Journal
SOCIAL SEMIOTICS
Volume 32, Issue 2, Pages 163-183Publisher
ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/10350330.2020.1720992
Keywords
Social semiotics; multimodal analysis; interactive banner ads; consumption; e-commerce; China
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This article conducts a social semiotic and multimodal analysis of banner ads in the Chinese context, using the Double 11 shopping carnival on Tmall as an example. The findings reveal that banner ads on Tmall utilize human interactivity, intentionality, persuasion, and value creation to increase online sales and enhance consumers' shopping experience and sociality.
This article examines the multimodalities of banner ads in pervasive marketing and advertising. Departing from the Double 11 shopping carnival spectacle on Tmall, this paper conducts a social semiotic and multimodal analysis of banner ads in the Chinese context. As the investigation of the discursive construction process shows, banner ads on Tmall take advantage of human interactivity, intentionality, persuasion and value creation to increase online sales as part of a gamification process while such modalities enhance consumers' shopping experience and sociality. This article provides a synthesis of social semiotics, multimodal analysis and interactivity to guide our analysis of advertising in e-commerce. We argue that apart from traditional marketing strategies, Tmall has extended and obscured the rebellious notion of carnival and used it as a corporation-led strategy to create new cultural forms that encourage spending. This is in line with the rising consumerism in the Chinese society. Our findings will be useful for researchers conducting interdisciplinary studies of multimodal analysis and social semiotics, media and communications as well as advertising and marketing, with a focus on an increasingly globalised China.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available