Rip out an advertising image from a newspaper supplement and circle and write on as many parts of the image as you can. Comment on what it is, what it says about the product and why you think it’s there. You could use this as the basis for your assignment if you feel it’s taking you somewhere interesting. Or you could adopt this method for your assignment preparation.

Come back to this exercise when you’ve reached the end of P​art Four a​ nd see if you can add anything to your analysis.

I wasn’t entirely sure if were were supposed to look at the next few pages in the course notes which look at semiotics and try to apply this to our deconstruction for this image. It looked pretty complex so I decided just to keep this exercise simple and not try to understand it fully at this point.

Fig.1

Gold coloured velvet large two seater sofa with a child standing on the left hand cushion of the sofa and an adult sitting reading a newspaper on the right hand cushion.
The sofa is standing on a large cream coloured rug.
The child, dressed in dungarees has a watering can and is watering a vase of flowers which sit on a side table.
There is also a mug on the table.
There is a  red velvet cushion behind the child and one behind the adult that are quite hard to notice.
To the right of the sofa there is a light coloured velvet pouffe.
The adult is sitting with their legs crossed reading a newspaper, has a straw hat on, pattered gardening gloves and soft light coloured outdoor shoes and light coloured trousers.
In front of the sofa on the floor to the right, is a basket of yellow flowers. There is also a garden trowel next to the basket.
On the floor to the left is a single stem.
It is a full page A3 advert, with very little text. The word “loaf” written in large black writing about one quarter of the way down the page centred. There is smaller black text at the bottom of the page, giving a bit more information.
The newspaper has text on that has strong legible text, obviously meant to be noticed and read.

Describing the image was a really useful exercise in really seeing what was there. I was surprised at how long this took me and how many things I had missed, or rather taken for granted unconsciously without really seeing them.

Looking at the tools for deconstruction as described by Roland Barthes, the denotation and connotation, what is denoted is an adult reading a newspaper, and a child on a sofa with some gardening equipment, and flowers. What night be connoted is that the adult is taking a break from gardening and the child is perhaps being bit naughty and standing on the couch using a watering can to water a vase of flowers. As this is an advert then there are lots of different connotations.

My first impression was a feeling of spring. This was due to the yellow flowers and the word “Bloom” on the front of the Newspaper. The adult seems to be relaxing indoors reading the newspaper but doing some gentle pottering in the garden at the same time. The child looks like she is also doing something that generally would be done outside. We wouldn’t normally water a vase of flowers with a watering can. It’s certainly a bit odd but not so odd that you would immediately think it was completely out of the ordinary. However, if you read the text on the back of the newspaper it says “Indoor Gardening New Sport”

Fig.2

The company is obviously trying to sell their furniture. The supplement is dated March so this would fit with the “looking forward to spring” feeling that most people have at this time of year. The message does seem to be aimed at getting people to think about slowing down and relaxing. The basket is very much one that would be used for people to collect cut flowers from their gardens, ready to put into vases inside the house. A very gentle and middle/upper class activity. The middle upper class feel is also reflected in the clothing being worn, the vase of flowers and the pouffe. The trowel is another rather gentle gardening tool. It’s not a spade or a fork that would be seen as something more suited to heavy digging. The same could be said of the watering can which would be seen as a tool used to water a small area by hand in a much less aggressive way than a sprinkler for example. More text in the newspaper (not legible in the image above) says “Loafer wins with record slow time” The word loafer tends to have negative connotations but one of the things the adverts seems to be trying to say is the opposite, and that loafing around is a good thing, you could be a record breaker a winner! The use of the newspaper gives the text a pretext of being headlines, being important enough to be on the front page. “Squishy sofas in bloom” could be alluding to the fact that big soft sofas are on trend and a must have. The child is standing on the sofa which gives the impression that they are quite laid back about their sofas and that they might be squishy but they are also tough enough to stand the normal childhood onslaught. The colour (gold) and material (velvet) of the sofa make it look luxurious and expensive but the fact that the child is standing on it and the use of the word “squishy” gives the impression again that they are not being precious about their furniture.

The name of the company itself is a strange one. Loaf has a few meanings, bread, lying around (usually in a negative way) and another word for head/brain (use your loaf). Apart from lying around (loafing around) the other meanings don’t seem to fit, but for me whenever I see adverts for this company I still think of bread. Bread is of course is seen as a staple food and often used to describe essential items that we need to live for example “its our bread and butter” I did a bit of research and discovered where the name came from.

“The natural thing for us to do next was to make things for other rooms in the house. But it seemed strange that we were called The Sleep Room and yet would be selling sofas and kitchen tables. So we decided we would become Loaf. Four letters. Easy to remember. With nice connotations of laid back elegance and schlepping about” (The Sleep Room Has Become Loaf | Loaf, n.d.)

I’m not sure I agree with the word Loaf having connotations of laid back elegance. In my world the word Loaf (if were not talking about bread) is something that lazy people with no motivation or focus do.

“But it goes deeper than that. ‘Loaf’ has the power to evoke your senses: loaf is the smell of freshly baked bread; loaf is soft and spongy; loaf is new and whole.
‘Loaf’ is also simple and not fussy. A loaf of bread is a staple, it’s a starting point and it’s versatile. The short, modest word works well for the brand and creates a connection to the comfortable, squishy sofas it sells” (Grinstead, 2017)

Before I started Assignment Four, I went on a bit of a delve into deconstruction, semiotics and codes. I came back to this image and looked at it from a more formal perspective which can be found here (LINK)

Bibliography

Loaf. n.d. The Sleep Room Has Become Loaf | Loaf. [online]
Available at: <https://loaf.com/the-sleep-room&gt;
[Accessed 13 March 2021].

“When we do get inside the frame, we see a wittily cropped picture which, at first glance, gives the illusion that we’re looking at two people and a small dog. Then we see the joke. The humour could be the thing that makes a less discerning viewer think they’ve ‘got it’ and move on, failing to really look at the rest of the picture, but for those who continue to look there may be more to uncover” (Boothroyd, 2019)

The image has been structured to ensure that the small dog is the focus of the image. We are seeing all of it, unlike the human and the larger dog. We are not looking down at it, we looking at it straight on as if we are kneeling down. It stands out next to the vertical lines of the legs. Everything in the frame draws our attention to the small dog.

It’s hard to judge what the image is trying to communicate without reading more about Erwitts’ intention. But he wants us to concentrate on the dog so whatever it is it has to be about the small dog and perhaps its relationship to the human and the larger dog. It appears to give the impression that there is a difference relationship between the human and the small dog and the human and the large dog. The 2 sets of legs seem to be overlapping as if there is a connection there, a similarity. The space between the legs and the small dog seems to be saying that this is a different relationship. The legs appear quite relaxed, compared to the small dog who looks quite tense. The taught lead also gives the impression that the small dog is not as relaxed as it’s companions. In my own experience small dogs such as this do tend to be more lively, nervous, loud and unpredictable than large dogs so this would fit that scenario. It is also often the case that these small dogs are given lots of care and attention by their owners, almost to the point of treating them like children or babies and the fact that this dog is wearing “clothes” gives the impression that this is a bit of a “pampered pooch”.

It would be difficult to suggest that Erwitt was trying to highlight the plight of the underdog by structuring the image this way, its hard to see it that way if we have already surmised that this might be the opposite and in fact may well rule the roost as far as both human and the larger dog are concerned. It would be equally difficult to determine if Erwitt preferred humans to dogs just by looking at the picture. He himself admits that it wasn’t a conscious decision to take photographs of dogs.

A few years back while looking through my inventory of pictures to assemble a retrospective book and exhibition of random photographs taken on my travels, I was surprised by the preponderance of dogs. Obviously, my sympathy for the creatures was deeper than I had imagined. (Erwitt, 2008)

His sympathy for dogs is apparent in his series Dogs,  but I think it would be too strong a statement to suggest that he preferred them to humans in general, but I think he may have found them a refreshing change from the trails and tribulations often encountered when taking pictures of human subjects.

“….And dogs make easy, uncomplaining targets without the self-conscious hang-ups and possible objections of humans caught on film” (Erwitt, 2008)

I didn’t feel that Erwitt was conciously trying to make any big statement about “underdogs” or trying to give “everyone a voice”. It could be seen this way but I don’t think that was his intention. I think he had an eye for a great photograph, saw the potential with this scene as being humorous, different and a way of showing these small but large in personality, dogs in a good light.