Journal Article Analysis

(INTERNATIONAL)
 01TITLEES

A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of

Online Soft Drink Advertisements
PAGES 02 27

PUBLISHED 03 2022

PUBLISHER 04 LANGUAGE INSTITUTE,

THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY (THAILAND)

AUTHORS 05 WALUGA SUPHABORWORNRATA &

PIYAPORN PUNKASIRRIKULB
 6. ABSTRACT
The objectives of this study are to investigate verbal and visual semiotic resources employed as well as the
cultural aspects embedded in the online soft drink advertisements.The data of this study was selected from the U.S.
official soft drink brand Coca-Cola Instagram account (@cocacola), and a total of 58 advertisements were analyzed.
Three analytical frameworks were employed to analyze the data. First, Nilsen (1979)’s phonetic devices framework
was used for verbal resources analysis. Second, Kress & van Leeuwen (2006)’s and Harrison (2008)’s social
semiotics frameworks were adapted for analyzing visual resources. Third, Hofstede et al. (2010)’s cultural
dimensional model was employed to discuss the cultural aspects in the advertisements. The analysis of the verbal
resources in the advertisements reveal two types of phonetic devices: alliteration and assonance. For the visual
analysis, the advertisements tend to use the brand’s Title
color,text Title
red, instead of text to make the
a logo Title text memorable. The
brand
addition addition addition
representative participants (RP)’ positions and gazes also give the sense of equality between the viewers and the
brand. Most of the advertisements use visual resources that complement the verbal resources in order for the
advertisements to be coherent as well as being able to convey the embedded cultural aspects. Two cultural aspects
out of six were found: masculinity and indulgence. In addition, the study also found religious aspects embedded in
the data.
 7. KEYWORDS

KEYWORDS

cultural multimodal social phonetic online

dimensions critical semiotics devices softdrink
discourse advertisements
analysis
8. GENERAL AIM

This study aims to investigate

multimodality and the
embedded cultural aspects in
online soft drink advertisements.
 9. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

What are the verbal What are the cultural

and visual semiotic 1 2 aspects embedded
resources employed in the online social
in online social media soft drink
media soft drink advertisement?
advertisement? 1
 10
METHODOLOGY
 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS/TOOLS

10.1
This study employed a qualitative
research design.

10.2
10.2a
This study utilized descriptive method to analyze verbal
and visual semiotic resources employed as well as the
cultural aspects embedded in the online soft drink
advertisements.
 11
DATA COLLECTION
 The data of the present study were 58 online Coca-Cola advertisements
purposively selected from the official Instagram advertisements of Coca-Cola
(@cocacola). Coca-Cola was the chosen brand because it was the most valuable
11.1 soft drink brand in 2019 and many years before that, according to Forbes (2019).
Type of Data Originally, there were 68 advertisements posted on the USA Coca-Cola Instagram
(@cocacola), but 10 of them were excluded because they couldn’t meet the
selection criteria as follows.

a. The samples must be multimodal. In other words, the advertisements must

contain both verbal and visual resources.
b. Only the still advertising pictures were taken into consideration. It should be
emphasized that advertisements on Instagram come in both still and moving
pictures, but moving pictures are excluded since the scope and the frameworks of
the present study were more suitable for the analysis of still picture only.
c. The samples were published on Instagram in 2019 since Coca Cola was the
most valuable and trustworthy brand in 2019 according to Forbes (2019).
 The analysis of verbal and visual resources followed these
procedures:
11.2
PROCESS
a. The verbal resources were coded according to the phonetic
framework adapted from Nilsen’s (1979) linguistic taxonomy.
b. After the verbal resources were investigated, the visual resources
were coded based on the social semiotic framework.
Salience was not coded but salient resources were specified based

on the components’ sizes, focuses, tones, colors, and placements.

c. The investigated verbal and visual resources were then incorporated
with Hofstede et al. (2010)'s cultural dimensions to optimize the
interpretation.
 11.3 PARTICIPANTS

NONE
11.4 RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS

After the samples were selected, 10% of them were randomly

chosen for the inter-rater to assess in order to reduce
subjectivity and verify the representativeness of the data set.
The 10% proportion of data was suggested by Campbell et al.
(2013) and O'Connor & Joffe (2020) as a typical proportion for
multiple coding. A coding guide with analytical frameworks, the
coding system, and examples were provided for the inter-rater.
 12
ANSWERS TO THE RESEARCH
QUESTIONS
12. 1 What are the verbal and visual semiotic resources employed in online social media soft
drink advertsement?
The analysis of the verbal resources in the advertisements reveal two types of phonetic devices: alliteration

and assonance. Alliteration is the repetition of initial sound or letter to make the line catchy or easier to remember,

and assonance is the use of similar vowel sounds. For the visual analysis, the advertisements tend to use the

Titlememorable.
brand’s color, red, instead of a logo to make the brand text TheTitle text
representative Title text(RP)’ positions
participants
addition addition addition
and gazes also give the sense of equality between the viewers and the brand. Most of the advertisements use

visual resources that complement the verbal resources in order for the advertisements to be coherent as well as

being able to convey the embedded cultural aspects.

12. 2 What are the cultural aspects embedded in the online social media soft drink
advertisement?

Two cultural aspects out of six were found: masculinity and indulgence. Hofstede et al (2010) states that a

masculine society is goal driven, competitive, and assertive. In other words, american society is a masculine society

in which people strive to be the best. On the other hand, indulgence refers to the extent which members of the society
Title text Title text Title text
attempt to restrain their natural urges. According to addition
Hofstede et al (2010), American culture
addition is regarded as an
addition

indulgent one, which means that American cultural norms allow individuals to enjoy their lives and pursue their

desires. In addition, the study also found religious aspects embedded in the data.
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