WRAITH: Seduction and glamour in advertising for luxury cars

Resumo

The purpose of this study is to present a semiotic analysis of a TV spot for Rolls Royce WRAITH car model by using Charles Peirce’s Theory of Signs and his development of the understanding of sign categories accordingly to the relationships between the signs themselves and their processes of connection with the phenomena of the world. We propose the reading of the spot accordingly to semiotic processes of resemblance in their various degrees. The working hypothesis describes the understanding of the spot and the symbolic meaning of the car model name, these being aimed at a specific audience: the luxury market’s consumers. The visual content of the spot expresses a specific trend in creative endeavours related to gender issues in advertising for objects that are usually seen as adult toys: luxury cars. Receivers visually absorb the object desired characteristics of power, protection, security and comfort which belong to the chosen brand – Rolls Royce.