LINGUISTIC STRATEGIES IN INSTAGRAM FOOD ADVERTISING: A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF PAKISTANI RESTAURANT ADVERTISEMENTS

Abstract

The increasing prominence of social media has transformed advertising into a highly interactive form of digital communication in which language performs persuasive, interpersonal, and promotional functions. Among various social networking platforms, Instagram has become a dominant marketing medium where restaurant brands employ carefully selected linguistic strategies alongside visual elements to influence consumer behaviour and strengthen brand identity. While previous studies have primarily emphasized visual communication in social media advertising, comparatively limited attention has been devoted to examining the linguistic organization of restaurant advertisements through the lens of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). Addressing this gap, the present study investigates the linguistic strategies employed in Instagram advertisements published by six restaurant brands operating in Pakistan, namely McDonald's Pakistan, KFC Pakistan, Domino's Pakistan, Papa John's Pakistan, Ranchers Café, and Koffee Net. Drawing upon Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics, the study analyzes experiential, interpersonal, and textual metafunctions together with lexical choices, promotional slogans, imperative constructions, evaluative language, code-mixing, hashtags, and persuasive discourse patterns. A qualitative research design employing multimodal discourse analysis was adopted to examine purposively selected Instagram advertisements. The findings demonstrate that restaurant advertisements consistently employ positive evaluative vocabulary, imperative mood, interpersonal engagement, concise textual organization, and emotionally loaded lexical items to stimulate appetite, establish consumer relationships, and reinforce commercial persuasion. Furthermore, English functions as the dominant advertising language, although strategically integrated Urdu expressions and culturally familiar vocabulary enhance audience accessibility and local relevance. The study contributes to digital advertising research by demonstrating how linguistic resources complement visual communication in constructing persuasive commercial discourse within Pakistan's rapidly expanding social media environment.