Analysis of The Use of Doublespeak in Revlon's Foundation Advertisements.

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Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Dalam penulisan tugas akhir ini, saya membahas penggunaan doublespeak yang sering kali dijumpai dalam kehidupan sehari-hari. Doublespeak dapat ditemukan dalam berbagai situasi publik, seperti dalam dunia politik dan bisnis. Namun, dalam tugas akhir ini, saya membahas topik doublespeak yang ditemukan dalam dunia bisnis, secara khusus dunia periklanan mengenai produk kecantikan yaitu Revlon yang diambil dari Internet.

Dalam tugas akhir ini, saya menganalisis doublespeak yang ditemukan dalam data serta membahas arti harafiah dari kata-kata yang mengandung

doublespeak yang terdapat dalam data tersebut. Dalam pembahasan ini, saya

menemukan empat jenis doublespeak yaitu weasel word, parity claim, up to claim dan jargon.

Pada dasarnya, penggunaan doublespeak dalam dunia periklanan adalah untuk menarik perhatian konsumen. Selain itu, penggunaan doublespeak juga bisa membuat iklan yang ditawarkan tampak lebih menarik dan menjanjikan. Dalam penemuan ini, saya memperoleh salah satu sarana yang paling sering digunakan oleh pengiklan untuk mempromosikan produk Revlon adalah weasel word. Hal ini merupakan cara yang paling mudah dan efektif untuk menarik perhatian konsumen.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... i

ABSTRACT ... ii

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Background of the Study ... 1

Statement of the Problem ... 4

Purpose of the Study ... 4

Method of Research ... 4

Organization of the Thesis ... 5

CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 6

CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF THE USE OF DOUBLESPEAK IN REVLON’S FOUNDATION ADVERTISEMENTS ... 12

CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ... 31

BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 36

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APPENDICES

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Data 2: Colorstay Whipped Crème Makeup Advertisement

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Data 4: Colorstay Mineral Mousse Makeup Advertisement

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

In our daily life, we can find a lot of advertisements either printed or non-printed in social media. In Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 7th edition, advertisement is “a notice, picture or film telling people about a product, job or service” (“Advertisement, def.1). Printed advertisements can be found in magazines, newspapers, brochures, banners, while non-printed ones can be found on the radio, the Internet and the television.

This thesis presents the analysis of the use of doublespeak of foundation product advertisements of Revlon. Advertisements are created in such a way to give information of the products. Advertisers usually use their own ways to advertise their products, but all of them have the same goal, which is to attract the attention of the consumers. In addition, after the consumers become interested in the products, they will have a desire to have the products and finally they will take an action to buy the products. This is what the advertisers want when creating advertisements for their products. They use some tricks to persuade

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Maranatha Christian University the consumers to buy their products. The most commonly used is the diction closely related to the products. In order to persuade the consumers, the advertisers always try to convince them through the words they use. The advertisers use such a persuasive language or words in promoting their products that makes the consumers interested and believe in what they say. Usually, advertisers use words which are so attractive to the consumers that they will be easily influenced by the advertisements. As a result, they will buy the product.

I am interested in studying doublespeak because this kind of language is always used in advertisements and it has the power to mislead people. Many people are not aware when choosing products for their daily life. Usually, they buy any kind of beauty products without paying attention to the language that is used by the advertisers to mislead the consumers. The consumers think that the product that they choose is the best product compared to others. Consequently, when they buy the product, they will be disappointed because the product they have bought is beyond their expectation. In other words, the product is not as good as what the advertisement says.

In this thesis, I would like to analyze doublespeak in advertisements because in advertising doublespeak is always used to attract the attention of the consumers so that they will buy the products. The advertisers usually use such words that contain promises with the purpose of making the consumers believe in the products. Advertisements are mostly presented in attractive colours to make the consumers more interested in it. Besides, the advertisers use famous actresses or actors to promote their products more effectively.

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I have decided to take several data from Revlon’s advertisements, because I find lots of words which contain doublespeak to promote the products, while many people do not realize it. Moreover, Revlon products are already well-known to public and they are categorized as one of the most popular cosmetics in the world because of their international reputation. Based on Revlon International

Corporation Company Information article, “people can find these products in

South Africa, Australia, Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Venezuela, Indonesia and many more countries”. In Company Overview of Revlon Consumer

Products Corp article, there are lots of Revlon products such as “powder, cream

foundation, mascara, eyeliner, eye-shadow, blush-on, lipstick, nail polish, perfume, cologne, body spray, deodorant, etc”. However, I only choose the advertisements of cream foundation as my data, because in the cream foundation advertisements there are many expressions containing doublespeak. In this thesis, I would like to discuss all expressions in those advertisements which contain doublespeak.

There are various sources such as television, the Internet, radio, newspapers, magazines and many more that we can use as the source of data. Yet, I choose to take the data from the Internet as my source of data because I think the Internet is the most probable way for me to find this kind of data.

The significance of my thesis is that by reading this thesis the readers, especially women, will become aware that cosmetics product advertisements are mostly misleading because of the existence of doublespeak. Furthermore, the consumers will not be cheated anymore, and they will be careful in selecting the products.

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Maranatha Christian University (716 words)

Statement of the Problem

Through the phenomenon that was already mentioned above, I would like to find out the answer to the following questions:

1. Which expressions in the advertisements contain doublespeak? 2. What types of doublespeak are used in the advertisements?

3. How does the use of doublespeak in the advertisements mislead the consumers?

Purpose of the Study

Through the statement of the problems, the purposes of the study are: 1. To find out the expressions in the advertisements that contain doublespeak. 2. To find out the types of doublespeak used in the advertisements.

3. To explain how the use of doublespeak in the advertisements misleads the consumers.

Method of Research

In gathering the data, I visited several websites to find some data containing doublespeak. Then, I went to the library to find the theory which I could use in analyzing the data. After that, I analyzed the data using the theory of doublespeak by Lutz.

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Organization of the Thesis

My thesis consists of four parts. Chapter One is the Introduction, which is divided into five parts: Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study, Method of Research and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two is the Theoretical Framework. Chapter Three is the analysis and the discussion of the data. Chapter Four is the Conclusion of the analysis. The last parts are Bibliography and Appendices.

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Maranatha Christian University

CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I would like to present the conclusion of the thesis regarding the finding of my research. After analyzing the kinds of doublespeak found in Revlon’s foundations advertisements, I conclude that all of the foundation advertisements contain doublespeak. The kinds of doublespeak found in my analysis are weasel word, parity claim, jargon and up to claim. However, the unfinished word is not used by the advertisers to promote their foundations.

Based on my analysis, the type of doublespeak mostly used in the foundation advertisements is weasel word. From the 36 words that contain doublespeak, 29 words belong to weasel word. The weasel words found in my analysis are new and flawless in data 2, 3, 4 and 5 and help in data 1 and 3. I have come to a conclusion that the use of weasel word in the advertisements is to highlight the effectiveness of the products. By using weasel word, the advertisers offer their product with so many promises to attract the consumers. For example, the words new and flawless are commonly used in the advertisements. In my point of view, when the advertisers claim their

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foundations to be new products, they have to compare them with the previous products. Since those products are claimed to be good, they must be effective and not used by other products. Besides, the purpose of using the word new is to show there is a little change of the product that the consumers can get; for example, the change of the packaging, the color and the flavor that make the consumers think as if the products were new. The changes of the products make the consumers get a different impression about the products. Moreover, people seem to be more interested in something new, thus they will easily accept what the advertisements offer without thinking first about the result. Furthermore, the advertisers offer their foundations as flawless products. By using the word flawless, the advertisers indirectly claim that their products are perfect. As a result, the consumers will think that when something is categorized as perfect, it must be effective. Moreover, in my opinion, the use of weasel word by the advertisers is the simplest way to mislead the consumers.

The parity claim is the kind of doublespeak that also becomes a significant part to mislead consumers. The advertisers use parity claim in data 1, 2, 4 and 5. In my opinion, through the parity claim, the advertisers want to highlight the quality of the products. The advertisers mislead the consumers by claiming their product to be the best or really different from the other product. Hence, the consumers should be aware of the way the advertisers promote their product. For example, the quality that is promised in the advertisements is about the firm skin that can be obtained as a result of wearing the products. The words used as parity

claim are unique, first, only and ultimate. From the word unique, for instance, the

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Maranatha Christian University the consumers will be curious about them and consequently they will buy the products. Besides, by using the word first, the advertisers offer new products. Therefore, the consumers will expect that when something is new, it must have new quality. Usually, the advertisers use parity claim to make a claim for their product by using superlative words. Nevertheless, in the data that I analyze, the advertisers do not use superlative words at all. They decide to choose words that have a meaning similar to superlative words to show that their products are really different.

Apart from parity claim, jargon is twice used in the advertisement as found in data 1, namely botafirm and SPF 20 in data 1 and 3. In my opinion, the use of jargon in the advertisements is to highlight the products being superior. Through the word botafirm and SPF 20, the advertisers claim that the products are excellent, genuine and prestigious. Since, the consumers do not really understand the meaning of the two words, they will think that the products are exclusive and worth buying.

Up to claim is only used once by the advertisers that we can find in data 5.

In my opinion, the use of up to claim in the advertisements is to highlight long-lasting effect of the products. Moreover, up to claim is used to support the idea that has mentioned in the other types, especially the idea in parity claim. Therefore, the use of up to claim in the advertisements is to emphasize the parity

claim. The unfinished word is not used in the advertisements because in my

opinion, it is not too significant since the advertisers only promote their products by emphasizing more on the qualities and effects after wearing the foundations.

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Furthermore, the use weasel word and parity claim has been considered sufficient to mislead the consumers.

In my findings, the advertisers use the parity claim as an effective way to promote the quality of their product. Consequently, it can make the consumers more curious and wonder about what kind of results and effects they can get after wearing the products. Moreover, the advertisers use the weasel word as the simplest way to promote the product by offering so many promises to mislead the consumers. By using this type, the advertisers seem as if they were making promises.

The advertisers are consciously and carefully use doublespeak to promote their products for the purpose of misleading the consumers. The advertisers always use doublespeak to cover up the weak points of their products with the aim of raising the sale. Accordingly, that is what the consumers should be aware of, because when they are disappointed with the results after wearing the products, they cannot claim the advertisers because it is not their business anymore.

After analyzing the foundation advertisements, I hope there will be another theory about doublespeak in advertising, so as to make us easily discover the doublespeak used in the advertisements. Moreover, I expect that one day, there will be another theory of doublespeak in the Indonesian language. This can be very helpful for other students who want to analyze doublespeak by taking data from Indonesian advertisements for their thesis.

Discussing the doublespeak in advertising is very interesting as I have done in my thesis. Besides, the data that I analyze can be developed by using other

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Maranatha Christian University theories that are related to linguistics features. My data can also be analyzed by using Semiotics and Sociolinguistics theories.

All in all, I conclude that before buying the products offered in the advertisements, the consumers should be careful especially with the language used to promote the products. They not only need to observe why the advertisers use doublespeak but also be more critical to find out the literary meaning of every word used in the advertisements.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Data Sources

Ad Campaign Season: Spring Summer. Elle Macpherson for Revlon, 2010. Web.

18 Apr. 2013.

Age Defying with DNA Advantage, il nuovo fondotinta antietà Revlon. Inside the

Beauty Case, 2011. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.

Dior, Krista. “Beauty Blog”. Got my makeup stash.. review time, 2009. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.

“My Lucid Intervals”. Finally Found: Revlon Colorstay Whipped Cream

Foundation, 24 September 2012. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.

“Magazine Advert”. Revlon ColorStay Mineral Foundation Halle Berry, 2008. Web. 18 Apr. 2013

References

Health & Beauty Product Reviews. The Performance Leader. Web. 2 Jun. 2014 Company Information. Revlon International Corporation. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. Company Overview of Revlon Consumer Products Corp. Bloomberg

Businessweek. 2013. Web. 25 May 2013.

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Maranatha Christian University

How Government, Business, Advertiser, and Other Use Language to Deceive You. New York: Harper Perennial, 1990. Print.

“Reduction Wrinkles”. North Shore Medical Spa. Web. 16 Dec. 2013

Yule, George. Pragmatics. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Print.

Dictionary References

“Advertisement” def.1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current

English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Balance” def.1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Cake” def.1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Completely”. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Cover” def.1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Exclusive”. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Fight” def.4. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Firm” def.1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“First” def.1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

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“Flaking” def.1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Flawless”. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Flexible” def.1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Free”. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Good”. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Help” def.2. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Heavy” def.1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

Hornby, A. S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Instantly”. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Immediately”. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Irritating”. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Lasting”. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

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Maranatha Christian University “Like” def.1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh

Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Long”. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“New” def.5. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Non”. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Only” def.1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Parity” def.1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Perfection” def.1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Reduce” def.1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Refreshing” def.2. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition

“Relax” def.3. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition

“Smooth”. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Soft” def.3. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

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“Stay” def. 1 Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Ultimate” def.2. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

“Unique” def.1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.

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theories that are related to linguistics features. My data can also be analyzed by using Semiotics and Sociolinguistics theories.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Data Sources

Ad Campaign Season: Spring Summer. Elle Macpherson for Revlon, 2010. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.

Age Defying with DNA Advantage, il nuovo fondotinta antietà Revlon. Inside the Beauty Case, 2011. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.

Dior, Krista. “Beauty Blog”. Got my makeup stash.. review time, 2009. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.

“My Lucid Intervals”. Finally Found: Revlon Colorstay Whipped Cream Foundation, 24 September 2012. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.

“Magazine Advert”. Revlon ColorStay Mineral Foundation Halle Berry, 2008. Web. 18 Apr. 2013

References

Businessweek. 2013. Web. 25 May 2013.

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How Government, Business, Advertiser, and Other Use Language to Deceive You. New York: Harper Perennial, 1990. Print. “Reduction Wrinkles”. North Shore Medical Spa. Web. 16 Dec. 2013

Yule, George. Pragmatics. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Print.

Dictionary References

“Advertisement” def.1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English. Seventh Edition. Oxford: University Press. Print.