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INTERTEXTUALITY IN MULTIMODAL ADVERTISING DISCOURSE
AS AN OBJECT OF CULTURAL SEMIOTICS:
A Case Study of IKEA’s “Let’s Relax” Advertisement

Nora Lapinskaite

Vilnius University, A.J. Greimas Centre for Semiotics and the Theory of Literature

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Abstract: This paper provides a theoretical semiotic framework for analysing intertextuality in multimodal advertising discourse. Drawing on Lotman’s cultural semiotics, this article claims that intertextuality in advertising can be analysed as a specific case of the notion of the text within the text. The research shows that advertising messages that are doubly encoded by the inclusion of intertextual references can be interpreted as an artistic text. The case study of the IKEA multimodal ad ‘Let’s Relax’ (2016), using multimodal discourse analysis (MMDA), illustrates that different codes and semiotic fields combined in one multilayered text reconfigure primary structures and synthesise multiple meanings. Different potential interpretation strategies shape the audience’s engagement. Intertextual devices in advertising messages function not only as communicative messages but also as mechanisms for generating new meanings. I conclude by proposing that Lotman’s semiotics reveal a new perspective for analysing intertextuality in multimodal advertising as a mechanism that generates new meanings, inducing semantic ambivalence and multiple potential interpretation strategies.

Keywords: Intertextuality, text-within-text, Lotman, multimodal discourse, advertising, IKEA, semiotics

Intertekstuaalsus multimodaalses reklaamidiskursuses kui kultuurisemiootika objekt: IKEA reklaami „Let’s Relax” juhtumiuuring

Abstrakt: See artikkel pakub teoreetilise semiootilise raamistiku intertekstuaalsuse analüüsimiseks multimodaalses reklaamis. Tuginedes Lotmani kultuurisemiootikale väidab artikkel, et intertekstuaalsust reklaamis saab analüüsida kui tekst tekstis erijuhtu. Uurimus näitab, et intertekstuaalsete viidetega topeltkodeeritud reklaamisõnumeid saab tõlgendada kunstilise tekstina. IKEA multimodaalse reklaami “Let’s Relax” (2016) juhtumiuuring, milles kasutatakse multimodaalse diskursuse analüüsi (MMDA) lähenemist, illustreerib, et erinevad koodid ja semiootilised väljad, mis on kombineeritud ühte mitmekihilisse teksti, muudavad esialgseid struktuure ja sünteesivad uusi tähendusi. Erinevad võimalikud tõlgendusstrateegiad kujundavad publiku kaasatust. Intertekstuaalsed võtted reklaamisõnumites toimivad mitte ainult kommunikatiivsete sõnumitena, vaid ka uute tähenduste loomise mehhanismidena. Kokkuvõttes väidan, et Lotmani semiootika avab uue perspektiivi intertekstuaalsuse analüüsimiseks multimodaalses reklaamis, võimaldades vaadelda seda mehhanismina, mis loob uusi tähendusi, tekitades semantilist ambivalentsust ja mitmeid võimalikke tõlgendusstrateegiaid. 

Märksõnad: Intertekstuaalsus, tekst teksti, Lotman, multimodaalne diskursus, reklaam, IKEA, semiootika


Introduction

As a form of communication, advertising text1 typically employs linguistic or audiovisual means to encourage customers to purchase a product or a service. The practice of using advertising as a tool of reinforcing brand philosophy, aiming not merely to inform about the products, but to form the brand’s identity creating hypothetical ‘worlds’ that associate with customer values and desired lifestyle was fuelled by new technological development and the widespread advertisement dissemination on social networks (Ekhlassi et al. 2018). This transformation from traditional media channels to social media changed the ways in which contemporary advertisements are made and interpreted (Schultz 2016: 3–33; Quesenberry 2016: 33–63).

The aim of the paper is to analyse intertextuality in advertising as a specific case of the text within the text structure conceptualised by Juri Lotman. In this paper, a theoretical framework is provided to analyse intertextuality in advertising. This framework is then applied to a case study on the multimodal IKEA ad “Let’s Relax” using multimodal discourse analysis (MMDA) (Kress, van Leeuwen, 2001). Finally, I conclude by claiming that Lotman’s semiotics reveal a new perspective for analysing intertextuality in multimodal advertising as a mechanism that generates new meanings, inducing semantic ambivalence and several potential interpretation strategies. 

The research on intertextuality in advertising has been studied along two main lines. Firstly, by analysing specific intertextual references in multimodal advertising objects: e.g. as the expression of visual archetypes (Crăciunescu 2021) or humour (Dore 2020).  Secondly, as interdisciplinary studies investigating intertextuality as a tool to achieve other strategic goals: the dissemination of propaganda (Patrona 2022), the reconceptualisation of gender stereotypes (Gonzales 2021), the exploration of the Anthropocene problem (Aswad 2019), etc. Contemporary theories of intertextuality develop in various directions, but in this article, I propose to explore the phenomenon from the perspective of Lotman’s cultural semiotics.

The evolution of advertising discourse

The typical definition of advertising discourse2 ), distinguishing it from other discourses (e.g. artistic, journalistic, scientific), emphasises (1) the commercial nature of the message (the message commissioned by the “sender”) — (2) the functioning of advertising messages not as autonomous, but rather as interfering with other communicative situations — and (3) the constant reproduction of the message in the same medium (Simões 2023: 525). However, this definition is no longer sufficient to describe contemporary advertisements due to changes in the industry. Theorists Esther Thorson and Shelly Rodgers (2018: 526) identify two immutable aspects of advertising discourse: the presence of a message in the broadest sense, materialised through certain rhetorical (linguistic or non-linguistic) means, and the commercially motivated sender’s intention for the change in consumer’s life. Although advertising is often associated with direct benefits for business, the foundation of advertising has changed over the last decades, and an additional instance in this communication chain emerged: today, the product user itself can produce media coverage about the product (Spotts et al. 2022: 389). The widespread expansion of social networks has led to the transition from paid media and owned media controlled by the sender to earned media, where advertising in the digital context is generated by the product users themselves (in the form of social media sharing, product reviews, etc.) (Spotts et al. 2022: 388–389).

            The development of advertising as a mass communication tool is important to conceptually describe the principles of constructing and interpreting advertising texts. When advertising was transmitted through traditional media channels (print, radio, or television), the linguistic elements of the messages (signs, slogans, etc.) were typically associated with pragmatic values (e.g. product function, price, features), while the visual elements represented the ambivalence of meaning or additional ‘illusory’ values (emotions and feelings, identification with the advertising world) (Simões 2023: 530). In recent years, advertising discourse has been modified to function in the public as autonomous multimodal entities, capable of capturing and maintaining consumers’ attention and engaging in a dialogue with the consumer through their (both positive and negative) reactions or even via circulating as artwork in festivals (e.g. Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity3, Clio Awards4 ).

            Complex advertising messages, by extending the figurative dimension of the expression plane and concentrating the polysemous content in the messages, involve context as a necessary criterion for a full understanding of an advertising message (Cook 2001; Yuen 2004: 23; Simões 2023: 526). The context may encompass historical or cultural references representing the specificity of the medium, the physical space in which the advertising messages are disseminated, etc. In the case of multimodal objects appearing in digital communication channels, it is essential to perform a holistic analysis integrating different media to activate various communication competencies. Complex contemporary advertising is interpreted as a dynamic communication system of intertwined elements (Yakob 2022: 83), and this characteristic distinguishes them from static messages broadcasted in traditional media channels. Consequently, in the process of signification, it is crucial to reflect on the context in which the message appears.

The mass dissemination of advertising messages develops the audience’s advertising literacy and establishes a dialogical relationship between advertisers and consumers (Malmelin 2016). It has been observed that the extended content of the advertising texts is no longer directly related to the promoted product but offers multifaceted, humorous, imaginative, or ironic readings (Simões 2023: 527). Incorporating an educational, entertaining, or critical aspect into the construction of advertising messages, this (if successful) brings the discourse of advertising closer to the other types of discourse (such as informative, artistic, and educational) that operate autonomously in the cultural field and fully focusses the viewer’s/consumer’s attention (Hackley 2018). Through such means, the previous distinction between commercially sponsored and unsponsored content becomes blurred (Hardy 2018). 

In advertising analysis, the practice of interpretation is as important as the process of constructing and articulating messages in physical media. It allows a holistic understanding of meaning in a particular communicative situation. The inclusion of intertextual references in advertising, which is a central aspect of this study, opens up various interpretation strategies. This variation is affected by the specific principles of message articulation, the personal and cultural context of the perceiver, including individual and collective memory, dominant cultural paradigms, ideologies, and familiarity with the specifics of different media.

The text within the text as a structure actualising the phenomenon of intertextuality

In the early works by Lotman, three characteristics of the text were defined: (1) its expression through signs, (2) clear boundaries, and (3) an internal organisation which makes it a structure (Lotman 1977: 52–53). In later studies, the concept of the text in Lotman’s cultural semiotics was defined as (1) “a mechanism constructed as a system of heterogeneous semiotic spaces” or as (2) “a semiotic space in which languages interact, interfere and organise themselves hierarchically” (Lotman 2004: 215–216). Texts have at least two main functions in the overall cultural system: the adequate transmission of meanings (exchange of information) and the creation of new meanings (Lotman 2004: 213). Therefore, for a message to be described as a “text” (in comparison with non-text), it has to be coded at least twice (Lotman 1988: 55). 

The phenomenon of the text within the text is defined as the inclusion of a fragment of text into a new semantic field, detached from its primary natural context (Lotman 2009: 69). Based on this definition, a text within a text can involve elements of the same type of media (encoding method), such as a picture within a picture (2009: 70), or elements of different codes, forming a complex multilayered structure, like literary fragments, art, or photography in audiovisual or cinematographic objects. The relationship arising between different text fragments and, correspondingly, between different semantic fields can function in various ways: complementing each other and expanding the field of meaning; emphasising contrast; changing “the nature of the basic meaning”, ironising or remaining unrecognised by the perceiver and seemingly assigned to the immanent structure of the primary text (2009: 69). The introduction of an external text rearranges the immanent structure of the original text and formulates a new message, fulfilling the function of the cultural text as a generator of new meanings. The boundaries existing between the primary text and the external text (and their semantic fields) become emphasised through their mobility in the text within the text structure (2009: 69). The functions of boundaries in Lotman’s semiotics are dual: boundaries simultaneously separate and unite texts because they are a “polylingual mechanism” that transforms the inner and external structures (Rickberg 2022: 86).

It is in the acts of perception when the code (or several codes) of the text is reconstructed, and potential readings of the text are actualised (Lotman 2004: 212). This specific rhetorical construction (text-within-text), characterised by “difference in codification of the different parts of the text”, reveals both the way of construction by the author and the interpretation by the reader (Lotman 2009: 69). Once again, the duality of the text in Lotman’s semiotics appears; on the one hand, the text exists independently of its author as a “a thing amongst the things of the real world”, on the other hand, the text is always someone’s creation – the dualistic nature of the artistic text constantly actualises the opposition between reality and “conditionality” (Lotman 2004: 222; 2009: 73). Thus, in the process of perception, not only the relationship between specific fragments and their semiotic fields becomes relevant, but also the question of reality arising from several different encoding planes.

The perception of such a multifaceted structure is influenced not only by the perceiver’s individual cultural competencies — the cultural field in which the subject develops and functions — but also by individual and collective memory. Any form of external texts (quotations, allusions, pastiche, text-code, etc.) incorporated into the primary text are only recognisable, and their collision provides an increase of meaning if both the sender and the receiver belong to at least partially overlapping cultural fields. The perceiver must be familiar with the “language” of the original text to comprehend the secondary code (Lotman 1988: 53). In such cases, the primary text is newly interpreted through the lens of the inserted text and its represented cultural tradition or context. Thus, in objects where intertextuality is manifested, additional meanings are generated not only by the collision of individual authorial cultural texts but also through the juxtaposition of different represented cultural traditions. As a result of the text within the text, when an external text disrupts an immanent structure of a particular text, a new message is created and “the entire semiotic situation of that textual world changes” (Lotman 2004: 218). Hence, semantic transformations in the structural level/plane of the text emphasise the heterogeneity of the primary codes of the combined texts.

While discussing the notion of the text, Lotman combines two different theoretical perspectives to approach the text: (1) code-text (Jakobson, Propp, Levi-Strauss) and (2) text-generator (Bakhtin), which are both merged in Lotman’s semiotics (Spassova 2019: 226). Bakhtin’s theory of dialogism describes every communicative act as a certain arrangement of already existing elements of the system (Parts 2008: 13). According to this definition, literary texts also engage in continuous dialogues with other texts and authors (Irwin 2004). In literary theory, the phenomenon of intertextuality is associated with the principle of dialogism as formulated by Mikhail Bakhtin (1981). However, the notion of intertextuality is attributed to Julia Kristeva, who actualised Bakhtin’s theory in a new context and argued that “any text is constructed as a mosaic of quotations; any text is the absorption and transformation of another” (Kristeva 1980: 66). This link between Lotman’s and Bakhtin’s theories allows scholars to analyse intertextuality from the perspective of Lotman’s cultural semiotics and adapt the notion of the text within the text to the study of intertextuality.

Intertextuality in IKEA ads: “Let’s Relax”

The 2016 commercial “Let’s Relax”, from “The Wonderful Everyday” campaign, promotes IKEA’s kitchen furniture sets and small appliances while also contemplating a part of human existence, the ritual of eating. For this reason, the analysed advertisement is an example of institutional advertising (aiming to form the identity of the brand) rather than product advertising (aiming to promote a particular product) (Reich, Armstrong Soule 2016: 445–446). The ad combines different modalities — moving and static images, music, speech, and written language and therefore encourages the viewer to perceive the ad as a short film. The constructed narrative is linked to the habit of capturing meals with mobile phones and sharing the images on social media channels, as if we were not cooking for those gathered at the table but for everyone else watching us through the screen. The goals of the analysis were to reveal (1) how the message was constructed, (2) how external texts function in the ad, and (3) what meanings they generate. 

In both historical and contemporary contexts, a family of four sitting around a table is depicted. However, the specificity of the different periods is emphasised through the spatial figures (the hall of the palace/minimalist Scandinavian design kitchen), the additional actors (servants or their absence), clothing, and the meals on the tables. The central predicate of the depicted practice, sitting at the table and waiting to capture an image of what is served on the table before actually eating, is repeated in both narratives of the advertisement. The rest of the family members become irritated by an inappropriately timed snapshot or painting. In addition, the intrusive act is not done for its own sake but to seek the approval of others. Both characters, constructing images of food in their certain media, are characterised by anxiety about the end result, which will hopefully be positively sanctioned by external subjects. Further, the evaluation of the painting in the historical narrative is figuratively expressed through extralinguistic elements, mainly thumb gestures indicating their relationship (like/dislike) with the object, activating the connotations of such signs with social networks in the mind of the modern person. The presence of various representatives of diverse strata of 17th century society evaluating the painting reveals an anachronism — at that time artworks circulated only among the aristocrats. The collision via a montage of the two historical lines — past and present — and the “staging” of social media reactions in a distant historical epoch create an ironic assessment of media differences. The ad shows what the contemporary practice of like/dislike reactions might look like if transposed to historical times. At the same time ironical criticism from a social point of view is expressed: the habit of photographing food and sharing images on social networks, which blurs the boundary between the private home and the public space, is satirised.

In this example, a dual text-within-text structure is presented: first, in a narrative structure, the image of the old family world mirrors the image of the new family world; second, a painting within an audiovisual advertising text establishes intermodal relations.

In the ad, two different historical periods and their narratives are juxtaposed through a mirror-like principle — the aristocratic family of the 17th century and the contemporary 21st-century family. Both visual elements and the soundtrack (“Four Seasons: Summer”by Antonio Vivaldi and the modern jazz song “Whispering” by Franck Sarkissian) emphasise the differences between the represented historical periods. The painting that appears in scenes illustrating both periods can be interpreted as an intertextual reference to the painting “Still Life with a Peacock Pie” (Fig. 1) by the Dutch painter Pieter Claesz from 1627. 

Figure 1. Pieter Claesz, “Still Life with Peacock Pie”, 1627, National Gallery of Arts (Retrieved from: https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.132271.html/, 03.01.2024).

The structure of a painting in an audiovisual advertising text actualises the text within the text model. The commercial message is encoded with at least two codes, and the medium (as a code) of primary and external text differs and “are characterised by their untranslatability, emphasising their specific semiotic features” (Lotman 2009: 76). However, the differences in codification of the different parts of the text reveal structural and semantic heterogeneity of the ad (ibid., 69). First, the painting is integrated into the narrative of the aristocratic family (Fig. 2). Metatextual elements are introduced into the text by showing the process of production, distribution, and evaluation of the painting. Second, the same painting becomes a part of the contemporary home interior (Fig. 3). Both examples show that the intertext is integrated into the clip as a part of a continuous narrative rather than introduced as a marked reference (Lotman 2009: 76). According to Lotman, this structure encourages the perceiver to extend these allusions to other texts and actualise the semiotic fields of the integrated external texts (Lotman 2004: 226). As an example of unmarked references is analysed in this case, the question of boundaries between primary and external texts appears. When an intertext is integrated into the text, the internal structure of the primary text and its boundaries changes and the mobility of the defined boundaries, for instance, becomes “the starting point for the generation of meaning” (Lotman 2009: 69).

Figure 2. Frame from IKEA “Let’s Relax” (Retrieved from: https://yaffetidbits.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8347d063969e201b7c882fc29970b-popup, 03.01.2024).
Figure 3. Frame from IKEA “Let’s Relax”.

As a result of the text within the text, a juxtaposition of two semantic fields — contemporary advertising clip and baroque still life — appears. Although the tradition of depicting food in art dates back to historical times, it is only with the advent of accessible instant digital image capturing and sharing on social networks that it has become a widespread everyday practice. This specific example not only reflects fine art as a branch of visual art in general but also represents the tradition of 17th-century Dutch art and the unique still life genre. It may appear that such paintings showcase only the wealth of the estate (luxurious dishes, spices from distant lands, etc.) and the artist’s talent for depicting various textures (shining silver, translucent glass, fabric). However, baroque still lifes were also perceived as symbolically coded messages, not just images representing reality (Matheos 2018). The knowledge of primary semantic fields of the external texts is necessary for understanding the semantic effect of the text within the text structure, which is the basis of intertextuality. Dutch still lifes are one of the most philosophical genres of art, combining realism and illusion (Slive 1962: 470). The hyperbolically realistic style of representation “suggests” switching the perspective of perception and understanding that Dutch still lifes are coded messages, in which each object is a Christian symbol representing “icons of exalted matter, God’s admirable Creation and sacralised domesticity” (Simsky 2018: 314). In “Still Life with a Peacock Pie”, bread is a symbol of Christ’s body and the Eucharist, apples symbolise the fall from the Garden of Eden, and peaches with leaves represent truth (the union of heart and tongue). An empty glass cup connotes the emptiness of earthly wealth and desires, while a peacock symbolises immortality and resurrection, and the rose is a symbol of the Virgin Mary’s suffering (Hall 2014; Rekkali 2016). Modern digital food photography loses this secondary (symbolic, conventional) code and activates only a single way of interpretation.

The example of “Let’s Relax” also provides a critical look at the conflict between juxtaposed media. The process of creating a fine art text can be defined as slow (this analysis reflects on the realistic way of representation), requiring specific mastery and skill. Additionally, an artwork is a physical object that complicates the possibilities of easily transporting the painting (the dimension of this still life is 77.5 cm × 128.9 cm). Finally, during the period referred to in the advertisement, the ability to produce fine artworks was limited to aristocratic estates (art texts circulated among narrow societal layers). The final scene reveals the parallel between the artwork and photography, which, due to modern technology, has become instantaneous and accessible to everyone, requiring no specific knowledge or skills. Digital photos captured on the phone have no physical form, which, on the one hand, ensures rapid photo dissemination, unrestricted by spatial or temporal parameters. On the other hand, the single code of the image (as mentioned before, it has no symbolic meanings) and its mass distribution due to its lack of physicality consequently causes a very quick devaluation of the image. This paradox is expressed in the ad, as the artwork is repeatedly shown for the characters and for the audience, but the photo remains unseen. This scene reevaluates today’s practice in a new light. 

At the advertisement’s ending, linguistic elements appear: the advertising slogan “This is a meal. Not a competition. Relax” and the background lyrics “Each little moment we have, no one must see, no one must know”5. These elements extend the theme of the temporariness of life introduced by the symbolic reading of the still life and encourage one to enjoy everyday life without stress rather than seeking external recognition. 

In summarising the construction principles of the ad, a text within a text occurs in two ways: (1) the story of the modern family duplicates the narrative of the aristocratic family and (2) the intertextual reference of the painting is included in the ad. The juxtaposition of different semantic fields (modern advertising discourse and 17th-century Dutch still lifes) and codes (fine art, photography and audiovisual clips) reconfigures primary internal boundaries and generates new meanings, as well as transforms commercial text into an artistic autonomous text, characterised by the heterogeneity of meanings. The text within the text emphasises a “playful nature”6 and duality of a text: it still functions as a commercial ad but also as an autonomous artistic short film. Lotman, in his article “The place of art among other modelling systems”, claims that the general characteristic of artistic texts, the ability to accumulate and convey multiple meanings, is, however, independent of the different expressive principles (2011: 262–265). Therefore, in this case, the multimodal advertising object characterised by the combination of different semiotic systems and the integration of intertextuality activates the secondary code and generates new meanings. 

In such a text, the viewer’s attention is drawn not to a specific product but rather to the interpretation of the hypothetical lifestyle model offered by the advertisers. In the analysed example, the immanent structure of the advertisement is designed to showcase the advertised goods (by integrating them into the narrative rather than isolating them and putting them on display) and to focus the audience’s attention towards the conceptual/pragmatic values (comfort, practicality), emotional values (quality time with family, life without stress), and aesthetic values (minimalistic design combined with fine art) with which the brand aims to be associated. Due to the second code included in the ad through different principles of construction (structural and semantic) several interpretation strategies become possible. The ad could be interpreted both as an icon, representing reality (criticism of modern social media habits), as an index (showing the development of the tradition of depicting iconic images of food) and as a symbolic message (a conventional depiction of Christian values and the meaning of life which align with IKEA’s proposed model of life). Different potential interpretation strategies shape the audience’s engagement.

“Let’s Relax” is one of many IKEA ads that include intertextuality. For example, the ad “Beds” incorporates intertextual references to the play “The Tempest” by William Shakespeare and “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” by Lyman Frank Baum; the ad “Change a bit for good” transforms the narrative of the film “WALL·E”; “The Wardrobe”, references “The Chronicles of Narnia”, and “The Hare”, references the folktale “The Rabbit and the Turtle”. This characteristic of IKEA advertising establishes intertextuality as a strategic approach to communication and an integral part of its marketing strategy for creating the identity of the brand.

Conclusions 

Intertextuality in multimodal advertising texts can be analysed using the notion of the text within the text as articulated by Lotman. This approach allows analysing both the principles of the construction of the text and the process of interpretation by describing primary internal structures, meanings, internal/external boundaries and their transformations, the characteristics of the sub-texts (intertexts) as cultural texts, and their relations with each other, etc. In the example of “Let’s Relax”, the narratives of two historical epochs are linked to the same still life, which can actualise the iconic, indexical, and symbolic reading of the ad. Different potential meaning production modes determine that the ad can be interpreted as:

  • The criticism of modern social habits was expressed through the ironical effect of staging the practice of producing and evaluating food images in the 17th century.
  • The evolution of producing meal images and the transformation from fine art to the medium of photography. This interpretation reveals the devaluation of the instant image due to the mass dissemination of photos on social media and the loss of a symbolic code, specific for Dutch still lifes.
  • Philosophical reflection on everyday rituals and existential human values. The symbolic code reveals the subject of the impermanence of life and suggests the values of modesty and moderation.

Intertextual relations actualise the text within the text structure, and the combination of different codes and semiotic fields in a text transforms primary internal structures and reconfigures the demarcation lines between the “external” and the “internal”. As a result, different meanings are synthesised and may be perceived according to the competencies of the interpreter. In Lotman’s semiotics, text is described as heterogeneous (Spassova 2019: 22), and this characteristic reveals itself in the analysis of the ad and incorporates the commercial text into the cultural field. Advertising text starts to exist as an autonomous artistic text. Multilayered text actualises various readings and shapes the audience’s engagement.

In conclusion, it was observed in the analysis that advertising messages that feature the structure of the text within the text function not only as communicative messages, effectively conveying meanings, but also as short films, as mechanisms generating new meanings and transforming the (individual and collective) identity of the perceiver and generating a unique cultural universe (Birnbaum 1990: 55–58).

The semantic enrichment caused by intertextuality in multimodal advertising discourse is expressed in several ways: (1) through the individual content of the intertext, (2) the context in which an intertextual reference appears and its relation to the primary text, (3) through references to a cultural or historical field, actualised in a new context, (4) through the emerging relationship between reality and fiction, and (5) by the combination of the different media, actualising the conflict of media as encoding modes.

The encryption of modern multimodal advertising messages using at least two different codes, thereby constructing a unique secondary modelling system, allows an effective portrayal of the brand’s axiology. Values represented in the ad “Let’s Relax” can be described as reliability, modesty, safety, attention to family, interest in art, freedom, and equality. IKEA aestheticises daily routines and everyday life both on the expression plane and on the content plane, thus emphasising the meaning/significance of everyday life. All these values create the image of a socially sustainable, equal, tolerant, and trustworthy community, one that can be relied upon, that is aware of contemporary social trends, that continues a cultural tradition, and that preserves human relationships.

Further research on intertextuality as a phenomenon can be analysed more extensively through the lens of Lotman’s cultural semiotics theory on these topics:

  1. The issue of the advertising audience and what different meanings interpreters with different cultural experiences can construct.
  2. The inclusion of contemporary or avant-garde intertexts in advertising messages. In the primary form of the text, contemporary artworks are like mosaics of foreign quotations. By incorporating them into the model of text within a text, several levels of intertextual configurations emerge. Thus, how can complex structures of the texts within the texts be methodologically described?
  3. The problem of memory in the context of intertextuality. Lyudmila Parts states that “it [intertextuality] is a mechanism that transforms cultural memory into a text” (2008: 15), and I believe that addressing the issue of memory by reflecting on the intertextual relationships and their perception process opens the possibility of analysing the phenomenon from different perspectives.

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Notes


  1. The definition of the text in this article can be described as coherent structure of any signs (linguistic or non-linguistic, including different types) that can be perceived and/or interpreted as meaningful (Lotman 2004: 136). 

  2. The advertising discourse in this research corresponds to Simões’ definition: “Advertising is one of the liveliest and most representative forms of discourse when it comes to displaying its own inner functioning, since it not only enhances its status as a linguistic form of communication but also foregrounds the need for context when it comes to the full understanding of the overall message” (Simões 2023: 526 

  3. Available online:  https://www.canneslions.com/, 29.05.2024 

  4. Available online:  https://clios.com/awards, 20.05.2024 

  5. Franck Sarkissian “Whispering” from the album “Midnight Jazz Songs kosinus”. 

  6. Lotman 2004: 215, 221.