Doublespeak In Beauty Product Discount Advertisements on Instagram and TikTok: A Critical Discourse Analysis
Authors
-
Melinda Dirgandini
Maranatha Christian University
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36312/jolls.v6i3.5048Keywords:
Doublespeak, Discount ads, Critical discourse analysis, Social media, IdeologyAbstract
This study addresses gaps in Doublespeak, the use of language that obscures meaning through ambiguity, euphemism, and hyperbole in Instagram and TikTok beauty product discount ads, where ambiguous promotional language is commercially influential and under-studied academically. This study aims to identify the linguistic forms of Doublespeak, analyze the discursive strategies used to frame discount claims, and uncover its ideological function in digital advertising discourse. This study uses a descriptive qualitative approach in the framework of critical discourse analysis. The ad data, which netted as many as 70 discount ads for beauty products, were collected from the products' official accounts on Instagram and TikTok through documentation techniques. Furthermore, the data were encoded and analyzed in three dimensions, namely text, discursive practice, and social practice. The results showed that Doublespeak was realized through five overlapping categories, namely up-to claims, scarcity claims, urgency claims, vague superiority claims, and pseudo-scientific claims. Discursively, this strategy views discounts as rare opportunities limited by time and uncertain pricing information. Ideologically, Doublespeak serves to reproduce digital consumerism and normalize certain beauty standards. The novelty of this study lies in integrating the concept of Doublespeak with the practice of promoting discounts as a construction of economic discourse on social media. This research contributes to critical linguistics and consumer literacy of digital advertising language, as well as the need for closer scrutiny of discount claims and further research into how audiences actually interpret them.
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