Semiotic Approach to Representation of Valentine’s Day in Print Advertisements: The Case of North Cyprus

ABSTRACT: Nowadays it is widely accepted and rather a common knowledge that 14th of February is a Valentine’s Day-the day when people, in particular lovers, are expressing their love affection for each other by means of gift giving, which ranges from cards and chocolates to more expensive items such as silver or golden jewelry. Essentially, about a month before an actual celebration, various media put in rotation commercials and advertisements, reflecting on gift ideas for special someone in Valentine’s Day. This study aims to examine codes and norms in today’s popular culture, related to understanding and practices of love, relationships and romantic behaviors, by conducting semiotic analyses of selected advertisements. Hence, semiotics is chosen as a dominant methodological approach to analyses. The advertisements for Valentine’s Day occasion are collected from three local North Cyprus newspapers, published in 2014. In order to answer research questions and fulfill aims and objectives, the analyses are conducted with a particular attention to semiotic codes, denotative and connotative orders of signification of textual and pictorial signs individually, as well as in relation to connotative meanings of other signs within system. Keywords: Print advertising, Valentine’s Day, Love, Representation, Semiotics.