The media in today’s society is extremely beneficial in that it provides us with so much important information in so many different mediums, and it does so quickly. The video we watched in class, however, gave one of many examples of how media can be deceiving. I was a little lost with the concept of how a cow wasn’t a cow and how it pertained to anything, but I finally understand why it is important to understand semiotics in order to filter out the unimportant and even conniving aspects of the media. It’s true, a cow you see online isn’t really a cow, it’s a digital picture of a photograph of a cow. In the same sense, when advertisers use signs to symbolize womanhood or patriotism or something along the lines of that, the product is not actual “womanhood” or actual “patriotism”. However, it is advertised that way so that consumers buy the product to achieve what is signified. But by portraying this kind of symbol, it doesn’t tell the consumer the quality of the product, and they buy into it because of the kind of tricks advertisers use with the use of signs and symbols. In order to not be tricked into buying something or even believing something false, it is important to understand the ways in which the media works and what tricks are used so that you don’t fall victim to it.
Leave a Reply