The sociocultural and political dynamics of post-Covid Hong Kong: Insights from the tram advertisements

Abstract This paper examines tram advertisements in post-Covid Hong Kong as multimodal texts embedded in the city’s sociolinguistic landscape. Drawing on visual semiotics, geosemiotics, and critical discourse analysis, the study explores how these mobile public displays reflect and shape sociopolitical ideologies, commercial interests, and urban identities. Through a close reading of selected tram ads, the paper demonstrates how visual and textual elements work together to construct narratives of resilience, nationalism, and consumerism in a politically charged environment. These advertisements are not merely commercial artifacts but function as ideological instruments that mediate public sentiment and urban discourse. The analysis reveals how tram ads contribute to the visual politics of Hong Kong’s public space, particularly in the wake of pandemic disruptions and shifting governance. By situating the study within urban sociolinguistics and multimodal discourse theory, the paper offers a conceptual lens for interpreting mobile advertising as a site of ideological negotiation. It expands the scope of linguistic landscape research by focusing on mobile, commercial, and politically inflected texts, and contributes to broader discussions on how public transport spaces become contested arenas of meaning-making in transitional societies.