Jaguar F-Type Coupe's "British Villains" Superbowl commercial (2015)
The CODE-X series catalogs a vast codex of source codes (aka “signs”) extracted from past audits.
The object of study in semiotics is not the signs but rather a general theory of signification; the goal of each “audit” is to build a model demonstrating how meaning is produced and received within a category or cultural territory. Signs on their own, therefore, only become truly revelatory and useful once we’ve sorted them into thematic complexes, and the complexes into codes, and the codes into a meaning map. We call this process “thick description”; the Code-X series is thin description.
“CRUEL COMPETENCE” NORM: Britishness in the US associated with expertise and skill at the expense of politeness, kindness, empathy.
“CRUEL COMPETENCE” FORMS: Gordon Ramsay and Simon Cowell , James Bond, Sherlock Holmes (as portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch), characters portrayed by Jason Statham or Clive Owen; we may dislike them but they do get amazing results.