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.

“FAMILY NURTURE” NORM: We’ll help you take good care of your children. Farmers with their children — they’re parents, so they care about milk quality.

“FAMILY NURTURE” FORMS: Children drinking milk. Parents serving milk to their children. More emergent: Explicitly retro visuals — winking affectionately at the appeal to nostalgia (see Chobani Oat ad). Testimonials from gatekeeper parents (usually moms): “Our family’s first choice when buying dairy- and nut-free milk “(Good Karma). Assurances to gatekeeper parents: “Better milk for your family” (Hood).

From a 2022 study of the WHOLESOME territory — associating milk with an old-fashioned way of life — within the Dairy & Non-Dairy Milk category.