BRANDING FASHION, SHAPING CULTURE: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF ONLINE ADVERTISEMENT

Abstract

This study analyses the relations between branding culture and multimodal communicative strategies in online brand advertisements for fashion. The multimodal analytic framework is applied to investigate the ways in which visual, textual, and interactive resources create cultural narratives that reinforce brand identity at their reach to the target audience within the digital spaces. By elaborating case studies of leading online fashion brands, this analysis aims to unveil the extent to which color, typography, imagery, language, and affordances of the digital platform can infuse messages with culture. The findings indicate that the most successful advertisements use semiotic resources to deal with contemporary values in culture such as sustainability, inclusivity, or individualism, which they tie in emotional attachment to consumers. The study underlines the very importance of culturally informed multimodal design in building brand loyalty and consumer involvement in a hyper competitive digital marketplace. The study reveals through multimodal discourse analysis how personalization and participatory engagement decenter brand authority, facilitating consumer co creation while strengthening emotional appeals. Results show hybrid semiotic approaches that combine nostalgia and futurism in addressing fragmented audiences and ethical challenges such as cultural appropriation and surveillance. The study advocates for adaptive branding strategies that reconcile the corporate agenda with cultural authenticity and for inclusive, ethically informed engagement in driven markets. This research also explores the complex dynamic between cultural shaping and fashion branding using critical discourse analysis of internet advertisements to see how luxury fashion brands use multimodal approaches to build brand image and shape consumer beliefs and cultural values. Through the examination of the interaction between verbal, visual, and color modalities in internet advertisements, the study reveals how such aspects communicate luxury, sophistication, and elegance, informing cultural stories and identity construction. Based on a critical discourse analysis methodology and conceptualized by drawing on theoretical thinking from multimodal discourse analysis and social semiotics, the research offers insights into the multifaceted dynamics of fashion branding and its influence on consumer behavior and cultural values, with far-reaching implications for our understanding of the interplay between branding, culture, and consumption.

Keywords: Branding culture, multimodal analysis, online fashion brands, digital advertisements, semiotics, cultural identity, consumer engagement, visual-textual communication