#4 Seeing with semiotics II

In this post, I will write more detail about pragmatic and syntactic which is a pair of ideas characterized by Saussure in regards to the relations of signs.

Definition:
Syntactics: Relations among signs in formal structures

Paradigmatic: Relation in the middle of signs and the impacts they have on the individuals who use them

Advertiser generally create meaning in the advertising by using the notion of syntactic and pragmatic. Saussure initiated two ways of creating meaning: syntagm and paradigm.

Syntagm

The syntagm is creating implication by ordered combination of interacting meanings, by their connecting to the sign before or after them - by their order (Wejher, 2015).

According to Wejher's writing, by changing the word order in advertising can totally change the meaning. For example, considering a sentence 'nothing is impossible' that has been widely used, which means that everything is possible, there is nothing which can not be done.

If the word order was changed, it would mean something completely different. For example, impossible is nothing.

"Impossible is Nothing" is adidas' one of the biggest brand advertising campaign. This campaign has integrated television, print and outdoor advertising, point-of-sale and Internet. The intention of the slogan 'Impossible is nothing' was to let audience know what obstacles and impediments from various perspectives such as social, physical, and mental. Through the campaign's stories, Adidas reminds athletes and non-athletes that they can change the possibility from impossible to possible (Adidas Group, 2004).

The meaning "impossible is nothing" from the campaign is simply means regardless of the fact that a specific challenged is said to be impossible, that should be nothing to a man who is moved by that challenge. The slogan is take from the quote below.

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.” - Muhammad Ali

Source: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/121663-impossible-is-just-a-big-word-thrown-around-by-small

 

Paradigm

https://speakertoanimals.wordpress.com/language-linguistics/saussure/

Paradigms exploit replacement of one or few words in a given sentence to change its meaning (Wejher, 2015).

For example, each of the words that placed vertically can be exchanged with a number of other words without changing the basic syntactic arrangement.

I can't think of any good advertising example of paradigm so I will just simply get an example from Wejher's journal.

There is an example of a paradigm in a Polish slogan of an advertisement about a television channel called TVN. "TVN here and here" was their previous slogan which simply means that it was available on  both television and in the internet. Later the slogan was changed to "TVN everywhere", which means that television was available everywhere, in the north or south. By utilizing paradigm, that is using alternatives in the same position in their slogan, advertisers changed its implication and made their product more accessible and attractive (Wejher, 2015).


Reference:
Adidas Group (2004). 'Impossible is nothing" adidas launches new global brand advertising campaign' [Online] Available at: http://www.adidas-group.com/en/media/news-archive/press-releases/2004/impossible-nothing-adidas-launches-new-global-brand-advertising-/ [Accessed: 5th of June 2015]

Wejher, M.B (2015). 'The Central Role of Language in Semiotics of Advertising' [online] Available at: skemman.is/stream/get/1946/20404/.../1/Malwina_Barbara_Wejher.pdf [Accessed: 5th of June 2015]


Futher Reading:
https://thisisnotadvertising.wordpress.com/2011/07/12/adidas-impossible-is-nothing-the-beginning/