Semiotic analysis of an ad

VW Beetle Advert 

Everyone has seen the cover of The Beatles' final album, Abbey Road, with its iconic photograph of the four band members crossing the street by their recording studio in August, 1969. The Beetle car which is being advertised here was only introduced in to the advertising world in the UK by the name ‘Beetle” in 1967  they both are from the same period. This form of Cognitive imagery allows the audience to relate the product directly to this period of time giving the viewer some history of where it all began without actually stating the date in history.

This advert is excellent for it's sheer simplicity and strength of concept. With little copy allowing the image to solely convey the message.The length of detail is also impressive - they've parked an old Beetle in exactly the same place as it is in the original photo, and an old van on the other side of the street. The association that comes with this parody is worthwhile; the Beatles have always been seen as cool and laid back; the icons of a generation, and Volkswagen Beetle has a similar image, tending to be driven by elderly hippies and students.The hippie ethos influenced The Beatles and others in the UK.

Hippies often chose brightly coloured clothing and wore unusual styles. These four colours are selected to demonstrate that they were the first 4 colours introduced at this time to the VW model. Each member of the Band in the Beatles expressed a different personality and style when walking across the street some wore shoes and some didn’t some wore suits and other didn’t. The same concept appeals to the Beetle Cars , each colour highlights an individual, a different personality and conveys that they are all people belonging to a society just like the Beatles belonged to the hippies. It was, and will be, forever associated as a hippie car complete with painted flowers and an unusual colour scheme. These bright colours are not the commonly used in car ads, another reason why it stands out.

At the time the Beatles album was released it was lead to believe that Paul McCartney was dead. Hundreds of supposed clues to McCartney's death were reported by fans and followers of the legend . McCartney on the album cover is dressed in a blue suit without shoes, and is walking out of step with the other Beatles as, supposedly, a corpse would. The Beetle car advert contradicts this myth by using bright colours. The juxtaposition of the cars and the colours illustrates to me the audience that the Beetle car has come BACK from the Dead. The car has been re-launched with a new shape and new technology. The colours are vibrant and bold, all positioned identically in the foreground with equivalent spacing, showing consistency in build and finish.

Beetle Album cover photograph 

Resources

http://www.vwgeek.com/?attachment_id=1284

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAU_bAv82FW_d16q6iS4VUeXPJZ_9aCcMVyni_ofeQKD8RNHoB6mjwoC52K6VYk90rsSNqV267e80RpPeQ9WEMPF1rn_8jgG8CfAxIZSmMH9CojRnsgwdB3PZkdPKmLIKg-In_IxqtNWU/s1600/VW.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_Road