Advertising Of Shanxi Merchants During The Republic Of China Semiotic Analysis

The period of the Republic of China is the transition period from traditional advertising to modern advertising,and it is also the first booming period of modern advertising development.During this period,the Western powers opened the door to China,brought a large amount of goods and capital into China,industrialized production methods,the prevailing consumption concepts,changes in social atmosphere,and redefinition of values.With its rich business experience,honesty-based business philosophy,and pioneering spiritual character,Jinshang has created advertising content with excellent form and content,incorporating Jinshang's spiritual qualities for thousands of years.In view of the complexity and multiplicity of meanings in Jinshang advertising,this article uses semiotic theory to disassemble the advertising symbols one by one,and understand the creator's true intentions and the social cultural context behind them through the symbols.Roland Barthes introduced his semiotic theory into the study of popular culture.On the basis of Saussure's semiotics,he creatively proposed the four categories of semiotics and the secondary signification system,integrated the research of symbols into the social background and cultural system,and sought for the deeper meaning behind the meaning of symbols Meaning.This provides a theoretical basis for interpreting the meaning of symbols in Jinshang advertisements.This article takes 160 advertising cases of Jinshang advertising during the Republic of China as the research object,and divides the advertising symbols into three types: modeling symbols,portrait symbols,and linguistic symbols.Using the "signifier" and "referred" categories to carry out a detailed analysis of advertising symbols,to understand the basic characteristics of the Jin business advertisements during the Republic of China and the social and cultural values ??behind them.At the same time,borrowing Roland Barthes' second-level signification system,through the surface meaning of Jinshang's advertising symbols,toconnect with the social reality and understand the connotative meaning contained in it,that is,the "implicit meaning" : the Confucian businessmen's spirit that emphasizes profit but not justice Images of Confucianism,Confucianism,and female symbols.At the same time,based on the use of symbols in Jinshang advertisements,it draws contemporary enlightenment.