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Title "Sustainability Discourses and Media Representation: A Multimodal Study of (RE) Framing Ecological Narrative in Pakistani Television Commercials"

Author(s) Sundas Masood

Abstract The current study is interdisciplinary in nature as it falls into the domain of Eco-linguistics, and Semiotics. The research aims to analyze television commercials to find out the framing/reframing of certain ecological narratives with the help of semiotic signs. The main objective was to find out if the commercials represented sustainable or unsustainable discourse. The commercials are persuasive as they entrap the viewers and make them believe the narrative that the advertisers are propagating. For this purpose, the data was collected through purposive sampling from three well-known TV channels i.e., ARY, GEO and HUM. The data was divided into four categories of food and beverages, cosmetics, detergents and cleaners, and technology. Every category included five commercials for a detailed qualitative analysis. The study employed theory of multimodality which helped analyze the data at verbal as well as visual level. The visual elements were analyzed with the help of semiotic analysis by Kress and Leeuwen (2006). The rest of the verbal analysis was done according to the theory given by Stibbe (2015) that included metaphor, framing/reframing, erasure and salience. The thorough analysis helped to conclude that the discourse created through the commercials is destructive and ambivalent as the products are harmful for human health and the surrounding environment. The advertisers deliberately excluded ecological perspective from their context so that the viewers might forget sustainability and buy a harmful product thus unknowingly contributing to the ecological degradation. These commercials are repeatedly shown on the most popular TV channels hence increasing consumption that leads to unsustainability.

Type Thesis/Dissertation

Faculty Languages

Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2024-08-08

Subject Linguistics

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