Republic of Singapore Navy Commercial

               Below is an advertisement by the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN). This advertisement is one that uses a lot of non-verbal cues to show the prowess of the Singapore Navy. They use objectics to convey meaning across to the audience.

Taken from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWWQDqWDp0k

Some representations that the commercial utilizes

Object                                    Representation

Buildings                                 Naval Battleships

Xerox Copiers                        Canons

Office Chairs                          Helicopters

Pots of Plants                        Projectiles

Office Cubicles                      Assault Boats

Water Bottle                          Missiles

White Clouds                        RSN

Dark Clouds                          Enemy Navy

               There are even deeper meanings to these representations. Take the buildings, which represent naval battleships for example. The size of the building signifies the enormity of the battleship. The Xerox copiers, pots of plants and water bottles show the vast arsenal of the Singapore Navy. Office chairs that represent helicopters show that the Singapore Navy has support from the Singapore Air Force. The white and black clouds clearly show which side the buildings were from. Darkness and dark clouds shroud the enemy naval force and show their ill intentions towards Singapore. On the other hand, the buildings that represent the Singapore Navy are revealed clearly and have white clouds behind them. It symbolizes the good and the honor of the Singapore navy.

The enemy naval force and the Republic of Singapore Navy

The speed in which the buildings enter the battle implied that the Singapore Navy is ever ready to defend her motherland. When they are moving into battle, the people of Singapore are not panicking as they are not in chaos. This implies that the Singapore citizens have faith in the Singapore Navy.

In the part of the advertisement where the two navies met, the enemy navy is the first to launch its attack. The Singapore Navy retaliates only after that. This chronological sequence of events also shows the stand that the Singapore Navy takes. The subtle point is that Singapore will not attack unless the enemy does so. Singapore will only launch an attack for defense.

The above two non-verbal cues are a form of chronemics. The sequence of the events unfolding have its own implied meaning. 

Naval Officer at the end of the advertisement

Near the end of the advertisement, we are shown a naval officer looking seriously out at sea. From his eyes we can also interpret messages. This is a form of oculesics. I believe that context is very important when we infer non-verbal meaning through eye movements. In the advertisement the naval officer would look stern if we were not shown his uniform. After receiving the information that he is a naval officer, we reevaluate his emotion with our perceptual sets. Thus, we would link his emotions to more positive ones. The next information that we will receive is the fact that he is in a naval ship. Now that we have even more information, our evaluation of him becomes even more favorable and we interpret his look to be dignified and serious. Thus, it is evident that the use of oculesics alone can be ambiguous and subjective. It should be interpreted with other types of non-verbal cues in order to achieve a fairer form of judgment.

All these implied meanings communicate relational information and complement the final part whereby the viewer is prompted to join the Singapore Navy. The non-verbal cues up till then was present to support the final verbal message, much like bringing the ambience to a climax before the final message. Even the music's climax is at the end of the commercial. The combination of all these non-verbal cues has created a powerful impact in the minds of the viewers.

The commercial has done well to promote the Republic of Singapore Navy even though there was minimal use of verbal cues. Many implied meanings come from the non-verbal cues in the trailer and we can draw from this advertisement that non-verbal play a bigger role in communication than verbal cues.