Commercial Innovation or Cultural Transgression? A Mixed-Analytics Study of Media Framing in Malaysia’s “Pork Nasi Kandar” Crisis.

In multicultural societies, commercial culinary innovation often clashes with entrenched religious and cultural boundaries. Drawing on Social Identity Theory (SIT) and Media Framing, this study investigates the communicative dynamics of Malaysia's highly polarized "Pork Nasi Kandar" controversy. Using an abductive mixed-methods design—combining qualitative thematic coding with quantitative lexicometric text analysis—the study examined a comprehensive corpus of articles from seven major Malaysian news outlets published between October 2023 and December 2024. The findings show that Nasi Kandar serves as a potent in-group boundary marker for the Tamil Muslim community; thus, the commercial introduction of a non-halal ingredient was framed not as culinary evolution but as a profound out-group transgression. Furthermore, the analysis shows that operational branding transparency (e.g., clear non-halal signage) failed to mitigate public backlash because of the symbolic non-congruence of appropriating a heritage term. This study extends Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT) by demonstrating the limitations of standard accommodative transparency strategies in religiously contested markets. The research offers actionable managerial implications for culturally congruent branding, advanced crisis response strategies, and the urgent need for regulatory modernization in the foodservice sector.

cultural sensitivity, halal branding, social identity theory, media framing

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