Name, Image, and Enjoyment: A Conceptual Metaphor Study of Snack Names in Children’s Pop Culture

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-613-0_19How to use a DOI?

Keywords

conceptual metaphors; cognitive onomastics; snack naming; cosumption culture; children

Abstract

This research focuses on the naming of snacks of today’s generation of children with a conceptual metaphor perspective within the framework of cognitive linguistics. Snack names not only serve as product labels, but also represent a way of thinking, marketing strategies, and cognitive constructs aimed at the main target market, namely children and adolescents. The research data was collected from various popular snack brands circulating in both modern and traditional markets, as well as from digital advertisements that are widely consumed by children. The analysis was carried out by classifying the names into several categories of metaphors: (1) sensory metaphors (taste is adventure, eating is play) which emphasizes the experience of eating as a form of play or adventure; (2) the metaphor of animals (snack is animal power) that associates food with animal traits, both funny and strong; (3) hyperbolic metaphor (flavor is explosion) which gives the impression of excessive and extreme taste; (4) figure-like metaphors and fantasies (snack is hero/magic) that present associations with popular figures, imaginary worlds, or magical powers; and (5) the metaphor of everyday objects (snack is object) that takes advantage of children’s proximity to concrete objects in everyday life. The results showed that snack naming utilized imaginative associations to build emotional appeal, stimulate imagination, and reinforce children’s consumption cultural identity. Thus, snack naming is not a neutral activity, but rather a complex semiotic practice, in which language, cognition, and culture intertwine. This study is expected to contribute to the development of cognitive onomastics as well as enrich the understanding of linguistic strategies used by the modern snack industry.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Basori Basori
AU  - Winci Firdaus
AU  - Denny Adrian Nurhuda
AU  - Sarip Hidayat
AU  - Yusup Irawan
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/04
TI  - Name, Image, and Enjoyment: A Conceptual Metaphor Study of Snack Names in Children’s Pop Culture
BT  - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Linguistics and Cultural Studies (ICLC-6 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 217
EP  - 233
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-613-0_19
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-613-0_19
ID  - Basori2026
ER  -