"Visual Social Semiotics:Understanding How Images Make Meaning"

In her Article, "Visual Social Semiotics: Understanding How Images Make Meaning" Claire Harrison explains how photographs can produce meaning. I have to agree with her one hundred percent. Although, I thought her explanation and reasoning was at times dry and difficult to follow, but her writing style and  rhetoric does not take away from the importance of this idea. Every day we see how meaning and semiotics are perceived through photographs and other non-textual elements.

Billboards, magazine covers and politicians all use this method to grab our attention, make a point, and sometimes a profit. For example, I was watching T.V. the other day and noticed a disturbing political smear ad. I despise these aids and believe they do not serve any purpose or add anything to the individuals campaign. Instead, these ads only amplify the immaturity of the candidate running the aids. What made the aid so disgusting was it used the candidate's own daughter to slam this opponent. The first visual element of the commercial is a picture of a baby lying in a crib. At this moment, we are emotionally involved because our attention goes directly to the child in the crib. From here we are forced to watch and see how the baby is related to the commercial. During the first five to ten seconds of the ad, we are unaware the child's presence in this ad is technically unrelated to politics. Still this method is effective. Even though I had no intention of voting for this candidate before this ad it did make an emotional impact. Several days later I still remember the ad.

This ad reminds me of the Time magazine cover that we looked at in class. Personally, I think Time magazine should have chosen a photo which was more visually representative of the war in Afghanistan. I thought the photo they chose implied the cover story was going to be exclusively about the young girl, not our role in the war. I can understand wanting to make an emotional impact on the viewers and readers, but I also believe there needs to be an element of truthfulness to the photo. I mean I think the photo should remain true to the story or the message. Companies, politicians and news outlets should not choose photos based on how they make someone feel. Instead, they need to make this decision based on their audience, the story and the message they want to convey.