A semiotic case study.....do red roses 'mean' love?
To understand the symbol or brand, start with the culture. Red roses only mean 'love' in cultures which romanticise love and commercialise love.
That is, people who live in cultures where people do not believe that love can be expressed through purchased gifts, would not use red roses purchased from florists as symbols of love. Meaning is thus culturally-constituted.
To understand the symbol or brand, see it in different contexts. The 'love' meaning comes from the context in which the rose is given. Compare a man giving a rose to a florist to buy, with a man giving the same rose to his lover The rose does not mean 'love' in the florist context. Usage gives a brand its meaning.
To understand the symbol or brand , find out what makes it different. Difference is at the heart of meaning. To someone who thinks that red roses are indistinguishable from pink carnations,pink carnations would be 'love flowers' too.
For the sign or symbol to be interpreted in a specific way, it must first be perceived to be different. Semiotic brand research is about understanding what makes the brand different..
Do brands have images and meaning? Again the answer is no. No brand has meaning in its own right; its meaning comes from outside, from the culture. from the context in which it is used, and from the network of differences in which it operates. Semiotic brand research is about what gives the brand its meaning.
Susan Bell- original article 1994. Revised 2010 Susan Bell 2010 Susan Bell Research
