Visual Rhetoric in multi-cultural product advertisement: The role of semiotic mediation

Abstract

Multicultural interactions have the power to unite people from diverse cultural backgrounds and play a significant role in shaping the community in their mutual understanding to achieve social cohesion. Product advertisement plays a significant role in adding value to products by spreading brand awareness, inspiring a shared national spirit among Malaysians and promoting a cohesive national identity defined by the nation. The integration of creative multicultural expressions in product advertisement enables the ensemble of positive cultural values to consumers. People of different cultures appreciate a particular cultural design's value in various reasons. The most important characteristic of the visual design is the relationship between cultural understanding and the design characteristics. Semiotic mediation plays a vital role in visual analysis and interpretation by effectively structuring meaning through the powerful of cultural codes, symbols and rhetoric strategies. A preliminary visual interpretation has been conducted in the Ajinomoto advertisement (1985). Starting in 1985, we can see the elements of solidarity value been implement in food product advertisement design. Unfortunately, very limited cultural expression design had been implemented in food advertisement in 1985. This study demonstrates the connection between visual and verbal elements in Ajinomoto's advertisement (1985). Various elements of visual rhetoric have been examined through semiotic mediation, revealing the profound impact and significance of interpretation. Understanding visual rhetoric elements is fundamental to vividly expressing the cultural significance and design implementation. Semiotic mediation play a crucial role in enhancing the representation of national identity. It helps to promote a balanced cultural sensitivity among various ethnic group and build effective social cohesion. National identity deliver an inclusive representation of Malaysia. The research presents a conceptual framework developed through an intensive literature review and visual analysis to effectively identify research gaps. The visual analysis powerfully represents Malaysian culture within the context of food product advertisements.