A visual social semiotic approach to environmental advertisements

Abstract EN

Environmental issues have become a worldwide concern, and huge sums of money are spent on initiatives that call forth environmental preservation.

this study is concerned with conducting a visual social semiotic analysis of two eco-themed advertisements representing animals (a polar bear and a monkey) suffering from environmental damage.

the selected advertisements revolve around the concept that animals are our partners on this planet, and if they suffer from environmental damage, humans will be exposed to the same kind of suffering.

the analysis is based on Kress and Van Leeuwen’s (2006) visual grammar model including representational, interactive and compositional meta functions.

the results show that Kress and Van Leeuwen’s model provides adequate tools for analyzing and understanding eco-themed advertisements.

creators of the selected advertisements appropriately exploit semiotic resources to highlight the importance of environmental awareness as well as the threats facing the inhabitants of this planet.