Semiotics are a scientific way of analysing meaning. British culture has given things certain meanings, for example colours may represent something different in Britain than they do in other countries. In different cultures signs have different meanings as well. The way we dress or wear our hair connotes a certain personality or class, e.g. wearing a suit is a code for smart - it doesn't mean suits are smart in other cultures however.
Visual clichés are everywhere, from typography created to connote a certain era or country (e.g. bamboo style for Hawaii) to cartoon characters representing stereotypes, such as PC Plod from the cartoon Noddy. This can be related to different representations across different TV programmes of the same character. The policeman in The Simpsons is incompetent and conventional, playing on the stereotype of lazy policemen who eat donuts all the time and don't solve the issues they are employed to do so. This is a stark contrast from PC Plod who is represented as a caring, all round nice policeman that solves everyone's problems in ToyTown. Both of these are very different to the real policeman in everyday life, shown in the media as faceless authority.
Meanings of signs and symbols can shift, coming from the audience not the objects. The ideological meaning can become clear by connoting cultural artefacts.
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