ISSN: 2302-920X

Jurnal Humanis, Fakultas Ilmu Budaya Unud

Vol 17.1 Oktober 2016: 104 - 111

The Analysis Of Verbal And Visual Sign Of Adidas Advertisement

I Putu Adi Sena1*, I Made Netra2, I Wayan Mulyawan3

123English Department, Faculty of Arts, Udayana University 1[adisena46@yahoo.co.id] 2[dektih@yahoo.com] 3[moelya01@gmail.com]

Corresponding Author

Abstrak

Penelitian laporan akhir ini yang berjudul "The Analysis of Verbal And Visual Sign of Adidas Advertisement", menjelaskan tanda-tanda verbal dan visual dalam iklan. Penelitian ini juga menganalisis tanda-tanda verbal dan visual yang mendukung iklan adidas, dan fungsi dan makna dari tanda-tanda verbal dan visual. Metode yang di gunakan di dalam pengumpulan data adalah metode purposive sampling dan data yang sudah terkumpul di analisis secara kualitatif berdasarkan teori semiotic. Ada empat teori yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini. Teori tersebut adalah teori tanda visual dan verbal oleh Dyer (1993), teori makna dan fungsi yang oleh Leech (1974), teori tanda yang diuraikan oleh Chandler (2001), dan teori warna oleh Chapman (2010). Data diambil dari iklan adidas yang diterbitkan dalam situs google.com/adidas-advertisement. Iklan Adidas ini memiliki tanda-tanda verbal dan visual yang mendukung satu sama lain yang bertujuan untuk menarik perhatian pembaca atau orang-orang.Tanda-tanda verbal di dalam iklan menggunakan arti afektif untuk menarik minat orang terhadap produk. Fungsi ekspresif digunakan untuk mengekspresikan perasaan dan sikap pencetusnya. Makna konseptual juga digunakan untuk memberikan informasi dari pesan agar pembaca menangkap pesan dari iklan. Fungsi informasi cenderung menjadi salah satu yang paling penting, yang menyampaikan informasi dari pembicara / penulis/ pendengar / pembaca. Makna konseptual dominan menggunakan informasi dari bahasa. Tanda visual di dalam iklan adalah gambar. Gambar digunakan untuk membuat iklan terlihat keren, mengesankan, dan menarik. Mengenai hasil, makna dan fungsi dari tanda-tanda yang ditemukan dalam iklan, makna dan fungsi dari tanda-tanda dapat dideteksi dari pembuat iklan yang memberitahu informasi tentang adidas, untuk menjual atau mempromosikan produk mereka dan juga untuk menciptakan citra merek serta konsumen mampu memahami makna dari iklan adidas tersebut. Produk adidas dapat menumbuhkan dan meningkatkan semangat konsumen untuk melakukan suatu kegiatan dengan mudah ,bahwa mereka merasa nyaman dan bahagia di setiap situasi.

Keywords : Fungsi, arti,dan tanda-tanda verbal visual

  • 1.    Background of the Study

Semiotics is the study of meaning-making, the philosophical theory of signs and symbols. This includes the study of signs and sign processes, indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication. Semiotics is concerned with everything that can be taken as a sign. Semiotic aims to take in any system of signs, whatever their substance and limits; images, gestures, musical sounds, objects, and the complex associations of all of these, which form the content of ritual, convention or public entertainment: these constitute, if not languages, at least systems of signification. Semiotics is often employed in the analysis of texts although it is far more than just a mode of textual analysis. Here it should perhaps be noted that a text can exist in any medium and may be verbal, non-verbal, or both, despite the logo centric bias of this distinction. The term text usually refers to a message which has been recorded in some way e.g. writing, audio and video-recording so that it is physically independent of its sender or receiver. A text is an assemblage of signs such as words, images, sounds, and/or gestures constructed, and interpreted with reference to the conventions associated with a genre and in a particular medium of communication (Saussure 1974). Semiotics is a science which studies the role of signs as part of social life, while semiotics is the formal doctrine of signs which is closely related to Logic. For him, a sign is something which stands for somebody or something in some respect or capacity. He declared that every thought is a sign. Advertisement contains two signs, visual and verbal signs. Visual signs are about pictures and verbal signs are about text, either words or sentences. The use of these two signs in an advertisement is meant to make people understand the product advertised by the producers. Peirce stated in Chandler (2001:16) that signs more specifically take the form of words, images, sounds, odors, flavors, acts or objects; however, such things have no intrinsic meaning and become signs only when we imbue them with meaning. Nothing is a sign unless it is interpreted as a sign. Anything can be a sign as long as someone interprets it as signifying something -referring to or standing for something other than itself. It is this meaningful use of signs which is at the heart of the concerns of semiotics. The advertiser makes a good picture, a good sentence, also artist as the model to their advertisement to persuade the reader to buy their product. Dyer (1982) indicates that the word advertising means drawing attention to something, or notifying or informing somebody of something. However,

advertisements must also take into account the way in which they can make the qualities and attributes of the products. This thesis analyzed verbal and visual elements in advertisements. The advertisement chosen to be analyzed as a case study is adidas. Adidas shoes have a competing price with the other and then are able to make people satisfied when having them. Then, people can select the quality of the shoes with a better price. This is the reason why people choose Adidas than other brands. Adidas is well known around the world as the best quality of shoes that can be used for doing sport activities such as: dancing, running, football and else.

  • 2.    Problems of the Study

From the description presented above, the problems can be formulated into research questions as follows:

  • 1.    What verbal and visual sign are used in Adidas advertisement?

  • 2.    What are the meaning and function of the verbal and visual signs used in the Adidas advertisement?

  • 3.    Aims of the Study

The aims of study are divided into two points:

  • 1.    To find out the verbal and visual signs supporting the Adidas advertisement.

  • 2.    To analyze the function and meaning of the verbal and visual signs that exist in advertisement.

  • 4.    Research Method

There are two advertisements used in this study. The data in this study were taken from Adidas Ad on google.com/adidas-advertisement, www.pinterest.net, and http://logaster/blog/adidas.com. These advertisements were chosen because they contain verbal and visual signs for the analysis; in addition, the verbal and visual signs are related to the context of situation; the point is that verbal and visual signs explain to the reader about the meaning of the advertisement through the text and the picture. Verbal Signs in an advertisement are about text, identify the meaning of the text: nontextual analysis and textual analysis and visual Sign is the picture of an advertisement.

Finally, the visual delivery must be meaningful and suggestive. Adidas is employed in this study because this product is very interesting and the signs can attract the reader’s eyes. The method used in collecting data in this study is the purposive sampling method, that is, through observation or survey. The data were collected through by several steps. The collected data were analyzed qualitatively based on the theory of Semiotics. In the two advertisements there are some problems which are analyzed; they are the verbal and visual signs and their meaning and function. Then the data were analyzed through by several steps. First, the verbal and visual signs of the advertisement were analyzed based on the theory of visual and verbal sign proposed by Dyer (1993). Next, the meaning and function were analyzed based on the relevant theories proposed by Leech (1974). The theory of signs which is used here is the theory proposed by Chandler (2001). Then, the color aspects were analyzed based on the theory proposed by Chapman (2010). This study also uses related semiotic theories to find out the message implied in the advertisement.

  • 5.    Result and Discussion

This part deals with the result and discussion of the data. The data analysis is divided into:

  • a.    Verbal Elements of Adidas Advertisement: The verbal element of an advertisement consists of words that do not only describe things, communicate feelings, and associates attitudes, but also bring ideas to our mind. When we glance at an advertisement in magazine, for instance, we will be subjected to a liberal sprinkling of adverbs and adjectives. The first adidas advertisement shown in the previous section has several verbal signs in the headline and in the signature line (slogan). The verbal element in the headline of this advertisement is “No one gets up when a whole country kicks” . The meaning of speed, according to Oxford dictionary, is rate at which sb/sth moves, quickness of movement: move with great speed. The word “speed” here signifies that adidas is the best shoes for athletes that can be used for running in a race or that provide rapidity in moving. Besides, in the headline, another verbal element was also found in the signature line. The verbal element in the signature line of adidas product is a slogan saying “Impossible is nothing”.

“Impossible is nothing” is an adidas advertising campaign developed by Adolf Dassler. The slogan has three guiding principles for the development of his work; from the time he made his first canvas training shoes for runners in 1920. Since its inception, the slogan has remained firmly in place as the sportswear company's key advertising slogan.

  • b.    Visual Element of Adidas Advertisement: The visual aspect is the picture of an advertisement. It is stated that the picture is ‘easier’ to understand and has more impact than words. They generally offer greater opportunity for the communication of excitement, mode imagination. The visual elements of the advertisement aim to persuade consumers to get the product. The analysis of visual element includes the analysis of icon, index, symbol, visual communication elements, and colors used in this advertisement.

  • -    Icon : According to Chandler (2001), Icon is a mode in which the signifier is perceived as resembling or imitating the signified. A man in this advertisement is the icon because “Men” is used to represent an athlete who kicks faster with different shoes using adidas shoes.

  • -    Index : There is also an index found in the picture. Index is a mode in which the signifier is not arbitrary but is directly connected in some way (physically or causally) to the signified - this link can be observed or inferred. Index in this advertisement is the background. The index of the background creates the sense of the adidas shoes. The background signifies that the field bench is standing still because the man kicks really fast. It can be seen from the picture below.

  • -    Symbol : Symbol is a mode in which the signifier does not resemble the signified but which is fundamentally arbitrary or purely conventional – so that the relationship must be learnt e.g. language in general (plus specific languages, alphabetical letters, punctuation marks, words, phrases and sentences), numbers, morse code, traffic lights, national flags. The symbol in this advertisement is the brand of the logo. The symbol is adidas advertising campaign trademark developed by Adolf Dassler. Adidas symbolize the three bars. This logo is the latest one that

has been introduced, and it represents some of the finest equipment that Adidas sells. The company did not only want to keep the three stripes that they were known for, but also added something to give the logo some power. This new logo is supposed to resemble a mountain, like challenging the people who buy Adidas products to push themselves to their limits. This latest logo appears on many pieces of sports equipment and the new logo is still instantly and obviously “Adidas” to anyone who sees it.

  • c.    The Visual Communications of Adidas Advertisement : There are seven elements of appearance that are used in this advertisement, namely, age, gender, nationality and race, hair, body, size, and looks. The Manner indicates behavior or emotion at any time, and is manifested in four main codes of non-verbal communication. Three elements of manner are: Expression, Eye Contact, pose and clothes.

  • d.    The Meaning and Function of Verbal and Visual Signs Used in Adidas Advertisement: Informational Function is the function which tends to be the most important one, which conveys the information from the speaker/writer to the listener/reader. “No one gets up when a whole country kicks”. The Informational Function is used to convey the information from the speaker/writer to the listener/reader. The conceptual meaning of this sentence is to attract people’s attention to know what kind of product is used to kick fast; moreover, in this era, there are so many athletes who are looking for good quality of shoes for kicking and comfort to use for daily activity. The Affective meaning refers to the emotive association or effects of words evoked in the reader, listener. It is what is conveyed about the personal feelings or attitude towards the listener. In the affective meaning, language is used to express personal feelings or attitude to the listener or to the subject matter of his discourse. Expressive function can be used to express its originator’s feeling and attitudes; swear words and exclamations are the most obvious instances of this.“No one gets up when a whole country kicks” The affective meaning of this sentence is to persuade the readers to ask the company about the product and is intended to introduce the readers about the product. This sentence reflects the affective meaning because it explains the personal feelings of 109

the readers. The Expression function is used in this sentence to express its originator’s feeling and attitudes,

  • e.    Colors Used in Adidas Advertisement: Color in design is very subjective. What evokes one reaction in one person may evoke a very different reaction in someone else. The text “No one gets up when a whole country kicks “uses white color and also the symbol of Adidas uses white color. White is often associated with perfection. The use of this color indicates that this product is designed perfectly than the other product. The Background in this advertisement is gray. Gray is security, reliability, intelligence, staid, modesty, dignity, maturity, solid, conservative, practical, old age, practicality, professional, sophisticated, durability, quality. The colors of the man are black, and brown. Black is associated with protection, power, protection, repelling negativity, binding, shape shifting, power, sexuality, sophistication, formality, elegance, classy, wealth, power and brown refers to friendship, special event, earth, materialistic thought, hearth, home, outdoors, inexpensive, reliability, credibility, comfort, endurance, stability, simplicity, comfort, longevity, intimacy, tranquility, masculine

  • 6.    Conclusion

The two advertisements implied message especially for the verbal and visual aspects. The advertisement used the semiotical signs by both verbal and visual aspects which have some important purposes such as to give some information to people about signs in order to know the messages of signs in the advertisement. The viewers can easily understand the function and meaning of the movement, place, physic and etc. Model in adidas Advertisement is used for delivering the verbal and visual signs to make people interested in the product; there is also hidden message behind it. The information is used to attract the reader’s attention to catch the message of the advertisement. Informational Function tends to be the most important one, which conveys the information from the speaker/writer to the listener/reader.

  • 7.    Bibliography

About adidas: http://adidasinc.com/pages/about-adidas-inc

www.pinterest.net and http://www.logaster/blog/adidas.com

Chandler, Daniel. 2013. Semiotics for Beginners. Available at:

<http://users.aber.ac.uk/dgc/Documents/S4B/sem02.html>

Chapman, Cameron. 2010. Color Theory for Designers, Part 1: The Meaning of Color.

Available  in http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/01/28/color-theory-for-

designers -part-1-the-meaning-of-color/

Dyer, Gillian. 1982. Advertising as Communication. London: Routledge.

Leech, Goeffrey.1974.Semantics: The Study of Meaning. Hannondsworth,Middlesex.

England: Pinguin Ltd.

Nabil, Mzoughi. 2011. Tunisia Vol. 2 No. 9. University of Sousse

111