Victoria Secret , more than just undergarments?

SEMIOTICS is the study of signs and how they create and are used to create meaning. And and within semiotics we delve into the power of connotations" which is the recognition and understanding of the various codes underlying the particular articulation of signs" (76). It is sometimes almost scary to think that signs and the symolism that they hold pervades almost every aspect of our lives. Take a minute and look around you, their will be atleast 5 products in your room which have symbols or brands that hold a certain meaning for us. Had it not been the for the creation of symbolism and meaning around these objects , these objects would have been simply percieved as objects and nothing more. Van zoomen has asserted " Signs in isolation are hardly ever meaningful, they derive their relevance not only from the particular articulation of signifier-signifed, but also from relations to other signs." (75). Take for example Victoria Secret. Victoria Secret is a brand for women's undergarments. However through the marketing of the brand and various advertisements of Victoria Secret we can see that women's undergarments has been highly sexualized. Women's undergarments no longer simply represent just that ( undergarments) but act as symbols of the erotic or highly sexualized behavior. For instance, What associations do you make immediately d when I say the words thong or a padded/push up bra or fishnet stockings or garters. Take for example this commercial. .http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7ZrPueeHp8. Victoria secret is a brand for lingerie. And yes the lingerie is displayed in the commercial. But the message that the commericial is actually getting across is that "buy victoria secret" get sexy, because once the games are over, your man's attention will be back to you again (for nothing else but sex). And ofcourse the woman is shown throwing the football and waiting idily in her sexy lingerie till her partner is ready to give her attention again.These messages arent relayed to us once a day, or even a couple of times , but they are relayed to us constantly. How then do we become aware of this brain washing and critically analyse whats being shown to us? Through the use of semiotics ofcourse! Semiotics should not be relayed to academic or scholarly work, but people should do them everyday by thinking critically of whats being shown to them.