SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS

A jibe on Corruption in India

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I ii I I I I I I I I I I I ii I I I I I I I ii I I I I I I I I I I I I I ii I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

DECEMBER 24, 2015

MANAAL MANIYAR
20150122114

It is estimated around Rs

government officials in

6,00,000 crore

was paid as

bribe to

India by common man for ration card, death certificate,

registrations, aadhar card, voter Id card, driving licenses, passport etc. in

2014

Corruption in India is as rampant as common cold, making the country sick and paroxysmal. But, rather
than wasting precious time on discussing about its ascendancy on the country and its people, lets look at
some of the efforts by TACFI (The Anti-Corruption Federation of India) and AMUL (Every marketers
favourite brand) in taking a jibe at the parasite called Corruption. AMUL just creates a magic by marketing
its product simultaneously while taking a jibe, with its poster ads! Now, lets look at some of these posters and
their Semiotic Analysis.
1. TACFI Poster:

The poster denotes corruption on roads, where mostly the traffic rules are not abided by and then, if caught
by the policeman, a settlement is done by bribing the policeman. The policeman is seen with a number of
hands denoting multiple tasks at the hand of the policeman, from controlling the traffic, to penalising the
violators. The setting is temple-like with ornate carvings on the passage between which the policeman is
standing. Golden colour and things are dominant in the poster.
The temple-like passage with ornate carvings, the multiple hands of the policeman, the linguistic message of
tacfi.com: The More You Bribe, The More Powerful They Get and the glowing sun behind the policemans
head, everything connotes to: Power, to the most powerful: GOD! This text acts as an Anchorage in guiding
my identification and interpretation.
Its amazing, how well has the Hindu definition of God been embedded in the poster. From the coded message
in the form of a motorbike, which indicates the Gods vehicle to the petals like pattern on the gutter lid, every
nitty gritty has been addressed to portray a perfect representation of God, of Power. Not only the Hindu
definition of God, but also the cultural values have been beautifully coded. The Right Hand which is
considered virtuous than the poor Left Hand is carrying the Challan, which is the Right way to penalise rule
violators. And, the Left hand is a part of unrighteous act of taking bribes! The use of pious gold and golden
colour re-affirms the Power, the Godliness. The non-coded iconic message is given by the No-parking sign
behind the policeman, which indicates traffic rule violation, and the source of Corruption.
The poster has a clear message as indicated by the caption, i.e. to stop paying bribes and make the policeman
more powerful, by simply following the traffic rules. It captures and delivers the message quite beautifully in
a cultural platter.
Now, lets look at AMULs beautiful poster ads which are as usual doing two things for them: Marketing and
Mark-a-thing (a contemporary and a pressing issue, generally).
2. AMUL Poster Ads:

The poster ads depict a well-known crusader against corruption, Mr. Anna Hazare. As soon as you hear
the word Anna Hazare, you automatically think about or what is Signified is: Corruption, Gandhian image,
simplicity, fasting, Arvind Kejriwal and Dharnas, to name a few.
The first poster denotes the cute Amul girl sitting beside Anna and writing something. Anna, as usual is seen
in his white outfit sitting on the floor with a lot of public support. The location looks like near India Gate, as
a huge gate can be seen in the background.
The linguistic messages read: Hazare Khwaishein Aisi! and Amul Fast Food, which denotes the thousands
cravings for fast foods which we have, and how Amul has a huge portfolio of fast food to appease them. But,
connotatively, if we decode the coded message, it reflects the wishes (Khwaishein) of Anna Hazare for a new
India, which is corruption free. And for that, Hazare has adopted a non-violent mode of going on a Fasting
(Amul FAST food). The Gate in the background, reflects the India Gate in New Delhi, which is where the
Parliament of India is located. And, so Anna Hazare is seen telling the Amul girl about what are the pointers
he wants to put forward and implement in the Indian Constitution, against corruption.
Well, indeed the poster is Majestic. But the magic doesnt end here. The other poster is even wittier.
The poster denotes Anna Hazare in his same outfit, but with not so Anna expressions this time around. Anna
seems to be pretty excited about something. And yes, what makes Hazare happy is food (are you kidding me?),
a loaf of bread with lots of Amul Butter.
The captions read: Kha Na, Hazare (meaning: Hazare, eat this) and Amul Lok Priya Makhan (meaning: Amul
popular butter). This denotes the popularity of Amul Butter among the people of India.
But what is coded inside these sentences is just trenchant. In India, bribing is associated with a Hindi word
called Khilana or Kha (which literally means, to eat). And, we also know about Hazares crusade against
Corruption (Khilana) and his efforts to bring in the Lokpal Bill in Constitution against corruption. To achieve
this, Hazare chose to Fast (eat no food), before the Government. But Hazare, who has given up food to achieve
the end means, is seen tempted by Amul Butter. He is told by the Amul girl to eat this very famous butter. The
words used here are Kha, which connotes Hazares crusade against Corruption (popularly known as Kha Na
is Hindi) and Lok Priya has been used for famous to connote the Lok Pal Bill and the peoples mandate which
Hazare has.
Amul once again achieved its purpose of Marketing and Mark-a-thing in a beautiful piece of poster once again
featuring the cute Amul girl!

Sources (Images):

1. http://www.scoopwhoop.com/inothernews/21-indian-print-ads/
2. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/foRHGwb3mbg/TaErS2QfKxI/AAAAAAAAAB8/qHiih4zsrjw/s1600/amul+ad.jpg
3. http://www.amul.com/files/hits/amul-hits-1367.jpg