Does English always play a significant role in constructing identities within the multimodal ad? This question has wide-ranging implications for the inquiry of identity constructions in bilingual advertising in particular, and for bilingualism and multilingualism generally. This paper proposes a critical-cognitive approach that is an evidence-based account of whether, and to what extent, English plays a role in identity constructions and their connection to the local politics of English. This approach is analytically powerful and productive not only in capturing the varying degrees of the contribution of the English language and its role but also in unraveling the ideological dimensions of identity and the English language. Examples of Chinese–English bilingual ads that are representative of the structural features of English mixing are used for the illustrative assay. The paper concludes with a suggestion of the wider applicability of this approach to other bilingual or multilingual contexts that are currently considered as suitable for study.