Constructing the Meaning of Green Mobility: Xanh SM Branding in Indonesia

Abstract

This article examines the ways in which Xanh SM, an electric taxi firm, is formulating the idea of green mobility, when it comes to the entry of the Indonesian market. The study is a combination of visual semiotic and digital netnography. Color, logo, vehicle visual, slogans and the interface are the main focus of the semiotic analysis in order to implement the Barthes levels of denotation, connotation, and myth. The netnographic reading is anchored in digital artifacts available publicly and especially on the official online communication of the brand and the comments of the users in the application stores. Findings suggest that Xanh SM provides green mobility as a bundle of signs an electric fleet, a new turquoise visual image, and a promise of smoother, more efficient, cleaner and comfortable travel. The future of transportation in the city appears to be smart, electric, clean, and environmentally responsible because of the mythic level of the brand. But users do not simply absorb this message. They also match it to the actual problems of service in the real life such as fares, pick up practices, driver behavior and complaints. The meaning of green mobility in the ASEAN digital media environment is therefore worked out in a point of convergence between visual design, corporate stories, and experienced service.