Addidas Rugby Advert

Semiology is the practice of questioning the meaning of images in adverts. It is a far broader tool than compositional interpretation and quantitative estimation, which are far too descriptive and scientific. Semiology on the other hand gives you the tools to take apart adverts and understand how they work in relation to broader systems of meaning.

I have chosen to analyse the Addidas advert for rugby featuring Martin Johnson. It shows an image of Martin Johnson performing a hand-off but as a splatter of mud on a white background. It then has the words “If You Don’t Go In Hard its Not a Tackle, Its an Insult”. This advert uses Code as a way of portraying its message as its target audience is people that play rugby. They have used mud as the image because all rugby players would have experienced a muddy game at least once in their career so can relate to the grit of the image. The quote at the bottom of the image is also geared solely towards rugby players. The word “insult “ is especially relevant because rugby demands a lot of respect from players towards the game and the opposition, so by saying that you haven’t gone into a tackle hard enough is an insult to the player you are trying to tackle. You could say that the message is encoded as it would be lost on people who have never played rugby. The advert also uses myth as it is reliant on people having previous experiences and memories to associate with the advert.