Halal cosmetics discourse in selected Malaysian media and consumer perceptions / Faatihah Zaharah Mohamed Razif

Faatihah Zaharah , Mohamed Razif (2023) Halal cosmetics discourse in selected Malaysian media and consumer perceptions / Faatihah Zaharah Mohamed Razif. Masters thesis, Universiti Malaya.

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Abstract

The global Halal industry is estimated to be worth around USD 2.3 trillion a year and is now one of the fastest-growing markets. With the increase in both supply and demand, halal has turned into a commodity. While many studies have attempted to look at consumers’ intention to purchase and behaviour towards halal products and services within the domain of business management studies, the linguistic studies are very limited. To fill in this niche area, the present study, relying on Van Leeuwen’s (2008) socio-semantic approach to CDA, aims at identifying the (de)legitimation strategies used in the discourse of halal cosmetics in Malaysian media. The study also goes beyond the portrayal of the halal discourse in the text by attempting to understand the perception of halal cosmetics consumers towards halal discourse as represented in the selected news media. A total of fifteen (15) newspaper articles and eleven (11) magazine articles were analyzed and it was found that the main legitimation strategies employed in the discourses are the strategies of authorization, moral evaluation, and rationalization. Having analyzed the legitimizing strategies, semi-structured interviews were conducted with thirteen (13) participants. Thematic analysis of the data revealed four main themes namely the benefits of halal, the importance and credibility of halal certification and logo, the universality of halal cosmetics, and the marketability of halal products. The combination of the analyzed texts and the interviews suggests that understanding the social and cultural identity is essential in analyzing the perceptions of consumers based on texts, to the social and cultural practices in Malaysia.

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