Media Representations of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) in Malaysia: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Financial Narratives

The rapid growth of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services in Malaysia has changed how people act, how digital credit works, and how people talk about being responsible with money. Although extensive research has been conducted on BNPL adoption, consumer behaviour, and regulatory compliance, there has been inadequate emphasis on how media discourse portrays BNPL as a moral, economic, and ideological issue. This study addresses the deficiency by employing Fairclough’s (1995) three-dimensional Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to examine Sinar Daily's portrayal of BNPL in the article “BNPL trap?” How "simple monthly payments" can put your finances at risk. The study elucidates, via textual, discursive, and social-practice analyses, how evaluative language, alarmist metaphors, and selective expert sourcing portray BNPL as a financial threat and a representation of moral integrity. The findings suggest that media narratives prioritize personal responsibility, impulsive buying, and moral correction, while neglecting consumer perspectives and broader issues like rising costs of living, restricted credit access, and regulatory ambiguity. This discursive framework shows how the main Malaysian ideological frameworks come together to shape how people think about digital credit. These include neoliberal accountability, Shariah-compliant financial ethics, and state regulatory narratives. This study enhances BNPL research by shifting the emphasis from behavioural models to discursive power, demonstrating the influence of media framing on financial literacy, policy legitimacy, and consumer vulnerability. It promotes fairer financial reporting that includes different points of view and encourages ethical, open fintech conversation. Future research could enhance this study by performing multi-text or multimodal comparative analysis across Malaysian media platforms.