Advertisements for soap. The image of a film star. We accept these common objects as a normal part of our life. But each also carries hidden messages that none of us even suspect—as Barthes demonstrated in his unique analysis of the signs that generate meanings and assumptions we all take for granted. Using iconic examples, from French wine to the Eiffel Tower, Barthes explains how popular culture works like traditional mythology, putting forward ideas and beliefs that become accepted as true—but which contain hidden meanings that reflect and promote the values of the people who just so happen to benefit most from the economic and social system of capitalism.