Analysis of Doublespeak in Two Olay Advertisements.
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ABSTRACT
Dalam penelitian ini, saya membahas iklan kosmetik dari Olay yang merupakan produk kecantikan yang sangat terkenal di dunia. Sejak tahun 1950an sampai sekarang Olay berhasil bertahan dalam pasaran dunia dan dipercaya oleh banyak wanita. Kesuksesan tersebut salah satunya pasti berasal dari pemasaran yang baik pula. Salah satu cara pemasaran yang banyak dilakukan untuk memperkenalkan suatu produk adalah melalui iklan.
Iklan biasanya akan dibuat semenarik mungkin untuk dapat menarik perhatian konsumen. Akibatnya, banyak iklan yang menawarkan keindahan melalui gambar dan kata-kata yang dapat menyesatkan konsumen. Salah satu cara untuk mengalihkan konsumen dari makna yang sesungguhnya adalah dengan menggunakan doublespeak. Tujuannya adalah untuk menghindari tuntutan konsumen apabila produk tersebut tidak seperti apa yang diharapkan oleh mereka.
Penelitian ini menggunakan teori dari buku Doublespeak milik William Lutz. Ada empat jenis doublespeak yaitu: the rule of parity, weasel word, up to claim dan unfinished word. Lutz menyatakan bahwa doublespeak adalah bahasa yang dapat menyesatkan, seolah-olah benar tetapi dalam kenyataan belum tentu benar.
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Maranatha Christian University Saya menemukan sebelas data dalam dua iklan Olay yang saya pilih untuk penelitian ini. Dalam data tersebut terdapat enam belas kata yang mengandung doublespeak. Weasel word dan the rule of parity adalah dua jenis
doublespeak yang paling banyak digunakan dalam kedua data. Ini menunjukan bahwa Olay banyak menggunakan doublespeak, khususnya weasel words agar konsumen mempunyai pemikiran bahwa produk yang ditawarkan sangat menarik.
Saya menyimpulkan bahwa doublespeak digunakan hanya untuk kepentingan pengusaha sehingga mereka berhasil menjual produknya dan bertahan dalam pemasaran dunia. Dengan membaca penelitian ini, konsumen diharapkan tidak tersesatkan oleh iklan-iklan Olay yang mungkin menggunakan
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Maranatha Christian University
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... i
ABSTRACT ... ii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Study……….. ... 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem ... 4
1.3 Purpose of the Study ... 4
1.4 Method of Research ... 4
1.5 Organization of the Thesis ... 5
CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Definition of Doublespeak………. 6
Types of Doublespeak……….. … 7
The Rule of Parity ... 7
Weasel words ... 7
Up to Claim ... 8
Unfinished word ... 8
CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF DOUBLESPEAK IN TWO OLAY ADVERTISEMENTS ... 9
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ... 23
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 27
APPENDICES Advertisement 1………. 29
Advertisement 2………. 30
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APPENDICES
Appendix 1
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30 Data 2
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31
Appendix 2
Table of data Data 1
Data 2
No. Data Words Type of
doublespeak
6. Radiant fairness from within. Radiant
Fairness
Weasel word Weasel word
No. Data Words Type of
doublespeak
1. More power to you. More power Unfinished word
2. The most concentrated
retinol skincare product available over the counter.
The most concentrated
The rule of parity
3. Introducing Olay Intensive
Restoration Treatment.
Intensive Weasel word
4. The first Olay treatment developed intensively to
help restore the appearance
of age zones, with a combination of VitaNiacin and pro-retinol.
Intensively Weasel word To help Weasel word
6. Total Effect Intensive
Restoration Treatment. Use it with your regular moisturizer and you won’t look back.
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7. New Olay White Radiant. New Weasel word
White Weasel word
8. Because true fairness starts from within.
True Weasel word
Within Weasel word
9. Olay brings you a
breakthrough whitening
formula that works deep
inside your skin, up to 8 cell layers*, to give you radiant fairness at the cellular level.
Brings Weasel word
Breakthrough Weasel word
Deep Weasel word
Up to Up to claim
10. So why settle for superficial
whitening?
Superficial Weasel word
11. Discover true radiant
fairness from within, only
with Olay White Radiance.
Discover Weasel word Only The rule of parity
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Advertisements have become an important media for people’s life today. An advertisement is a message that promotes a product or gives information to the public. It is used to give information about a product which is being sold. We can find advertisements anywhere; when we read a magazine or a newspaper, listen to the radio, watch television, browse on the Internet, or just walk on the streets. The aims of using advertisements are mostly to inform people of a new product or to persuade people to buy the product by grabbing their interest or to introduce a new variant of an old product. Thus, it is essential that a product’s advertisement should be attractive.
An advertisement can be seen as an attractive advertisement by using appropriate images. Moreover, the other influential thing in an advertisement is the use of words. The advertiser selects what words they should put on the advertisement to make consumers believe that the product has their expected result. Therefore, they will buy the product. The most important thing to
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Maranatha Christian University communicate effectively with the consumers is to use particular words in advertisements.
One of the ways of communication is using what is known as doublespeak. According to Lutz, doublespeak happens when the words used mislead the people who read them. In other words, when using doublespeak, one is making a misleading claim about something (Lutz 2). This is often done in an advertisement by an advertiser because the advertiser wants to make the products look more attractive and more interesting so that the consumers will think that the products are really what is stated in the advertisement. The use of doublespeak helps an advertiser to make the product seem as if it were a really useful and helpful product, it can make everything become better than before. Most advertisers try to make the product seem better than any other products that are on the market.
Doublespeak is something commonly used in advertising. Therefore, it is important for the consumers to be aware of the exact meaning of each word which is used in advertisement in order that the consumers will not be misled.
These cases are the problems that I will analyze in my thesis. To analyze them, I use four types of doublespeak by William Lutz in his book Doublespeak, namely, the rule of the parity, weasel words, up to claim and unfinished word
which have differences in function (83-95). These types of doublespeak can help me reveal what words are frequently used and find out what the real meaning of each word in an advertisement. The rule of parity is used by the advertiser to make the consumers believe that his product is superior to others while in fact it is just the same as the others. Then, the advertiser may use weasel words in his advertisement to create an image that a product seems to be miraculous but in
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Maranatha Christian University reality it is not. Then, the advertiser may also use up to claims. Up to actually illustrate an ideal situation that is, the product will give the ideal result in an ideal situation. However, the problem is that we will never be in an ideal situation. Finally, the advertiser use unfinished word to let the consumers think better result which is right according to them. In fact, the product does not say anything nor better than other product.
In this thesis, I decide to take some Olay advertisements as the source of my data. I am interested in Olay advertisements because Olay is one of the leading cosmetics brands globally. It has been trusted by women for a long time because it offers strong performance at a good value which brings a healthy and beautiful skin and helps women look and feel beautiful. It not only offer the product but it also promises safety and health for the costumer’s skin. Since the 1950’s until now, Olay still exists in international marketing and Olay also has been producing many products. Thus, many women use this product (“History of Olay”).
I am interested in analyzing this topic because I want to show that Olay frequently uses doublespeak in its advertisements. Therefore, my topic is
Analysis of Doublespeak in Two Olay Advertisements.
I believe this topic is significant as people can be made more aware of the presence of doublespeak in advertisements. They should realize that an advertisement is only a tool to sell a product; hence, what is said in the advertisement may not be what it seems to be. Some words are intended to mislead the consumers: words which appear to be very promising but which in fact promise nothing.
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1.2 Statement of the Problem
In this thesis, there are three problems I am going to analyze: 1. What words contain doublespeak in two Olay advertisements? 2. What types of doublespeak are used in the Olay advertisements? 3. How do those words mislead the consumers?
1.3 Purpose of the Study
This thesis is done to show the following points:
1. To identify what words contain doublespeak in two Olay advertisements. 2. To classify the word which contain doublespeak according to its function. 3. To show how those words mislead the consumers.
1.4 Method of the Research
The first step in doing this research is browsing some pictures of Olay advertisements on the Internet. The next step is selecting the words or phrases containing doublespeak. The third step is analyzing the data by applying the theory. The last step is writing the research report.
1.5 Organization of the Thesis
In this thesis there are four chapters. Chapter One, the Introduction, consists of the Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study, Method of the Research, and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two
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Maranatha Christian University is Theoretical Framework, in which I give some explanation about the linguistic area and the approach used in writing the thesis. Chapter Three contains the analysis of the text, and the last chapter is the Conclusion of the analysis. At the end, I put the Bibliography and Appendix.
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CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, I would like to draw some conclusions about my findings. After analyzing the data, in total there are eleven data, consisting of nineteen words that can be analyzed using doublespeak in Olay’s advertisements. I find that the use of weasel words is the most dominant tool used in the advertisements. Moreover, there are mainly four to eleven specific weasel words that are used in one Olay’s advertisement. The more words the advertiser uses in an advertisement, the more doublespeak can be found. Weasel words are used more often than the other types of doublespeak because what is said is not really what it is. The second type which is often used in Olay’s advertisement is the
rule of parity. There are two words that belong to the rule of parity in two of the
advertisements. The use of the rule parity type in the advertisements indicates the advertiser claims Olay’s product is superior to other products. Actually, there is no result that states which product is the best. It means all parity products are equal.
From my findings, it is clear that the use of weasel words is the most important part that people should be aware of to avoid being misled by the
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Maranatha Christian University advertisements of Olay’s. Understanding the message of advertisements is crucial. Each word in an advertisement has meaning. The advertiser competes to make his/her advertisement look attractive. The most important factor is how the advertiser tries to communicate with the consumers through the advertisement. Thus, he/she uses particular words in order to sell the product. That is why doublespeak is often found. Of course, every word in an advertisement needs to be scrutinized as each word in an advertisement is carefully selected to create certain effects. Basically, to avoid being misled, it is important for consumers to really understand the literal meaning of every word, and we have to look closer to check what the advertisement promises. If we see it clearly, the data is focused on the skin problems that women face. Thus, the advertiser intends to give a solution the skin problems by introducing his/her product. Cosmetics products are close to a woman’s life, so the advertiser can divert the prospective buyer’s attention from the weasel words that are used in the advertisements. As a result, many women trust Olay’s product as the best product to solve their face problem.
There are many brands of cosmetics. Each brand has various products. We often found the word new in advertising. The word new is the most frequently used in weasel word. Basically, people believe that a new product is a product that does not exist before. However, the advertiser uses the word new to inform to the customers about the change of a previously existing product with a new one. However, the products are not made to be better than the previous ones. There is nothing to prove the difference of the products. Even though the colour of the product has changed, the basic formula does not improve. By using the word new, it is easy for the advertisers to introduce their new products. The advertisers might make everything seem new. One of the examples is by
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Maranatha Christian University changing the name or making the package of the product more attractive so that they can claim their product is a new product. Thus people often see the word
new on the market. By using the word new, the advertisers hope it will grab the consumers’ interest, for the benefit of the advertiser or company.
An advertisement is a tool that can divert the reader’s attention from the meaning of the doublespeak used. Consumers should look at what the words really mean, and not what they think or assume the advertisement says or what the advertiser wants them to think. This can lead a consumer to be misled and believe something which is not said. On top of that, this is actually the purpose of the use of doublespeak in an advertisement. It means that it may cause disappointment as they do not get what they think they will get. The advertiser cannot be blamed if people do not get what they think they will get. The story in an advertisement is not essential but the information about what benefit they will get after using the product is the most important thing that people should really understand.
The use of unfinished words is also a part that can potentially mislead people in interpreting Olay’s advertisements. An unfinished word is basically an incomplete comparison. Mainly, it will be a comparison between the condition before using the product and the condition after using the product. The condition before using the product is normally the missing part of the incomplete comparison. The advertisement readers are to complete the incomplete information and determine the condition after using the product is.
The consumers will be misled if they do not realize that the comparison in an advertisement is incomplete. They will automatically complete the incomplete part. They need to be suspicious of the advertisements of Olay’s if the word more
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Maranatha Christian University is used. The advertisement may contain an unfinished word, especially when there is the word more. In this case, people are led to think that the advertiser offers more to them. The last type is up to claim. The use of up to claim will mislead the consumers if they think the amount that is stated in the advertisement will be counted as much as it is stated. The advertisement may contain an up to claim, especially when there is the word up to then followed by numbers. This type is usually used to attract the consumers’ attention.
Creating of a product, especially a cosmetics product, starts from a knowledge of some problems. The producer will do a research of problems that women face. After that, he/she creates a product that will help women to solve their problems. Through an advertisement, he/she only emphasizes the good things about the product. Thus, many examples of doublespeak are used in advertisements. On top of that, if we observe carefully, all the data provide ideal models that have fair-skinned. This is done in order to promote the product. If consumers use the product, they will imagine that the product truly gives them fair-skin, like the model in the advertisement. This may lead the consumer to a thought that bright skin is better and more beautiful than dark skin. This will make people, especially women as the prospective buyers of the products, believe that all people need skin-lightening products. This will help to increase the selling of Olay’s products, especially for whitening skin products.
Even though the theory of Doublespeak is not found by an Indonesian linguist, I still find that the theory is quite applicable for analyzing the data which are found in Indonesia advertisements. I believe it may be interesting and challenging to analyze any other kinds of cosmetics products that have many consumers in Indonesia. Then, from the data, we can see how the advertiser
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Maranatha Christian University offers the product by selecting some particular words that containing doublespeak. Recognizing that the data that I have taken is in English, I find that it there is a difficulty for Indonesian consumers to understand the meaning. Not all Indonesian people are educated well in English language, especially in the middle until low class. Thus, this analysis will help us to understand the intention of an advertiser to promote his/her product through an advertisement.
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Maranatha Christian University
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Text:
Borucka, Zofia. “Total Effect Intensive Restoration Treatment.” 2000. Web. 5 Aug 2011.
Keil, Gemma. “New Olay White Radiant.” 2007. Web. 5 Aug 2011.
References:
“Breakthrough.” Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Brings.”Def. 2. Oxford Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
“Deep.”Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Discover.”Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Fairness.”Def. 2. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Fighting.”Def. 5. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Help.”Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
Hornby, A.S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Print.
“Intensive.”Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Intensive.”Def. 2. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. Lutz, William. Doublespeak. New York: HarperPerennial, 1990. Print.
“New.”Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Only.”Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
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Maranatha Christian University “Power.” Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.“Radiant.” Def. 2. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Superficial.” Def. 3. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “True.”Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Total.”Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “White.”Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Within.”Def. 3. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. Yule, George. Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. Print.
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advertisements of Olay’s. Understanding the message of advertisements is crucial. Each word in an advertisement has meaning. The advertiser competes to make his/her advertisement look attractive. The most important factor is how the advertiser tries to communicate with the consumers through the advertisement. Thus, he/she uses particular words in order to sell the product. That is why doublespeak is often found. Of course, every word in an advertisement needs to be scrutinized as each word in an advertisement is carefully selected to create certain effects. Basically, to avoid being misled, it is important for consumers to really understand the literal meaning of every word, and we have to look closer to check what the advertisement promises. If we see it clearly, the data is focused on the skin problems that women face. Thus, the advertiser intends to give a solution the skin problems by introducing his/her product. Cosmetics products are close to a woman’s life, so the advertiser can divert the prospective buyer’s attention from the weasel words that are used in the advertisements. As a result, many women trust Olay’s product as the best product to solve their face problem.
There are many brands of cosmetics. Each brand has various products. We often found the word new in advertising. The word new is the most frequently used in weasel word. Basically, people believe that a new product is a product that does not exist before. However, the advertiser uses the word new to inform to the customers about the change of a previously existing product with a new one. However, the products are not made to be better than the previous ones. There is nothing to prove the difference of the products. Even though the colour of the product has changed, the basic formula does not improve. By using the word new, it is easy for the advertisers to introduce their new products. The advertisers might make everything seem new. One of the examples is by
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changing the name or making the package of the product more attractive so that they can claim their product is a new product. Thus people often see the word new on the market. By using the word new, the advertisers hope it will grab the consumers’ interest, for the benefit of the advertiser or company.
An advertisement is a tool that can divert the reader’s attention from the meaning of the doublespeak used. Consumers should look at what the words really mean, and not what they think or assume the advertisement says or what the advertiser wants them to think. This can lead a consumer to be misled and believe something which is not said. On top of that, this is actually the purpose of the use of doublespeak in an advertisement. It means that it may cause disappointment as they do not get what they think they will get. The advertiser cannot be blamed if people do not get what they think they will get. The story in an advertisement is not essential but the information about what benefit they will get after using the product is the most important thing that people should really understand.
The use of unfinished words is also a part that can potentially mislead people in interpreting Olay’s advertisements. An unfinished word is basically an incomplete comparison. Mainly, it will be a comparison between the condition before using the product and the condition after using the product. The condition before using the product is normally the missing part of the incomplete comparison. The advertisement readers are to complete the incomplete information and determine the condition after using the product is.
The consumers will be misled if they do not realize that the comparison in an advertisement is incomplete. They will automatically complete the incomplete part. They need to be suspicious of the advertisements of Olay’s if the word more
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is used. The advertisement may contain an unfinished word, especially when there is the word more. In this case, people are led to think that the advertiser offers more to them. The last type is up to claim. The use of up to claim will mislead the consumers if they think the amount that is stated in the advertisement will be counted as much as it is stated. The advertisement may contain an up to claim, especially when there is the word up to then followed by numbers. This type is usually used to attract the consumers’ attention.
Creating of a product, especially a cosmetics product, starts from a knowledge of some problems. The producer will do a research of problems that women face. After that, he/she creates a product that will help women to solve their problems. Through an advertisement, he/she only emphasizes the good things about the product. Thus, many examples of doublespeak are used in advertisements. On top of that, if we observe carefully, all the data provide ideal models that have fair-skinned. This is done in order to promote the product. If consumers use the product, they will imagine that the product truly gives them fair-skin, like the model in the advertisement. This may lead the consumer to a thought that bright skin is better and more beautiful than dark skin. This will make people, especially women as the prospective buyers of the products, believe that all people need skin-lightening products. This will help to increase the selling of Olay’s products, especially for whitening skin products.
Even though the theory of Doublespeak is not found by an Indonesian linguist, I still find that the theory is quite applicable for analyzing the data which are found in Indonesia advertisements. I believe it may be interesting and challenging to analyze any other kinds of cosmetics products that have many consumers in Indonesia. Then, from the data, we can see how the advertiser
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offers the product by selecting some particular words that containing doublespeak. Recognizing that the data that I have taken is in English, I find that it there is a difficulty for Indonesian consumers to understand the meaning. Not all Indonesian people are educated well in English language, especially in the middle until low class. Thus, this analysis will help us to understand the intention of an advertiser to promote his/her product through an advertisement.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Text:
Borucka, Zofia. “Total Effect Intensive Restoration Treatment.” 2000. Web. 5 Aug 2011.
Keil, Gemma. “New Olay White Radiant.” 2007. Web. 5 Aug 2011.
References:
“Breakthrough.” Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Brings.” Def. 2. Oxford Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
“Deep.” Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Discover.” Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Fairness.” Def. 2. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Fighting.” Def. 5. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Help.” Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
Hornby, A.S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Print.
“Intensive.” Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Intensive.” Def. 2. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. Lutz, William. Doublespeak. New York: HarperPerennial, 1990. Print.
“New.” Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. th
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“Power.” Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.“Radiant.” Def. 2. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Superficial.” Def. 3. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “True.” Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Total.” Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “White.” Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Within.” Def. 3. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. Yule, George. Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. Print.