A PERSUASIVE LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF PAKISTANI FASHION E-MAGAZINES ON WOMEN’S BUYING BEHAVIOUR IN RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL CONTEXTS

Abstract

This research paper discusses the role played by persuasive language strategies used in Pakistani fashion e-magazines in influencing and authorising purchasing behaviour of women, especially on religious and cultural festivals like Ramadan, Eid ul Fitr and the Eid ul Adha. It is important to notice that the shopping graph gets usually on its peak on these occasions which is directly related to the festive and religious spirit associated with these festivals in an Islamic country like Pakistan.

This study examines the linguistic characteristics at the textual, discursive, and social levels through the three-dimensional model of discourse analysis provided by Fairclough (1989) with specific consideration of the second person pronouns, imperatives, modality, evaluative vocabulary, and culturally hidden religious references. The data set consists of ten fashion and lifestyle articles chosen from top five Pakistani online magazines during the years 2023-2025 (based on their Instagram followership) which will be analysed as the primary discourse data. The analysis indicates how fashion e-magazines always use personalised address, softened instructions, and emotion-filled words to develop intimacy, urgency, and assurance. These tactics make the female readers to be proactive but indirectly influenced consumers, which makes the purchase of fashion to look like a volunteer, desirable, and expected activity in the society.

An important contribution of the study is that it shows how the religious occasions are strong instruments of discursive anchors around fashion consumption in Pakistan. Ramadan and Eid are built repeatedly as the occasions when one needs to prepare aesthetically, when a modest and culturally correct dress code is the way of proving the respectability, belonging, and religious involvement. Buyer legitimisation of the purchase is also done simultaneously by the Pakistani e-fashion magazines through the appeals to the modesty, heritage, desi cultural values which makes the purchase morally legitimate and traditional.

This study also contributes specifically to the debate about media discourse, consumer behaviour, and cultural politics of the modest fashion by demonstrating how persuasive discourse creates and endorses occasion-based fashion consumption.