Semiotic analysis of 'Diesel' print ads

I have chosen to attempt a semiotic analysis of the printed advertisements for the Diesel Jeans and Workwear Clothing Company. Generally, in the world of advertising as a whole, there is continuous pressure to create adverts that are increasingly more in the image of audience motives and desires. The actual product has come to matter less as audience participation increases, so there is a need to include audience experience.
I find this ad very funny in the tremendous chaos generated with the sight of a naked, unnaturally muscular male body! A group of middle-aged, upper-to-middle class women totally lose control, casting aside any sense of propriety and dignity, when their air-steward delivers their drinks in what appears to be, judging by the leg-room, the business class section of an aeroplane. Indeed, the angle of the aeroplane further emphasises that everything is in disarray, as lust becomes the main driving force; deranged facial expressions and contorted body-forms connote the uncontrollability of the women. While this destruction occurs, the Diesel people characteristically remain detached from the action, turning their backs on the scene. The very form and composition of the photograph ensures that the audience recognise the signified concept. While the middle-aged women, without exception, all reach in to the centre of the picture towards their object of lust, closing in on their prey like predatory animals, the Diesel people reach towards the light coming in from the window; their facial expressions emphasising their need to escape from such debase activity; the tears streaming down their faces are further indicative of their distress. Once more, Diesel are selling themselves as a non-conformist clothing company who offer escape for those willing to break from convention.
I feel that this advertisement raises political questions concerning sexual harassment in the workplace. This is achieved through reverse cliché, since it is usually affluent middle-aged men, travelling business class, who lech over female air hostesses. The text seems to be shaped by offering two individual lifestyles, and offering the audience a choice of which they would rather belong to. Again, a number of paired oppositions emerge, to include good and bad, young and old[er], men and women, women and women, and friends and rivals. The light and dark opposition, created by the subtle use of lighting, is suggestive of Heaven and Hell. While the older women become closed in, shadowed and rather demonic, the Diesel women reach towards the warmth of a golden light in an angelic fashion. The same effect is achieved by the tilt of the aeroplane, as the Diesel women become elevated and more spiritual. This notion can be connected with the questions raised in Fig.1, concerning the importance of inner development over outer appearance. The confined atmosphere of the aeroplane set is effective in condensing the meaning that is generated from a still picture that is shot so cleverly it is easy to imagine the noise and chaos of the scenario.
The codes here are narrowcast, since the satire works to the exclusion of both middle-aged women and younger men; the Diesel women are seen, however subtly, as superior. The sense of movement and action is shared with the media of film and television. The indignity of women of this age is reminiscent of the American super-soaps Dallas and Dynasty, while the comic aspect of their behaviour is satirised in the BBC comedy Absolutely Fabulous or the spoof disaster Airplane movies! Diesel use their models carefully, since they must be suitably created to guard against any exclusion within the audience targeted by the advertisements. In this case, they use a white model and a half-case black model. They hold hands and seem to support one another, so they open the possibility of a cross-cultural lesbian relationship. Their place within the preferred reading of the text is to connote that it is better to be subtly sexy rather then blatantly lustful. All these suggestions are neatly tied in with the Diesel philosophy that wearing their clothes will make you a better person; that they can rise you above the common crowd and vest you with a special kind of individuality.