Abstract

The pervasive significance of advertisements on Indian television informs and influences viewers in a social context. While the prime objective of advertisements is to sell products or services, as a medium of entertainment reflecting popular culture, it moulds mass opinion by engaging with the emotions of the viewers. Though changes in socio- cultural behavior are usually not the intended effect, these do impact consumer decisions. In India, along with persuading the common man towards consuming products, advertisements play a role in initiating social change. This paper explores and analyzes the three-pronged role of advertisements in engendering and propagating social structures, iteration of traditional Indian value systems and the need to make meanings of signs. A survey approach is used to study the audience responses to select advertisements of commercial products/services of Indian and foreign origin. The purpose is to identify the role of semiotics in advertising and analyze its social impact on audience perception and value systems.