Adidas Might Be Making a Huge Error

...with its "Impossible is Nothing" Slogan

- Adonai Gideon

The America-based sports apparel manufacturing company, Adidas might be making a huge error with its slogan, "impossible is nothing." The copywriter might also be sueable for insensitivity of linguistic context, implicature and reference. This might also be the case with  Coca-Cola'popularslogan, "Open Happiness." 

Contrasting Adidas' slogan "impossible is nothing" with Nike's, "just do it", there are many underlining questions to whether Adidas do understand what their language might be costing all their customers and patronizers. Take for instance, a friend encourages you to do the impossible, by cheering: "Just Do It!" Meanwhile, another whispers : "impossible is nothing." In the face of sports pressure and determination, "Just Do It" encourages more than "Impossible is Nothing". And to a great extent, "Impossible is Nothing" can demoralise in no small measure.

The slogan is not user friendly, yet it is user-oriented. The company, evidently decides to lead a campaign that "Nothing is impossible" without making due consultations as regards the implications of reversing the structure of the clause. Inadvertently, Adidas have either ended up saying the opposite of what they meant or uttering total semantic gibberish in similitude to Chomsky's  "colourless green ideas sleep furiously", which is limited to syntactic analysis without functional meaning.

In communication, context in fundamental. Context itself is a dynamic and capricious concept. It is to be understood as the continually changing surroundings, in the widest sense that enable participants in the communication process to interact, and in which the linguistic expressions of their interaction become intelligible. It is almost the same to users who have little or no time to imagine the copywriter's intentions as they look through billboards, and advertisements on fast moving trains or in a sports center with no time to waste in order to hit a target.

Adidas – Impossible is nothing

How does this relate to an athlete under pressure? The clause might be a clause crafted out of a matrix clause:   a) That this game is impossible is nothing. b) This game is impossible to win and this is nothing. c) Winning this game is impossible and that is nothing since it is being played against a stronger team.

The meaning of the English Clause presents itself in boxing and at the war front as positive and encouraging. "Impossible is Nothing" This is because soldiers and pugilists are used to phrasal communications: Get him! Let him go! Cease fire! Mission impossible! Retreat! Fire! Impossible is Nothing!!!

It serves as words of courage for a fighter who has no time to interpret what string of words really mean because he is faced with a looming pernicious danger. As a result, the boxer in a ring takes any word as a word of courage without conceding defeat, except the towel is thrown in if he suffers from sever bleeding.

Constructively, "Not impossible!" would be a better slogan for Adidas. This gets the message clearer without ambiguity because not all footballers and fans speak English. Hence, a-two-word caption would do the magic if Adidas really wants to impact its users positively. For instance: Fair play, Throw in, Goal Check, Off side. In the same way, "Not impossible!" is really the appropriate caption for Adidas as a slogan.