Page 3 - Selling Fantasies
P. 3
1. Introduction
“You don’t purchase products. You buy success, status, a lifestyle. Your purchases
furthermore, are driven by subconscious perceptions and emotions” (Lesley, 2019).
Despite the fact that the significance of signs and symbols has long been accepted, only a few
researchers have built study programs that focus on semiotics, the science of signs in
connection to consumers. In terms of marketing and advertising, semiotics play an important
role in defining a company's success or failure. Companies may strengthen their customer
reach by effectively deploying verbal and visual elements. Logos, rituals, cultural symbols,
colors, prominent figures, language, advertisements, websites, and physical locations are
examples of symbolic elements (Cooler Insights, 2012). That being said, marketing is a
constantly evolving concept that began with the simple trade era and has progressed to the
modern era of social media marketing. This modern digital era is characterized by the presence
of a vast network of textual content augmented with non-linguistic images or visual elements
designed as understandable objects in all social media platforms.
2. Literature Review
1. Marketing Semiotics
1.1 Semiotics
"Semiotics is the scientific study of sign systems, and the science of signs" (Fatemi, 2014), is
credited to American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914). Meanwhile, semiology,
which is associated with the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913), focuses on the
study of signs as well. Semiotics currently encompasses both systems and investigates the link
between meaning and text in its fullest sense, including Tv, movies, works of art, paintings,
and images. Semiotics emerged as an aspiration to create a scientific description of human
activities and interactions' norms, codes, and systems. Saussure (1974) defined the work of
semiotics as being associated with the design and encoding of messages by sources, the
transmission of these messages which is done over channels, the decoding and interpretation
of those messages by recipients, and finally, the signification of those messages (Fatemi, 2014).
1.2 Marketing
According to (Schiffman & Kanuk, 1994) marketing is defined as properly identifying the
needs and wants of particular target markets and then delivering the desired satisfactions better
than rivals/competitors. According to (Perreault & McCarthy, 1996) marketing is about
analyzing the needs of a certain product's consumers, defining the range of need for this product,
and estimating the degree of interest for today and the future. Marketing activities, according
to modern definitions, involve interactions between seller and buyer rather than a one-way
stream from producer to consumer. As a result, marketers today think of exchange relationships
when defining the concept marketing. These interconnections or relationships have several
meanings, including psychological and social. The general goal of marketing semiotics is to
make clear the settings and contexts under which these meanings are formed and perceived.
2. The symbolic nature of consumption
2|Page
“You don’t purchase products. You buy success, status, a lifestyle. Your purchases
furthermore, are driven by subconscious perceptions and emotions” (Lesley, 2019).
Despite the fact that the significance of signs and symbols has long been accepted, only a few
researchers have built study programs that focus on semiotics, the science of signs in
connection to consumers. In terms of marketing and advertising, semiotics play an important
role in defining a company's success or failure. Companies may strengthen their customer
reach by effectively deploying verbal and visual elements. Logos, rituals, cultural symbols,
colors, prominent figures, language, advertisements, websites, and physical locations are
examples of symbolic elements (Cooler Insights, 2012). That being said, marketing is a
constantly evolving concept that began with the simple trade era and has progressed to the
modern era of social media marketing. This modern digital era is characterized by the presence
of a vast network of textual content augmented with non-linguistic images or visual elements
designed as understandable objects in all social media platforms.
2. Literature Review
1. Marketing Semiotics
1.1 Semiotics
"Semiotics is the scientific study of sign systems, and the science of signs" (Fatemi, 2014), is
credited to American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914). Meanwhile, semiology,
which is associated with the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913), focuses on the
study of signs as well. Semiotics currently encompasses both systems and investigates the link
between meaning and text in its fullest sense, including Tv, movies, works of art, paintings,
and images. Semiotics emerged as an aspiration to create a scientific description of human
activities and interactions' norms, codes, and systems. Saussure (1974) defined the work of
semiotics as being associated with the design and encoding of messages by sources, the
transmission of these messages which is done over channels, the decoding and interpretation
of those messages by recipients, and finally, the signification of those messages (Fatemi, 2014).
1.2 Marketing
According to (Schiffman & Kanuk, 1994) marketing is defined as properly identifying the
needs and wants of particular target markets and then delivering the desired satisfactions better
than rivals/competitors. According to (Perreault & McCarthy, 1996) marketing is about
analyzing the needs of a certain product's consumers, defining the range of need for this product,
and estimating the degree of interest for today and the future. Marketing activities, according
to modern definitions, involve interactions between seller and buyer rather than a one-way
stream from producer to consumer. As a result, marketers today think of exchange relationships
when defining the concept marketing. These interconnections or relationships have several
meanings, including psychological and social. The general goal of marketing semiotics is to
make clear the settings and contexts under which these meanings are formed and perceived.
2. The symbolic nature of consumption
2|Page
