If I were to analyse the above advertisement, the main things I would consider would be the image itself and the copy. When we look at this ad, the very first thing we see is the woman and her gaping, pleading eyes, which would make it hard for us to ignore when analysing it. As our eyes stray away from her desperate facial expression and diverge to other corners of the image, we begin to notice her elaborate rings, spruced up hair, and faint cleavage. These features of ‘femininity’ suggest that the producers didn’t choose a woman just for the sake of doing so; they chose a woman to give this ad further meaning and to indicate their target audience. Anchorage to the image is given by the copy below, which uses tongue-in-cheek language to match the idea of ‘simple driving’ for a ‘simple person’ (women). Descriptions such as “the gearbox fights its own battles” and “the Mini automatic is the closest thing you’ll find to a built-in chauffeur” almost make it seem like the Mini has a mind of its own. This 2001: A Space Odyssey HAL-esque portrayal of the car reinforces the underlying message of the ad, which is that women can’t drive and that they need someone/something else to do it for them, giving meaning to the woman’s petrified facial expression.

This ad and countless other ones within the world of contemporary marketing raise the question: “Who controls meaning in advertising?” Does the control of meaning come down to the producers (the ones who create and market the ads), or the consumers (the general public who the ads are made for). In reality, it isn’t black and white and both parties have a say, but I think consumers create and control meaning more than producers, be it for the better or worse. Producers can create ads with intended meanings, but once an ad is created and distributed, it is up to the people to interpret the ad however they want to. A well-made ad would be successful in conveying its intended meaning, but obviously not all ads are successful. In a way, the most a producer can do is try and manipulate consumers into giving the ad the meaning the producer intended in the first place. However, even more so than consumers, I believe meaning in ads is controlled by societal norms, values, and constructs, since they are the things that influence consumers and their perception of meaning. Taking this Mini ad, for example, its meaning has undoubtedly changed over time as society has changed. Today, we see it is a sexist commentary on women and their driving abilities, but back in the 1960s when this ad was created, it would have been seen as nothing more than a mildly amusing Mini-ad.