Findings [The Struggle for Meaning: A Semiotic Analysis of Interpretations of the Lovelife His&Hers Billboard Campaign]

Fiske (1990, p.39) notes that for communication to take place messages need to be created from signs which stimulates the generation of meaning that relates to the meaning generated in the message in the first place. It is only through sharing the same codes and using the same sign systems that the two meanings generated will approximate one another.

The Outdoor Network Australia (pp. 7-10) indicates that a brand icon used on a billboard can significantly increase an ads memorability by up to 40% compared to those not using a brand icon. The use of a brand icon enables the reader of the messages to contextualise the message by acting as a symbol of the organisation being advertised directing the reader to decode the codes of the messages. As Tomaselli (1999: pp. 32-33) notes there is usually a significant fit between a genre's implicit semiotic instructions on how to read the text and the and the general message usually infered by the readers of the text. This implies that upon seeing the brand icon the reader will be directed to create meaning through relating it to his, her experiences, attitudes and emotions which can be informed through education, the mass media, language etc. This is illustrated in the following quote on Levi jeans by one of the participants:

At Menlyn there was this huge poster of Levis twisted to fit. That was a really nice advert its looks like the jeans are the wrong way round and the pockets are in the wrong places and everything. What that means to me is that we associate Levis with like stylish clothing. (Male participant, Pretoria 1)

The focus groups undertaken indicate that the use of the icon ‘loveLife' on the billboards have contributed towards a high degree of awareness of an entity called loveLife by all groups, with the exception of one, having recalled the loveLife billboards when asked to describe the billboards they had seen in the past seven days. The interpretant or mental image generated in the minds of the participants of what that icon symbolised, however, varied from viewing loveLife as an HIV/AIDS programme, teaching about love, sex and safe sex with others having no idea of what the aims and objectives of loveLife are.

AIDS. That AIDS programme (Group discussion, Johannesburg)

Talk about it for AIDS or for having sex, talk about it sex (Male participant, Johannesburg)

I think they teach people about love [13] (Male participant, Pilgrims Rest)

They teach people to use condoms when they have sex (Male participant, Atteridgeville)

Boy: But I don't know what love life is about

Girl: exactly because you cannot really say what this organisation is for

Fac[14]: So the brand lovelife?

Girl: It does not mean anything to us

Boy: Is loveLife like a condom brand?

Girls: No that is lovers plus

(Group Discussion, Johannesburg)

This indicates that being able to recall a billboard does not imply an understanding of the brand which is expected to be generated through the mental image that the brand icon creates in the mind of the reader. Branding enables the reader to decode the icon and generate an association with the meaning of the brand, in the case of loveLife ‘to talk about it', amongst other associations. Where a low level of awareness of exists of the symbolism of the brand icon it is important for the advertiser to keep the messages simple, predictable and repetitive so that the target audience can then develop an understanding of the product or service. If the underlying meanings of the brand icon are not immediately apparent, or the messages conveyed alongside the brand icon, are not interpreted as intended, there is limited attention given to the advertisement or a discrepant decoding of the messages may occur.

This was evident with participants in the focus groups where there were varying interpretations of the loveLife brand and messages. This is made more complex when the associated messages are themselves iconic. For example, when asked to describe through unaided recall, billboards that they had seen in the last week and what they liked about them participants said:.

In the last week I saw a loveLife billboard and it just had a man and a woman (Female participant, Atteridgeville)

You know those pictures you put on toilets like and it said his and hers. It didn't really – it was like ok his and hers whatever it didn't really interest me and it didn't really tell me what they wanted actually. It didn't really give me any information about what it was there and what it was about so I lost all interest in looking at any billboard. (Female participant, Pretoria 1)

Everything about AIDS everytime I think loveLife I see that pink and purplepuzzle, ah (Female participant, Johannesburg)

In these examples, it is clear that any intended associations with the brand icon are overshadowed by complex iconic and symbolic representations or “messages”. Readers are not readily able to see beyond the represented forms to derive meaning. The billboard medium limits capacity to convey complex meanings. It should be noted that in using unaided recall, only one participant indicated that she knew what loveLife symbolised, and her interpretation of the billboard. For this participant loveLife was seen as providing reliable information on sex and also encouraging her to seek more information so that she could make informed decisions about sex.

LoveLife, they are just plugging them (billboards), just to show what is life, what is going on with life and process of growing up... loveLife they are using them to notify of the process of growing up like having kids and what is going on with kids and a man and a woman what is going on if they mate and what is going on that kind of thing. (Female participant, Atteridgeville)

Participants in Pilgrims Rest indicated that loveLife was seen as providing information about love. In this group the word love was used rather ambiguously and following considerable probing one boy indicated that love meant sex.

Male participant: It teaches us about love

Facilitator: What do you mean by love

Male participant: It teaches us about sex

(Pilgrims Rest)

Apparent from the discussions was that participants familiar with what the brand symbolised, obtained that information through other mediums. Participants with a greater diversity of media at their disposal were less inclined to be familiar with the loveLife programme than youth who predominantly watched SABC 1/2/3 and e-TV or listened to local language radio stations or Y-FM. Types of programming accessed included soap operas such as “Generations” and “Days of our Lives”, youth drama such as Yizo-Yizo, films, cartoons and music programmes.

As Judie Nwokedi-Fortuin indicated loveLife aims to keep the messages on the billboards quite limited, expanding upon them through the use of other media.

It should be noted though that the emotions associated with a brand inform the mental image and attitude towards the brand. In two of the groups surveyed a strongly negative attitude existed towards the issue of HIV/AIDS, and this in turn informed their attitude to the billboards.

Male participant: Ja the design is pretty modern and stylised and simple. It is not something you are going to spend a while reading at or anything. But maybe you can say it is not hip and cool cause we do not like whats behind it. Its not the actual billboard itself which isn't cool.

Facilitator: When you say that you don't like what's behind it what do you mean?

Male participant: Well it doesn't really appeal to us. It doesn't interest us. Like we have said we switch off when we hear about AIDS that's why we rather see some other billboard with the same design that would be more interesting.

(Discussion, Pretoria)

We don't want to hear about AIDS. It seems the only issue in South Africa is AIDS. (Female participant, Johannesburg).

Participants who saw loveLife as an AIDS campaign were unsure how it related to HIV/AIDS, given the absence of the red ribbon AIDS icon. This suggests the importance of association, if loveLife intends to be perceived as related to HIV/AIDS.

Interpretation of the brand icon is made more complex by adding messages that are not readily decoded. The billboards reviewed in this instance incorporated a central theme – HIS and HERS. It was intended that this reinforce the theme of shared responsibility and joint decision making. Pictures and words as symbols are open to a wide interpretation informed by culture and our experiences. In the focus groups the words HIS and HERS had varying meanings, that were strongly influenced by yet another series of iconic representations. For example, the toilet door symbols for male and female were interpreted as bathrooms – one for him and one for her.

I think that if you were driving past and you just saw two toilet people you would not really look. I am serious. It sounds wrong if you rode past and would go wow, look back again... or did I see right?

(Female participant, Pretoria)

The billboard depicting the male and female figures was mostly recognised as being a symbol for a boy and a girl. However the relationship between his and hers was open to interpretation from representing the male and the female organs, to being indicative of sex by depicting two naked people and representing “toilet people” with:

Female Participant: One gender goes to the toilet for one reason and the other gender goes to the other toilet for another reason

Male Participant: But I really don't understand two people being naked...

(Group discussion, Pretoria)

Ja its like they are going to have sex or something I don't know

(Femaleparticipant, Johannesburg)

Male participant: It means love

Female Participant: It means a man and a woman

(Group discussion, Mpumalanga)

The puzzle piece created further interferences and was interpreted by some as a condom or a sexual act. According to loveLife, the puzzle piece depicted on all the billboards was aimed at reinforcing the notion of shared responsibility. Two of the groups decoded the puzzle piece as an index drawing attention to the action of having sex even when probed on each of the billboards.

Is it not like the guy and the girl (ja exact). Its just I think the connection between the guy and the girl if they go together. I don't know.

(Female participant,Pretoria 1)

I think that jig saw puzzle is a guy and a chick combining

(Male participant:Johannesburg)

Facilitator: And the puzzle piece?

Participants: Sexual... All of them are sexual

(Group discussion: Johannesburg)

In another group the puzzle piece was viewed as an icon for condoms symbolising the need to use condoms:

Female participant: ...it was a billboard about loveLife it was showing a man and female and in between it was showing a condom showing that a male and female must use a condom just to have safe sex and AIDS is there it kills also we all know that.

Female Participant: loveLife, I saw a condom and a man and a women

(Group discussion, Atteridgeville)

The image of the baby on one loveLife billboard was correctly identified by most participants as representing a baby which enabled the participants to decode the message as indicative of the need for both males and females to take responsibility for the outcomes of unsafe sex.

I think it his and hers and when you make the decision to have sex you must take responsibility to look after the child. (Male participant, Johannesburg)

If you and a girl decide to have a baby your putting two together and your are going to have to deal with the consequences. (Male participant, Johannesburg)

Where the interpretant generated in the mind of the reader did not match what the icon or picture represented resulted in a discrepant decoding of messages. In some instances the picture of the baby was seen as symbolising a girl, a lady, a teddybear where this occurred the result was uncertainty as to what the meaning of the billboard was.

Facilitator:If we look at this picture what do you think does HIS & HERs mean?

Group: Don't understand

Female participant: Don't understand if its she or he, don't understand him ors he. Don't understand whether it him or she sleeping

Male participant: Don't understand if it's a teddy bear, a baby or a girl (Group discussion, Pilgrims Rest)

The only reason why I did not get it because I did not see the baby I just saw some person (Female participant, Johannesburg)

The lack of understanding of what the brand loveLife symbolised also resulted in a discrepant decoding of the messages. A girl pointed out that:

If you think about loveLife it is about AIDS and then you probably think that the baby is most probably sick. (Female participant, Johannesburg)

Most participants identified the icons of the hearts as an index for love. The relationship with the words HIS & HERS was not apparent to the groups. A participant in Johannesburg described this billboard as ‘Kak' (derogaratory for being rubbish) emphasising it about three times. In addition the groups looked for symbolism of colour to determine which heart was indicative of the girls and which was indicative of the boys. It was also evident that this was the billboard that most of the participants had not previously seen.

I don't really understand this cause I know there are two hearts there but what do they say his and hers, what like two people falling in love. HIS and HERS doesn't make sense to me (Male participant, Pretoria)

I think the hearts are becoming one and love (Female participant, Johannesburg)

Boy: It explains love

Boy: When you love each other

Girl: When you love your girlfriend

Girl: They love each other

(Group discussion: Pilgrims Rest)

All the groups identified the speech bubbles as indicative of stressing the need to talk about it. It was interesting to note that urban participants felt that people from the rural areas would not be able to understand what the speech bubbles represent. However, rural participants clearly identified the symbols as speech bubbles as being from cartoons, same as the participants in the urban areas. However, the rural participants indicated that they thought what the bubbles meant was that people should talk about ‘love' which was used rather ambiguously throughout. One participant indicated:

This is my father and my mother and they want to (Male participant, Pilgrims Rest)

The use of symbolic approaches to messaging in these examples, clearly shows the limitations of intended interpretations versus actual interpretations. In particular, it is important to note the uniformity in discrepant decoding (eg. Puzzle piece becomes condom or sex act). Also notable is the wide range of interpretations, and divergent meanings associated with the billboard “messages”. It is not clear what the benefits of inexplicit messaging are, given that readers have very little idea of what they are expected to understand – ie. LoveLife's notion of “message take out” falls into question, given that what is “taken out” is often a discrepant interpretation.

The loveLife billboards aim to encourage a national discourse on adolescent sexual behaviour. However, this is disincentivised through obscure and complex messaging. For example, when participants were asked if they have or would discuss the billboards with anyone the response was emphatically negative in all groups.

The thing is if you don't understand it you don't want to make yourself look stupid and go up to somebody and you know do you understand that and its plain and simple. So I do not think that many people like to speak about the billboards when they don't understand its embarrassing to ask what it means (Male participant, Pretoria)

These are the only ads that people don't really speak about because they don't understand them. (Female participant, Johannesburg)

I really don't see how it can achieve anything through posters and billboards honestly I don't see what they achieve through this what does it do. (Female participant, Johannesburg)

If I was sexually active and I saw this thing it does not teach me anything more.(Female participant, Johannesburg)

Over and above purposive messaging, the billboards also consistently incorporate parallel “branding” in the form of the ThetaJunction helpline. Fiske notes that words are symbols with no obvious connections to the idea it represents whose connection with its object is a matter of convention, agreement or rule (Fiske, 1990: 48). Our understanding of words is dependent on our knowledge of a language which we learn through education and socialisation and is informed by our culture.

The use of the sub-brand Thetajunction as the loveLife tollfree number caused confusion in most groups. It was assumed that most youth would be able to understand the word Thetajunction a combination of the Nguni word for “talking” and the English word “junction” which is a place for coming together. Youth unfamiliar with the word “theta” had difficulty in interpreting the word. Most groups were unsure as to whether it was “theta” or “theeta.” The unfamiliarity with the word “theta”, the confusion on which word was being used and in one group unfamiliarity with the word “junction” resulted in difficulty in understanding of the aims of the toll free number. However once explained by a fellow participant who was familiar with the word they were able to interpret what Thetajunction represented.

I did not know what Theta meant but now that ... has told me it means to talk about or to speak, it becomes clear that I can phone that number and speak about my problmes so maybe if it was like english or something else I would understand it better (Male participant, Pretoria)

Male participant: Its like when you go and play soccer and some other players makes a junction

(Group Discussion, Pilgrims Rest)

The use of two brand icons on the billboards resulted in confusion on what the second icon ‘Thetajunction' represented. Reading billboards the brand icon allows us to interpret the message and to derive at the action that the advertiser wants us to undertake. The use of two brand icons on the billboards thus resulted in confusion with Thetajunction being described by three groups as the advertising agency. It was particularly interesting that participants did not recognise loveLife as the communicating agency.

And also Thetajunction now that you mention the helpline I know what it is. Before I couldn't quite work out if you were supposed to phone and discuss your problems or if it was a design company. I did not know. (Male participant,Pretoria 1)

Facilitator: Who do you think the advertiser is?

Female participant: Some stupid person at the Thetajunction (Johannesburg)

Facilitator: Can you tell me what Thetajunction means?

Female participant: Maybe an organisation that we have to contact if we want to know more about these billboards (Atteridgeville)

Apparent from the data is that when there is a discrepant decoding of Thetajunction the young people indicate that they would not use the number.

Female participant: I have always seen loveLife as an AIDS programme ok that's why for instance when they say talk I would say it would be for AIDS that have problems

Male participant: Talk about it for AIDS or for having sex, talk about it sex

Female participant: You have the child line if you have been abused like by somone but why would I phone this. What is this number?

Female participant: Is it for AIDS or sex?

(Group discussion, Johannesburg)

The following suggestions on how loveLife could improve on its campaign were made by the participants.

• Keep the messages simpler
• Involve young people in testing the messages to see whether they are appropriate
• Create advertisements that appeal to youth
• loveLife should make it clear what they do.

Conclusions

This study set out to investigate the relationship between the loveLife brand, and interpretation of messaging on loveLife branded billboards. Semiotics provides the foundation according to which we can develop an understanding of branding and messaging through determining interpretation by the reader. There was clearly a limited understanding of the brand, and this inhibited the decoding of the meanings of the messages displayed on the loveLife billboards.

Meanings associated with imagery were consistently discrepant, and led to divergent interpretations of the billboards. It was interesting to note however, that in some instances, there was a uniformity in discrepant decoding (eg. The puzzle piece and condoms). This confusion was a disincentive to discourse, and rather than “talk about it”, youth were more inclined not to engage in discourse for fear of seeming foolish.

Thetajunction as a sub-brand was confusing to the participants who were unable to decode its meaning owing to language limitations resulting in its immediate connection to talk about it not being clear. It was thus unclear that the billboards were promoting a helpline service that youth could usefully call.

LoveLife should aim to ensure that when designing future campaigns that the meanings are clear to the target audience that they are trying to reach. The specific interepretations that loveLife seeks, and the action that loveLife wants the readers to undertake needs to be foregrounded.

[13] Following further probing during the discussion it emerged that the word love is ambiguous as it could also imply sex.

[14] Fac = facilitator