Controversial Religious Signs

Several implicit meanings are encoded in the advertisement “immaculately conceived”, developed by Antonio Federici, caused by the extremely controversial religious theme of the advertisement. The advert displays a digital image of Nun, presumably pregnant, wearing traditional Catholic religious clothing, who is about to devour the ice cream. Controversial religious signs that are seen throughout the entire add, can be analyzed through semiotics. For example, denotative aspects of the advert, such as the words “Immaculately Conceived” and the large bulge in the nun’s stomach, resulting in the concealed feelings of both purity and sin. The remark “Immaculately Conceived” associated with the Virgin Mary, which Catholics recognize as a person of

Another denotative component of the advert is the slogan “ice cream is our religion” and the careful placing of the ice cream, these components produce concealed meanings that readers interpret. For example, the statement “ice cream is our religion”, causes one to affiliate religious beliefs with the company. When the statement “ice cream is our religion” is read, the reader interprets the claim as a sign of commitment to their product on the same level as a religious person is pledged to their religion. The precise placing of the ice cream in the hand of the nun, a religious person that is known for their purity and dedication, plus the passionate stare that the nun once again induces feelings of devotion and trust to the reader. These denotative aspects, explicit information, of the advert all have deeper connotative meanings, such as the emotional responses. These emotional responses are intended to add to the advertisements overall message and to lure the consumer into wanting to buy the

For example, readers may affiliate a nun with character traits of devotion and purity, however, including a pregnant nun that is eating ice cream into an extremely religious setting, causes for the advert to go past the point of promoting and to the point of criticism. Social myths with respect to religious misbehaviour are evident in the advertisement. By taking the social myth of a pregnant nun, someone that should not be pregnant, and including it in his advertisement, Antonio Federici imposes a very cynical opinion of the Catholic religion on the audience. This opinion is further magnified as Antonio throws the word religion around so easily in his company’s slogan “ice cream is our religion”. Social codes with respect to femminity, specifically focused on the social myth that women are easily tempted and fragile even further convince the consumer to buy the ice cream. The woman we initially see in the advert appears to be virtuous and clean, as seen through her perfect skin, face and neat clothing, which is made this way to show the ideal image. However when the reader looks a little bit closer, they can see that the woman is indeed pregnant, the idea that this nun who has sworn an oath to not to have sex somehow ends up pregnant shows that women are easily tempted. Seeing the social