The advent of COVID-19 has plunged the world into
manifestly surprising vulnerability. The consequences extend to almost all

walks of life. In the face of this deleterious climate, humanity is trying to
react. Consequently, measures are being taken both globally, notably
through the WHO, and nationally. Burkina Faso, like other countries, has,
among other things, developed response strategies to try to contain the
pandemic. This concerns in particular the declination of gestures or barrier
measures and the exhortation to respect them, supposed to put an end in
the long or short term to the chain of contamination of the disease. To
achieve wide dissemination of these measures, several media supports
have been used, among which can be cited, TV, radio, Internet, billboards.
Among these media, television, display but also the Internet, in many cases,
have the particularity, in their content (s) on COVID-19, of showing
simultaneously, concomitant and interactive image and linguistics. The
reflection initiated within the framework of this article is, in doing so, to
ask whether such a configuration, which brings together image and
language, does not have a particular added value in terms of effective
« means of action » on the public.
Keywords: Pragmatics, semiotic practices, urban displays, COVID-19