#ReadyToChange: A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of the EU Digital Campaign to Reduce Single-Use Plastics

Plastic is a functional and ubiquitous material in our daily lives and economies. Nevertheless, the way plastics are currently produced, used and discarded is causing serious harms to the environment, especially to the seas. Initiatives to eliminate the over-consumption of plastic goods are gaining momentum around the world. The European Union is also implementing measures aimed at restricting the use of single-use plastics. In particular, the European Commission is currently conducting a public communication campaign to raise aware-ness of the impacts of products such as cotton buds, plastic bags and cutlery, while suggesting sustainable options. Like many institutions, the EU exploits the reach and interactivity of social media to communicate with citizens, by managing several thematic Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts, apart from its institutional web portals.
The present paper focuses on #ReadyToChange, the EU digital strategy to reduce single-plastics use. The study examines a corpus collecting the textual and multimodal materials published about the issue by the EU Commission Directorate-General for Environment on its specially-designed websites (https://www.bereadyto-change.eu/ and https://plastics-strategy.prezly.com/) and on its social media channels (Facebook, Twitter and YouTube) since June 2018, also comparing the way the same campaign is adapted and conveyed through the different digital media. The research applies Multimodal Discourse Analysis to the study of web-mediated institutional communication. In particular, the study investigates the persuasive strategies enacted by the EU to appeal its audience, with a focus on the selection and representation of the impacts of unnecessary plastic consumption and on the promotion of alternative solutions.