Semiotic Analysis

This is an advertisement poster of the French trademark Evian watered bottle (Figure 1). At first glance, the dominant blue colour and the glossy images of activity and nature throughout the poster give a feeling of life being and impression of freshness. The objective of this advertisement is to create a visual metaphor that functions through a direct comparison of the branded product with the freshness of nature.

The picture of bottled water with the brand name of ‘evian’ and the text ‘NATURAL SPRING WATER” is placed at the centre of the poster. The rhetorical devices of hyperbole and visual conceit are used to emphasis the effectiveness and quality of this branded water. This is achieved through the effect of the juxtaposition of images that create a comparison that extends beyond seeing the likeness.  That is the emphasised comparison between the branded bottled water with the life-giving water in nature.

The colour of the background is vivid, shiny, reflective, fresh, no harming, and eye-catching. The wide-angle of imaginary landscape consists of comprehensive content. At the bottom of the poster is the picture of the sea with colourful algae and other marine lives expanded beneath the water. Just above the sea, the image of the world’s tallest building surrounded by other buildings, tropical trees, and a long sunny sandy beach at the foreground of the image are levelled at the middle of the poster. Fresh water falls down on the city from a magical spring above the trees, a red balloon rides over the buildings, a group of colourful birds flies over the city, and a skydiver approaches landing while the aircraft is still on the air. All these active images are placed inside the branded bottled. The cropped picture of the bottle with its white plastic lid placed at the top of the poster emphasised on the bottle as the overall source of the life. The poster represents that each instance of this vibrant life is watered by the subject brand of bottled water.

While the top of the bottle is high in the sky its bottom is deep inside the water shows that nature is its main source. From another point of view, the bottle is based inside the water and among the algae, fishes, humans, and plants to emphasise that it is made of a degradable plastic and environment-friendly. The elements of this poster composed around the visual impression of liquidity of water, which has been utilised to represent the ideas of moving, activity, and freshness.