The PHOTO OP series — to which SEMIOVOX has invited our semiotician colleagues from around the world to contribute — analyzes photos that we’ve snapped while “off the job.”

The branding of the snacking cheese sub-category is strangely fascinating. Products have very child friendly connotations with bright colours (e.g. Babybel), smiling mascots (e.g. Cheesestrings) and references to emotional uplift (e.g. the Laughing Cow). This is very different from the more adult, conoisseurial, and religious themes (e.g. Cathedral City, Rector’s Reserve, Pilgrims Choice), of block cheese for sandwiches and crackers in the UK. Something about rawdogging cheese has created a sub-category semiotically divorced from the core category themes. The signifiers used for snacking cheese suggest a kind of candy-fication of cheese that makes eating it on its own a culturally permissible indulgence.

Photo taken in Stroud, Gloucestershire , England in 2025. I really like the idea of reframing shopping locally (something that in the UK has rather ‘genteel’ connotation of popping round to the village shop, or jolly conversations with the local baker) as “an act of rebellion”. This ties into an activist mindset and makes this appealing for younger consumers raised on the convenience of large supermarkets.

In addition to this retail drama, I don’t know why my local grocer went with the wild west Pioneer casino font [insert joke about fruit machines], but I love that they did as it certainly raises the stakes of shopping for veggies. Photo taken in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England in 2025.

PHOTO OP: Mariane Cara (Brazil) on LA LUCHA CONTINUA | Aiyana Gunjan (India) on YAMRAJ | Greg Rowland (England) on I ❤️ FOOD | Gabriela Pedranti (Spain) on NOT SO TRIVIAL | Biba Allarakia (Saudi Arabia) on ALL THAT GLITTERS | Brian Khumalo (South Africa) on A LOST MEMORY | Becks Collins (England) on A MILLENNIAL ON THE BRINK | Samuel Grange (France) on SLOW DOWN | Rachel Lawes (England) on DESKTOP COLLECTIONS | Marie Lena Tupot (USA) on BOX OFFICE | Sónia Marques (Portugal) on SWISS-NESS | Serdar Paktin (Turkey / England) on BOTTLE SERVICE | Stefania Gogna (Italy) on OPEN-AIR MUSEUM | Charles Leech (Canada) on IS IT IRONIC? | Kishore Budha (England) on DOWN THE TUBE | Josh Glenn (USA) on JOINED AT THE DIP | Mark Lemon (England) on SHOP LOCAL | William Liu (China) on SWAN SONG | Malcolm Evans (Wales) on CHOCOCRACK | Paulina Goch-Kenawy (Poland) on POLAND’S NEW (HI)STORY | Adelina Vaca (Mexico) on WHAT’S YOUR POISON? | Natasha Delliston (England) on NATURE BATHING | Ramona Lyons (USA) on DEATH TO TECH | Victoria Gerstman (England) on TBD | Ximena Tobi (Argentina) on TODO PASA.

Also see these global semio series: MAKING SENSE (Q&As) | SEMIOFEST SESSIONS (monthly mini-conferences) | COVID CODES | SEMIO OBJECTS | COLOR CODEX | DECODER (fictional semioticians) | CASE FILE | PHOTO OP | MEDIA DIET.