Analysis of Doublespeak in Facial Skin Care Product in The Body Shop Advertisements.

ABSTRACT

Dalam penelitian tugas akhir ini, saya mengkaji penggunaan doublespeak
dalam iklan The Body Shop. Doublespeak merupakan suatu fenomena bahasa
yang biasa digunakan oleh beberapa orang yang memiliki maksud tertentu untuk
menyesatkan atau memperdayai orang lain. Dalam periklanan, doublespeak
biasa ditemui di berbagai media, seperti media elektronik atau pun media cetak.
Ada beberapa macam tipe doublespeak yang ditemukan di dalam
pembahasan tugas akhir saya, yaitu weasel word, the rule of parity, up to claim
dan unfinished word. Penggunaan tipe-tipe doublespeak tersebut dimaksudkan
untuk menarik perhatian pembaca atau penggunanya. Doublespeak menjadi
suatu cara yang mudah untuk meningkatkan penjualan produk The Body Shop.
Salah satu temuan yang saya peroleh dalam kajian di iklan ini adalah
bahwa penggunaan weasel word adalah tipe yang paling sering digunakan,
karena weasel word merupakan tipe yang paling mudah digunakan untuk
menekankan efektifitas dari produk The Body Shop. Penggunaan the rule of
parity adalah tipe yang digunakan untuk menggarisbawahi kualitas produk. Up to
claim digunakan untuk menunjukkan daya tahan dari produk dan yang terakhir
penggunaan

unfinished

word

merupakan

tipe

yang

digunakan

untuk

mengedepankan hasil akhir dari penggunaan produk The Body Shop.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS .....................................................................................

i

ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................... ii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study…………………………………………………………
Statement of the Problem ............................................................................
Purpose of the Study ...................................................................................
Method of Research ....................................................................................
Organization of the Thesis ...........................................................................

1
3
4
4
4

CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Definition of Doublespeak……………………………………………………….
Types of Doublespeak…………………………………………………………...
The Rule of Parity ........................................................................................
Weasel words ..............................................................................................
Up to Claim..................................................................................................
Unfinished word ...........................................................................................

5
6
6
6
7
7

CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF DOUBLESPEAK IN THE BODY SHOP
ADVERTISEMENTS ......................................................................................... 9
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ..................................................................... 24
BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………........... 29
APPENDICES

Advertisement 1…………………………………………………………………. 31
Advertisement 2…………………………………………………………………. 32
Advertisement 3…………………………………………………………………. 33

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APPENDIX

Advertisement 1

31

Advertisement 2

32

Advertisement 3

33

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study
Humans being are social creatures, so they need to communicate with
one another. Human cannot live by themselves, but they need to live together
and socialize with others. According to Sachdeva, “Communication is the
exchange or flow of information and ideas between one person and another.
Effective communication occurs when the receiver comprehends the information
or idea that the sender intends to convey”. Communication process happens
when we have an idea that needs to be communicated and that idea is sent to
the receiver. There are a number of ways to communicate, either verbally or nonverbally. There are different means of communication with through television,
radio, magazine, newspapers and the Internet. Therefore, because of the rapid
progress in technology, we can get more information, and perhaps in the near
future there will be more ways to exchange information.
Information is closely related to media advertising, which is a way to
convey information. Nowadays, we can easily find many advertisements on

television, on the radio, in magazines and so on. According to Collins Cobuild
Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary, advertisement is “an announcement in a
newspaper, on television, or on a poster about something such as a product,
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event, or job”. Almost all companies use advertisements to promote their product,
because it is an effective way to attract consumers. To support the product, the
advertisement should be unique and creative. That is why, the company uses
good-looking models, eye-catching colours and attracting words. The aim of the
company to use those features is to attract the consumers to buy the product.
The words used in advertisements are one of the most important
elements to attract people’s attention. The advertisers formulate the words to be
put on the advertisements in such a way that they make the consumers believe
that the product goes along with their expectations. Finally, it makes the
consumers eager to buy the product. One way to materialize their intention is
through doublespeak. Doublespeak is often used in advertisements by
advertisers in order to make the products look more attractive and more
interesting, so that the consumers may think and believe that the products are

really what is said in the advertisement. (Lutz 77)
This is the case that I will analyze in my thesis, and specifically I have
chosen The Body Shop advertisement as the source of the data, because in The
Body Shop there are a number of advertisements which can be considered to
deceive and mislead the consumers. Besides, skin care products are one of the
advertisements that often use doublespeak (Lutz 83). I am interested in analyzing
this topic because I want to show that The Body Shop frequently uses
doublespeak in advertisements.
The topic of my analysis is Analysis of Doublespeak in Facial Skin Care
Product in The Body Shop Advertisements. My topic belongs to Pragmatics.
According to Lutz, doublespeak is “a language that pretends to communicate but
it really does not. It makes the bad become good, the negative become positive,
the unpleasant become attractive” (Lutz 1). To analyze the data I use Lutz’s
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theory, doublespeak. In advertising, doublespeak is commonly used to attract
people’s attention.
I also include the history of The Body Shop. The Body Shop, founded by

Dame Anita Roddick, is one of the brands that produce beauty products. Their
first store opened on 26th March 1976 in Brighton, the south coast of England.
The Body Shop itself first came to Indonesia in 1992. The first store of The Body
Shop is located in Pondok Indah Mall, Jakarta. Today, The Body Shop has nearly
89 stores spread across Indonesia, including Java, Bali, Sumatra, Kalimantan,
and Sulawesi. Nowadays, The Body Shop not only produces women products
but also products for men. The Body Shop now becomes one of the most wellknown brands and lots of people are interested in using the products.
The significance of my topic is that people would become aware and
wiser when they choose a particular product, especially skin care products. They
should be aware of the fact that an advertisement is like a tool or a way to sell
those products. What is stated in the advertisement may not be the same as in
reality. Some words are intended to mislead the consumers because they appear
to be very promising but actually not.
Word count: 716

Statement of the Problem
The problems I want to analyze in this thesis are:
1. What words or phrases in The Body Shop advertisement that contain
doublespeak?
2. What kind of doublespeak are they categorized into?

3. How does the doublespeak mislead the consumers?

Purpose of the Study
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This thesis is conducted to show the following points:
1. To identify the words or phrase that contain doublespeak in The Body
Shop advertisement.
2. To categorize the doublespeak into its kinds.
3. To show how those words can mislead the consumers.

Methods of Research
I searched for Doublespeak theory by Lutz and the advertisements from
the Internet that I would analyse. Then, I read the theory from Doublespeak by
Lutz and some references from the Internet, understanding the theory and the
data. After that, I analyzed the advertisements by referring to literary theories
from some references to support the analysis of the advertisement. Eventually, I
drew some conclusion based on my findings.

Organization of the Thesis
In my thesis, there are four chapters. Chapter One is Introduction, which
consists of Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the
Study, Method of the Research, and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two is
Theoretical Framework, in which I describe the linguistic area and the approach I
use in writing the thesis. Chapter Three is the analysis of the Advertisements.
Chapter Four is Conclusion of the analysis. I put Bibliography and Appendix at
the end of the thesis.

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I would like to draw some conclusions from my findings.
After analyzing the data, in total there are three data, consisting of twenty three
words that can be analyzed by using the theory of doublespeak in The Body

Shop’s advertisements. After analyzing the data, I find The Body Shop’s
advertisements tend to use doublespeak, especially for skin care products. The
most dominant used in those advertisements that I have analyzed is weasel
word, there are sixteen of twenty three words from the whole data. Weasel word
is used more than the other types of doublespeak, because what is said is not
really true; besides, weasel word is the most effective way to promise something.
Weasel word appears in all the advertisements that I analyzed.
Actually each word in the advertisements has a meaning and the
advertiser uses some particular words that contain doublespeak in order to make
their advertisement look attractive and make the consumers want to buy the
product. To highlight the effectiveness of the product, weasel word is the most
effective device to use, because the choice of words can mislead the consumers

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easily; for example, from the first advertisement there is a word new, which has
the potential to mislead the consumers. When they know that the product is new,
they will buy the product because basically the consumers tend to be curious and
have an expectation that the product is really new without thinking of the proof.
The advertisers can use some words containing weasel word to promote their
product. However, it is important to look carefully at what the advertisement says,
because probably the consumers cannot get what they expect from the product.
The second mostly used is unfinished word. There are five words
out of twenty three words. Unfinished word does not really stand out if we
compare it with weasel word. An unfinished word means a claim with incomplete
comparison, and usually it contains the words more or suffix -er. Unfinished word
is an effective device to highlight the result after using the product. The
consumers will have an imagination that the result will be like the advertisement
says. There are some words that can potentially mislead the consumers; for
example, the words plumper and firmer in the first advertisement. The result of
having plumper and firmer skin could really happen if the consumers use the
product. However, the consumers must be aware of it, because they may not be
able to get what the advertisement says and the advertisers are not responsible
for it.
Besides, I find one the rule of parity and one up to claim out of twenty
three words. In The Body Shop’s advertisements, the rule of parity and up to
claim are not significant, because these types are not really eye-catching for the
consumers; besides, up to claim is not really popular in The Body Shop’s
advertisement. The rule of parity appears in the first advertisement and up to
claim in the second advertisement. It is totally different if compared with weasel
word, which appears with 8 words only from one advertisement. To highlight the

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quality of the product, the rule of parity is considered the most effective device to
use because the choice of word best in the first advertisement indicates that the
product is superior to other products although actually not. On the other hand, up
to claim is the most effective device to highlight the durability of the product,
because the words up to 24 hours in the second advertisement indicate the
product can stand for 24 hours, although actually not. In my opinion, 24 hours in
this context is closely related to a long time. However, even the rule of parity and
up to claim are not so important in The Body Shop’s advertisements but their
existence is also necessary to support the advertisements.
I believe when a producer wants to create or make a product they do
some researches or surveys to know what the consumers need to solve their
problem. After the research, the producer makes an advertisement by using
doublespeak with the hope the consumers will be attracted and want to buy the
product. However, if we talk about the product we also talk about the quality of it.
I think different products should use different types of doublespeak and the
advertiser must convince the consumers that the quality of their product is good.
For foundation, moisturizer and powder products I think it is suitable to
use weasel word and the rule of parity, because many consumers will easily
believe that the product is really good and gives them a solution to their problem.
They believe that after using the product they will get what the advertisement
says. Therefore, they will be attracted and buy the product. For other products,
like lipstick, eyeliner or mascara, it is better to use weasel word and up to claim,
because basically women like to be good looking anywhere and anytime.
Besides, women need long lasting products considering their activities. For
example, for mascara product the advertiser says it will thicken up to 10 lashes or
a lipstick product by moisturizing your lips up to 6 hours. From the claim,

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consumers will believe that the product is really good just like what the
advertisement says and they will buy the product.
In my opinion, weasel word is mostly used in the advertisements not only
in cosmetic advertisements but also in other advertisements. In every
advertisement, the advertiser use doublespeak and the consumers should be
aware of this because each word has a meaning. As we see in the analysis,
there are at least seven or eight words which contain doublespeak, which means
that The Body Shop tends to use doublespeak to mislead the consumers. To
avoid being misled, it is important for us to really understand the real meaning of
every word; besides, we have to know for sure what the advertisement says,
because the advertisers are not responsible of it.
Sometimes, The Body Shop Indonesia uses advertisements in English to
promote their product; however, they also use Indonesian for some
advertisements.

I

am

also

quite

interested

to

analyze

doublespeak

advertisements in Indonesian; for example, food or beverages advertisements.
Besides using doublespeak theory to analyse the data, I think it is also
acceptable to analyze the data with Semiotics theory. I hope in the future there
will be a theory of doublespeak in Indonesian which can make us easier to
analyze the data, or probably in the future there is a new theory to analyze or to
discuss data taken from the advertisements or other media. Hence, I hope that
my analysis will help the readers to understand what the advertiser means with
their product advertisements.
Word count: 1,127

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Data Sources:
Almeida, Lena. “The Body Shop : Natrulift Skin Care”. Listen to Lena, 2011. Web.
10 July 2012.

Our History. The Body Shop, 2008. Web. 2 April 2013.

Pulse Store The Body Shop New Concept Store. Pikiran Rakyat. 2013. Web, 2
April 2013

Rockman, Ilene F. “Integrating Information Literacy into the Higher Education
Curriculum: Practical Models for Transformation”. John Wiley and Sons,
2004. Web. 3 Dec 2012.

Sachdeva, Santosh. “Effective Communication – That’s is just what I mean!”. Live
Positive. 2000. Web. 20 Feb 2014.

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“Amazing.” Def. 1.Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed.
2006. Print.

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“Best.” Def. 3.Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed.
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Lutz, William. Doublespeak. New York: Harper Perennial (A Division of Harper
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“New.” Def. 1. Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed.
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“Powerful.” Def. 2.Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed.
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