A Critical Discourse Analysis on English Digital Posters of Pre-Presidential Candidates in Indonesia

Authors

  • Rita Meutia

    English Applied Linguistics Study Program, Universitas Negeri Medan, Sumatera Utara 20221, Indonesia
  • Amrin Saragih

    English Applied Linguistics Study Program, Universitas Negeri Medan, Sumatera Utara 20221, Indonesia
  • Rahmad Husein

    English Applied Linguistics Study Program, Universitas Negeri Medan, Sumatera Utara 20221, Indonesia
  • Sri Minda Murni

    English Applied Linguistics Study Program, Universitas Negeri Medan, Sumatera Utara 20221, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i6.8985
Received: 6 March 2025 | Revised: 8 April 2025 | Accepted: 19 May 2025 | Published Online: 4 June 2025

Abstract

This study explores the linguistic strategies employed by Indonesia’s pre-presidential candidates in their Instagram digital posters to convey political messages and influence public perception. It also examines the realization processes through which these strategies are visually and textually manifested to persuade the electorate. By analyzing the digital campaign posters of three pre-presidential candidates for the 2024 Indonesian Presidential Election, the study reveals that each candidate adopts distinct linguistic approaches and realization techniques to shape their political image. The visual aesthetics and high-resolution formats offered by Instagram often result in voters being persuaded more by the design and appearance of the posters than by the substance of the political messages. Adopting a qualitative approach, the study collects and analyzes data through multimodal discourse analysis. The findings reveal persuasive strategies at three key levels: semantic, syntactic, and stylistic. Semantic strategies include the use of selective diction, connotative language, and concealment of controversial elements; syntactic strategies involve transitivity choices and the grammatical positioning of agency and actions; while stylistic strategies reflect the chosen genre and communicative tone of the posters. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of how political messages are crafted and delivered in the digital age, particularly on visual-centric platforms like Instagram. It offers practical insights for voters to critically evaluate political content, decode ideological messages, and make informed decisions based not only on appearances but on deeper linguistic and rhetorical cues. Ultimately, it encourages media literacy and critical engagement in the context of Indonesia’s evolving political communication landscape.

Keywords:

Critical Discourse Analysis; Presidential Candidate; Instagram; Digital Posters; Election

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How to Cite

Meutia, R., Saragih, A., Husein, R., & Murni, S. M. (2025). A Critical Discourse Analysis on English Digital Posters of Pre-Presidential Candidates in Indonesia. Forum for Linguistic Studies, 7(6), 252–262. https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v7i6.8985

Issue

Vol. 7 , Iss. 6 (July 2025)

Article Type

Article

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Copyright © 2025 Rita Meutia, Amrin Saragih, Rahmad Husein

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This is an open access article under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.