Look at that HUGE SUPER BURGER.......

Burger King advertisement, published on ALternet.org, June 24, 2009

 Denotation:

This ad was released by Burger King to Promote their new "BK SUPER SEVEN INCHER"; the advertisement portrays a blonde woman (wearing eyeliner and dark red lipstick) with her mouth open, that  is also looking straight. A burger is placed in front of the woman's mouth, with the words "IT'LL BLOW YOUR MIND AWAY" right under it. These words are written in all capital letters with the words "IT'LL BLOW" being scaled in a more prominent manner. Next to the miniature model of the burger are images of a medium sized  Coca Cola Drink and medium sized french fries, as well as a price of six dollars and twenty five cents for the entire meal. A description written in fine print is under the price, it states " Fill your desire for something long, juicy and flame-grilled" as well as a basic description of what is in the burger. On the very top the Burger King icon resides  along with a slogan of " IT JUST TASTES BETTER."

Connotation: 

This advertisement seems to emphasize a message related with both lust and gluttony. The fact that the advertisement begins with the words " IT'LL BLOW" with letters that are larger than the ones following them, and since they are placed above all the letters, poses the phrase as a double entendre, or a phrase with two meanings; one being that the sandwich possesses an astounding effect on ones taste buds, and the other can be interpreted in a sexualized manner. The fact that the woman is staring straight in an unusual fashion may suggest her being astonished due to  the size of the sandwich; however, upon further examination it would seem to the audience that the woman is staring directly above the sandwich thus, suggesting that the woman possesses characteristics similar to those of inanimate objects. The woman is also wearing makeup, specifically red lipstick, this in itself might suggest that, since red is usually associated with love and sex, the woman is progressing the suggested lustful message, that was already made clear by the double entendre. The fact that the image of the sandwich appears twice in the advertisement in itself might seem to the audience as a gluttony promoting message. The words " SUPER SEVEN INCHER" indicate the size and length of the sandwich; both of these, when compared to a generic three hundred to four hundred calorie burger, might seem overly exaggerated to the observer, and might possess an excess amount of nutrients thus again portraying the aspect of  gluttony. The advertisement portrays small images of french fries and a Coca Cola drink with an even smaller print that states their sizes. This inclusion could quite possibly be seen as a promotion for the consumption of an even greater content of food beyond that of the BK Super Seven Incher, thus this intern promotes the concept of gluttony. In the fine print the advertisement states that it wants you to  "Fill your desire"  which can be seen as a double entendre by the audience since it can mean that one can satisfy one's appetite and hunger with something tasty or it could refer to a more sexualy oriented meaning; these two possible meanings could represent gluttony and lust respectively. the finer print goes on to describe the contents of the sandwich while using a lot of imagery; words such as "mind-blowing", "crispy" and "thick an hearty", these words ultimately seem to suggest a gluttony affiliated message.

Audience:

Since this advertisement was published in two-thousand and nine, and since it possesses obvious suggestive themes, it could likely be that the intended audience were middle aged men who are quite possibly on their lunch break, yet due to the manner in which society portrays sexuality, this image might have been more appealing to younger males, and to some extant younger females. The reason that this advertisement might be directed at males could quite possibly be related to the sexualy suggestive nature of this message, in which the message is portrayed in a manner where the male is the one seemingly staying true to the " Fill your desire", while the female is, quite possibly, being portrayed in an objectifying manner, as well as wearing a certain combination of makeup that suggests complying with male sexual desires. The audience might be in the lower to middle class and is probably neither well endowed with money nor very poor , this is probably so due to the manner in which this add might be transmitted to people; those who generally live in lower earning residencies tend to see more billboard advertisements that portray various fast foods, and since the price of six dollars and twenty five cents is to some extent very affordable and offers a lot of food for what what you are paying for, generally economically restrained and middle class people tend to purchase food from the Burger King franchise. The audience might, to some extent, be familiar with ambiguous phrases such as " IT'LL BLOW" and be mature enough to have knowledge of the sexual implications that it may carry; they also may possess knowledge of certain food ingredients such as " "American Cheese" and "A.1. Thick and Hearty steak sauce". Since the targeted audience is likely in the lower or middle class , they might be knowledgeable of the advertising tactics used to lure in the consumer, due to possible frequent exposure to a multitude of desire appealing advertisements, in which desire can refer to gluttony or lust.          

Citation:

              McEwan, Melissa. "Burger King: Burgers, Blow Jobs -- What's the Difference?" Alternet. ALterNet, 24 June 2009. Web. 19 Oct. 2014. <http://www.alternet.org/story/140893/burger_king%253A_burgers%2C_blow_jobs_--

_what%27s_the_difference>.                      

Jane Eyre

5.

An image of Mrs.Reed dressing pompously, picture of actress Sally Hawkins

When comparing Mr.Brocklehurst's lecture to Miss Temple and the attire of Mrs. and Misses Brocklehurst, it is most obvious that the author used situational irony, since the content of his speech ,which was concerned with dressing modestly and showing humility, was contradicted and downplayed by the way the two women dressed. Brocklehurst states: "I have again and again intimated that I desire the hair to be arranged closely, modestly, plainly.....I have a Master to serve whose kingdom is not of this world: my mission is to mortify in these girls the lusts of the flesh; to teach them to clothe themselves with shame-facedness and sobriety, not with braided hair and costly apparel" ( Bronte 64), and this discussion portrays his view that women should dress in a certain manner and claims that he has divine support to carry out this mission, however this is all contradicted and downplayed to the point of being dismissed since Jane states that she observed the discussion being interrupted by a group of three women who : " ...were splendidly attired in velvet, silk, and furs. The two younger of the trio (fine girls of sixteen and seventeen) had grey beaver hats, then in fashion, shaded with ostrich plumes, and from under the brim of this graceful head-dress fell a profusion of light tresses, elaborately curled; the elder lady was enveloped in a costly velvet shawl, trimmed with ermine, and she wore a false front of French curls" (Bronte 64-65), and the description of these women directly contradicted Mr.Brocklehurst's fervent belief concerning women's attire. The fact that the women were themselves called "Mrs. and the Misses Brocklehurst"(Bronte 65) determines that not only did their attire violate Mr. Brocklehurt's ideology, but that they were also apart of his own family thus revealing that Mr.Brocklehurt's lecture is hypocratic in nature since his own family doesn't even follow such rules!

Mr.Brocklehurst's statement ,"Naturally! Yes, but we are not to conform to nature"( Bronte 64), also portrays situational irony since the girls in this institution are subject to harsh conditions that include starvation and poor living standards, in order to feed and not starve their immortal souls, and this most certainly seems to be not conforming with nature, that is in the sense that nature extends to human needs, yet Mr. Brocklehurst's relatives seem to indulge and conform to nature by trying to imitate it, this is evident in this portion of the passage "the elder lady... wore a false front of French curls", in which one of the women was wearing a hairstyle that would have been explicitly forbidden to be possessed by any of the other women.

     The author portrays the perceptions of class during this time  by providing dialogue that shows the rules and regulations that the middle and lower classes must follow and by stating that women of  higher class were to some extent above the law even though those who upheld those certain rules tried to find justification withing a religious context, thus in a manner of speaking the fact that the Women disregarded the rules meant that they were above the divine law, or that that it didn't apply to them, with the only possible justification is that their immortal soul is already content and had met its needs. This portion of the passage is similar to Chaucer's criticism of the church with the only difference being the manner Chaucer portrayed the corruption of his time, however Both Bronte and Chaucer portray such situations using Irony with Chaucer's being mostly Dramatic irony since the Chaucer character in the Canterbury is portrayed as being naive and unaware of the corruption and evil nature of humans.

Works Citated:

Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. London: J. M. Dent & sons Limited, 1908. Print.

"Jane Eyre." Good Reads. Good Reads, Mar. 2011. Web. 05 Oct. 2014.  

<http://www.goodreads.com/book/downloads/9715309-jane-eyre>.

Macdonald, Fiona, and Charlotte Brontë. Jane Eyre. Hauppauge, NY: Barrons Educational Series, 

2009. PSU.edu. Pennsylvania State University, 2009. Web. 5 Oct. 2014.  

<http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/bronte/jane-eyre.pdf>.