The COVID-19 outbreak has impacted various aspects of human life, and this includes the economy. Therefore, businesses must address their survival promptly by implementing more aggressive and creative marketing methods that use social media platforms. Although touted as Malaysia’s top three quick service restaurants (QSR), the pandemic also affected KFC, McDonald’s, and Pizza Hut. Therefore, this research was conducted to investigate the advertisement language of these three brands’ Instagram posts. The paper intends first to study how text producers use linguistic and non-linguistic representations to position their businesses amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, it aims to explain how specific language use, image, and style can bring about meaning to customers of the position of the brands during these trying times. The theory that underpins this paper is M. A. K. Halliday’s Social Semiotic Theory of Language (1978). Semiotic analysis was employed as an analytic tool due to its ability to foreground aspects that may not be noticeable in plain reading. The data for this study was collected from the Instagram pages of the three brands during the period of the first Movement Control Order (MCO) exercised in Malaysia from March 18 to May 3, 2020.

• Barrero, J. M., Bloom, N., & Davis, S. (2020, June 25). COVID-19 is also a reallocation shock (Working Paper No. 2020-59). University of Chicago, Becker Friedman Institute for Economics. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3592953

• Bartik, A. W., Bertrand, M., Cullen, Z., Glaeser, E. L., Luca, M., & Stanton, C. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on small business outcomes and expectations. Proceedings of the National Academy, 117(30), 17656-17666. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2006991117

• Berger, A. A. (1986). How to analyze an advertisement. Centre of Media Literacy. https://www.medialit.org/reading-room/how-analyze-advertisement

• Bohlouli, J., Moravejolahkami, A. R., Ganjali Dashti, M., Balouch Zehi, Z., Hojjati Kermani, M. A., Borzoo-Isfahani, M., & Bahreini-Esfahani, N. (2021). COVID-19 and fast-foods consumption: A review. International Journal of Food Properties, 24(1), 203-209. https://doi.org/10.1080/10942912.2021.1873364

• Bragg, M. A., Pageot, Y. K., Amico, A., Miller, A. N., Gasbarre, A, Rummo, P. E., & Elbel, B. (2020). Fast-food, beverage, and snack brands on social media in the United States: An examination of marketing techniques utilized in 2000 brand posts. Pediatric Obesity, 15(5). https://doi.org/10.1111/ijpo.12606

• Bukhari, N. I. B. A., Anuar, A. F., Khazin, K. M., & Abdul, T. M. F. B. T. (2015). English-Malay code-mixing innovation in Facebook among Malaysian University students. Researchers World, 6(4), 1-10. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283800190_English-Malay_Code-Mixing_Innovation_in_Facebook_among_Malaysian_University_Students

• Burhan, M., Salam, M. T., Hamdan, O. A., & Tariq, H. (2021). Crisis management in the hospitality sector SMEs in Pakistan during COVID-19. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2021.103037

• Casaló, L. V., Flavián, C., & Ibáñez-Sánchez, S. (2017). Antecedents of consumer intention to follow and recommend an Instagram account. Online Information Review, 41(7), 1046-1063. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-09-2016-0253

• Childs, P., & Fowler, R. (2006). The Routledge dictionary of literary terms. London.

• Daim, N.(2020, March 17). Restaurants, fast-food outlets prepare for restricted movement order. New Straits Times. https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2020/03/575400/restaurants-fast-food-outlets-prepare-restricted-movement-order

• David, M. K. (2003). Role and functions of code-switching in Malaysian courtrooms. Multilingua-Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication, 22(1), 5-20. https://doi.org/10.1515/mult.2003.005

• DiResta, E. A., Williford, K. T., Cohen, A. D., & Genn, A. B. (2020, April 20). The impact of COVID-19 on your advertising and marketing campaigns. Holland & Knight. https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2020/04/the-impact-of-covid19-on-your-advertising-and-marketing-campaigns

• Donthu, N., & Gustafsson, A. (2020). Effects of COVID-19 on business and research. Journal of Business Research, 117, 284-289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.06.008

• Elengoe, A. (2020). COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia. Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives, 11(3), 93-100. https://doi.org/10.24171/j.phrp.2020.11.3.08

• Guidry, J. D., Messner, M., Jin, Y., & Medina-Messner, V. (2015). From #mcdonaldsfail to #dominossucks: An analysis of Instagram images about the 10 largest fast food companies. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 20(3), 344-359. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-04-2014-0027

• Halim, N. S., & Maros, M. (2014). The functions of code-switching in Facebook interactions. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 118, 126-133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.02.017

• Halliday, M. A. K. (1978). Language as social semiotic: The social interpretation of language and meaning. Blackwell Publishing.

• Husain, W., & Ashkanani, F. (2020). Does COVID-19 change dietary habits and lifestyle behaviours in Kuwait: A community-based cross-sectional study. Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine, 25(1), 61-74. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12199-020-00901-5

• Instagram users in Malaysia. (2020, February). NapoleonCat. https://napoleoncat.com/stats/instagram-users-in-malaysia/2020/02

• Johnson, L. (2015, June 8). How food brands can nail Instagram. Adweek. https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/here-s-how-food-brands-can-nail-instagram-165224/

• KhosraviNik, M. (2018). Social media techno-discursive design, affective communication and contemporary politics. Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, 11(4), 427-442. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-018-0226-y

• Kim, S. S., Chun, H., & Lee, H. (2005). The effects of SARS on the Korean hotel industry and measures to overcome the crisis: A case study of six Korean five-star hotels. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 10(4), 369-377. https://doi.org/10.1080/10941660500363694

• Kusumasondjaja, S., & Tjiptono, F. (2019). Endorsement and visual complexity in food advertising on Instagram. Internet Research, 29(4), 659-687. https://doi.org/10.1108/IntR-11-2017-0459

• Lai, H. B. J., Zainal Abidin, M. R., Hasni, M. Z., Ab Karim, M. S., & Che Ishak, F. A. (2020). Key adaptations of SME restaurants in Malaysia amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science, 9(6), 12-23. https://doi.org/10.20525/ijrbs.v9i6.916

• Ledin, P., & Machin, D. (2018). Doing visual analysis: From theory to practice. Sage.

• Ledin, P., & Machin, D. (2020). Introduction to multimodal analysis. Bloomsbury Publishing.

• Lim, C. Y. (2008, April 7).KFC Malaysia now has more than 480 outlets in four countries. The Star. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/community/2008/04/07/kfc-malaysia-now-has-more-than-480-outlets-in-four-countries

• Lock, S. (2021a, March 17). U.S. fast-food restaurants statistics & facts. Statista. https://www.statista.com/topics/863/fast-food/

• Lock, S. (2021b, May 31). Global quick service restaurant industry market size 2011-2021. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1186194/fast-food-restaurant-industry-market-size-global/

• Mason, A. N., Narcum, J., & Mason, K. (2021). Social media marketing gains importance after COVID-19. Cogent Business & Management, 8(1), 1-17.https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2020.1870797

• Mohd Yassin, M. (2021, May 1). Teks perutusan sempena Hari Pekerja 2021 [Speech text in conjuction of Labour Day]. Prime Minister’s Office of Malaysia. https://www.pmo.gov.my/ucapan/?m=p&p=muhyiddin&id=4657

• Nakat, Z., & Bou-Mitri, C. (2021). COVID-19 and the food industry: Readiness assessment. Food Control, 121, Article 107661. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2020.107661

• Nhamo, G., Dube, K., & Chikodzi, D. (2020). Restaurants and COVID-19: A focus on sustainability and recovery pathways. In Counting the cost of COVID-19 on the global tourism industry (pp. 205-224). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56231-1_9

• O’Donnell, M. (2017). Interactions between natural-language processing and systemic functional linguistics. In T. Bartlett & G. O’Grady (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of systemic functional linguistics (pp. 585-598). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315413891-48

• Othman, N. (2006, January 17-20). Current trends in pronoun usage among Malay speakers [Paper presentation]. Tenth International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics 2006, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, Philippines. https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/25743

• Rashid, B. N. M., & Jameel, A. F. (2017). A linguistic analysis of Halliday’s systemic-functional theory in political texts. Alustath Journal for Human and Social Sciences, 220(1), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.36473/ujhss.v220i1.1417

• Richardson, J. E. (2017). Analysing newspapers: An approach from critical discourse analysis. Bloomsbury Publishing.

• Rummo, P. E., Cassidy, O., Wells, I., Coffino, J. A., & Bragg, M. A. (2020). Examining the relationship between youth-targeted food marketing expenditures and the demographics of social media followers. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(5), 1631. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17051631

• Salleh, S., Hashim, N. H., & Murphy, J. (2015). Instagram marketing: A content analysis of top Malaysian restaurant brands. E-Review of Tourism Research, 5.

• Saxton, G. D., Niyirora, J., Guo, C., & Waters, R. (2015). #AdvocatingForChange: The strategic use of hashtags in social media advocacy. Advances in Social Work, 16(1), 154-169. https://doi.org/10.18060/17952

• Sidor, A., & Rzymski, P. (2020). Dietary choices and habits during COVID-19 lockdown: Experience from Poland. Nutrients, 12(6), 1657. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12061657

• Starr, R. L., Go, C., & Pak, V. (2021). ‘Keep calm, stay safe, and drink bubble tea’: Commodifying the crisis of Covid-19 in Singapore advertising. Language in Society, 51(2), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0047404521000567

• Statista Research Department. (2021, July 21). Malaysia - visited fast-food restaurants 2018. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/561040/malaysia-visited-fast-food-restaurants/

• Taylor, C. R. (2020). Advertising and COVID-19. International Journal of Advertising, 39(5), 587-589. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2020.1774131

• Top 1000 food & drink instagram influencers in Malaysia in 2021. (n.d.). Starngage. https://starngage.com/app/global/influencer/ranking/malaysia/food-drink

• Tse, A., So, S., & Sin, L. (2006). Crisis management and recovery: How restaurants in Hong Kong responded to SARS. Hospital Management, 25(2006), 3-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2004.12.001

• Vassallo, A. J., Kelly, B., Zhang, L., Wang, Z., Young, S., & Freeman, B. (2018). Junk food marketing on Instagram: Content analysis. JMIR Public Health Surveillance 2018, 4(2), Article e54. https://doi.org/10.2196/publichealth.9594

• Veszelszki, A. (2016). #time, #truth, #tradition. An image-text relationship on Instagram: photo and hashtag. In B. András & V. Veszelszki (Eds.), In the beginning was the image: The omnipresence of pictures: Time, truth, tradition (Vol. 6). Peter Lang International Academic Publishers.

• What has been related about various kinds of ma’ruf (Good deeds). (n.d.). In Jami` at-Tirmidhi. https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:1956

• Barrero, J. M., Bloom, N., & Davis, S. (2020, June 25). COVID-19 is also a reallocation shock (Working Paper No. 2020-59). University of Chicago, Becker Friedman Institute for Economics. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3592953

• Bartik, A. W., Bertrand, M., Cullen, Z., Glaeser, E. L., Luca, M., & Stanton, C. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on small business outcomes and expectations. Proceedings of the National Academy, 117(30), 17656-17666. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2006991117

• Berger, A. A. (1986). How to analyze an advertisement. Centre of Media Literacy. https://www.medialit.org/reading-room/how-analyze-advertisement

• Bohlouli, J., Moravejolahkami, A. R., Ganjali Dashti, M., Balouch Zehi, Z., Hojjati Kermani, M. A., Borzoo-Isfahani, M., & Bahreini-Esfahani, N. (2021). COVID-19 and fast-foods consumption: A review. International Journal of Food Properties, 24(1), 203-209. https://doi.org/10.1080/10942912.2021.1873364

• Bragg, M. A., Pageot, Y. K., Amico, A., Miller, A. N., Gasbarre, A, Rummo, P. E., & Elbel, B. (2020). Fast-food, beverage, and snack brands on social media in the United States: An examination of marketing techniques utilized in 2000 brand posts. Pediatric Obesity, 15(5). https://doi.org/10.1111/ijpo.12606

• Bukhari, N. I. B. A., Anuar, A. F., Khazin, K. M., & Abdul, T. M. F. B. T. (2015). English-Malay code-mixing innovation in Facebook among Malaysian University students. Researchers World, 6(4), 1-10. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283800190_English-Malay_Code-Mixing_Innovation_in_Facebook_among_Malaysian_University_Students

• Burhan, M., Salam, M. T., Hamdan, O. A., & Tariq, H. (2021). Crisis management in the hospitality sector SMEs in Pakistan during COVID-19. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2021.103037

• Casaló, L. V., Flavián, C., & Ibáñez-Sánchez, S. (2017). Antecedents of consumer intention to follow and recommend an Instagram account. Online Information Review, 41(7), 1046-1063. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-09-2016-0253

• Childs, P., & Fowler, R. (2006). The Routledge dictionary of literary terms. London.

• Daim, N.(2020, March 17). Restaurants, fast-food outlets prepare for restricted movement order. New Straits Times. https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2020/03/575400/restaurants-fast-food-outlets-prepare-restricted-movement-order

• David, M. K. (2003). Role and functions of code-switching in Malaysian courtrooms. Multilingua-Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication, 22(1), 5-20. https://doi.org/10.1515/mult.2003.005

• DiResta, E. A., Williford, K. T., Cohen, A. D., & Genn, A. B. (2020, April 20). The impact of COVID-19 on your advertising and marketing campaigns. Holland & Knight. https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2020/04/the-impact-of-covid19-on-your-advertising-and-marketing-campaigns

• Donthu, N., & Gustafsson, A. (2020). Effects of COVID-19 on business and research. Journal of Business Research, 117, 284-289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.06.008

• Elengoe, A. (2020). COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia. Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives, 11(3), 93-100. https://doi.org/10.24171/j.phrp.2020.11.3.08

• Guidry, J. D., Messner, M., Jin, Y., & Medina-Messner, V. (2015). From #mcdonaldsfail to #dominossucks: An analysis of Instagram images about the 10 largest fast food companies. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 20(3), 344-359. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-04-2014-0027

• Halim, N. S., & Maros, M. (2014). The functions of code-switching in Facebook interactions. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 118, 126-133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.02.017

• Halliday, M. A. K. (1978). Language as social semiotic: The social interpretation of language and meaning. Blackwell Publishing.

• Husain, W., & Ashkanani, F. (2020). Does COVID-19 change dietary habits and lifestyle behaviours in Kuwait: A community-based cross-sectional study. Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine, 25(1), 61-74. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12199-020-00901-5

• Instagram users in Malaysia. (2020, February). NapoleonCat. https://napoleoncat.com/stats/instagram-users-in-malaysia/2020/02

• Johnson, L. (2015, June 8). How food brands can nail Instagram. Adweek. https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/here-s-how-food-brands-can-nail-instagram-165224/

• KhosraviNik, M. (2018). Social media techno-discursive design, affective communication and contemporary politics. Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, 11(4), 427-442. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-018-0226-y

• Kim, S. S., Chun, H., & Lee, H. (2005). The effects of SARS on the Korean hotel industry and measures to overcome the crisis: A case study of six Korean five-star hotels. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 10(4), 369-377. https://doi.org/10.1080/10941660500363694

• Kusumasondjaja, S., & Tjiptono, F. (2019). Endorsement and visual complexity in food advertising on Instagram. Internet Research, 29(4), 659-687. https://doi.org/10.1108/IntR-11-2017-0459

• Lai, H. B. J., Zainal Abidin, M. R., Hasni, M. Z., Ab Karim, M. S., & Che Ishak, F. A. (2020). Key adaptations of SME restaurants in Malaysia amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science, 9(6), 12-23. https://doi.org/10.20525/ijrbs.v9i6.916

• Ledin, P., & Machin, D. (2018). Doing visual analysis: From theory to practice. Sage.

• Ledin, P., & Machin, D. (2020). Introduction to multimodal analysis. Bloomsbury Publishing.

• Lim, C. Y. (2008, April 7).KFC Malaysia now has more than 480 outlets in four countries. The Star. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/community/2008/04/07/kfc-malaysia-now-has-more-than-480-outlets-in-four-countries

• Lock, S. (2021a, March 17). U.S. fast-food restaurants statistics & facts. Statista. https://www.statista.com/topics/863/fast-food/

• Lock, S. (2021b, May 31). Global quick service restaurant industry market size 2011-2021. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1186194/fast-food-restaurant-industry-market-size-global/

• Mason, A. N., Narcum, J., & Mason, K. (2021). Social media marketing gains importance after COVID-19. Cogent Business & Management, 8(1), 1-17.https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2020.1870797

• Mohd Yassin, M. (2021, May 1). Teks perutusan sempena Hari Pekerja 2021 [Speech text in conjuction of Labour Day]. Prime Minister’s Office of Malaysia. https://www.pmo.gov.my/ucapan/?m=p&p=muhyiddin&id=4657

• Nakat, Z., & Bou-Mitri, C. (2021). COVID-19 and the food industry: Readiness assessment. Food Control, 121, Article 107661. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2020.107661

• Nhamo, G., Dube, K., & Chikodzi, D. (2020). Restaurants and COVID-19: A focus on sustainability and recovery pathways. In Counting the cost of COVID-19 on the global tourism industry (pp. 205-224). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56231-1_9

• O’Donnell, M. (2017). Interactions between natural-language processing and systemic functional linguistics. In T. Bartlett & G. O’Grady (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of systemic functional linguistics (pp. 585-598). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315413891-48

• Othman, N. (2006, January 17-20). Current trends in pronoun usage among Malay speakers [Paper presentation]. Tenth International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics 2006, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, Philippines. https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/25743

• Rashid, B. N. M., & Jameel, A. F. (2017). A linguistic analysis of Halliday’s systemic-functional theory in political texts. Alustath Journal for Human and Social Sciences, 220(1), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.36473/ujhss.v220i1.1417

• Richardson, J. E. (2017). Analysing newspapers: An approach from critical discourse analysis. Bloomsbury Publishing.

• Rummo, P. E., Cassidy, O., Wells, I., Coffino, J. A., & Bragg, M. A. (2020). Examining the relationship between youth-targeted food marketing expenditures and the demographics of social media followers. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(5), 1631. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17051631

• Salleh, S., Hashim, N. H., & Murphy, J. (2015). Instagram marketing: A content analysis of top Malaysian restaurant brands. E-Review of Tourism Research, 5.

• Saxton, G. D., Niyirora, J., Guo, C., & Waters, R. (2015). #AdvocatingForChange: The strategic use of hashtags in social media advocacy. Advances in Social Work, 16(1), 154-169. https://doi.org/10.18060/17952

• Sidor, A., & Rzymski, P. (2020). Dietary choices and habits during COVID-19 lockdown: Experience from Poland. Nutrients, 12(6), 1657. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12061657

• Starr, R. L., Go, C., & Pak, V. (2021). ‘Keep calm, stay safe, and drink bubble tea’: Commodifying the crisis of Covid-19 in Singapore advertising. Language in Society, 51(2), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0047404521000567

• Statista Research Department. (2021, July 21). Malaysia - visited fast-food restaurants 2018. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/561040/malaysia-visited-fast-food-restaurants/

• Taylor, C. R. (2020). Advertising and COVID-19. International Journal of Advertising, 39(5), 587-589. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2020.1774131

• Top 1000 food & drink instagram influencers in Malaysia in 2021. (n.d.). Starngage. https://starngage.com/app/global/influencer/ranking/malaysia/food-drink

• Tse, A., So, S., & Sin, L. (2006). Crisis management and recovery: How restaurants in Hong Kong responded to SARS. Hospital Management, 25(2006), 3-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2004.12.001

• Vassallo, A. J., Kelly, B., Zhang, L., Wang, Z., Young, S., & Freeman, B. (2018). Junk food marketing on Instagram: Content analysis. JMIR Public Health Surveillance 2018, 4(2), Article e54. https://doi.org/10.2196/publichealth.9594

• Veszelszki, A. (2016). #time, #truth, #tradition. An image-text relationship on Instagram: photo and hashtag. In B. András & V. Veszelszki (Eds.), In the beginning was the image: The omnipresence of pictures: Time, truth, tradition (Vol. 6). Peter Lang International Academic Publishers.

• What has been related about various kinds of ma’ruf (Good deeds). (n.d.). In Jami` at-Tirmidhi. https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:1956