Study On The Hidden Advertising Of “Xiaohongshu” From The Perspective Of Multi-modal Critical Discourse Analysis

The huge number of young users and the natural desire of people to purchase provide a suitable hotbed for the breeding of advertising,leading to the flood of hidden advertising on the Chinese entertainment platform---“Xiaohongshu”,which seriously affects the user experience.In this study,with hidden advertisements from “Xiaohongshu” as the research object,2000 hidden advertisements were selected as research samples in the data platform —— “Xinhong”.According to the theoretical framework of Multi-modal Critical Discourse Analysis,the research is carried out from three levels of text orientation,discourse practice orientation and social practice orientation,and based on the research results of the above three dimensions,it further proposes measures to effectively regulate the hidden advertising of“Xiaohongshu”.The first chapter of the study introduced the definition,production chain and harmfulness of the hidden advertisements,as well as the current management status of hidden advertisements briefly.In the second chapter,language features of text modality and visual features of image modality in hidden advertisements were analyzed from the text orientation.It is found that in the text modality,the hidden advertisement of “Xiaohongshu” presents a mirror image of consumer belief by shaping the“Garden of Eden” life style and the image of “Venus”.To achieve persuasion appeal by describing the products’ efficacy and explaining stories;To shape a cordial conversational relationship through the colloquial description;To achieve the mediating role of emotion through strong positive emotional expression;To construct the dialogue distance in the communication through different description angles;To capture the users’ attention through suspense,exaggeration,“shout” and other techniques.In the image modality,the color and filter of the pictures enhance the visual effect of products,the close-up shooting angle acts as a “magnifying glass”,the background,text,images of products,non-advertising products,“hand” and other elements in the picture build the real consumption scene,moreover,the combination and logical relationship between the pictures facilitate the advertising narrative.Based on the text analysis of the second chapter,the third chapter explored the discourse strategies used to mask the advertising attributes from the discourse practice orientation.It shows that hidden advertisements of “Xiaohongshu” use the language adaptation strategy to achieve its concealment,using the construction of “my real life” strategy to strengthen its authenticity,using the presentation strategy of dual “filter” effect to achieve its inducibility.In the fourth chapter,the social structure and power relationship behind the hidden advertising discourse were revealed from the orientation of social practice.It is found that the hidden advertisement of“Xiaohongshu” mainly involves three subjects: merchants,platforms and users,and two levels of advertising and consumption.Merchants seek profit and false marketing appears;The platform relies on the purchasing desire of people to create an advertising-business mode;The capital lead to behavior variation of users;The advertising law has a lack of supervision over hidden advertising;Consumerism leads to users’ anxiety towards life.All of the five aspects constitute the social structure and power relationship behind the hidden advertising of “Xiaohongshu”.According to the results of the discourse analysis,the fifth chapter puts forward measures from three orientations,that is,through the authenticity of the text content,the disclosure of the inducing images of advertisements,and the joint management of the government,users,businesses and the various subjects to regulate the hidden advertising of “Xiaohongshu” effectively.