**4. An analysis of Karaca's "Fine Pearl"**

Vermeer's most known work of art, Girl with a Pearl Earring, is regarded as the Mona Lisa of Netherlands, which emphasizes the importance of this painting. Girl with a Pearl Earring is one of the character representations that came to life on the canvas, reflected from the imagination of the artist. The painting features a girl with slightly open and moist lips, bright eyes, a huge pearl earring, and an ultramarine blue and gold scarf on top of her head. There were numerous claims regarding the identity of the girl in the painting. The majority says that the girl is the servant of Vermeer. It has been claimed that she may have been one of the tourists who came to the Netherlands, as her scarf was not something locals wear daily. There are countless and various assumptions about the painting, but the only thing certain is that it is a painting that was done with an extraordinary technique, of a young white-skinned girl looking over her left shoulder, gazing upon the eyes of the viewer. The girl in the painting turns her head momentarily and catches the eyes of her audience, and that very moment comes to life on a canvas. So much so that Umberto Arte recalls Nietzsche's words: "Precisely the least thing, the gentlest, lightest, the rustling of a lizard, a breath, a moment, a twinkling of the eye—little makes up the quality of the best happiness." Arte thinks that this quote defines her momentary look. Girl with a Pearl Earring is the painting of eye contact with the audience and a brief silence [22].

The main theme of Karaca's "Girl with a Pearl Earring" advertisement prepared by Y&R İstanbul in 2016, which was broadcasted on television, is inspired by "Girl with a Pearl Earring" by Johannes Vermeer in 1665, as the name suggests. Although almost 400 years have passed, it can be seen that such works of art have become the main inspiration of advertisements, as in the works of other famous painters. These advertisements can either be in a printed form or a video. In this context, the television commercial chosen in the scope of the study consists of six shots and one scene. It is seen that the temporal and spatial contexts of the period in which the work was created were adhered to, and these aspects were supported by elements such as decor and costume choices. The commercial begins with shots including Girl with a Pearl Earring, proceeds to move onto next shots including the moments Vermeer creates the painting. The commercial continues with the close-up shot of the moment the Girl with a Pearl Earring puts her pearl earring on. The commercial nears the finale with a wide-angle view of the girl. From the moment she puts on the earring, the camera starts getting closer to her. The camera keeps moving to the point where the composition and framing ratios in the original painting are reached, then the moving image freezes and transitions into a single still shot, that is, the original work itself. Afterward, it is zoomed into the pearl earring, transitions into close shots of Fine Pearl series products of the brand Karaca. The commercial ends with one final shot including all of the Fine Pearl series. These shots are accompanied by calm and low-tempo music that includes string and wind instruments, and dominantly piano. The story is narrated, which supports the commercial.

The assumed story about and behind the painting is told by the narrator during the commercial. The pearl earring of the girl gazes upon the audience is used to draw attention to the fact that the Karaca Fine Pearl series is the world's first and only dinnerware made of real pearls. The semantical setup and visual metaphor in this commercial are made up by the mystery behind the figure and her earring. One other important thing is that the narrator, which is one of the most impactful elements of the commercial, says: "Of all the women Vermeer has painted, she is the only one that no one knows anything about", emphasizing the meaning of the commercial. The "Pearl" on the original artwork refers to the aesthetic modality

#### *Metaphoric Representation and Aesthetic in Advertising DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.101202*

of the painting. The "pearl" on the commercial refers to the inspiration behind the visual representation of the commercial. This effectively establishes the metaphorical link between the original work and the commercial, and the fact that the product is named Fine Pearl compliments this representation. Just as the Girl with a Pearl Earring's earring represents elegance, purity, aesthetic, and prestige, the commercialized product also represents elegance, purity, aesthetic, and prestige.

The way that Girl with a Pearl Earring, which has gone down in art history as one of the classics, is presented, the content and the aesthetic of the commercial makes up the rhetorical value of the commercial made for the Karaca brand. The fact that aesthetic that came to life in Vermeer's work of art are transferred into the commercial, consolidates the metaphorical power of the art and the impact of cultural knowledge on the advertisement. Besides, when the expressions related to food are historically examined from semiotic, class, and social aspects, it is seen that food is not only an act of eating for the sustainability of one's existence but also is a part of daily life since it appeals to the palate and eyes of people, is a part of rituals and celebrations. Moreover, it has a metaphorical function as it has emotional and associative aspects. In this context, the fact that the advertiser noticed that both the dinnerware series especially produced by the Karaca brand, and the artwork itself are associated with high culture, and the meaning of the art has been conveyed to the content of the advertisement is undoubtedly a very accurate choice. As we can notice, unlike many of Vermeer's pictorial contents she is not engaged with a daily chore. Instead, represented in an evanescent moment, she turns her head, meeting the viewer's gaze with her inviting eyes. This is a pick point of the idea of the advert. Girl with a Pearl Earring has no any upper social status, she is a simple woman that with a precious touch of pearl became an admirable personality with a brave and shiny look as all those modest dining rooms that with a touch of a Karaca Fine Pearl collection become more precious. The message here is that the pearl, that made the artwork famous with its elegance, is going to enrich the dining tables with its elegance.

On the other hand, the visual representation in the commercial and the narration with music that support this representation, naturally lead the audience to selectively perceive things. This is in parallel with the idea that the way images and stimuli are presented can affect our perceptions and thoughts. It is expected from the audience to associate two things that have nothing to do with each other in the commercial. Both visual and auditory messages point out the actual meaning behind what the audience sees. In the case of this commercial, the thing that is being pointed out is actually the brand Karaca itself.

## **5. Conclusion**

As a cultural phenomenon that encourages consumption, advertisements need images to consolidate a meaning cycle reproduced continuously. Assuming that it is necessary to consider the object as a message that has gained its meaning for sublimation or promotion of the meaning in an advertisement, it is a must to develop the imaginary thinking as reasoning ability. This study reveals how the artwork itself and its backstory are represented as visual images and how these images fulfil the function of creating meaning. The artwork can be considered as both an intellectual product and a philosophy text that contains aesthetic tendencies. The creation process of the advertisement is a two-layered design process that consists of the creation of the image/visual (form) and meaning (content). At the same time, the image used is the message. The communication between the image, in which the message is encoded, and the recipients occurs only when the image supports the meaning and the recipients perceive and interpret them.

#### *Mind and Matter - Challenges and Opportunities in Cognitive Semiotics and Aesthetics*

In this study, the usage of metaphorical setup, which includes artistic actions, with the work of art in advertising communication was examined. Although the work of art was created for form-regarding purposes, the role it plays during the commercial turns it into a visual element. Especially in advertisements, in which the images with an aesthetic value like artworks are instrumentalized, it can be seen that the meaning is set up using many layers. Because the work of art used in the advertisement turns into a representing image both form-wise and content-wise. In other words, while the work of art is fulfilling a communicational function, the content gets added on top of its aesthetic. The artwork, which turns into a sign in the advertisement, becomes a metaphorical message used to affect and convince recipients. Therefore, it is concluded that visual metaphors in advertisements should be examined as two layers, namely, aesthetic and representation.
