiction (as colours change in the rainbow sign of colours, from viewing one product to another, and the different groups of people), of both male and a female is shown jumping and doing acrobatics. This depicts a youthful representation of culture.
By using the stars, rainbows, and young people on a bright sunny day, shown being happy, it creates an unconscious connection of diesel’s socially constructed lifestyle myths targeted at young people. Subsequently, the myth of the brand becomes more apparent and powerful through this advertising medium of combination and communication.
It illustrates the unravelling of the advertisement subtextuality and intertextuality, which forms the underlying principle of semiotic analysis, with the subtext emphasising mythical connotations in culture (Danesi, 1999). There is often a distinction made between the meanings attached; a connotative signified and a denotative signified. The term denotation is used in conjunction with the most obvious straight forward interpretation of the sign (Chandler, 2000). However, signs will often have connotations that are meanings which come from within our own culture and society.
These can sometimes be recognised consciously, but at other times are only apparent when we look for them. For instance, in many stereotypes the use of a female model in advertisements is a sign which carries connotations such as youth, slimness, and health. When a sign carries positive connotations like these, it can also work as the signifier of the mythic ‘feminine beauty’. This notion originates from each and every societies stereotypical views of the attributes, or positive myths, a woman should possess in order to be deemed sexually desirable.
Myth is not defined by the object of its message, but by the way in which it utters this message: there are formal limits to myth, there are no substantial ones (Barthes, 1993). Naturally, everything is not expressed at the same time as you can see from the diesel website, navigating from one impression to another: some objects become the prey of mythical speech for a while, then they disappear, others take their place and attain the status of myth.
Ancient or not mythology can only have an historical foundation, for myth is a type of speech chosen by history: it cannot possibly evolve from the nature of things. Mythical speech is made of a material which has already been worked on so as to make it suitable for communication: it is because all the materials of myth (whether pictorial or written) presuppose a signifying consciousness that one can reason about them while discounting their substance.
In myth, the first two terms are perfectly manifest (unlike what happens in other semiological systems): one of them is not hidden behind the other; they are both given here (and not one here and the other there). However, paradoxical it may seem, myth hides nothing: its function is to distort, not to make disappear. The relation who unites the concept of the myth to its meaning is essentially a relation of deformation. In myth, the meaning is distorted by the concept in its very own existence.
The concept (the signifier), literally deforms, but does not abolish the meaning; a word can perfectly render this contradiction: it alienates it. What must always be remembered is that myth is a double system; there occurs in it a sort of ubiquity : its point of departure is constituted by the arrival of a meaning, Barthes (1993). One can state here that the signification of the myth is constituted by a sort of constantly moving turnstile which presents alternately the meaning of the signifier and its form, a language-object and a metalanguage , a purely signifier and its form, a language-object and a metalanguage, a purely signifying and a purely imagining consciousness.
The mythical signifier can be said to be a form of emptiness but present, its meaning absent but full. Barthes theory can be seen in relation to diesel website as the company produces a myth, i.e. the ‘Future Website’, by devising a way to communicate an idea. The consumer then lives the myth by being taken in by the codes and signs associated with the image represented on the website, and believing the projected message. The slogan ‘The Future, a musical to believe in’ is an example as it is open to all kinds of different interpretations as to what diesel is trying to achieve with its clothing wear and accessories.
Firstly, it portrays an image that the future is bright, good and positive. Everything is alright and there are no problems and worries to worry about. This is depicted by the groups of colourful people, all jumping, dancing, smiling, and happy, without a care about the next thing. This slogan is what promotes the diesel myth with good health and happiness supporting the myth.
As a visual sign the rainbows (with the different colours as one ponders along) the cyclical stars (as you ponder through to the main characters that depict the images) and the use of a huge red garbage bin with the diesel poster stating for successful living, it symbolises health, happiness, and fun. The chosen logo by diesel is to firmly assert the its image as being a trendy, upmarket, and youthful construct which is used to market its products. Logos and trademarks contradict Barthes theory, in that ‘there can be no final meaning attached to signs because they are constantly changing according to context’ Thody and Course (1999), because as once a logo becomes established in society the context rarely changes.
In certain context people grouped together on a sunny day in colourful attire, all dancing, smiling, with a lot of energy and having a good time (as the website portrays) can be a very important signifier. It is often seen to be linked with freedom, extroverticism , and a future that is bright and positive for all.
In summary, we have looked at the issue of semiological analysis with regard to its origination, in the context of the signifier, signified, and the end result the sign by Saussure. Barthes (1993) mythologies, is then identified, in which Barthes used the semantics of the issue of the sign by Saussure and elaborated on it using terminologies such as connotations and denotations. A brief history of the first diesel website is then mentioned. Thereby, the diesel website (the Future Collection), is then analysed in detail, with regard to its features, the various characters, symbols, images and text on the website. Moving from there, we used Barthes mythological theories to critically evaluate and analyse the diesel website using the different forms of sign (as mentioned previously).
In conclusion, how the audience interprets a particular image depends largely on its syntagmatic and paradigmatic structure. A paradigm can be defined as anything which can be used as a substitute for the present signifiers; it relates to the choice and selection of particular signs, while syntagmatic analysis relates to the sequential structure of the sign; the combination of signs. Any myth with some degree of generality is in fact ambiguous, because it represents the very humanity of those who, having nothing, have borrowed it (Barthes, 1993). Images in the form of linguistic signs contain a vast amount of messages, both obvious and covert, making their analysis, complex, interesting, and surprising. It is clear that the use of images to show signs do much more than merely sell products, for images on such a website such as the diesel website, ‘has another function…… it creates structures of meaning’, (Williamson, 1978).
REFERENCES AND BIBILIOGRAPHY
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