Bite-Size Semiotics

CCTV in my personal space

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The sign here was found in the Lidl supermaket self-checkout lane in Espoo, Finland. Due to a few personal observations, it seems to be a standard sign in Finnish Lidl stores. Or at least within the Helsinki capital region. What we have is a quite iconic expression of a CCTV camera being pointed at a person's simplified silhouette. The text informs the viewer that camera observations are in effect and random checks can be made at the self-checkout. Furthermore the boldened text notes that all theft will be reported to police. The sign uses high contrast colors and is very clearly visible to anyone using the self-checkout.

I came across this sign a bit after reading Lippert on CCTV signage. Though Lippert has some good points about CCTV signage functioning in many other roles besides just enforcing the atmosphere of the Panopticon. But this particular sign with the camera quite forcefully pushing itself to the personal space of the character does really seem to focus on the we are watching you aspect. It is especially interesting to compare this to our previous post where the message was balancing between "we are watching you" and "sorry of the implied mistrust", with a strong leaning on the apologetic side of things.