'Impossible is Nothing'? (new adidas slogan)

[Torsten]

What do you think of the Adidas slogan 'Impossible is Nothing'? They use some kind of double negative here and inverted the word order. In my opinion they somehow have overdone it, the message is lost.
I think there are better catch phrases out such as 'Make the most of now'. What's your take on this?
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Fan of Arabian horses]

Hi Torsten!

I have never heard this slogan! What I know is the slogan "nothing is impossible, Toyoooota" I think the meaning is different.
"impossible is nothing" for me sounds like it?s nothing to be impossible. It is not a double negative, it is simply impossible! So if the advertising department of addidas found such a slogan they might have been drunk or in a mental crisis to create that, also might the management have had a mental disorder to allow them a public campaign like this. Or am I one of the last dinosaurs because I can?t accept such a slogan?
Better thought through seems the Toyota slogan to me: nothing is impossible which I can invert to everything is possible? That is a statement I understand.

kind regards

Michael

[Yankee]

Hi Torsten

I wouldn't necessarily call the slogan a double negative. For me the inversion is just a technique sometimes used for emphasis or effect. Theoretically they could also say "Possible is everything." for effect. But I would expect this sort of inversion most often in spoken English. (The emphasis would also be clearly heard on the first word.)

The question in my mind would be: Is this sentence/slogan going to have the desired advertising effect?

Maybe they expect it to work precisely because it's not "standard" word order. People will pay attention and remember because it's different?

Or will it backfire because the inversion of the words is irritating? By backfire I mean 'cause negative feelings' which could negatively affect sales. Michael's reaction seems to support this possibility.

One thing is clear, though. If they'd chosen to say "Nothing is impossible", they wouldn't get the kind of immediate reaction that "Impossible is nothing" creates.

Just a couple of thoughts from someone who's definitely not an advertising expert....

Amy
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Jan]

Hi,
even if the corporation like Adidas has done something
without luck and has spoiled a bit of our trust in common sense,correct language,fair business - it does not mean they are going to loose anything.
We may be all surprise how powerful are stones once moved from a pick of mountain.
They will smash with they crazy advertising (libido inside libido) all doubts.
Finally final, we find ourself some time from now talking to clients :
yes be sure Sir impossible is nothing here.
regards
Jan

[Fan of Arabian horses]

Hi Jan!

I think you have hit the nail on his head! A sentence like "impossible is nothing " has to do with fairness. Like you mentioned correct language means fair buisiness. And if anybody intentionally uses such an incorrect usage of language I can?t trust him. And if anybody uses it in a public campaign than I feel suggested to feel kidded. Should I allow them to kid me? I think I do not need to! It?s only a stupid cheap trick to sale me an inferior product for a high prize! That is what I think if I read such a slogan!

Kind regards

Michael

[Conchita]

Strangely enough, I don't see anything wrong with this slogan. Or perhaps I'm not interpreting it correctly? Doesn't it mean "Impossible is no big feat (for us/you)", i.e. we/you can do more than the impossible?

Now I fear it's not as simple as that!

[spencer]

Hey guys,
When I heard this slogan, I didn't think about it like a grammaticaly wrong sentence.
Because there are too many things I don't know about English, I always try to feel what they want to tell, instead of trying to understand every single words.
Impossible is nothing= It might be Impossible if I wasn't wearing Adidas, but (thanks to Adidas) Impossible is not even worth a single braincell of mine to get busy by worrying about the future, because the otherwise Impossible THING is gonna be defetead by Adidas.
Simple as that.
Impossible is nothing, isn't is it?
Spencer

[Jamie (K)]

That slogan Impossible is Nothing doesn't mean the same thing as, "Nothing is impossible." When we say something is "nothing", we mean that it's very easy, so I understand the slogan to mean, "People say that's impossible, but for me it's a piece of cake!" We say, for example, "That job is nothing!" meaning that it's extremely easy. "I can't jump over that fence. It's nothing." "It's nothing to beat that team."

So, I think the slogan is clever. It basically means, "Sure I can do the impossible. It's nothing!"

Amy, it's a well-known principle of advertising that sales don't depend on whether or not people like a slogan, but how long it sticks in their heads. Irritating slogans stick longer, and they create more lasting brand recognition, which translates to sales.

[Fan of Arabian horses]

Hi Conchita!

Might be that I?m too sceptically sometimes. Your interpretation of that sentence is also a possibility of the sense they wanted to share to us. But however, it sounded better to me if they would say: "It is not a big feat for us to do or to develop the impossible!" or "Impossibilties are no rightous requests for us"! Like I mentioned, maybe that I?m one of the last dinosaurs but my suggestions to express this sense I could accept for an honest advertisement.
The sentence "Impossible is nothing" suggests me to be exaggerated impressive. And if anybody tries to be exaggerated impressive (my experience of life) he/she tries to omit hidden defects and I?ll become conversative. Am I wrong?

Please enlighten me if i am!

Michael

[spencer]

Hey, this is exactly what I sad, just in much better shape!
JAMIE-HE'S GOOD TO BE AROUND
How's that for an ad?
Or: JAMIE- NOTHING IS NOTHING
Spencer

[spencer]

Hi Michael,
I think that You're right, but why not to make things easy?
I like dinos though, especially the T-REX!
Spencer

[Fan of Arabian horses]

[Torsten]

[Yankee]

Hi Torsten

Although the word "nothing" can mean "very easy" or "child's play" (as Conchita and Jamie pointed out), I'm still not convinced that this is the intended message for the "Impossible is Nothing" slogan. Or, at least not the only intended message. I also don't think all native speakers would understand this to be the only meaning. I think that native speakers would also debate the meaning of the slogan --- just as we're doing here. Does it mean "Nothing is impossible" or does it mean "Doing the impossible is easy"?

I guess one reason I still tend toward the "Nothing is impossible" meaning is that Adidas uses well-known sports figures to promote their products. Does Adidas want to imply that these champions won easily? Wouldn't that be a little insulting to the people who worked and trained for years in order to achieve "the impossible"? OK, maybe Adidas wants to imply that using their products makes it easy to achieve "the impossible". That would be a very old advertising ploy. It's also a very obvious tactic and I think consumers tend to see through this kind of message.

There's nothing terribly impressive or dramatic about achieving something easily. I think Adidas wants to point out that their spokespeople (sports champions) set records that people said couldn't be done at all. They achieved the impossible. That's dramatic. And maybe Adidas wants to imply that the company works just as hard to achieve "impossible" products. Saying "Nothing is impossible" is not a dramatic sentence. It's a standard sentence and therefore 'ho-hum'. But "Impossible is nothing"? Now, that's different!

Another reason I think that the intended meaning is "Nothing is impossible" is that Adidas uses this as a global slogan and I don't think "nothing" would be understood as "easy" by most non-native speakers.

As I mentioned before, "Impossible is nothing" definitely gets a much more immediate reaction than a more "standard" sentence. And maybe that was ultimately the main goal.

Regarding the "Come in and find out" slogan, I've got an additional thought. I've noticed that some (not all) Germans have become quite annoyed by the proliferation of English in German advertising. Especially since the beginning of the war in Iraq. Some Germans react negatively simply because a slogan is in English or has some English words in it. I wonder if the survey you mentioned asked about this aspect. Do you happen to know?

Amy

PS

Regarding "The Impossible Team":
If you said "He's impossible", I think most people would understand this to mean "He's horrible! It's impossible to deal with him." Another debatable slogan.
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Torsten]

Hi Amy,

Just found this DW-World article which might provide some additional information regarding our discussion: Opinion: Desperately Ditching Denglish

By the way Marc Young refers to perfect received pronunciation in this article, a term that is usually used by linguists teaching English as a second language. For some reason the abbreviation PR (Received Pronunciation) is commonly used by ESL profs at German universities while it might not be known in English speaking countries. Why is that?
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary