HP
Visual Anaylsis
Favio L. Melendez Jr.
El Paso Community College – Valle Verde Campus
Professor Randal Monty
ENGLISH 1301/ Barthes Anaylsis
4/22/2012
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Here we have a recruiting advertisement for the U.S. ARMY. At first glance all you see
is an artistic, brushed painted Uncle Sam along with the colors red, white, and blue used all
over the advertisement. The lettering phrase of “I WANT YOU FOR U.S. ARMY” almost
used as a visual more than a literal. Let us break this down the messages and signs in this
recruiting ad.
The first image that stands out is good old Uncle Sam, dressed in his patriotic uniform,
directly pointing at the reader. He’s wearing his tale white top hat wrapped with a blue
headband, which proudly displays large white stars. His facial expression is giving a
message to the audience of his or her obligation to their country, in this case being the United
States. His grey curly hair is being pushed down and out the sides by his top hat. His bushy
eye browns and long pointy beard matching greyness color of his hair. The grey color of his
hair expresses the coded message of an older, wiser, and experienced man which almost
demands for your obedience. The last three pieces of his attire display the United States
three colors. In the U.S. Army the colors give a greater message than to those that Uncle
Sam is trying to reach out to. Valor representing the color white, red honors the blood shed
by fallen heroes and wounded warriors, and lastly blue defines the proud color of the Army’s
infantry. White being represented by his long sleeved white shirt. The collar from the shirt
popped up over an oversized red bowtie. All of which is overlapped by his almost dark blue
work coat.
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The boarders continue with the patriotic
color scheme as they enclose everything
within the image. Lastly there are huge
bold letters saying,” I WANT YOU FOR
U.S. ARMY”. The letters are colored in a
double tone. The black inner color
surrounded by the color red, allows for the
literature to almost jump out the page. The
word, “YOU” is the one exception to the
pattern. The red and black color pattern is
flipped around in order to emphasize the
need for “YOU” to join the U.S. Army. The phrase “NEAREST RECRUITING STATION”
are placed under the “I WANT YOU FOR U.S. ARMY’ phrase in smaller, bold, solid black
lettering.
The first linguistic message is denotational. It is front up demanding the audience to join
the U.S. Army for no reason more than that Uncle Sam is telling you to. By breaking it down
the message become very clear. The “I” in the beginning is personified by Uncle Sam which
whom fantasy characteristics could also show a more connotational message. In reality, the
fact that a real human being named Sam, and travels the country for military recruiting, is not
far-fetched. His origin comes just after the war of 1812.
Legend says Sam Wilson was a
meat packer in New York, who supplied rations for the soldiers during the war. They had to
stamp their contractors name and where the rations were coming from, onto the food they
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were sending as per military food service regulations. On the package, it was labeled “E.A –
US”. When someone asked what that stood for, a coworker joked and said “Elbert Anderson
(the contractor) and Uncle Sam,” referring to Sam Wilson, though it actually stood for United
States. Unfortunately, good old Uncle Same is no more real than Captain America (a comic
book superhero). The need for an authoritative figure gave the U.S. Army opportunity to use
just a character to emphasize the need for new recruits in the military. The “YOU” signifies
any audience member who is reading the ad and is slightly larger than all the other words.
The next words are self-explanatory. “FOR U.S.ARMY” has no hidden message. It clearly
states that the branch of the military that you will join is the U.S. Army. The finally three
words in our selection are “NEAREST RECRUITING STATION”, giving the quick and
swift message for the audience to join at the nearest recruiting station for the U.S. Army.
The overall straight forward linguistic is the wanting of the United States, or in this case
Uncle Sam, for the audience reading the ad to go to the nearest recruiting station and
physically join the Army.
The pure and clear cut image is Uncle Sam, which stands out above everything on the ad.
The size of the patriotic, red, white, and blue covered character takes up most of the page
making it easy on the eye to notice. Its true meaning is nothing more than Uncle Sam
attempting to get the audience to the nearest recruiting station to join the United States Army.
All the clever colors in the image might throw you off when trying to figure out the sign.
Uncle Sam is the sign for this ad. The colors and the pointing of Uncle Sam with an
emotional directive face will serve at the signifier. The signified, in this instance, would be
the red, white, and blue colors representing the United States colors and Uncle Sam giving
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the audience the feeling that he wants you to join the military, but in an elder-like way.
Much like when parents tell children to listen or stay still.
The definition and understanding of patriotism is curtailed for the cultural aspect of the
recruitment ad. One’s individual love for the United States as a country stands for much
more than just saying where you may come from; it expands pride in everything the United
States stands for. Liberty, justice, and freedom are some of the words accustomed and
associated with the United States. In this instance, it plays a huge role in having cultural
knowledge over what the ad’s message is trying to get across. Without having the
understanding of the average American’s true patriotic love for their country, this ad it
practically worthless. You get a very good idea of patriotism from your personal
experiences on the fourth of July. The joy of spending family time, grilling, and celebrating
the country’s independence holiday, to those patriotic, is an honor and a privilege.
The fact that the character Uncle Sam truly is speaking to “you” to join the U.S. Army is
the coded iconic message within the ad. When the audience goes to the recruiting office they
will not find Uncle Sam welcoming them in to an office and discuss options to join the
United States Army. What will be found is recruiters doing their best to get that person to
join in order to meet they’re quotas for the month. The United States Army does want you
and anybody they can take; thus making this the non-coded iconic message clear as water.
The main goal for the recruiters is to meet their numbers at the end of the month. With the
help of Uncle Sam this can be achieved almost by just waiting at the recruiting station for
readers of the recruiting ads to come in and sign up.
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