Sales and semiotics

The Meaning Behind Marketing: Semiotic-Oriented Research in Marketing and Consumer Research Tracy R. Harmon, University of South Florida, USA The importance of meaning in marketing and consumer research has long been widely recognized, however the application of semiotics in marketing theory development and research is fairly recent. The merits of Ferdinand de Saussure’s and Charles S. Peirce’s conceptualizations of semiotics have been the major paradigms of marketing and consumer research to date. This essay traces the origins of semiotics and its applications to the field of marketing. Among its strengths, semiotics is well suited to uncover the phenomenon behind meaning and signification, and provides a structural framework for ascertaining the structure of meaning in consumer research. Future directions for semiotic-oriented research are also presented, as semiotics research has been limited in the domain of marketing and consumer research.

Proceedings Cumulative Index – Volume 12, 2005