an analysis of the modes of representing cultural values;a semiotic analysis of tv commercials in iran

the main objective of this article is to present the results of a study on the advertising mechanisms through which cultural values are being represented in commercial ads played in iranian national tv.  in other words, the problematic of this paper resides in the point made clear in the islamic republic of iran's constitutional codes, which emphasize the necessity of considering religious beliefs and values, plus symbols of iran's culture and civilization when designing commercial ads.  the question however, has always been whether or not such consideration is basically taking place.  this is something that needs to be studied. using linguistic structuralism we will consider commercial ads, here, as cultural texts and will analyze them in accordance with roland barthes' semiotic approach.  in order to do that, we selected some 30 ads from amongst commercial ads which were broadcasted in channel 3 of iranian national tv, periodically.  some of the findings indicate that although the commercial ads have used religious concepts and cultural symbols in their contents, such approach has not happened where religious values are concerned. rather, religious values are used as instruments and are not inserted in the content of the ads.  it should also be noted that both western values and iranian cultural values had been represented in the ads. this finding points out to an important issue which is to say such trends are not unprecedented, since iranian society is a so-called passing society towards modernity. finally, it should be mentioned that we are witnessing the representation of iranian cultural symbols along with national and patriotic values in the commercial ads; however, such representation takes the form of slogans and cliché.