IDEATIONAL METAFUNCTION AS PERSUASIVE TOOLS ON INDONESIAN BEAUTY BRAND SLOGANS
Abstract
This study investigates the persuasive power of beauty brand slogans in Indonesia by examining their linguistic realization through the ideational metafunction of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and identifying the dominant persuasive strategy employed. Specifically, the study aims to (1) examine how the ideational metafunction develops persuasive power in Indonesian beauty slogans and (2) determine the dominant persuasive strategy used in those slogans. The data consist of 50 beauty brand slogans collected from beauty brands marketed in Indonesia. The slogans were analyzed qualitatively using Halliday and Matthiessen's (2014) transitivity system, focusing on material, mental, and relational processes, and were further interpreted through Aristotle's rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos. The findings reveal that relational processes are the predominant type of transitivity, occurring in 33 slogans, followed by material processes (13 slogans) and mental processes (4 slogans). The dominance of relational processes indicates that beauty brands primarily construct persuasion by assigning identities, attributes, and values to beauty rather than emphasizing actions or psychological experiences. In terms of persuasive strategies, pathos is the dominant rhetorical appeal, appearing in 29 slogans, while ethos appears in 13 and logos in 8. These findings suggest that Indonesian beauty brands primarily rely on emotional appeals to connect with consumers by promoting confidence, empowerment, inclusivity, and self-expression. The study concludes that the ideational metafunction plays a crucial role in developing persuasive meanings through the strategic use of transitivity processes, while emotional persuasion serves as the principal rhetorical approach in Indonesian beauty advertising. This research contributes to advertising discourse studies by demonstrating the relationship between linguistic choices and persuasive communication in the beauty industry.
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