Roland Barthes Semiotica ((link)) -

This connoted meaning is not natural; it is produced. It relies on the viewer’s cultural knowledge of French colonial history, military honor, patriotism, and racial politics.

Look at your object (an ad, a movie poster, a menu). List every physical signifier you can see, hear, or touch. Colors, fonts, people, gestures, objects, settings, sounds. Be exhaustive. In a perfume ad, note: the bottle shape, the model’s pose, the lighting (golden hour? stark white?), the background (city? desert?). roland barthes semiotica