This quote from Peirce, Collected Papers:Principles of Philosophy, 1931 tells us just this.
“Logic, in its general sense, is…only another name for semiotic…we observe the characters of such signs as we know, and...by a process which I will not object to naming abstraction, we are led to statements, eminently fallible, and therefore in one sense by no means necessary, as to what must be the characters of all signs used by scientific intelligence, that is to say, by an intelligence capable of learning by experience.”
When looking at signs and certain imagery there are two things, the signifier and the signified. The signifier is the actual subject matter that we see before us, what it really is. The signified is the thought we have when seeing this, what we have been brought up knowing through society and culture. For example in the image bellow the signifier is the white woman wearing a skirt but the signified is that we all know it is a ladies toilet sign. We all know this because society has brought us up knowing it.
Semiotics is also used in advertising all the time. It is a way for companies to get the customer to buy their product. Subliminal messaging. This is a great example.
Even though the food shown here is cheap tinned food the customer is left with a different impression because the rich red colour gives off the feel of power, luxury and royalty. The food is also surrounded by Italian fresh produce that isn't for sale, leaving the customer thinking the food is fresh and organic straight from Italy. Meaning the signified plays a big part in this.