Talk About It: The loveLife Pay Off Line [The Struggle for Meaning: A Semiotic Analysis of Interpretations of the Lovelife His&Hers Billboard Campaign]

“Talk about it” is the entree to all the loveLife messages. “Talk about it” was conceived as international research had shown a correlation between open and frank discussion with young people around issues pertaining to sex and a delayed onset of sexual activity (Interview with Love Life, 2001). The use of the word “it”, a neutral word, enables LoveLife to hinge all its messages on this line. Talk about it aims to encourage talk about:

• Healthy, positive approaches to sex, sexuality and sexual health
• Communicating more openly about sexual expression
• Alternatives to sexual intercourse and choices regarding sexual pleasure
• Sexual rights and exercising those rights
• Safer sex options and contraceptive choice
• The concept of a positive lifestyle (Love Life, 2001, p.18).

loveLife aims to encourage “Talk about it” in all elements of social networks with and amongst children, parents, young people, religious organisations, leadership which are all regarded as interconnected networks. loveLife acknowledges that “Talk about it” in itself is not going to bring about sexual behaviour change but that it is the foundation upon which such change can be effected (Interview with Love Life, 2001).

However as Littlejohn (1999, p. 80) points out words such as “so, and, about, sure” and “it”, do not represent objects. Meaning is this instance is not derived through the sign-object relationship but by the sign-sign relationship which is determined by how the communicators have used the signs to convey their messages. The line “talk about it” on the loveLife billboards could be described as indexical directing the reader to interpret what they are supposed to talk about in the context of understanding the brand, loveLife, and the messages and graphics that are portrayed in the billboard.

Thetajunction

Thetajunction, a combination of the Nguni word for talk and junction the English word forcoming together is intended to reinforce the notion of talk about it. Thetajunction, as a sub-brand of loveLife, is the name given to the helpline that loveLife operates where young people can phone in and obtain advice on sexual health issues. On its billboards there is no clarification about what Thetajunction stands for whereas as on the advertisements on the taxis this is clearly stipulated.

The loveLife billboard messages and graphics

This research is limited to the His & Hers campaign undertaken by loveLife from June until October 2001. In an article in the Sunday Times (08 July 2001), Judie Fortuin-Nwokedi explains that the loveLife Communications is “all about the future: bigger, brighter, better. A future full of promise, choices and many different decisions to make”. His & Hers is about two people sharing responsibility, talking, communicating and taking charge of their lives...When it comes to our hearts, talking, babies, condoms, sex and sexuality, the responsibility is his, hers, yours and mine.

The puzzle is part of the shared responsibility the puzzle piece was looking at two pieces not really relating which piece was his and hers two pieces making a whole. The two pieces being a him and her two people in a relationship. The campaign also focussed on gender emphasising the responsibility of both males and females in sexual relationships. [12]

[12] Angela Stewart, Information Manager: Love Life, November 2001