Gummy Bear Gang by

@Patchplants

2020-05-03 21:17:42 UTC

Audience and Purposes:

Audience: Plant-lovers, probably from milianels to genZ

Primary - promotive for their shop

Secondary - advocative for urban gardening

Post 1: “sunday soaks🌱.🌿.🌺.” Picture of a bathroom with plants

Relationship between image and text: Minimal, divergent relationship.

Register: Informal, because of the emojis and no punctuation

Lexico-grammatical choices: Simple tense, metaphorical use, short and simple sentence

Rhetorical devices: Alliteration

Analysis: One could assume that the picture was taken on a Sunday, but the image does not relate to the text whatsoever, which is why I chose to say that it is a divergent relationship. The caption “sunday soaks” is presumably used to spread a positive as well as relaxing mood, which can (only) be achieved by a plant filled surrounding. The post makes one long for a lazy sunday while being surrounded by plants, which is why I think it was successful.

The emojis used are plants and flowers, which the account always uses, maybe as their trademark.

Post 2: “She’s extremely beautiful yet incredibly easy to look after. A really good houseplant for beginners.🌱. 🌿. 🌺.”

Relationship between image and text: Close, additive relationship.

Register: Neutral

Lexico-grammatical choices: Simple tense and use of loaded/emotive words, such as “extremely”, “beautiful”, and “good”. It is therefore also heavily adjectival

Rhetorical devices: Personification of a plant

Analysis: By personifying the plant, the text keeps the reader engaged and interested; by describing “her” with humane characteristics, even a non-plant-lover understands how “easy” it is to care for it and therefore feels intrigued to buy said plant. It is consequently a successful post, since the reader is inclined to make a purchase. The emojis are used again.

Post 3: “Hands up if you love an indoor tree! 🌱.🌿.🌺.”

Relationship between image and text: Minimal, additive relationship.

Register: Neutral

Lexico-grammatical choices: Simple tense, imperative, loaded word “love”

Rhetorical devices: None

Analysis: The caption encourages the reader to interact with the post and as a result also with their shop. Since one might see the many comments of other people loving said “indoor tree”, the phenomenon of groupthink might occur and the reader consequently feels urged to buy said plant from the account’s store. It is a casual as well as subtle way of promoting their products. The emojis are used again.

- Leah ☼

@thejungalow

2020-05-04 17:11:52 UTC

Audience: plant enthusiasts, people interested in interior design (including plants), Millennials,
Purpose: primary: promotive
secondary: expressive/advocative
tertiary: informative

Post 1: "Not into bold colors and patterns? 🤔 You must have stumbled on the wrong account! 🤣#jungalow"
Relationship between image and text: minimal, parallel
Register: informal (incomplete sentence, use of direct "you")
Lexico-grammatical choices:
present tense, short sentences, modal auxiliary (must), adjectives (bold, wrong)
Rhetorical devices: ellipsis
Analysis: The picture shows a colorful bedroom with many pictures, decorations and patterns. The captions refers only to the "bold colors ans patterns"; therefore, its context relationships is minimal. However, this is the reason why it is successful: The author only chose one aspect that he wanted to emphasizes. Both picture and text want to express the importance of colors and patterns for the author (parallel). Through the use of ellipsis and the generic you the author wants to show, that this page is even for "lesser" educated people. The two emojis do not directly contribute to the relationship between the picture ans the text. The first one 🤔 indicates that a serious question is asked; the second one 🤣; however, dismisses that notion and indicates humor.

Post 2: “I’m fine with a plain, boring pot” said no plant ever! 🙅🏽‍♀️🙅🏻🙅🏼‍♂️Your plant babies deserve better! Dress them up like they’re heading to a fancy disco themed party! 🕺🏽💃🏽They’ll thank you for it.😉#jungalow
Relationship between image and text: minimal, divergent
Register: informal (e.g. contraction)
Lexico-grammatical choices: present tense, many adjectives, direct speech, directives, semantic field of familial relationships
Rhetorical devices: personification, simile
Analysis: The divergent relationship between the picture and the caption makes this post successful. Even though the pots in the picture have a beautiful design, there is no indication that they are the main focus. Yet, the text together with the humor and the emojis make the audience noticed them. These emojis 🙅🏽‍♀️🙅🏻🙅🏼‍♂️ emphasis the author's advice, while the others 🕺🏽💃🏽 underline the simile.

Post 3: @awildflowerspirit has us daydreaming of botanical garden hopping this weekend! 🌵👀🌿How about you? What adventures are you getting into this weekend? #jungalow
Relationship between image and text: close, additive
Register: informal
Lexico-grammatical choices: present as well as future tense, (direct) questions, emotive/loaded lexis
Rhetorical devices: (personification) , generic you, (rhetorical) questions
Analysis: In my opinion the relationship between the picture ans the text is close and additive because the text explain (roughly) what can be seen in the picture, but it also amplifies the purpose of the picture (and text), namely to promote @awildflowerspirit and the botanic garden. The questions and the use of the generic you aim to engage the audience. The emojis 🌵👀🌿 want to encourage to "go and see the plants". All these aspects contribute to the success of this post.

- Oumayma 🌿❤️

@arianatanabe

2020-05-05 10:07:58 UTC

Audience: plant lovers, people intersted or involved in urban gardening, millenials
Purposes:
primary -> exhibitionist
secondary -> entertainment
secondary -> promotive

Post 1: "Are you all sick of my bathroom? Cool, me neither.
Relationship image <-> text: Context relationship = minimal: (could be seen as transcendent because the bathroom is mentioned and we can clearly see the wall of the bathroom which is decorated with plants...)
Semiotic relationship = divergent: pictures wants reader to look at the plants, texts implies that the main focus is on the bathroom
Register:
Informal ("you all", "cool")
Lexico-grammatical choices:
Present Simple, question answered by incomplete sentence ("me neither"), emphasis on community ("you all")
Rhetorical devices:
Rhetorical question, irony
Analysis:
This post is successful because it creates a layered relationship between text and picture. The text wants its reader to believe that the focus should be on the bathroom (a room) although the picture stages the plants very prominently. Additionally, the rhetorical question and its immediate given answer by the author aid in making the post appear even more humorous and ironic.

Post 2: "Have I told you lately that I love you?"
Relationship image <-> text: Context relationship = minimal
Semiotic relationship = divergent
Register:
neutral
Lexico-grammatical choices:
Present Perfect Simple, lately (author does so repeatedly (?))
Rhetorical Devices:
Personification ("you"), Rhetorical question (-> one cannot expect an answer from a plant)
Analysis:
The picture shows somebody (probably the author) holding a small potted plant in their cupped hand. The text is directed to the plant, an inanimate object. This has a humorous effect and shows the love and affection of the author/plant owner toward their plant.

Post 3: "New sweet lil oxalis bb"
Relationship image <-> text: Context relationship = minimal
Semiotic relationship = divergent
Register:
informal -> slang; jargon ("oxalis")
Lexico-grammatical choices:
Abbreviation ("bb" for "baby"), slang ("lil"), no punctuation marks
Rhetorical Devices:
Tricolon ("new sweet lil")
Analysis:
This post is successful because it creates a hard contrast within the language applied. The use of both slang and jargon makes the post very interesting. Readers will immediately try to find out what exactly an "oxalis" is, as they might think it weird to find the word combined with the rest of sentence. Furthermore, they might not only try to find its meaning but might also want to find out which of the depicted plants it is, as there are many in the picture. The fact that many plants are shown although the text is about only one could be seen as an inside joke.

- Anna

@houseplantclub

2020-05-05 11:17:16 UTC

Audience: primarily houseplantclub followers. Plant enthusiasts and people who want to reinforce their plant-loving attitude. It seems to be a huge family of people who share this one common hobby: plants.
Purpose: advocative
expressive

Post 1: "Find me in my sanctuary."
Context relationship: Close
Semiotic relationship: parallel
register: Formal (although use of first person pronoun)
Lexico-grammatical choices: Present simple, short sentence
rhetorical devices: metaphor (sanctuary)

Post 2: "Stay active while you’re staying inside! Weekends are the perfect opportunity for repotting and plant pampering. Hop to it!"
Context relationship: minimal to close
Semiotic relationship: additive (extra information of 'repotting' in the text)
register: informal (hop to it)
Lexico-grammatical choices: imperative, present simple, adjective (perfect!)
rhetorical devices: alliteration (plant pampering), metaphora (Hop to it while a cat is jumping in the picture)

Post 3: Family portrait 🌿🐶
Context relationship: close (but only because the author sees the pug and the plants as family). The pug and plant emoji reflect what's in the picture.
Semiotic relationship: parallel for people who share the belief of pets and plants being familiy, divergent for people who don't see it that way.
register: informal (emojis)
Lexico-grammatical choices: short heading,
rhetorical devices: personification (animal and plants as human family)

@twin_roots

2020-05-05 11:53:45 UTC

Audience: younger generations (between 20 and 35 years old), interested in plants (and maybe photography)

Purpose:
primary: promotive/expressive; secondary: informative; tertiary: entertainment

Post 1: from March 16^th

“I just unpackaged the most perfect, chubby seal butt succulent from @rare_succulent 😍😍“

Relationship between image and text: close, parallel

Lexico-grammatical choices: past tense, simple sentence structure, use of superlative, and I’m not sure but I think “unpackage” is a mistake, to my knowledge the word is “unpack”

Rhetorical devices: metaphorical use of “chubby” and “butt”, hyperbole (“most perfect”)

Analysis: The image portrays a potted plant held up by a person’s hand in front of a blank white wall in natural daylight. The plant, as well as the pot, are at the centre of the image, the attention lies on them. The caption refers to the Instagram page of the place where the plant was bought from, the emojis draw attention to the company’s account tag. The use of the superlative “most perfect” and the metaphor “chubby…butt” evoke the idea of a (cute) human baby, which is a technique that is often used by plant-centred Instagram accounts. The post is successful in its purpose as it focuses the attention on the object that is being promoted and depicts it in a very flattering way, both verbally as well as visually.

Post 2: from March 8^th

“I accidentally over watered my black velvet and it turned to mush while I was away 😭. Now I’m starting over with a brand new baby black velvet. Please thrive little one!”

Relationship between image and text: close, parallel

Lexico-grammatical choices: past and present tense, use of imperative

Rhetorical devices: personification

Analysis: Like the first post I analysed, this one also shows only the plant that is mentioned in the text, held up by a hand in front of a blank white background. The text also employs a comparison to a human child, but this time the author mentions the word “baby” and uses an imperative to personify the plant. I believe the post would be more successful if it portrayed not only the new plant, but also showed the previous one that “turned to mush”.

Post 3: from February 15^th

“I think my mini monstera is getting too tall, but I’m afraid of cutting it 😬 ✂️”

Relationship between image and text: close, additive

Rhetorical devices: slight personification

Analysis: This post also portrays an image of a plant in a pot held up by a person’s hand in front of a white wall. The text seems more expressive than the image, the image only serves to “prove” the author’s opinion (“I think my mini monstera is getting too tall”) and the relationship between image and text is therefore additive. With the description “too tall” it seems that the author aimed to personify the plant, similarly to the previously mentioned images. However, by using the personal pronoun “it” in the subordinate clause, the effect is quickly reversed. The post seems to lack a visual expression that matches the content of the subordinate clause in order to be truly successful, but it would probably not match the account’s common theme.