A Semiotic Discourse Analysis of Billboards in Multan

Abstract

The current study critically examines the visual techniques used in the advertising presented on billboards advertisement.  For this purpose, researchers have collected data from different areas of Multan. The important places include Chowk Kumharan, Vehari Chowk, Chungi no.9 and Multan Cantt. The researches have collected data of all the brands displayed on these places in the months of July and August 2022. The collected data was analyzed at linguistic and semiotic level by applying Roland Barthes model of Semiotic Discourse Analysis to find out the ideologies used by the advertisers. The research findings validate that word, picture and conjunctions function to spread desired ideologies to the target audience. In this way, it is revealed that advertisement is an important genre and that different brands at various locations on billboards can capture the attention of the viewers, which is accomplished by employing various persuasive techniques in the form of visual and linguistic analysis. The producers make every effort to both boost their output and acquire the support of both genders.