Pink Power: Femininity and Consumerism in Malaysian Advertising

Colour in advertising is more than an aesthetic choice; it is a semiotic tool that shapes how audiences perceive products and identities. In Malaysian advertising, particularly beauty and body care campaigns, the colour pink has become increasingly prominent. However, a limited study has investigated the use of pink within multimodal discourse in this context. This study examined recent Malaysian YouTube advertisements that feature predominantly pink visuals. The study utilised Kress and van Leeuwen’s grammar of visual design and Halliday and Matthiessen’s transitivity model to study the advertisements. The findings show that pink does not simply serve as a colour choice, but also a meaningful symbol that links femininity to identity and consumption. This study contributes to advertising discourse by highlighting how colour functions as a medium of meaning-making and consumption through the lens of multimodal analysis.