@article{2019,title={A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF LGBT-THEMED VIRAL ADVERTISING VIDEOS},abstractNode={Marketers take into account the characteristics of the target audience while they develop their strategies. Socio-demographic characteristics of the target audience are very important especially in advertising design. While market segmentation is performed according to factors such as age, gender, income and education, advertising messages are also determined accordingly. Today, there are other gender groups which have been added to gender stereo types consisting of women and men. These groups are composed of individuals who are called LGBT and they started to attract the attention of marketers. Nowadays, more products are produced and advertising campaigns are executed for the LGBT market, which is seen as being profitable. The aim of this study is to make a semiotic analysis of LGBT-themed viral advertising videos and to find out what strategies are followed and what similar and different aspects are in their contents. Accordingly, LGBT-themed viral advertising videos released on YouTube in 2018 were accessed, and the most viewed five advertisements of brands from various sectors were analyzed semiotically. The analyses of these advertisements revealed an emphasis in general that LGBT individuals are a part of the society, they live with other individuals or couples in similar ways and their lives should be respected. It is recognized that the brands try to create awareness and show that they support LGBT individuals just like they aim to increase their sales to these individuals. },author={Pınar AYTEKİN-Yeliz YAPICIOĞLU AYAZ },year={2019},journal={The Journal of Social Sciences}}