Savoring Meaning: A Rhetorical Study of Linguistic Identity and Persuasion in Philippine Food and Beverage Branding

This study examined the linguistic strategies of Filipino taglines of Food and Beverages brands specifically how they are rhetorically designed to facilitate brand recall and consumer persuasion. It utilized qualitative textual analysis as its research design and approach by analyzing 50 Filipino taglines of 10 top food and beverages companies in the Philippines within the years 2020 to 2025. Following the Rhetorical Theory of McQuarrie and Mick (1996), four rhetorical operations were identified, namely repetition, reversal, substitution and destabilization. All thirteen linguistic devices identified by McQuarrie and Mick, including alliteration, metaphor, hyperbole and puns, were utilized to convey the intended meaning and to contribute to the construction of meaning. Repetition, such as alliteration and anaphora, improves rhythm, helping consumers memorize the ad; substitution, such as metaphors, ascribes additional emotional and cultural importance; and destabilization, such as puns and irony, disrupts consumers' cognitive processes through ambiguity and other means that defy the consumer's sense of reality. By identifying these rhetorical strategies, the study provides a framework for enhancing consumer media literacy. It enables a more critical analysis of persuasive advertising messages in a fast-paced digital economy, situating these messages within the cultural connotations of Filipino values and traits. The study concludes that rhetorical figures serve as a scaffolding intended to transform banal phrases into potentially memorable and effective persuasive appeals.