SOCIO-CULTURAL DISCOURSE OF MUSLIM SOCIETY IN SOCIAL SEMIOTICS ASPECT OF ADVERTISING TEXT IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

Purpose: The socio-culture of Muslim society in Malaysia ought to be the main aspect of constructing an advertisement message. However, in developing local media, advertisement contents still do not observe locality of culture and religion such that advertising fails to fulfill the social semiotics of Muslim society. This research analyzes the social semiotics element in advertisement text which constructs the socio-cultural discourse of Muslim society. Methodology: This is qualitative research using content analysis. The research sample was selected using purposive sampling. Discourses as material for analysis are TV adverts for health products. The three advert texts selected as initial research sample in analyzing the discourse and social semiotics are Almas Jus Nusantara, Qu Puteh Million Cell and D’Herbs Losyen Putih Susu. Research data was collected using coding form and analysed using Fairclough Discourse Analysis. Main Findings: Research results find that all three ads are still not clear on the social semiotics of the socio-culture discourse of Muslim society. Analysis proves that the discourse of advertisement text neglects the Islamic Advertising Principle so as to cause erosion of religious and socio-cultural values, while the social semiotics conveyed through the metaphor of women’s and men’s images are irrelevant in terms of the cultural identity of Muslim society. Implications/Applications: Although social semiotics give a good interpretation of a product, the locality aspect of socio-culture is also important to uphold the Islamic values for a Muslim product. Therefore, the preservation of cultural identity in marketing a product needs to be viewed from a wider perspective. In efforts to ensure the audience are aware of competitive products in the market, marketing must be balanced by taking into consideration the Islamic Advertising Principle.