A Multimodal Analysis of Prabowo-Gibran and Ganjar-Mahfud Campaign Advertisements in the 2024 Presidential Election

Abstract

This study explores the multimodal strategies employed in the 2024 Indonesian presidential campaign advertisements of the Prabowo-Gibran and Ganjar-Mahfud candidate pairs. Using a qualitative-descriptive method, this research analyzes eight selected video advertisements sourced from YouTube. The study applies Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics to examine verbal elements, Kress and van Leeuwen’s visual grammar to analyze visual features, and Cheong’s Generic Structure Potential to assess structural components of the advertisements. It further investigates the congruence between verbal and visual modes using Halliday and Matthiessen’s congruence theory. The findings reveal both similarities and differences in how each candidate pair constructs meaning through verbal processes (material, relational, verbal), visual techniques (contact, social distance, angle, salience), and generic structures (lead, display, announcement, enhancer). The study concludes that both campaigns strategically combine verbal and visual elements to convey persuasive political narratives, but differ in emphasis and multimodal cohesion. These findings contribute to understanding the role of multimodality in shaping political discourse and voter perception in the digital campaign landscape.