There are many ways images can be perceived by the public. This is where Denotation and Connotation come into place. Having the Denotation of what is being shown and the connotation is how individuals may perceive an image. This is a way advertisers reach out to an audience. They do these tactics to make themselves stand out and usually to get traffic around their business.

An example of this is an ad campaign by Gourmet Burger Kitchen.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen is a franchise that’s located in the United Kingdom. GBK is notorious for doing controversial adverts and use this tactic to create publicity to their business; but this comes at a cost. One of their previous adverts sparked conversation in the media with the vegan community. This advert campaign was intended as a light-hearted joke about vegans and trying to change them back to eating meat. This caused a lot of backlash for GBK as a lot of fans of the franchise were vegan and felt unwelcome and mocked for their choice.

In 2016, GBK used this tactic again to get worldwide publicity for their franchise. This time focusing on something the world was talking about, The Presidential Election. They used this to their advantage and focused on one of the candidates that were running for president.

In the ad the denotation was that it’s a photo of a burger with text on the side displaying “VOTE RUMP” which would be them advertising there burger, “OUR THICKEST BURGER EVER” self explanatory, and “It’s a bit of an arse” which it is because rump is from the hind of the cow.

Now the connotation of this image is that it’s a dig at Donald Trump. This ad will connect to adults as they know the meaning behind it.
Having “Vote Rump” as in Vote Trump. “Our thickest Burger Ever” as referring to trump as stupid and being the dumbest president that America has had so far and just calling him an arse.

This way of marketing is clever as it can reach to an older audience for the true meaning but still look innocent from a child’s point of view.

But this image can be interpreted differently by someone without context and knowledge of American politics and would see this as a standard burger advertisement.
whereas someone who is aware of American politics would be able to understand the intention behind this image.

This type of advertising was perceived better to the public as it was less controversial and wasn’t directed to hurt anyone like their adverts before, but someone who a lot of people disagreed with at the time which gave GBK good publicity.

When i was 14 i was introduced to an artist known as ‘Hoodie Allen’ and instantly became obsessed with his music. I had all his albums and Mix-tapes downloaded on my iPod and would listen to him everyday without fail, you could always catch me with earphones listening to his music.

2015, I was 17 and The Australian and New Zealand Hoodie Allen Tour was announced. I couldn’t believe it was real, I had to go.

My parents allowed me to buy tickets with a friend of mine and the excitement of going was surreal. We sat at the computer glued to the screen just waiting for these tickets to go on sale, the tickets became live and we scored 2 general admission tickets.

The show was only a month away and my friend and I counted down the days but was shortly destroyed by a tweet from Hoodie himself which basically said that he had to reschedule his tour for later in 2016, which never happened.

After that announcement and as i got older my taste in music changed and i soon stopped listening to Hoodie Allen.

2018, I was now 20 years old and it has been 3 years since hoodie announced his Aussie tour.

The friend that was coming to the 2015 show messaged me about Hoodie’s new upcoming Australia tour. We haven’t listened to any of his new music and just weren’t really fans of his anymore, but with some persuasion from my friend we had to go.

We buy these tickets as a joke, like a throwback to the old days. Not thinking anything about it and having no expectations.

The date comes around and we arrive at the venue, it’s held at the Oxford Art Factory in Sydney which only had around 200 people attending. It was one of the smaller venues I have been too. Everyone that was waiting it the mosh was talking about how they’ve been waiting so long to see him and were worried that he was just going to play songs from his new album.

Hoodie comes out with a live band and he opens his set with one of his biggest hits ‘Eighteen Cool’. Instantly the nostalgia fills the room, and everyone is in awe. The night consisted of songs from his old albums and it was like everyone in the room was just waiting for this very moment like i was, it was like we were all at the 2015 show we were meant to see. It was one of the best live shows I have ever experienced.

The overall experience of this show was amazing because i got to share it with strangers that enjoyed the same artist i did. Having no expectations for the show and for it to turn out to be one of the best live acts was truly the greatest experience ever and a memory i’ll cherish forever.