RHETORICAL APPEALS OF SMARTPHONE ADVERTISEMENTS ON BILLBOARDS.

RHETORICAL APPEALS OF SMARTPHONES
ADVERTISEMENTS ON BILLBOARDS

A Thesis

Submitted to the English Applied Linguistics Study Program in
Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of Magister Humaniora

By:

DYTA DEASY ANGRIANI
Reg. No. 8116111006

ENGLISH APPLIED LINGUISTICS STUDY PROGRAM
POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL
STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN
2017

ABSTRACT

Dyta Deasy Angriani. Rhetorical Appeals of Smartphone Advertisements on
Billboards. English Applied Linguistics Study Program. Postgraduate
School. State University of Medan. 2016
This research deals with rhetorical appeals namely logical, emotional, & ethical
appeal used in 10 smartphone advertisements from billboards such as Lenovo,
Oppo, Evercoss, Advan, Samsung, iPhone, Asus, Vivo, Huawei, & iCherry. The
analysis is centered on the verbal and visual texts that have particular strategies
concerning the rhetorical appeals that are used by the product companies to
persuade or convince the potential consumers by appealing to their reasoning or
logic, emotion or feeling, & ethical values. The analytical tool of this study is
based on Ramage et al’s (2010) theory of rhetorical appeals. A qualitative
research design is suitably used in this study to give in-depth description and
result of analysis. The findings of the analysis about the rhetorical appeals in the
smartphone advertisements are: 1) The rhetorical appeals that mostly used in the
ten smartphone advertisements is logical appeal due to the total 67 characteristic
strategies, whereas emotional appeals only used in 29 characteristic strategies, &
ethical appeal which cannot be counted in numbers as it is about credibility which
is something qualitative namely expertise, experience, & reputation; 2) The
rhetorical appeals in the ten smartphone advertisements are actualized by
including the characteristic strategies that tightly represented to each type of

rhetorical appeals; 3) The reasons of the actualization of rhetorical appeals
application in the smartphone advertisements are because logical appeal attempts
to provide sufficient evidence from empirical sources and sound reasoning;
Ethical appeal is used to demonstrate reliability or credibility such as expertise,
experience, & reputation that are always linked to the smartphones manufacturer;
& Emotional appeal is used to draw viewers or target consumers by offering
emotionally charged reasoning with vivid visuals & language that affect the
viewers’ mental imagery or feeling.

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ABSTRAK

Dyta Deasy Angriani. Rhetorical Appeals of Smartphone Advertisements on
Billboards. Program Studi Linguistik Terapan Bahasa Inggris. Sekolah
Pascasarjana. Universitas Negeri Medan. 2016.

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisa daya pikat retoris yaitu daya pikat
logis, emosi, & etika yg digunakan dalam 10 iklan smartphone dari billboard
seperti Lenovo, Oppo, Evercoss, Advan, Samsung, iPhone, Asus, Vivo, Huawei,

& iCherry. Analisis tersebut berpusat pada teks verbal & visual yg memiliki
strategi tertentu terkait daya pikat retoris yg digunakan oleh perusahaan produk
untuk merayu atau meyakinkan calon pembeli dengan cara memicu nalar atau
logika, emosi atau perasaan, & nilai-nilai etis mereka. Perangkat analisis studi ini
berdasarkan pada teori daya pikat retoris dari Ramage et al (2010). Rancangan
penelitian qualitatif cocok digunakan dalam studi ini agar memperoleh hasil
analisis & deskripsi yg dalam. Hasil temuan analisis tersebut mengenai daya pikat
retoris dalam iklan smartphone adalah sebagai berikut: 1) daya pikat retoris yg
paling banyak digunakan adalah daya pikat logis karena menyajikan total jumalh
67 strategi khas, sedangkan daya pikat emosi hanya menyajikan 29 strategi khas,
sementara daya pikat etika tidak bisa dihitung berdasarkan angka karena daya
pikat ini berkenaan dengan hal yg sifatnya qualitative seperti keahlian,
pengalaman, & reputasi; 2) daya pikat retoris dalam sepuluh iklan smartphone
tersebut diwujudkan dengan cara menyertakan strategi-strategi khas yg sangat erat
mewakili atau berhubungan masing-masing jenis daya pikat retoris; 3) alasanalasan penerapan daya pikat retoris tersebut dalam iklan smartphone adalah
karena daya pikat logis bertujuan untuk membuktikan bukti atau fakta yg ada dari
sumber-sumber empiris & nalar yg sehat; daya pikat etika digunakan untuk
menunjukkan kejujuran & kredibilitas seperti keahlian, pengalaman, & reputasi
yg selalu berhubungan dengan perusahaan smartphone tersebut; & daya pikat
emosi yg digunakan untuk menarik calon pembeli melalui alasan emosional

dengan visualisasi yg jelas atau hidup & bahasa emosional yg mempengaruhi
pikiran & perasaan calon pembeli.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, the writer would like to express her greatest gratitude to
Allah SWT, the Almighty that has given her the ability, health and safety to finish
her thesis. May peace and blessing of Allah be upon Prophet Muhammad SAW
who introduced us good behaviours.
Foremost, the writer would like to express her sincere gratitude to her
advisors, Prof. Dr. Lince Sihombing, M.Pd. and Dr. Didik Santoso, M.Pd. for the
support and guidance to finish this thesis; for their assistance, advices, time and
immense knowledge given to the writer. Moreover the writer would like to express
her thanks to the examiners, Prof. Dr. Busmin Gurning, M.Pd., Prof. Amrin
Saragih, M.A.,Ph.D and Dr. Anni Holila Pulungan, M.Hum for their suggestions,
comments and questions for the thesis improvement.
The writer would also like to express her gratitude to Dr. Rahmad Husein,
M.Ed as the head of English Applied Linguistics Study Program and Dr. Anni

Holila Pulungan, M.Hum. as the secretary of English Applied Linguistics Study
Program who have assisted her in processing the administration requirements
during the process of her studies in the Postgraduate School of the State University
of Medan, and not to forget special thanks to the all lecturers of the English Applied
Linguistics Study Program who have given their valuable knowledge to her in their
lectures.
Sincere gratitude are expressed to her parent, Aprilawaty Pulungan and her
brother, Nandha Putra Azhari for their support, care and unconditional love. Her

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special thanks also go to her extended family, H. Totop Pulungan family for their
support and care until the writer finished her thesis.
The writer would also like to express her gratitude to her beloved friends in
SMK Negeri 7 Medan and her classmates, English Applied Linguistics XX-A for
the prayer, support, love, laughs and friendship.
Those whose name cannot be mentioned one by one, the writer would like
to say thanks for their help and support. Thanks for everything. May Allah SWT
bless us. Amin.

Medan, 4 Maret 2017

Dyta Deasy Angriani

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Pages

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION
1.1 The Background of the Study .................................................................................... 1
1.2 The Problem of the Study .......................................................................................... 5
1.3 The Objective of the Study ........................................................................................ 6
1.4 The Scope of the Study ............................................................................................. 6
1.5 The Significance of the Study ................................................................................... 7

CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2. Theoretical Framework .............................................................................................. 8
2.1 Rhetoric Appeals ...................................................................................................... 8

2.2 Types of Rhetorical Appeals & the Characteristic Strategies ................................... 11
2.2.1 Logical Appeal ............................................................................................ 11
2.2.2 Ethical Appeal ............................................................................................. 12
2.2.3 Emotional Appeal ......................................................................................... 14
2.3 Process of Describing the Rhetorical Appeals ......................................................... 16
2.3.1 Describing the Logical Appeal ..................................................................... 17
2.3.2 Describing the Ethical Appeal ...................................................................... 19
2.3.3 Describing the Emotional Appeal ................................................................ 21
2.4. Reason of Realizing the Rhetorical Appeals ........................................................... 22
2.5 Language Modes in Rhetorical Appeals ................................................................... 23
2.6 Smartphone Advertisements on Billboard .............................................................. 26
2.7 Relevant Studies ....................................................................................................... 29
2.8 Conceptual Framework ............................................................................................ 33

CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 The Research Design ........................................................................................ 36
3.2 The Data and Source of the Data ..................................................................... 36
3.3 Technique of Collecting the Data .................................................................... 37
3.4 Technique of Analyzing the Data .................................................................... 37
3.6. Technique of Establishing the Trustworthiness ............................................. 38

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CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH FINDINGS & DISCUSSIONS
4.1 Research Findings ........................................................................................... 40
4.3 Discussions ...................................................................................................... 60

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
5.1 Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 62
5.2 Suggestions ...................................................................................................... 63

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................. 64
APPENDIX ................................................................................................................... 66

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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

5.1

Conclusions
After analyzing the whole data deliberately, the conclusions are drawn:

1.

The logical appeal is seemingly the strongest one to apply in smartphone
advertisements as it is related to technology that must be scientifically proven.
The arguments in logical appeal engage readers or observers by appealing to
reason, logic, and data in order to convince them that the real proven or tested
products are much more important. Therefore, to gain such achievement, the
characteristic strategies that frequently occurred in the smartphone
advertisements are evidences, facts, & examples. Thus, the rhetorical appeals
and their strategies in the smartphone advertisements are tightly related to
each type of rhetorical appeal. Each strategy must depict or represent the three
rhetorical appeals natures or characteristics. By ably recognizing &
understanding the characteristic strategies, it is easy to relate it with what
rhetorical appeal that they are encompassed in. As a whole, both the verbal &
visual texts are the ideas & arguments to promote the smartphones.

2.

The reasons of rhetorical appeals are used in smartphone advertisements are to
evoke people’s reasoning, influence people’s minds & feeling, gain people’s
acceptance through any ethical values. It can be investigated by analyzing the
rhetorical appeals such as logical, emotional & ethical to understand the
message and meanings of smartphone advertisements to persuade and
convince the target consumers.

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5.2

Suggestions
In line with the conclusions that have been stated, some suggestions are

offered to the readers, especially for those who are interested in doing further study
on rhetorical appeals not only in advertisements but also in any discourse as follow:

1. It is suggested for other students to study about rhetorical appeals in other
kinds of advertisements that may present particular arguments& ideas to
uncover the message of the advertisements in order to discover whether the
rhetorical appeal is strong or not.
2. It is suggested for the students who want to study about the theory of
rhetorical appeals in any social interaction, such as in advertisements,
speech, news, entertainment, articles, and so on in order to know whether
there is failure or fallacy in any rhetorical appeal that is used.
3. It is suggested for other researchers who want to conduct a research by
using rhetorical appeals in any research fields, such as in economics,
politics, journalism, laws, etc in order to understand the ways of the
rhetorical appeals are used and managed in them.

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