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The importance of visual mode of meaning construction has been broadly acknowledged, but only a handful of researchers have established a theory and study based on visual advertising. This paper elucidates the emergence and major perspectives of semiotics, the doctrine of signs, aesthetics, and sexual appeals. This study relies on an archaeological approach, uses images for data collection method, nonrandom-sample with a purposive sampling procedure and a discourse analysis I for data analysis. Amid its strengths, visual codes create meaning at the nucleus of consumer behavior and offer a rich meta-language for semiotic consumer research. A formula of success regarding visual codes is presented and assists to construct meaning in advertisements efficiently. Societal and managerial implications concerning visual advertisement are presented. This study is exemplified by the case of American Apparel.

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Miriam Schramm was born in Nuremberg 1989. She graduated her Master in Strategic Management and the Junior Trainee program by Peek & Cloppenburg KG in July 2015. Previously, she studied at Harvard University, San Diego State University, Friedrich-Alexander University and worked for one year in the United States of America, Boston and San Diego.

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