Semiotics Assignment 114 Manaal Maniyar

7/25/2019 Semiotics Assignment 114 Manaal Maniyar

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/semiotics-assignment-114-manaal-maniyar 1/6

SEMIOTIC N LYSIS

A jibe on Corruption in India

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I ii I I I I I I I I I I I ii I I I I I I I ii I I I I I I I I I I I I I ii I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

DECEMBER 24, 2015

MANAAL MANIYAR

20150122114



i

“ It is estimated around

s 6,00,000 crore

was paid as bribe to

government officials in India by common man for ration card, death certificate,

registrations, aadhar card, voter Id card, driving licenses, passport etc. in 2014”



Corruption in India is as rampant as “common cold”, making the country sick and paroxysmal. But, rather

than wasting precious time on discussing about its ascendancy on the country and its people, let’s look at

some of the efforts by TACFI (The Anti-Corruption Federation of India) and AMUL (Every marketer’s

favourite brand) in taking a jibe at the parasite called Corruption. AMUL just creates a magic by marketing

its product simultaneously while taking a jibe, with its poster ads! Now, let’s look at some of these posters and

their Semiotic Analysis.

1. TACFI Poster:



The poster denotes corruption on roads, where mostly the traffic rules are not abided by and then, if caught

by the policeman, a settlement is done by bribing the policeman. The policeman is seen with a number of

hands denoting multiple tasks at the hand of the policeman, from controlling the traffic, to penalising the

violators. The setting is temple-like with ornate carvings on the passage between which the policeman is

standing. Golden colour and things are dominant in the poster.

The temple-like passage with ornate carvings, the multiple hands of the policeman, the linguistic message of

tacfi.com: “The More You Bribe, The More Powerful They Get” and the glowing sun behind the policeman’shead, everything connotes to: Power, to the most powerful: GOD! This text acts as an Anchorage in guiding

my identification and interpretation.

It’s amazing, how well has the Hindu definition of God been embedded in the poster. From the coded message

in the form of a motorbike, which indicates the God’s vehicle to the petals like pattern on the gutter lid, every

nitty gritty has been addressed to portray a perfect representation of God, of Power. Not only the Hindu

definition of God, but also the cultural values have been beautifully coded. The “Right Hand” which is

considered virtuous than the poor “Left Hand” is carrying the Challan, which is the Right way to penalise rule

violators. And, the Left hand is a part of unrighteous act of taking bribes! The use of pious gold and golden

colour re-affirms the Power, the Godliness. The non-coded iconic message is given by the No-parking sign

behind the policeman, which indicates traffic rule violation, and the source of Corruption.

The poster has a clear message as indicated by the caption, i.e. to stop paying bribes and make the policeman

more powerful, by simply following the traffic rules. It captures and delivers the message quite beautifully in

a cultural platter.

Now, let’s look at AMUL’s beautiful poster ads which are as usual doing two things for them: Marketing and

Mark-a-thing (a contemporary and a pressing issue, generally).

2. AMUL Poster Ads:



The poster ads depict a well-known crusader against corruption, Mr. Anna Hazare. As soon as you hear

the word Anna Hazare, you automatically think about or what is Signified is: Corruption, Gandhian image,

simplicity, fasting, Arvind Kejriwal and Dharnas, to name a few.

The first poster denotes the cute Amul girl sitting beside Anna and writing something. Anna, as usual is seen

in his white outfit sitting on the floor with a lot of public support. The location looks like near India Gate, as

a huge gate can be seen in the background.

The linguistic messages read: “Hazare Khwaishein Aisi!” and “Amul Fast Food”, which denotes the thousands

cravings for fast foods which we have, and how Amul has a huge portfolio of fast food to appease them. But,

connotatively, if we decode the coded message, it reflects the wishes (Khwaishein) of Anna Hazare for a new

India, which is corruption free. And for that, Hazare has adopted a non-violent mode of going on a Fasting

(Amul FAST food). The Gate in the background, reflects the India Gate in New Delhi, which is where the

Parliament of India is located. And, so Anna Hazare is seen telling the Amul girl about what are the pointers

he wants to put forward and implement in the Indian Constitution, against corruption.

Well, indeed the poster is Majestic. But the magic doesn’t end here. The other poster is even wittier.

The poster denotes Anna Hazare in his same outfit, but with not so Anna expressions this time around. Anna

seems to be pretty excited about something. And yes, what makes Hazare happy is food (are you kidding me?),

a loaf of bread with lots of Amul Butter.

The captions read: Kha Na, Hazare (meaning: Hazare, eat this) and Amul Lok Priya Makhan (meaning: Amul

popular butter). This denotes the popularity of Amul Butter among the people of India.

But what is coded inside these sentences is just trenchant. In India, bribing is associated with a Hindi word

called Khilana or Kha (which literally means, to eat). And, we also know about Hazare’s crusade against

Corruption (Khilana) and his efforts to bring in the Lokpal Bill in Constitution against corruption. To achieve

this, Hazare chose to Fast (eat no food), before the Government. But Hazare, who has given up food to achieve

the end means, is seen tempted by Amul Butter. He is told by the Amul girl to eat this very famous butter. The

words used here are Kha, which connotes Hazare’s crusade against Corruption (popularly known as Kha Na is Hindi) and Lok Priya has been used for famous to connote the Lok Pal Bill and the people’s mandate which

Hazare has.

Amul once again achieved its purpose of Marketing and Mark-a-thing in a beautiful piece of poster once again

featuring the cute Amul girl!



Sources (Images):

1. http://www.scoopwhoop.com/inothernews/21-indian-print-ads/

2. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-

foRHGwb3mbg/TaErS2QfKxI/AAAAAAAAAB8/qHiih4zsrjw/s1600/amul+ad.jpg

3. https://reader009.{domain}/reader009/html5/0325/5ab6f78479b53/5ab6f789d4303.jpg

Semiotics Assignment 114 Manaal Maniyar

Documents

Transcript of Semiotics Assignment 114 Manaal Maniyar