Capitalising on Religiosity of Consumers: A study of Commercials of Olper's milk

Abstract

The use of religious symbols in advertising is pervasive, especially in Islamic countries. Religious symbols, themes and rituals are depicted in advertising of strong brands. In this article we have discussed islamic religious symbols and themes in the advertising of olper's milk which is a popular milk brand in Pakistan. We have used an interpretivist framework and have adopted a semiotic visual analytic approach. We have given a classification of the symbolism and have found that these are abundantly used in these ads. We claim that all this symbolism has origin in the ideology and is adopted for popular cultural use. The common symbols used include the primary static symbols like a crescent, calligraphy, patterns of herbs, shrubs and flowers; while the dynamic symbols like salah, Hajj and fasting are also widely applied. These symbols then give rise to secondary symbolism which is used as abundantly as the primary ones. These symbols are especially used in ads during religious events like ramazan.

Keywords: Advertising, religious signs, symbols, themes, semiotic visual analysis, visual analysis, semiotics, Islamic symbols