Unpacking Cereal Packaging Design: A Multimodal Discourse Analysis

Abstract

Cereal products are commonly packaged as ‘health food’ – appealing to consumers who look for ‘food for health’. To these consumers, starting their days with healthy breakfast deserves thoughtful choices. Amidst media concerns that not all cereals are healthy options as advertised, how do companies strategize the packaging of cereal products for marketing purpose? Applying a multimodal perspective, this paper analyses the discourse of cereal packaging design, focusing on how consumers are invited to co-construct meanings of the cereal packaging which may influence their purchase decisions as a result. Empirical data of cereal product packaging are collected in supermarkets in Hong Kong and the U.K. based on the following criteria: i) metaphorically rich in text and/or graphics; and/or ii) forms (including the use of colour) suggest meanings. We first conduct textual and paralinguistic analyses of packaging across brands with a metaphorical lens. Apart from healthiness, recurrent themes emerge from packaging data include elements of fun, smart choice, exoticness and national/regional specialty. We then extend our analyses by adapting three aspects of Scollon’s theoretical framework of resemiotization (2008), namely, narrative, metonymization and remodalization. We illustrate how selected multimodal texts from our data are ‘linked to multiple social actions, practices and material objects and people’, and consider ‘how understanding these linkages can help us to better understand the discourse’ (Bhatia, Flowerdew and Jones, 2008: 258). The identified recursive advertising strategies show how products are packaged to appeal to consumers’ senses and identities; and consequently, motivate their purchase. Findings of this study shed light on the dialogicality of the discourse of health food branding. Implications can raise consumers’ awareness of their multimodal criticality when unpacking the subtlety of ‘food for health’ communication in general. Limitations of this study and future research direction will also be provided. References: Bhatia, V.K., Flowerdew, J., & Jones, R.H. (2008). Mediated discourse analysis: Suggestions for further work. In V.K. Bhatia, J. Flowerdew and R.H. Jones (Eds.), Advances in Discourse Studies. Oxon: Routledge. Scollon, R. (2008). Discourse itineraries: nine processes of resemiotization. In V.K. Bhatia, J. Flowerdew and R.H. Jones (Eds.), Advances in Discourse Studies. Oxon: Routledge