Assingment 2A - Roland Barthes “Rhetoric of the Image”

For this assignment we were asked to read Roland Barthes famous essay “Rhetoric of the Image” which I did and it was definitely NOT an easy read and I am still getting my head round it. Basically it is all about semiotic theory – the study of the relationship of language and other signs to their meanings. Barthes says in advertising "the significance of the image is intentional" and this is why advertisers choose their images wisely. Images are copies; they can never truly represent or fully reveal what is seen by the human eye. They may look like the real thing but they are representatives lacking smell & touch. Images/photographs can explain something without literature and it can change how we see things but is this a good thing? An image without words tells a story but does it tell them same story to everyone. Sometimes literature can be the missing link between the audience and an image, allowing them to see the image in a whole different light.


He mentions "How does meaning get into the image?", "Where does it end? And if it ends, what is there beyond?". This is all to do with advertisement and how to effectively sell a product with an image alone. The image (without any literature) must convey a message to the consumer and that message is to buy the product that is being advertised which is 'where the image ends', the advertiser has done what he set out to do.


Barthes talks about how an image needs no words, a picture by itself can be enough to get a point across and sure enough this can be true but if it were the chosen image would have to be strong and profound enough to capture the same thought by everyone but not everyone has a clear understanding just by looking at an image. If more than one view can be interpreted from an image then this can lead to confusion, as the audience it is aimed at would all interoperate the image in different ways. What we see is determine by who and what we are and not everyone sees the same thing from the same image.


Advertising is all about the importance of the image. Barthes mentions the "three messages" linguistic (what they are telling), a coded iconic (what you see), and a non coded iconic message (what is actually there). These are all used by advertising companies to capture the public’s eye at first glance and sell the product being advertised.


My conclusion is that in theory an image can be effective enough for advertisers to get there product across but as we all know these images are tried and tested and a great amount of money is used to get the right image for the targeted audience (the buyer). So using a random image without text to get a point across might not be as effective and certainly not productive for a big advertising company to try. We were asked to try out such a theory as an experiment and pick three random pictures and show them to random members of the public although in this case to save time we used family members, friends and fellow students. The outcome of this will be mentioned in assignment 2c when I gather the information.