Eat your gender: Strategies of gendering in food ads

The lifting of the driving ban in Saudi Arabia has been a turning point for Saudi women. This historical event was covered by various media outlets and advertisers have benefited from the resulting shift in product marketing. This study employs a multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) approach, adopted from Baldry and Thibault and Kress and van Leeuwen, to accommodate the multimodal nature of advertisements. Specifically, the study analyzes six YouTube videos from 2020 and 2021 featuring women in car advertisements. The results indicate that celebrating women’s achievements is an indirect way of marketing cars. In addition, the discourse on empowerment is reflected in women’s language, interactions, activities, and interpersonal relationships. Representations of women in the advertisements create a balance between global empowerment and local cultural traditions. This can be seen in how these empowered women participate in global and local discourses.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the use of multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) to answer the question: How do written text and illustrations work together to communicate ideologies about Black people in picture books? Design/methodology/approach Using a flexible method such as multimodal critical discourse analysis, to examine the Coretta Scott King Award-winning text, “Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre,” allowed researchers to implement the steps of an elementary school read-aloud to engage in the discourse. This study aims to demonstrate that MCDA is a practical method for teachers to use when critically examining children’s literature. Findings Three major themes were found in the analysis: financial wealth, Black citizens unworthy of citizenship and the institutions’ role in violence. Through the use of MCDA, teachers can critically examine children’s texts to encourage critical discussion in the classroom and identify needs for supplemental reading materials. Practical implications MCDA is often criticized for its lack of strict implementation methods; however, this flexibility provides room for methods that are familiar to K-5 classroom teachers. MCDA’s lack of strict implementation methods is a strength of the methodology, which supports its application across various fields. This research illuminates the need for more critical analyses of multicultural literature. Originality/value This study offers a practical approach for teachers to evaluate their classroom reading materials, aiming to bridge the gap between research and practice.

When words are not enough: Combined textual and visual multimodal analysis as a Critical Discursive Psychology undertaking

Television (TV) reaches more people than any other medium which makes it an important source of health information. Since TV ads often offer information obliquely, this study investigated implied health messages found in food and nutrition TV ads. The goals were to determine the proportion of food and nutrition ads among all TV advertising and to use content analysis to identify their implied messages and health claims. A randomly selected sample of TV ads were collected over a 28-day period beginning May 8, 1987. The sample contained 3547 ads; 725 (20%) were food-related. All were analyzed. About 10% of food-related TV ads contained a health claim. Twenty-five representative ads of the 725 food ads were also reviewed by 10 dietitians to test the reliability of the instrument. Although the dietitians agreed upon whether a health claim existed in a televised food ad, their agreement was poor when evaluating the accuracy of the claim. The number of food-related ads dropped significantly on Saturday, but the number of alcohol ads rose sharply on Saturday and Sunday. Snack ads were shown more often on Thursday, but snack commercials were also numerous on Saturday morning and afternoon, as were cereal ads. Ads for snack foods accounted for the greatest proportion of ads (20%) while fast food accounted for only 7%. Alcohol constituted about 9% of all food and nutrition ads.

This Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis and Verbal Humour Analysis of Pakistani Memes examines how Pakistani Generation Z employs Instagram memes as a participatory medium to express their perspectives on national identity and geopolitical dynamics during the 2025 Pakistan–India War. Following a qualitative research design, the study employs a triangulated framework, comprising MCDA, Framing Theory, and the General Theory of Verbal Humour (GTVH) to analyse the lexical, syntactic and visual choices in the selected memes; the way these memes frame war, its actors and the national identity; and the functions of humour in the times of national crisis. The data for this research were collected from a purposive sample of 10 war-related Instagram memes, posted between April 28 and May 10, 2025. The results of the study show that these meme, characterised by non-standard syntax, code-mixing and meshing, colloquial jargon, personalised, trivialised, domesticated, gamified frames, irony, exaggeration, discursive resistance strategies, and dark humour, provide a light-hearted lens through which serious subjects such as war, education, and national pride are critically explored. The contribution of this research to discourse studies lies in its application of a hybrid theoretical framework to analyse digital humour within a geopolitical crisis. The findings affirm how Instagram memes have emerged not only as entertainment but also as an accessible mode of resistance, self-expression, and civic engagement for Pakistan’s youth.

Redefining “Child-Directed Advertising” to Reduce Unhealthy Television Food Advertising

This study examines the link between consumer weight level, food types (meat and fruit/ vegetables), and consumer attitude towards both food and food ads. Further, we intend to examine how food advertisements containing emotional or informational claims influence the attitude of both overweight and normal-weight consumers. Two experiments were conducted to study the interaction between food types (meat vs. vegetables), weight levels (normal-weight and overweight), and ad claims (emotional vs. informational). The results showed mixed support for the ten hypotheses. Our findings indicate that consumer weight level interacts with food types, which impact food evaluation and attitude towards food advertisements. Also, weight level interacts with emotional/information appeals affecting food evaluation and attitudes toward food advertisements. Managerial implications for advertisers are discussed.

The purpose of the proposed paper – which places itself within the field of Postcolonial Critical Discourse Studies (see Esposito, E. (2021).Politics, ethnicity and the postcolonial nation – a critical analysis of political discourse in the Caribbean. John Benjamins Publishing Company) – is to analyse the multi-semiotic practices contributing to the characterisation of the protagonist of Trinidadian short-film “Doubles with Slight Pepper” as a cinematic portrayal of the hybrid Indo-Trinidadian identity. By way of a Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (Kress, G. and van Leeuwen, T. (1996).Reading images: the grammar of visual design. Routledge, London, Kress, G. and van Leeuwen, T. (2001).Multimodal discourse. The modes and media of contemporary communications discourse. Hodder Educations, London, Kress, G. and van Leeuwen, T. (2006).Reading images: the grammar of visual design, 2nd ed. London: Routledge; O’Halloran, K.L. (2004).Multimodal discourse analysis. Continuum, London), the study aims to cast light on the strategies exploited by the filmmaker (1) to depict the protagonist (Dhani) as an in-betweener whose ambitions are inhibited by his social status stemming from generations of subjugation and misuse by colonialists; and (2) to promote Indo-Trinidadian cultural specificities. Following an introduction to the key concept of individual and collective identity with a focus on Trinidad and Tobago, and an outline of diasporic cinema as applied to the Indo-Trinidadian community, the Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis is carried out on the verbal, non-verbal, and visual sub-corpora gathered up in sequences according to the main three identitarian traits exhibited in the short-film: ‘religion/folklore’, ‘food’, and ‘lineage’.

This paper demonstrates how to conduct a multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) of video materials, explicitly focusing on Amazon Prime’s The Boys, and combines this analysis with ethical literary criticism (ELC). MCDA is utilized to examine how linguistic, auditory, and visual elements in the series work together to critique corporate power and the commodification of American ideals, whereas ELC is employed to explore the ethical dilemmas embedded in the narrative. The paper analyzes selected episodes and provides a structured classroom activity that guides students in applying these two frameworks to engage with media texts critically. The combination of MCDA and ELC offers a comprehensive approach that encourages students to examine the multimodal construction of meaning and the ethical implications of media representation. This teaching activity can be adapted to various courses, equipping students with essential media analysis and critical thinking skills. Courses: Media Studies, Culture and Society, Communication Theory, and Discourse Analysis. Objectives: To demonstrate MCDA and ELC in analyzing films or series, engaging students in critical examination of visual-linguistic interplay and ethical implications. Adaptable for undergraduates as an introduction to media analysis and for graduate students with a theory-driven approach

This article examines The 8 Show (Han, 2024) as a contemporary reimagining of Dante’s Inferno, reading its vertical architecture and spectacle of survival as an allegory of moral performativity in late capitalism. Integrating Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA) with Žižekian psychoanalysis, the study examines how visual design, spatial hierarchy, and libidinal economy create an ideological system in which sin functions as performance rather than transgression. The analysis situates The 8 Show within post-2020 Korean survival dramas, tracing how neoliberal precarity transforms morality into an adaptive, commodified practice. Through MCDA, the essay decodes the show’s multimodal semiotics of hierarchy and control; through psychoanalysis, it reveals the structures of enjoyment (jouissance) that sustain participation in ideological domination. The paper argues that The 8 Show replaces Dante’s fixed moral order with a fluid spectacle in which ethical identity is contingent on visibility, pleasure, and exchange. Ultimately, it proposes that the illusion of escape—the “afterlife” beyond the game—extends Hell into everyday life, where capitalism aestheticizes survival and spectatorship becomes complicity. In reframing sin as ideological performance, the essay contributes to theoretical discussions of morality, spectacle, and media within contemporary Asian cultural production. Highlights Conducts a comparative reading of The 8 Show and Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, mapping each floor to an analogical circle of Hell within a contemporary capitalist order. Introduces an integrative framework combining Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA) and Žižekian psychoanalysis to interpret spatial design, narrative structure, and ideological performance. Reconceptualizes sin as mutable and performative, shaped by the spectacle of survival and the commodification of morality. Demonstrates how contestants are ideologically interpellated through enjoyment and self-exploitation, rendering them symbolically “already dead” within the spectacle. Exposes the “illusion of exit” at the show’s conclusion, where trauma, identity, and desire remain bound within post-Hell capitalist structures.

Food advertisements (ads) in TV programs influence food choice and have been associated with higher energy intake from snacks in children; however, their effects at mealtime have not been reported. Therefore, we measured energy intake at a pizza meal consumed by normal weight (NW) and overweight/obese (OW/OB) children (aged 9-14 years) while they watched a TV program with or without food ads and following pre-meal consumption of a sweetened beverage with or without calories. NW and OW/OB boys (experiment 1, n = 27) and girls (experiment 2, n = 23) were randomly assigned to consume equally sweetened drinks containing glucose (1.0 g/kg body weight) or sucralose (control). Food intake was measured 30 min later while children watched a program containing food or nonfood ads. Appetite was measured before (0-30 min) and after (60 min) the meal. Both boys and girls reduced energy intake at the meal in compensation for energy in the glucose beverage (p < 0.05). Food ads resulted in further compensation (51%) in boys but not in girls. Food ads increased energy intake at the meal (9%; p = 0.03) in OW/OB girls only. In conclusion, the effects of TV programs with food ads on mealtime energy intake and response to pre-meal energy consumption in children differ by sex and body mass index.

Multimodal critical discourse analysis is a dynamic approach to qualitative data analysis that expands critical discourse analysis to include multiple communicative modes-such as images, graphics, video, and sound/music-into the semiotic analysis of ideology and power relations within contemporary forms of communication. We reflect on the potential of multimodal critical discourse analysis to be combined with arts-based health research as an analytic method to deconstruct discourses that shape the health and well-being of marginalized communities. Specifically, we frame this potential within our research about men's body image based a project using cellphilming and the deconstruction of cis-heteronormative and related ideologies.

This introductory article to the special issue on representing societies in language teaching textbooks lays out how to analytically approach the data using multimodal critical discourse analysis. Foremost, it explains that we must place the texts into the socio-political context of the societies where they are produced. Doing such critical multimodal analysis is not about the texts per se, but is concerned rather with their role in the social and political functioning of a particular society at a particular time. This is a form of text analysis which is deeply informed by knowledge of those societies and the political and economic situations where texts are being created and deployed. To illustrate this point, the introduction reviews the classic as well as the contemporary studies of textbooks. It ends by laying out how multimodal critical discourse analysis can be used to understand the operation of textbooks within socio-political processes.

Exposure to large numbers of television advertisements for foods and beverages with little or no nutritional value likely contributes to poor diet among youth. Given higher rates of obesity and overweight for Hispanic youth, it is important to understand the amount and types of food advertising they view. To quantify the amount of food and beverage advertising viewed by Hispanic youth on Spanish- and English-language television and compare it with the amount of food and beverage advertising viewed by non-Hispanic youth. Data on gross rating points that measured advertising viewed on national broadcast and cable television in 2010 using a Nielsen panel of television-viewing households of Hispanic and non-Hispanic preschoolers (2-5 years), children (6-11 years), and adolescents (12-17 years). Food and beverage television advertisements viewed on English- and Spanish-language television by product category and television-viewing times by age and language preference. EXPOSURE Food and beverage advertising on Spanish- and English-language television. RESULTS In 2010, Hispanic preschoolers, children, and adolescents viewed, on average, 11.6 to 12.4 television food ads per day; the majority of these ads (75%-85%) appeared on English-language television. Fast food represented a higher proportion of food ads on Spanish-language television. Consistent with television-viewing patterns, Hispanic preschoolers saw more Spanish-language food advertisements than did Hispanic children and adolescents. Owing to somewhat less food advertising on Spanish-language television, Hispanic children and adolescents viewed 14% and 24% fewer food ads overall, respectively, compared with non-Hispanic youth. Spanish-language television viewing was highly concentrated among youth who primarily speak Spanish. Both Hispanic and non-Hispanic youth view large numbers of television advertisements for nutrient-poor categories of food and beverage. Although Hispanic children and adolescents see somewhat fewer of these ads, the higher obesity rates among Hispanic youth, the greater exposure by Hispanic preschoolers, and the potential enhanced effects of targeted advertising on Hispanic youth suggest that this exposure may pose additional risks for Hispanic youth. Continued monitoring is warranted owing to food companies' stated intentions to increase marketing to Hispanics.

This research investigates the use of visual strategies by local Pakistani companies in snack packaging and focuses on how these strategies target the emotional consumption behaviour of youth. Using Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MMCDA), this research examines the ideological underpinnings of visual elements of snack packaging where they act as a form of discourse that intertwines consumerism with emotional appeal. Drawing on Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Kress and van Leeuwen’s Social Semiotic Approach, this research explores the ideological messages conveyed through the use of visuals such as gaze, framing, and different angles. It highlights how snack packaging companies use symbols that are familiar to youth, such as their favourite cartoon characters, national heroes, political figures, and viral internet personas, to create emotional connections with them. Hence, this research reveals how snack packaging serves as a tool that shapes consumer’s behaviour among Pakistani youth, compelling them to buy the snacks. Through the lens of multimodality, it unveils how these visuals are linked directly to emotional consumerism in Pakistan.