An Ideational Intersemiotic Complementarity Analysis Of Corporate Environmental Responsibility

Environmental problems have become a global problem that urgently needs to be solved.The failure of companies to fulfill their corporate environmental responsibilities is one of the reasons leading to increasingly serious environmental problems.Based on qualitative analysis,this paper takes IKEA as a case to explore how it undertakes corporate environmental responsibility from the perspective of deep ecological theory.The main research questions are as follows: 1)What kinds of ideational intersemiotic complementarity exist in IKEA green advertisements? 2)How do those kinds of ideational intersemiotic complementarity imply Arne Naess’ s deep ecological principles? 3)Why can the implied deep ecological principles reflect corporate environmental responsibility? To answer the above questions,this study analyzes 10 green advertisements on IKEA’s Hong Kong official website and then interprets the ideational intersemiotic complementarity and the implied deep ecological thoughts,and finally compares them with the international standard of corporate environmental responsibility ISO 26000 to explain how IKEA undertakes corporate environmental responsibility.The research findings are as follows: 1)Different types of visual message elements in pictures are complemented in texts to various degrees.Attributes are the key information for customers to understand a product and make purchase decisions among all similar products,so it is supplemented through all kinds of intersemiotic complementarity relations in the text.The most common one is collocation because words in the same field can help provide consumers with more detailed information.Identification is the actual product that people need to identify and therefore needs to be reinforced with appropriate intersemiotic complementarity in the text.Repetition is used more frequently than other relations in complementing identification as it is the most direct and easiest way to establish a connection between a visual image and a written text.The environment is only to highlight the main product,namely,just the background of identification,so the Environmental visual message elements are not the main promotion point and are rarely complemented in the corresponding text.Since IKEA products are fixed furniture placed in a limited space,active visual message elements rarely appear in images,let alone the intersemiotic complementarity in texts.2)The above sorts of ideational complementarity between pictures and texts in IKEA green advertisements,especially the complementarity towards attributes,reflect some deep ecological thoughts including advocacy of a fair and moderate consumption,the pursuit of quality rather than quantity,and preservation of biodiversity for sustainable development.3)These thoughts are very similar to the requirements for corporate environmental responsibility mentioned in the international standard ISO 26000.The first issue in 26000 is the prevention of pollution which proposes reducing waste.The same idea of reducing waste and consuming in a moderate way is also mentioned in the first deep ecological principle.Issue 2 is sustainable resource use,meaning using energy and material more efficiently.By doing so,the amount of usage is decreased,but it is more beneficial for our environment.Therefore,this matches the second deep ecological principle,the pursuit of quality rather than quantity.The third issue is climate change mitigation and adaptation which is related to energy efficiency and soil health.Soil is defined by Arne Naess as a type of life form which has its own intrinsic value and deserves to be protected.Thus issue 3 not only echoes the second deep ecological principle of quality life but also matches the third principle which is the preservation of biodiversity for sustainable development.The last issue in ISO 26000 is the protection of the environment,biodiversity and restoration of natural habitats.As both issue 4 and the last deep ecological principle has the same keyword “biodiversity,” it is obvious that issue 4 and the last deep ecological principle share the same view.Based on the above research results,it can be concluded that through the green advertisements on its official website,IKEA reflects deep ecological thoughts in the form of texts and pictures.This deep ecological ideology complies with the international standard ISO26000 in terms of environmental responsibility.Therefore,IKEA has assumed corporate environmental responsibility and the specific measures mentioned in its advertisements are worthy of reference for other companies.