MULTIMODAL SOCIAL SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF MEME ADVERTISEMENT ON FACEBOOK

The internet era has been flourishing and this led to the adaption of e-commerce as a mode of business trading. Then, business competitions here are tight. Thus, different strategies are utilized to influence the interest of the customers. One of those strategies is the use of meme advertisement which arises on Facebook as a new form of advertisement. This research studied the meme advertisement used by selected businesses in General Santos City on Facebook. This deals with determining the meme advertisement used on Facebook, its significations, and its implications on those selected businesses. This study used a qualitative method with Multimodal Social Semiotic theory by Theo van Leeuwen. Besides, the researcher opted to conduct documentation and interview in gathering the needed data and employed methodical triangulation to provide a strong and rigorous analysis for this study. Thus, this study found and analyzed twelve (12) meme advertisements from Facebook and their significations were determined. The study concluded that the implications of the use of meme advertisement by those businesses were to go along with social trends, promote products and services, provide entertainment, represent societal issues and cultures, and introduce and establish new concepts.