KOREY SHIENFIELD CS100
1/9/97
For my
presentation I have looked at one of Peterborough's oldest and biggest
manufacturer, The Quaker company. More specifically the outside and inside of
the building. As I was driving towards the building I thought, what was so
significant about the Quaker building and how could a picture of a Quaker be so
significant in today's culture. I also thought that this whole image of Quaker
could not be that overwhelming, however, with great embarrassment I was
completely mistaken. This one business and more specifically building has so
many signified meanings and linguistic meanings that I did not no where to start
from.
When I stood at
the foot of the hill of the Quaker building I was overwhelmed by the enormous
size of it and how it sits on a hill overlooking the north end of downtown
Peterborough. I started to think that this is the signifier, it's big and it's
on a hill. Now if you think about this for a minute you begin to realize that
simply the size and position of this building has many meanings, which are of
course subconsciously.
The Quaker
building has many meanings and therefore the signified list is very long, but
first we will look at the signifier. The sign is the word Quaker, plain and
simple, and the signifier is Q-u-a-k-e-r. However the word Quaker is not just a
word, it means many, many things, which is where the signified comes in. The actual building is huge, which gave me
the feeling that they are a successful company and that their product must be
all over the world. The building is also white brick. This, without even
knowing it gives you a feeling of safety and purity(just as their products
should be). Then there is the fact that it is situated on the top of a hill,
when you put meaning to this, there is the feeling of greatness and domination.
In my opinion these meanings or signified's work like a funnel, they all at
first have nothing to do with each other, but when you put them together they
all funnel into one thing, a marketing ploy to buy their product. My point is,
that they new exactly where to place their building and what colour to paint it
for the sole purpose of selling their products. They new what meanings people
would pull from these signs and signifiers.
When looking at the word Quaker you get a
feeling of comfort. It gives an impression of going back to past times where
morals and family values were at the forefront of Quaker society. This feeling
is supported with the literal meaning of Quaker, which of course was a people
of purity and religion. This sits very well with people, especially parents,
who are the main market of their products. All parents would like to think of
their kids as pure and innocent. These are signified meanings associated with
the word Quaker.
Quakers major
marketing technique is their image. They express their image through a sign
system of pictures, which have a lot of signified meanings. In Peterborough the
Quaker building is on top of a hill towering over part of downtown . When
looking up you see that very wise, happy Quaker face. Even though this is only
their building they can still market there product. The sign system of a
picture of a Quaker is a way of saying
were a good, wholesome product like this man who is a Quaker, who you can trust
and who is pure and simple like our product. A person sees this and says (not
literally), well if its made by Quakers who are good pure people then I guess
its good enough for my children who are good and pure. The person doesn't
actually say this, however, it is a sign system working subconsciously for the
sole purpose of marketing. My point is, that the picture of the Quaker is not
there by accident. The colours of the Quaker are green and white. To me these
colours represent purity, and are an excellent way of saying our products are
pure. When analyzing this company more, it becomes clear that they are working
very hard to get the point across that their product is pure and wholesome.
They attack you from every angle, such as pictures, words, colours and even
their building.
Quakers
linguistic sign system is not a simple letter like "M" is for
McDonalds, or a word such as "great" for frosted flakes. Its a
slogan, "You prepare them for life, we prepare them for the day". If
you compare them to these other linguistic sign systems I have listed you
notice that reading an "M" works like an image in your mind, however
the slogan "You prepare them for life, we prepare them for the day"
works on emotions. Both are very effective techniques, however the latter makes
you feel a certain way, it makes you feel comfortable, which has a direct
affect on whether you purchase their products or not. This is unlike McDonalds
who uses the "M" as a way of being familiar with their products, so
you can say, "ah there's the "M" it must be
McDonalds."
This linguistic
slogan has alot more meanings. Firstly, when giving it meaning you find it is
meant for parents, because the biggest
consumer of their products is children. Its main meaning however is that if you
eat their products you will be prepared for the day, healthy and happy. This
linguistic system works very well for selling their products, because parents
and grandparents alike can relate to this slogan. It is very familiar to them,
because maybe they ate this product when they were kids or something familiar
to it. Quaker in its marketing strategy
is betting that this slogan will be familiar and hoping the emotions
that are being felt will ride parents in to the grocery store to buy their
products.
Quaker using
semiotics in everything it does. It is very effective in taking a word or a
picture or slogan and transforming it into emotions and meanings. This is how
it bases its marketing tecniques, on semiotics. Quaker the word means so many
things as it has been around for so many years, I think the company Quaker has
used it very responsibly and effectively in using Quaker the name and Quaker
the picture.
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