The branded skyline? A socio-semiotic critique of Johannesburg’s architectural adverts

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article critically analyses the semiotics of ‘architectural adverts’ (massive scale outdoor billboards that cover the entire facades of city buildings) in Johannesburg, South Africa. Drawing on critical advertising studies and scholarship critiquing neoliberal visual culture in cities of the Global South, the article critiques the visual landscape created by brands writ large across the cityscape. The critique is from two vantage points: the highway and the pavement. These are theorised as intersecting levels of geosemiotic meaning-making, shaped by structures of neoliberal power. We argue that architectural adverts colonise public sensibility by cloaking the realities of urban neglect and inequality with dazzling brand messages, and by making these visible at the expense of citizens’ visibility (and their view). We argue that the city government is neglecting its public mandate by allowing such advertising to be placed in public spaces, and that this failure exposes the neoliberal value set that dominates in post-apartheid culture.