Laughing pandemic: coronavirus reality in the context of a humorous poster-demotivator

The article examines the humorous poster-demotivator about the coronavirus in polycode Internet memes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The material for the study consists of more than 500 humorous advertising texts (demotivators) posted from March 11, 2020, to May 5, 2023, on Internet platforms, including social networks VKontakte and Telegram, as well as on websites with jokes and memes about the coronavirus, such as demotivatorium.ru, kaifolog.ru, meme-arsenal.ru, etc. The research methods include semantic, contextual, and cognitive-discursive analysis of advertising texts. The aim of the article is to analyze the mass linguistic creativity during the pandemic as a humorous reaction to the topic of coronavirus in the form of social posters, where health becomes the main social value. It is concluded that three main techniques of language play are used to create a humorous polycode text: reframing of the Soviet poster, reframing of the coronavirus social poster, and humorous interpretation of current coronavirus themes and their poster embodiment. Using the reframing technique, official coronavirus posters are transformed into demotivators, relying on the transposition of the theme from one tone (informational-directive) to another (oppositional, comic). When distinguishing between two types of polycode text - autosemantic and synsemantic - depending on the relationship between verbal and iconic elements, the demotivator often relies on the visual part, belonging to the synsemantic type of text. Coronavirus demotivators are used to represent social problems, allowing for a critical understanding of the current situation and a humorous presentation of reality