PRAGMATIC STRATEGIES AND COMMUNICATIVE FUNCTIONS IN SELECTED INDOMIE AND PEPSI ADVERTISMENTS

Advertisements are a fundamental aspect of marketing and can be delivered through various media channels, including television, radio, newspapers, billboards, and digital platforms such as social media and websites. Pepsi and Indomie seek to reinforce their brand values, engage their audiences, and drive consumer behaviour. Previous studies on advertisements in Nigeria have explored various dimensions of different brands, such as brand loyalty, consumer perception, marketing strategies, and the impact of advertising on consumer behaviour. However, insufficient attention has been paid to the pragmatic strategies and communicative functions in these advertisements. This study, therefore, investigates the pragmatic strategies and communicative functions in selected Indomie and Pepsi advertisements. The study adopts Sperber and Wilson’s Relevance Theory and Geoffrey Leech’s Language of Advertisement as the theoretical framework for analysis. The methodology employs a qualitative descriptive survey, with purposive sampling used to select 30 advertisements from the two brands (Indomie and Pepsi) between November 2024 and April 2025. Each advertisement was scrutinised for its pragmatic strategies, language features, and communicative functions. The analysis was designed to uncover patterns and themes that reflect Indomie and Pepsi’s advertising strategies. The findings reveal that Indomie and Pepsi predominantly utilise pragmatic strategies such as echoic mention, ostensive-inferential communication, irony, cultural allusion, and controversy. Additionally, the study identifies key communicative functions, including relevance optimisation, attention-grabbing, and encouragement, persuasion, and brand identity reinforcement. An examination of the advertisements’ linguistic features highlights the use of informal tones, catchy slogans, colloquialisms, conversational styles, and emotional appeals. In conclusion, the study demonstrates that Indomie and Pepsi’s Instagram advertisements skilfully integrate pragmatic strategies, linguistic techniques, and communicative functions to craft compelling messages. Future research could expand the scope to include a broader analysis of pragmatic strategies and advertising language features in relation to Nigeria, providing deeper insights for advertising practices. Keywords: Pragmatic Strategies, Indomie and Pepsi Advertisement, Communicative Functions, Language of Advertisement, Linguistic Techniques.