English in Georgian Digital Advertising: Platform Constraints, Consumer Perceptions, and the Offline–Online Nexus

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: This study examines how digital platforms shape bilingual advertising in post-Soviet Georgia, addressing three questions: (1) What linguistic strategies (loanwords, code-switching, hybrid forms) prevail? (2) How do urban and rural consumers perceive these strategies? (3) How do state regulations and platform constraints shape advertisers’ choices? Design/methodology/approach: We employ a mixed-methods design combining corpus analysis (200 digital advertisements from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Google Ads), consumer surveys (225 respondents stratified by age, education, settlement type), and focus groups with 16 advertising professionals. The approach applies offline–online nexus frameworks to examine platform-mediated language practices. Data and analysis: The corpus (January–June 2024) was coded for linguistic strategies using inter-coder reliability (Cohen’s κ = 0.85). Survey data (Cronbach’s α = .85) were analyzed via analysis of variance (ANOVA) to compare perceptions across demographics. Focus group transcripts underwent thematic analysis (κ = 0.78). Findings/conclusions: Partial English use (43%) prevails, driven by code-switching and hybrid forms like “ქეშბექი” (keshbeki, cashback). Younger respondents aged 18–50 (67%) view English ads as innovative, while 35% of all respondents express linguistic marginalization concerns. Advertisers navigate tensions between Georgia’s Advertising Act mandating Georgian-language content and Google Ads’ technical inability to support Georgian script, creating “platform-enforced bilingualism.” Originality: This is the first systematic study of English in Georgian advertising. It introduces “platform-enforced bilingualism” as a concept bridging prestige models and structural constraint perspectives, demonstrating how corporate platform governance supersedes national language policy in digital commercial spaces. Significance/implications: The study extends nexus scholarship to commercial contexts and post-Soviet language policy frameworks. It reveals asymmetric feedback loops where online platform constraints shape offline linguistic norms more powerfully than policies shape online practices, with implications for language policy revision and bilingual education in digitally mediated environments.