Critical Discourse Analysis in Social Media Ads: Starbucks

Year 2023, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, 41 - 53, 29.03.2023

Ayşe Zambak

Abstract

Today, many advertisements are presented in various media such as printed or social media with interesting, creative, attractive and persuasive appearances. In these advertisements, the common use of verbal and non-verbal signs and the development of conspicuous language phenomena have made it necessary to explore the advertising discourse and analyze the desired message. For this purpose, in this study, four different English advertisements of Starbucks, a very popular coffee brand, were examined from the perspective of ‘‘Critical Discourse Analysis’’. This study mainly focuses on how the use of language and visual design in the advertisements of the relevant brand affects customers. To analyze the effects of linguistic and visual elements on the preferability of products, qualitative research was conducted on four different Starbucks advertisements in Turkish and English, adopting Fairclough's (1992) Critical Discourse Analysis framework. The obtained data were analyzed by making a thematic analysis. The findings showed that the brand uses a variety of strategies to influence customers’ perceptions, with relevant social media advertisements using approaches such as ‘seasonal drinks’ and ‘individuality’ to encourage the purchase of products. As a result, it can be stated that Critical Discourse Analysis is an effective approach that allows the methods of influencing people in creating meaning and the examination of these effects in different social contexts.

Keywords

Discourse analysis, textual analysis, Starbucks, advertisement

Sosyal Medya Reklamlarında Eleştirel Söylem Analizi: Starbucks

Abstract

Günümüzde ilginç, yaratıcı, çekici ve ikna edici görünümlere sahip basılı veya sosyal medya gibi çeşitli mecralarda birçok reklam sunulmaktadır. Bu reklamlarda, göze çarpan dil olgusu gelişiminin yanı sıra sözel ve sözel olmayan işaretlerin ortak kullanımı, reklam söylemini keşfetmeyi ve dahası verilmek istenen mesajı analiz etmeyi gerekli bir konu haline getirmiştir. Bu amaçla, bu çalışmada oldukça popüler bir kahve markası olan Starbucks’a ait dört farklı İngilizce reklam, ‘‘Eleştirel Söylem Analizi’’ perspektifinden incelenmiştir. Bu çalışma, temel olarak ilgili markanın reklamlarındaki dil kullanımı ve görsel tasarımın müşterileri nasıl etkilediğine odaklanmaktadır. Dilsel ve görsel unsurların, ürünlerin tercih edilebilirliği üzerindeki etkilerini analiz etmek için Fairclough’un (1992) Eleştirel Söylem Analizi çerçevesi benimsenerek dört farklı Starbucks reklamı üzerinde nitel bir araştırma yapılmıştır. Elde edilen veriler tematik analiz yapılarak incelenmiştir. Bulgular, markanın müşterilerin algılarını etkilemek için çeşitli stratejiler kullandığını, ilgili sosyal medya reklamlarının ürünlerin satın alınmasını teşvik etmek için, ‘dönemsel içecek’ ve ‘bireysellik’ gibi yaklaşımları kullandığını göstermiştir. Sonuç olarak, Eleştirel Söylem Analizi’nin, anlam oluşturmada insanları etkileme yöntemlerine ve bu etkilerin farklı sosyal bağlamlarda incelenmesine izin veren etkili bir yaklaşım olduğu ifade edilebilir

Keywords

Söylem analizi, metin analizi, Starbucks, reklam

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