Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Food Advertisements at Pakistani Media based on Visual Grammar

Abstract

The aim of this research is to investigate and analyze the language and rhetorical strategies used by advertisers to generate interest in customers and persuade them to buy products from various companies. The focus of this research will be food advertising from television broadcasts and platforms. Using Kress & Leeuwens Visual Grammar as a model, this qualitative study analyzes the language used in food advertisements (2005). We analyze modalities including language, visual, auditory, gestural, and spatial aspects of these ads using a methodology described by Filimonova (2013). The dataset comprises 30 second videos originating from Pakistan analyzed through the lens of Kress and van Leeuwens framework alongside Hallidays perspective to emphasize the nature of food advertising. The study reveals a degree of cohesion between color schemes and visual grammar, within these ads.