Parody in Commercial Advertising (A Case Study of Creation of Adam, by Michelangelo)

Semiotics enables us to enhance the function and effect of advertisement. Advertising is one of the arts in which visual signs, along with some other signs, develop a link between the audience and the artwork. The present study was an attempt to investigate and analyze Parody’s effect and function as part of the effect of art on intertextuality. In the present article, intertextuality, parody and advertisement are generally introduced, and then a descriptive, analytical and qualitative approach is used to investigate the role parody in McDonald’s commercial advertisement, according to Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, as a delicate and leading manifestation of parody. Judging by the literature, the theoretical framework and the fundamentals of semiotics used, it can be argued that the present study actually draws on the origin of intertextuality and the approaches used by Roland Barthes the French postmodern philosopher. The results suggest that in its new service advertising campaign inspired by Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, McDonald actually tries to make customers develop an association between the food products and the food values, making them believe that the products presented by this Brand are of a particular refreshing and spiritual value.