Analysis of The Use of Doublespeak in 'Clinique' Beauty Product Advertisements.

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ABSTRACT

Dalam tugas akhir ini, saya membahas mengenai penggunaan doublespeak

yang tanpa kita sadari sering dijumpai dalam iklan. Penggunaan doublespeak pada periklanan dapat ditemukan pada poster-poster iklan produk kecantikan, misalnya

Clinique, yang saya dapatkan dari situs resmi internet produk tersebut. Pada umumnya, doublespeak dalam periklanan dapat dijumpai di berbagai media, seperti media elektronik, televisi dan internet.

Saya menemukan tiga jenis doublesepeak di dalam iklan-iklan tersebut, yaitu weasel word, unfinished word dan combining weasel word. Pada dasarnya, para pengiklan menggunakan doublespeak untuk menarik perhatian para pembaca atau pelanggannya. Penggunaan doubelspeak juga menjadi suatu cara yang mudah bagi pengiklan untuk meningkatkan penjualan produk mereka.

Jenis doublespeak yang paling sering digunakan oleh pengiklan dalam pembahasan ini adalah weasel word. Dalam mempromosikan suatu produk, Penggunaan weasel word adalah cara yang paling mudah bagi pengiklan untuk mengecoh para pembaca atau pelanggan. Pembahasan permasalahan doublespeak

pada periklanan ini dimaksudkan agar kita sebagai konsumen dapat lebih teliti dalam memilih suatu produk, karena hasil yang diperoleh dari pemakaian produk tersebut, bukan lagi menjadi tanggung jawab para pembuat iklan.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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 ... 5

Organization of the Thesis ... 5

CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ... 6

CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF DOUBLESPEAK IN CLINIQUE BEAUTY PRODUCT ADVERTISEMENTS ... 13

CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ... 30

BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 35

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

This thesis is a study of the use of doublespeak in taglines and expressions of some Internet or online advertisements of Clinique beauty products. The definition of advertisement in Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 7th edition is “a notice, picture or film telling people about a product, job or service” (“Advertisement def.1"). Selling a product is the main purpose why advertisements are made. Advertisements can be the best way for the manufacturers to introduce the products that they want to sell to the market. Advertisers utilize online media to make their advertisements find anywhere, for example, on the Internet or online advertisements.

Doublespeak in advertisements can mislead consumers with the language that the advertisers use. This kind of language is interesting for me to analyze because doublespeak is easy to find in our daily life. We, as consumers, often do not realize the way the advertisers try to convince us to use their products. Thus, actually consumers or viewers get unclear information about the product and what

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Maranatha Christian University the advertisements offer. Lutz in his book Doublepeak explains that, “Doublespeak is language that pretends to communicate but really does not. It is language that makes the bad seem good, the negative appear positive, the unpleasant appear attractive or at least tolerable” (1). Misleading is also one of the tricks that advertisers use in advertising to make their product seem attractive and interesting to buy.

I would like to take the words from Clinique beauty products to analyze because I see frequent occurance of doublespeak in beauty product advertisements. Clinique is one of the cosmetic companies founded by Dr. Orentriech and born with the idea that “Great skin can be created” in the United States in 1968. Simple ideas about beauty bring Clinique to become a world-famous cosmetic company. One year later Clinique opened its first counter in the United Kingdom. A daily cleansing, exfoliating and moisturizing routine is 3-Step Skin Care System from Clinique that have been very famous until now (“Our History”).

The reason why I analyze beauty product advertisements is because I see most of beauty products offer the same efficacy, and of course it could be an interesting discussion. Almost all beauty product manufacturers say that their products are better than the others. The words that the advertisements use to attract consumers are what I am going to analyze. Using words to mislead the consumers and also promising any kind of efficacies are some efforts that advertisers use to sell their products.

Beauty product advertisements mostly appear on television, in women magazines and newspapers. In addition, the manufacturers post their

advertisements on the Internet. Many beauty advertisements can attract the attention of consumers because beauty products are one of the most important things for women to take care of their skin, face, and even their weight. The advertisements have pictures and words which are used to attract the attention of the consumers to buy their products, and women are often easily deceived by something interesting to them.

Most advertisements have taglines and expressions which have the same meaning as slogans. The definition of slogan according to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 7th edition is “a word or phrase that is easy to remember, use for example by a political party or in advertising to attract people’s attention or to suggest an idea quickly”. In my analysis, I use the theory of Lutz to help me analyze and discuss this topic. According to Lutz (1), doublespeak is used when the advertisers want to convince the consumers by using another meaning rather than the real one. Lutz also states that “Doublespeak is not a matter of subjects and verbs agreeing; it is matter of words and facts agreeing” (1).

The expectation of this study is aimed to the consumers, who are women. After reading this thesis, I hope women will not be deceived by doublespeak. They can know exactly the purpose of advertisements, instead of being lured by the doublespeak in the advertisements. Many consumers are interested to use the products that the advertisers offer because the advertisers sell their promises through the words they offer for their products. “indeed, most of doublespeak is the product of clear thinking and is carefully designed and constructed to appear to communicate when in fact it doesn’t” (Lutz 18-19).

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Maranatha Christian University On the one hand, consumers try not to be misled by any promises from advertisements. On the other hand, they are curious to try the products they see in advertisements. Sometimes, they just ignore their belief that the advertisements make the words more attractive to get their attention and then they finally try the products. Lutz also states, “Doublespeak has become so common in everyday living that many people fail to notice it. Even worse, when they do notice doublespeak being used on them, they don’t react, they don’t protest” (19).

(806 words)

Statement of the Problem

Based on the Background of the Study, the problems are formulated as follows: 1. Which part of the advertisement contains doublespeak?

2. What kinds of doublespeak do the taglines and expressions belong to? 3. How do they mislead the readers or consumers?

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this thesis are as follow:

1. To identify the taglines and expressions of Clinique advertisements which contain doublespeak.

2. To classify different kinds of doublespeak in the advertisement taglines and expressions.

3. To discuss how the advertisement taglines and expression mislead the readers and consumers.

Method of the Research

Firstly, I collected the Clinique beauty product advertisements from the Internet and observed the taglines and expressions which are considered doublespeak. Secondly, I analyze all expressions and classified the doublespeak into several types. Thirdly, I gave the reason how the expressions lure and mislead the reader or consumers. Finally, I wrote a report about the doublespeak found in the Clinique beauty product advertisements.

Organization of the Thesis

The thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter One is Introduction, which contains 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, which presents the theories to support the analysis of the data. Chapter Three presents the analysis of the data. The last chapter is Chapter Four, which are Conclusion and my comments and opinions. Bibliography and Appendix are found at the end of this thesis.

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

Based on my analysis of some Clinique beauty product advertisements, I would like to present the concluding points. In my thesis, there are three kinds of doublespeak found in Clinique beauty product online advertisements. The first is weasel word, the second is unfinished word and the third is combining weasel word. From the twenty nine words which are classified as doublespeak, I mostly find weasel word in the advertisements. There are twenty five doublespeak in the advertisements. The weasel words help, look, smooth, soft and instantly are even said twice in the first and third data. There are twenty different words and five similar words such as help, look, smooth, soft and instantly which belong to weasel word while two words longer and younger to unfinished words and more youthful to combining weasel word. Yet, the other kinds of doublespeak which are parity claim and up to claim are not found in the Clinique beauty product online advertisements I analyze. From the amount of words which are found as doublespeak in my thesis, we can see that the advertisers use weasel word as the most dominant device to promote their products.

The result shows that weasel word is the most popular doublespeak used by the advertisers. In my opinion, it is so obvious that the advertisers use weasel word because it is the easiest way for them to promote their products. The consumers are easy to mislead by potential promises. Potential promises are the ones that the advertisers put in the expressions of the advertisements; for example, the words smooth in the first data and new in the second data. The words smooth

and new are used to mislead the consumers. As we know, smooth is one of the effects that women as the consumers look for in the beauty products. Besides, based on the analysis in my thesis, women like to try something new, so they are very easy to accept the word new without really thinking about the proof. As a result, weasel word is categorized as the easiest doublespeak to use by the advertisers to avoid any laws or legal implications. It is the consumers who must be aware of the fact, because the advertisers are not responsible for anything.

The minor device of doublespeak I find in the advertisements is unfinished word. The advertisers use this doublespeak because in my opinion, it is one of the strongest ways to lure or mislead the consumers. From my findings, unfinished word is used by the advertisers to create many interpretations from the readers or the consumers. In the analysis, it is clear that unfinished word is also one of the ways the advertisers use to avoid legal implications. Hence, the consumers must really know the real purpose of the advertisements. If the advertisers use unfinished word in their advertisements, the consumers should be aware of it, because any disappointments after using the products are not the advertisers’ responsibility anymore.

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Maranatha Christian University In my thesis, combining weasel word is the least doublespeak that is used by the advertisers. There is only one combining weasel word that I find in the three advertisements I analyze. In my opinion, the advertisers do not use this kind of doublespeak for their advertisements because they have used weasel word as the easiest way to promote the products, and it is more readily accepted by the consumers. In this case, the consumers should also be aware of and suspicious of combining weasel word in the advertisements. It is because the advertisers have no responsibility to prove the truth of what they state in their advertisements even though they actually use those kinds of doublespeak to cover up the weaknesses of their products.

Two kinds of doublespeak that are not used in the advertisements are parity claim and up to claim. From my point of view, the advertisers do not use parity claim in the advertisements because they only focus on the results and effects of the products to the consumers than comparing their products to others. Besides, in my opinion, they want to use the elegant way by not comparing their products to others. On the other hand, they do not use up to claim because they do not want the consumers to see so many misleading expressions make them suspicious of them. They strengthen the expressions by using weasel word to mislead the consumers. Therefore, we should think twice before buying something essential.

Doublespeak is potentially used in these Clinique beauty product advertisements to increase the selling of the products. Targeting sales of beauty skin products as the primary goal, the advertisers try to attract women as the consumers to buy their products. In addition, skin is one of the most parts that are

concerned with women and it is very commercial to sell beauty skin products because every woman needs them. The advertisers offer many promises to the consumers by using doublespeak in the advertisements. From the analysis of my data, most of the words the advertisers promise are about making the consumers’ skin better than before using the products. Thus, it is very easy to believe what the advertisers promise, but it is the problem that the consumers must be aware of their promises.

Analyzing any linguistic features in advertisements is actually very interesting, especially doublespeak in advertising like what I choose in my thesis. Supported by Lutz’s theory, the purpose and the real meaning of any advertisements can be discovered clearly. Actually, I hope there is going to be another absolute theory about doublespeak in advertising, so we can strengthen the statements that doublespeak is often used in advertisements.

From my analysis of my data, people can compare other advertisements that also contain doublespeak. For example, doublespeak which often appears in advertisements is weasel word. We can see whether another advertisement has the same trend as what I analyze in the thesis. If it is the same, then weasel word appears to be the most dominant device the advertisers use. Therefore, it can be concluded that most of beauty product advertisements use the same strategy to promote their products. They are only concerned about making any promise which is actually not clear and cannot be proven. Besides, they only offer false claims to avoid any legal implications. Hence, those doublespeaks can be revealed easily.

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Maranatha Christian University If the consumers are critical to really know the meaning of the words the advertisers use in the advertisements, they can find the doublespeak easily. Yet, the consumers’ consciousness basically cannot always be controlled, if it will become quite difficult for the consumers to avoid promises the advertisers make. The use of doublespeak in Clinique beauty product advertisements is often encountered in our daily lives. Without realizing it, we might be affected by their promises. We, as the consumers, may believe it and we are no longer aware of understanding the advertisers’ promises. Therefore, the consumers should change their thought of believing what the advertisements state and be more alert of the promises that the advertisements make.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Data Sources

Clinique. Advertisement. Clinique UK. 2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2013. Clinique. Advertisement. Clinique UK. 2013. Web. 3 Aug. 2013. Clinique. Advertisement. Clinique MY. 2013. Web. 12 Jan. 2014.

References

Lutz, William. Doublespeak. New York: Harper Perennial, 1990. Print. “Our History.” Clinique.Web. 31 Aug. 2013.

Schrank, Jeffrey. “The Weasel Claim.” The Language of Advertising Claims. Web. 7 May. 2013.

“Second Chance.” Idiom Quest “Empowering Advanced Learner of English in Business and Academia – TOEFL / ESL / EFL”. Web. 13 July. 2014. Tyagi, Kavita, and Padma Misra. “Information Technology and the Internet.”

Professional Communication. PHI Learning Private Limited. 2011. Web. 6 May. 2013.

“Wordiness and Gobbledygook.” Nipissing University. Web. 7 May. 2013. Yule, George. Pragmatics. Oxford University Press, 1996. Print.

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Dictionary References

“Advertisement.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Bond.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.

“Chance.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Complement.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Correct.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Even.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Guarantee.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Help.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Impressive.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Instantly.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Longer.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Look.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “More.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “New.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Perfect.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Power.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Restore.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Reduce.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Second.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Serum.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Share.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Slogan.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Soft.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.

“Smooth.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Strong.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Tamed.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Time.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Toned.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Younger.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Youthful.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “-ing.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.

In my thesis, combining weasel word is the least doublespeak that is used by the advertisers. There is only one combining weasel word that I find in the three advertisements I analyze. In my opinion, the advertisers do not use this kind of doublespeak for their advertisements because they have used weasel word as the easiest way to promote the products, and it is more readily accepted by the consumers. In this case, the consumers should also be aware of and suspicious of combining weasel word in the advertisements. It is because the advertisers have no responsibility to prove the truth of what they state in their advertisements even though they actually use those kinds of doublespeak to cover up the weaknesses of their products.

Two kinds of doublespeak that are not used in the advertisements are parity claim and up to claim. From my point of view, the advertisers do not use parity claim in the advertisements because they only focus on the results and effects of the products to the consumers than comparing their products to others. Besides, in my opinion, they want to use the elegant way by not comparing their products to others. On the other hand, they do not use up to claim because they do not want the consumers to see so many misleading expressions make them suspicious of them. They strengthen the expressions by using weasel word to mislead the consumers. Therefore, we should think twice before buying something essential.

Doublespeak is potentially used in these Clinique beauty product advertisements to increase the selling of the products. Targeting sales of beauty skin products as the primary goal, the advertisers try to attract women as the consumers to buy their products. In addition, skin is one of the most parts that are

concerned with women and it is very commercial to sell beauty skin products because every woman needs them. The advertisers offer many promises to the consumers by using doublespeak in the advertisements. From the analysis of my data, most of the words the advertisers promise are about making the consumers’ skin better than before using the products. Thus, it is very easy to believe what the advertisers promise, but it is the problem that the consumers must be aware of their promises.

Analyzing any linguistic features in advertisements is actually very interesting, especially doublespeak in advertising like what I choose in my thesis. Supported by Lutz’s theory, the purpose and the real meaning of any advertisements can be discovered clearly. Actually, I hope there is going to be another absolute theory about doublespeak in advertising, so we can strengthen the statements that doublespeak is often used in advertisements.

From my analysis of my data, people can compare other advertisements that also contain doublespeak. For example, doublespeak which often appears in advertisements is weasel word. We can see whether another advertisement has the same trend as what I analyze in the thesis. If it is the same, then weasel word appears to be the most dominant device the advertisers use. Therefore, it can be concluded that most of beauty product advertisements use the same strategy to promote their products. They are only concerned about making any promise which is actually not clear and cannot be proven. Besides, they only offer false claims to avoid any legal implications. Hence, those doublespeaks can be revealed easily.

If the consumers are critical to really know the meaning of the words the advertisers use in the advertisements, they can find the doublespeak easily. Yet, the consumers’ consciousness basically cannot always be controlled, if it will become quite difficult for the consumers to avoid promises the advertisers make. The use of doublespeak in Clinique beauty product advertisements is often encountered in our daily lives. Without realizing it, we might be affected by their promises. We, as the consumers, may believe it and we are no longer aware of understanding the advertisers’ promises. Therefore, the consumers should change their thought of believing what the advertisements state and be more alert of the promises that the advertisements make.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Data Sources

Clinique. Advertisement. Clinique UK. 2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2013. Clinique. Advertisement. Clinique UK. 2013. Web. 3 Aug. 2013. Clinique. Advertisement. Clinique MY. 2013. Web. 12 Jan. 2014.

References

Lutz, William. Doublespeak. New York: Harper Perennial, 1990. Print. “Our History.” Clinique.Web. 31 Aug. 2013.

Schrank, Jeffrey. “The Weasel Claim.” The Language of Advertising Claims. Web. 7 May. 2013.

“Second Chance.” Idiom Quest “Empowering Advanced Learner of English in

Business and Academia – TOEFL / ESL / EFL”. Web. 13 July. 2014.

Tyagi, Kavita, and Padma Misra. “Information Technology and the Internet.”

Professional Communication. PHI Learning Private Limited. 2011. Web. 6

May. 2013.

“Wordiness and Gobbledygook.” Nipissing University. Web. 7 May. 2013. Yule, George. Pragmatics. Oxford University Press, 1996. Print.

Dictionary References

“Advertisement.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Bond.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.

“Chance.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Complement.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Correct.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Even.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Guarantee.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Help.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Impressive.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Instantly.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Longer.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Look.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “More.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “New.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Perfect.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Power.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Restore.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Reduce.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Second.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Serum.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Share.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Slogan.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Soft.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.

“Smooth.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Strong.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Tamed.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Time.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Toned.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Younger.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “Youthful.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print. “-ing.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.