This paper will use the theoretical concepts of ‘intertextuality’, ‘interdiscursivity’ and ‘resemiotization’ to analyse four media texts on South African president, Jacob Zuma. The aims of the paper are, first, to analyse the role that intertextual references play in the construction of the identity of public figures. Second, the paper investigates the semiotic affordances of the visual and linguistic mode by tracing how previous discourses and texts about Jacob Zuma move across discursive spaces and modes. The findings suggest that reference (...) to previous discourses play a fundamental role in the way in which Jacob Zuma is constructed. More specifically, resemiotization from the verbal to the visual mode seems to serve as a way to bring multiple discourses into a text without necessarily articulating these discourses linguistically. These findings are discussed within the broader framework of critical discourse analysis. (shrink)

This paper examines within the theoretical framework of intertextuality the mobilization of glocalization as an international marketing strategy in Nike’s and Adidas’s 2008 advertising campaigns in China. Intertextuality is seen as a form of mediation through which the glocalization strategy conducted within the domain of global marking is taken up in the domain of advertising communication. The paper also assumes the interrelations of intertextual performance to value orientations and group affiliations. By analyzing intertextuality in relation to affinity groups, it aims (...) to resolve to some extent the conundrum of Nike’s more successful than Adidas in the sportswear market of China in a social-semiotic perspective. Two print ads constituting a representative example of the corpus were selected for a qualitative analysis. The comparative analysis of intertextuality reveals the contrasting methods of glocalization applied by Nike and Adidas in their 2008 advertising campaigns, thus offering an explanation for Nike’s triumph in competition with Adidas in China. (shrink)