The Definition of Advertisements

35 decision to buy or consume at the first sight, the producers communicate to the consumers that is succeed communication. The transformation messages run well. Based on media, advertisement has two kinds of media, Electronic and printed media. Electronic media is delivered on television, radio, film, internet etc. Printed media is delivered on newspaper, magazine, etc. Advertisements have four general functions, there are for educational, economical, communicable, marketable and social. Advertisements as educational are to explain or inform like how to save our head by wearing a helmet, as an economical like achieving product request, as communicable like to inform consumers where the product is, as marketable like the strategies by involving any media, and as social like non-commercial advertisement. 47 Based on the aims of advertisement, advertising is set to support personal selling or promoting, to reach isolated places, to avoid imitation product, to achieve product request, to repute agency or product, in which to get “trust” from consumers. Basically according to the explanation above, the phenomena of an advertisement is one of applied mass communication. Bittner said that “mass communication is messages communicated through a mass medium to a large number of people.” 48 It means that there are so many mass media 47 Alo Liliweri, Dasar Dasar Komunikasi Periklanan, Bandung: PT. Citra Adya Bakti, 1992, p. 47. 48 Jalaluddin Rakhmad, Psikologi Komunikasi, Bandung: Remaja Rosda Karya, 2001, p. 188. 36 that could be placed by any message shared information. This seems as single address, there is no interaction between addresser and addressee. The fast development of economic capitalism influences the characteristics of advertisements in cases of style, contain, and function. This characteristic is changeable in order to go forward with consumers. An early advertisement is for achieving quality products the need of consumers, it means that it closes to the quality, value, function and price of products, but now the advertisement is symbolic oriented, it means that the consumers, which are constructed to be consumerist and always feel lack of needs, look for the symbolic value status, prestige, in social position. 49 In the global information era of consumerist, an advertisement constructs a “style”. It means that advertisement may construct people’s life style. 50 There is difference people’s life style between old and contemporary advertisements, an advertisement belongs to exclusive class at last time, but now p eople could imitate the “life style” from other which is constructed by advertisements. 51

3. The Effect of Advertisements

Producers waste so much money to set the strategies of marketing in mass media, advertisement, mean that there is something efficient roles motif that inviting producers to waste their money. The producers believe 49 Yasraf Amir Piliang, Hipersemiotika: Tafsir Cultural Studies atas Matinya Makna, Yogyakarta: Jalasutra, 2003, p. 288. 50 Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style, London: Routledge, 1987, p. 100. 51 Yasraf Amir Piliang, Dunia Yang Di Lipat: Tamasya Melampui Batas-Batas Kebudayaan, Yogyakarta: Jalasutra, 2004, p. 302. 37 that advertisement has the strong effects to change the people mainstream state of mind which the effect of advertising makes audiences buy products where they do not need, advertising makes things cost more and helps to sell bad products and advertising could waste people’s money. 52 As conclusion, technically, commercial advertisements should be smart manipulated to change the people’s mainstream and to seduce society. As step, an advertisement may use everything that to manipulate, to seduce society like involving sensuality, beauty of women, or like verbal form not to imperative way, “Buy our products now”. An advertisement may take advice position or alternative order, for example determining the beneficial, health, beauty of products. And the following statements above, the writer remembers the quote which is from Pablo Picasso. He said that “art” is a lie that reveals the “truth”. It means that “a creation” which is from human resources to intend and to give a lie to a community as simple intention to stabilize any intention, in the name of a community “truth”. 52 Ralph E. Hanson, Mass Communication Living in A Media World, New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc, 2005, p. 413. 38 CHAPTER III RESEARCH FINDINGS

A. Data Description

In this chapter, the writer uses the images of Axe advertisments as the research objects. The collected data have been classified into the definition of signs based on the research questions mentioned in Chapter I. This research puposes to find the power effects symbolic and sign values which are upon the AXE products. As the assumption, these products have capabiltity to give something more, more than just perfume products. Afterwards, the writer wants to know the creative strategy that involved by AXE Company to give symbolic and sign values upon the products. From several editions of Axe advertisements, the writer takes five images, AXE Nun edition, AXE chocolate month, AXE Vice with forbidden fruits, AXE Hillary, and AXE Phoenix, as random samples which are described on the table below. The table of data description Objects Expression forms Content forms Images 1 - A nun with a half Christ-necklace. - Clothes pin tying the nose. - To inform audiences that a nun does not want her promises broken by the effect of Axe perfume product. - The half Christ-necklace and the dominant black and white colors are the