Analysis of Doublespeak in 'Apple' Products Advertisements.
ABSTRACT
Dalam skripsi ini, saya mengkaji penggunaan doublespeak dalam iklan
Apple. Apple merupakan suatu perusahaan yang membuat gadget seperti
handphone, tablet atau laptop. Iklan yang saya ambil berasal dari internet dan
beberapa iklan dari website Apple. Doublespeak merupakan suatu alat dimana
arti dari suatu kata bukanlah yang sebenarnya. Ada beberapa tipe doublespeak,
seperti euphemism, gobbledygook, jargon dan inflated language. Selain itu, ada
beberapa tipe advertorial doublespeak, seperti weasel word, parity claim, up to
claim, dan unfinished words.
Salah satu temuan yang saya peroleh dalam kajian iklan ini adalah
penggunaan doublespeak yang sangat membantu untuk menjual suatu produk.
Hal ini tidak dapat dipisahkan dengan penggunaan weasel word. Tipe ini paling
sering digunakan karena weasel word menggunakan kata sifat yang secara
otomatis membuat pembaca dapat merasakan apa yang dikatakan oleh iklan
tersebut sehingga membuat mereka menjadi ingin tahu akan produk tersebut.
Namun, pada kenyataannya iklan tersebut tidaklah menawarkan apa-apa. Salah
satu temuan lainnya adalah penggunaan parity claim, unfinished words dan
jargon. Ini dikarenakan ketiga tipe doublespeak ini sangat mendukung
penggunaan weasel word. Memanfaatkan ketiga tipe doublespeak tersebut akan
membuat iklan tersebut menjadi lebih menarik untuk pembaca.
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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
5
5
5
5
CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Doublespeak in General ........................................................................... 7
Advertorial Doublespeak .......................................................................... 9
CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF DOUBLESPEAK IN APPLE PRODUCTS
ADVERTISEMENTS ............................................................................... 12
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION .................................................................... 41
BIBLOGRAPHY ................................................................................................ 45
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
As social beings, we need to communicate with others, and one of the
tools of communication is mobile phones. A mobile phone is a small telephone
that people can take with them and use outside their homes (“Mobile Phone”).
According to dailymail.co.uk, “from 7 billion population, 6 billion people use
mobile phones, and Indonesia is in the second place of mobile phone users with
250 million people in 2013.” It shows how important mobile phones are
nowadays. Aside from messaging and telephoning, a mobile phone can be used
for taking and saving pictures, browsing, listening to music or making important
notes, etc. Manufacturers of mobile phones have produced so many kinds of
mobile phones depending on what the consumers need. For example, they will
produce mobile phones which have good features for listening to the music or
watching television. The purpose for doing that is to attract people and
encourage them to think that the manufacturers of mobile phones understand
their need.
1
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To make people know about their product, a company advertises it by
using a slogan. Slogan is a word or phrase that is easy to remember and is used
by a group or business to attract attention (“Slogan”). In other words, we will
know one product easily by seeing or hearing the slogan.
According
to
Oxford
Advanced
Learner’s
Dictionary
7th
Edition,
advertising is, “the activity and industry of advertising things to people on
television, newspaper or internet” (“Advertising”, def. 1). Therefore, the company
will publish their product attractively and persuasively in order to make people
have a desire to have it. For example, sometimes, when we take a look at the
advertisements of a particular mobile phone, and the phone that we see is better
than ours both in terms of specifications or the design of the phone, automatically
we will have a desire to have one. It is just because of the words used in the
advertisements that persuade us.
Advertising has been started by the ancient Rome, Pompeii, Egypt, and
Babylonians. They made advertisements in the form of stencilled inscriptions. For
the first time, advertising was known as an outdoor display and decorated in the
wall of a building and over the shops (Gopakumar pp. 39-40). Now in the 21th
century, advertisements are in the form of mass media including newspapers,
magazines, Internet, radio, television and billboards. This fact shows that
advertising develops in this era of globalization and it is still essential for people.
The words in the advertisements on television, magazines, the Internet
and newspapers have a strong connection with the products. People will not
recognize a product if there are no words to describe it. In general, advertisers
employ a special device. As I have stated earlier, the words used in the
advertisements that persuade us is called doublespeak.
2
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According to Lutz, doublespeak is, “. . . a language that pretends to
communicate but really does not” (1). The purpose of doublespeak is to mislead
or deceive a person; the incongruity between what it is said and what the reality
is (1). In other words, what it is said may not be the same as the reality. In my
opinion, without doublespeak it is hard to persuade people to buy their products.
The
topic
of
my
thesis
is
“Doublespeak
in
Apple
Products
Advertisements”. I will discuss the elements of doublespeak contained in the
advertisements of the Apple products, not only the slogan but also the content of
the advertisements. I choose Apple because in promoting the products, such as
iPhone, Macbook, iPad or iPod, they mostly used doublespeak, so some people
are easily misled. Besides, it is interesting to find out what the advertisers do in
competing with other producers. According to dailymail.co.uk, nowadays
Samsung is holding the market in terms of gadget follows by Apple in the second
place in 2013.
The data for my analysis are taken from Apple products advertisements in
some websites. The reason why I choose websites is because nowadays Internet
plays an important role in our lives. The Internet can be accessed anytime and
anywhere. That is why the Internet is one of the most effective media to publish
advertisements because we can check everything we want easily by searching
on the Internet. By checking the entire websites, we will know that a certain kind
of mobile phone will be released with the complete specifications and features.
The things that make me interested in doing this analysis is because I
myself feel curious about what advertisements say and what the reality is. I hope
this thesis can be useful to help people to understand more about doublespeak in
advertising. Therefore, the significance of my study is that people can become
3
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aware of the use of doublespeak in advertisements, so that they will not be
misled by it.
Word Count: 807 Words
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Statement of the Problem
In doing the analysis, I would like to find out:
1. What kind of doublespeak is found in the Apple products advertisements?
2. How does the use of doublespeak in the advertisement mislead the
readers?
Purpose of the Study
By solving the problem above, I would like to accomplish these purposes:
1. To identify the kind of doublespeak used in the Apple products
advertisements.
2. To show how doublespeak in the advertisements mislead the readers.
Method of Research
In conducting the research, the first step that I took is to understand the
meaning of doublespeak. The theory that I used is derived from Lutz’
Doublespeak. Then, I looked for the data sources, in this case Apple
advertisements. After that, I analysed the data based on the relevant theory. The
final step is writing the thesis.
Organization of the Thesis
This thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter One presents the
Introduction, which consist of Background of the Study, Statement of the
Problem, Purpose of the Study, and Method of Research. Chapter Two contains
the Theoretical Framework, which presents the definition of Doublespeak and
Advertorial Doublespeak. Chapter Three discusses the analysis of the data.
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Chapter Four is the Conclusion. The last two parts are Bibliography and
Appendix
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CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, I will draw a conclusion from the analysis that I have done.
We can see in the advertisements that the data contain advertorial doublespeak,
such as weasel word, parity claim, unfinished word, and jargon. In the
analysis there are total 9 data, in which weasel word appears in every single
advertisement; jargon appears in 7 advertisements; while unfinished words and
parity claim appears in 5 advertisements respectively. The following paragraph
will discuss the reasons why those kinds of doublespeak appear in the analysis.
The effectiveness of using weasel word in the advertisements is the key
factor to attract the readers’ attention. We can see that weasel word mostly
appear in the advertisements. By using weasel words, the advertisers can
promote the products more easily. Take an example in our daily life, if our friend
tells you that the taste of the food in restaurant A is delicious, indirectly you are
encouraged to try the food in that restaurant without you know the real taste of
the food. However, you tend to assume that the food is good. Likewise, in my
analysis, with or without the picture; only by looking at the words, the readers will
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feel that the words are true. For example, the word new; the word that mostly
appears in the advertisements. When the readers hear or see the word new, they
will associate it with something positive, like the product is good, there are
several advantages of using the product, etc. Moreover, it leads their curiosity to
know more about the product.
Furthermore, the curiosity can also be tickled by the familiar words which
the advertisers use. By using the familiar words, such as amazing, powerful,
incredible, etc, the message received by the readers is that the product is true as
what it is stated. Moreover, it is delivered well and quickly without having to
describe of its overall quality. What is more, with the familiar words, the readers
will find it easier to know the meaning of the advertisements. For example, when
the readers see and hear the word powerful in mobile phone advertisements,
they will think that the specifications, including the camera etc, are very good.
However, in the advertisement, the word powerful itself is unclear as it does not
tell about like what is the powerful smart phone. Thus, the choice of words that
the advertisers use makes the readers easier to understand without having to
know more.
The next is the exclusivity of using jargon. By using jargon, the readers
will not know the terms; some may be know already the terms but does not know
the meaning. The terms such as iOS, Siri, Anodized 6000, Firmware 2.0, etc will
make the terms sounds exclusive and the readers will think that it is for a uppermiddle class regardless of the price that the product has. Some of the features
that iPhone have do not exist in android, like iTunes, iChat, and App Store.
However, the function is still the same; android has Google Play Store, Chat On
and other application to download music for free. Moreover, the use of jargon
makes the advertisements eye-catching. If the readers do not know the terms,
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they will think the product is rich of features different from others. This is the
reason why jargon appears in 7 data that I have analyzed.
Parity claim and unfinished words are also appear in the advertisements.
The use of unfinished word is also important. The unfinished word is brief but
attractive to the readers’ mind. However, it needs the visual images to make even
more promising. Sometimes, the advertisements claims that they have a faster
connection yet, it does not really explain and describe even though the
advertisers have added it with pictures.
Furthermore, the exclusiveness is also shown by parity claim. It is seldom
that the value of the iPhone is lowered. Thus, iPhone refers to upper-middle class
people. That is why, they are claiming that they are the most advanced, powerful
and amazing in order to prove that they are exclusive products.
Because of Apple is a well-known brand, the value of their products is not
easily lowered. The company also seldom gives discounts for their products.
Furthermore, the target market for Apple itself is to upper-middle class people.
iPhone 5-embedded with rare black diamond is the most expensive smart phone
in the world now; with the price at a whopping $15 million. For Apple users, they
know that Apple products have a weak point in maintaining the battery life, the
battery will weaken slowly even though we do not use it. However, the
advertisers do not put up to claim in their advertisements. It is just because they
do not want to show their weakness. They only focus on impressing the readers
by using weasel words. Thus, the weakness of the products is covered by other
claim.
I use the theory of doublespeak derived from Lutz to analyze the Apple
advertisements and as the result weasel word is the type of doublespeak which
appears in every single advertisement. The uses of weasel word in these
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advertisements are very important to increase the selling of the products as well
as jargon. Moreover, it cannot be separated from the other types of doublespeak,
like parity claim and unfinished words. In my opinion, the more doublespeak
found in one advertisement, the more the readers will take a notice.I wonder if we
use the same theory to analyze one of their competitors, like Samsung, the result
will be the same or different.
Finally, I hope this thesis can be beneficial to readers to know more about
doublespeak. By writing this thesis, I get the insight about the advertiser’s effort
to attract the consumers. Technology is thriving nowadays, not only the smart
phones but also others technology such as computer, laptop or tablet; thus, we
as the readers should not be blinded by what advertisements say. The more we
believe what the advertisements say, the more we will be disappointed. That’s
why, we should think twice when reading advertisements and perhaps searching
for some information about the products before we purchase something.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Data Sources
Castellano, Mark. iPhone 4 AD. N.p, n.d. Web. 28 September 2013.
iPhone 3G Advertisement. iLounge Incorporation, n.d. Web. 28 September 2013.
iPhone 4S Advertisement. N.p, n.d. Web. 28 September 2013.
iPhone 5 Advertisement. Apple Incorporation, n.d. Web. 28 September 2013.
iPhone 5S Advertisement. Apple Incorporation, n.d. Web. 14 January 2014.
iPhone 5C Advertisement. Apple Incorporation, n.d. Web. 16 January 2014.
The iPhone 3GS has Launched. NewLauncher, n.d. Web. 28 September 2013.
References
“Advertising”. Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
Aguilar, Gimodo. Apple’s New A7 Processor Has Crazy Graphics, Also a Motion
Sensing Chip. Gizmodo, 2013. Web. 22 February 2014.
“Amaze”. Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
“Amazing”. Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
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“Beautifully”. Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
“Better”. Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
Bhawani, Amit. Top 9 Thinnest Android in The World. Android Advice, 13
February 2014. 14 February 2014.
Block, Ryan. iPhone Firmware 2.0 Hands-On. Aol Tech, 2008. Web. 31 August
2013.
“Brilliant”. Def. 5. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
Bostic, Kevin. iOS 7 Feature Focus: Getting a Hold on Apple’s Control &
Notification Center. Apple Insider. 26 September 2013. Web. 22 February
2014.
Boxall, Andy. What Does The C Stand for?. Digital Trends, n.d. Web. 3 April
2014.
Campbell, Anita. What is Siri And does Siri have Competitors. Small Business
Trends, 2013. Web. 11 September 2013.
Campbell, Mike. iOS 7 Feature Focus: AirDrop Simplifies Speedy Local File
Transfer. Apple Insider, 18 September 2013. Web. 22 February 2014.
Castelo, Sam. “What is 3G?”. About.com. n.d Web. 31 August 2013.
Castelo, Sam. “What is iTunes?”. About.com. n.d Web. 31 August 2013.
Daniel. Dual Core A5 Do for You: A Course Refresher What the A5 Chip Will
Bring To The Apple iPhone 4S. PhoneArena.com, 2011. Web. 2 September
2011.
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“Exquisite”. Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
“Extraordinary”. Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005.
Print.
“Fast”. Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
“Finely”. Def. 2. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
Fyfe, Ryan. Crystalline Diamonds. Streetdirectory.com, 2014. Web. 3 April 2014.
Gopakumar. “History of Advertising Chapter II”. Pag. 39-40. Web. 26 February
2014.
“Great”. Def. 5. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
iCloud. Apple Incorporation, n.d. Web. 3 April 2014.
“Impressive”. Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
“Increase”. Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
“Incredibly”. Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
“Introduce”. Def. 4. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
“Light”. Def. 3. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
“Long”. Def. 3. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
Lutz, William D. Doublespeak: From “Revenue Enhancement “ to “Terminal
Living”: How Government, Business, Advertisers, and Others Use Language
to Deceive You. New York: Harper & Row, 1989. Print.
“Luxurious”. Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
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“Mobile Phone”. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Merriam-Webster Online,
2010. Web. 26 February 2014.
“Most”. Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
“Multitasking”. Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
“New”. Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
Noe, Rain. The New iPhone Design. Core 77, n.d. Web. 27 October 2013.
“Perfect”. Def. 4. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
“Perfectly”. Def. 2. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
“Power”. Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
“Powerful”. Def. 2. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
“Precision”. Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
“Remarkable”. Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
Rosalia, Indra. Sony Experia SX, Smartphone Teringan Di Dunia. Tekno Up,
2012. Web. 14 February 2014.
“Sleek”. Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
Smich, Melissa. What Is Microsoft Exchange and How Does It Works. Mail2web,
n.d. Web. 31 Aug 2013.
Steve, Robson. World’s Seven Billion People Mobile Phones. Dailymail.co.uk, 22
March 2013. Web. 26 February 2014.
“Stabilize”. Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
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“Stun”. Def. 3. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
“Superlative”. Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
Tatum, Malcolm. What is Microfiber?. Wisegeek, n.d. Web. 3 April. 2014.
Theide, Billy. What is Anodized?. Mrooker.com, n,d. Web. 3 April 2014.
“Thin”. Def. 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
“Unique”. Def. 2. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
“Vivid”. Def. 2. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 7th ed. 2005. Print.
Woollaston, Victoria. Samsung Worlds Larger Smartphone Maker Apples Share
Hits Year Low. Dailymail.co.uk, 26 July 2013. Web. 26 February 2014.
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Dalam skripsi ini, saya mengkaji penggunaan doublespeak dalam iklan
Apple. Apple merupakan suatu perusahaan yang membuat gadget seperti
handphone, tablet atau laptop. Iklan yang saya ambil berasal dari internet dan
beberapa iklan dari website Apple. Doublespeak merupakan suatu alat dimana
arti dari suatu kata bukanlah yang sebenarnya. Ada beberapa tipe doublespeak,
seperti euphemism, gobbledygook, jargon dan inflated language. Selain itu, ada
beberapa tipe advertorial doublespeak, seperti weasel word, parity claim, up to
claim, dan unfinished words.
Salah satu temuan yang saya peroleh dalam kajian iklan ini adalah
penggunaan doublespeak yang sangat membantu untuk menjual suatu produk.
Hal ini tidak dapat dipisahkan dengan penggunaan weasel word. Tipe ini paling
sering digunakan karena weasel word menggunakan kata sifat yang secara
otomatis membuat pembaca dapat merasakan apa yang dikatakan oleh iklan
tersebut sehingga membuat mereka menjadi ingin tahu akan produk tersebut.
Namun, pada kenyataannya iklan tersebut tidaklah menawarkan apa-apa. Salah
satu temuan lainnya adalah penggunaan parity claim, unfinished words dan
jargon. Ini dikarenakan ketiga tipe doublespeak ini sangat mendukung
penggunaan weasel word. Memanfaatkan ketiga tipe doublespeak tersebut akan
membuat iklan tersebut menjadi lebih menarik untuk pembaca.
ii
Maranatha Christian University
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
5
5
5
5
CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Doublespeak in General ........................................................................... 7
Advertorial Doublespeak .......................................................................... 9
CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF DOUBLESPEAK IN APPLE PRODUCTS
ADVERTISEMENTS ............................................................................... 12
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION .................................................................... 41
BIBLOGRAPHY ................................................................................................ 45
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
As social beings, we need to communicate with others, and one of the
tools of communication is mobile phones. A mobile phone is a small telephone
that people can take with them and use outside their homes (“Mobile Phone”).
According to dailymail.co.uk, “from 7 billion population, 6 billion people use
mobile phones, and Indonesia is in the second place of mobile phone users with
250 million people in 2013.” It shows how important mobile phones are
nowadays. Aside from messaging and telephoning, a mobile phone can be used
for taking and saving pictures, browsing, listening to music or making important
notes, etc. Manufacturers of mobile phones have produced so many kinds of
mobile phones depending on what the consumers need. For example, they will
produce mobile phones which have good features for listening to the music or
watching television. The purpose for doing that is to attract people and
encourage them to think that the manufacturers of mobile phones understand
their need.
1
Maranatha Christian University
To make people know about their product, a company advertises it by
using a slogan. Slogan is a word or phrase that is easy to remember and is used
by a group or business to attract attention (“Slogan”). In other words, we will
know one product easily by seeing or hearing the slogan.
According
to
Oxford
Advanced
Learner’s
Dictionary
7th
Edition,
advertising is, “the activity and industry of advertising things to people on
television, newspaper or internet” (“Advertising”, def. 1). Therefore, the company
will publish their product attractively and persuasively in order to make people
have a desire to have it. For example, sometimes, when we take a look at the
advertisements of a particular mobile phone, and the phone that we see is better
than ours both in terms of specifications or the design of the phone, automatically
we will have a desire to have one. It is just because of the words used in the
advertisements that persuade us.
Advertising has been started by the ancient Rome, Pompeii, Egypt, and
Babylonians. They made advertisements in the form of stencilled inscriptions. For
the first time, advertising was known as an outdoor display and decorated in the
wall of a building and over the shops (Gopakumar pp. 39-40). Now in the 21th
century, advertisements are in the form of mass media including newspapers,
magazines, Internet, radio, television and billboards. This fact shows that
advertising develops in this era of globalization and it is still essential for people.
The words in the advertisements on television, magazines, the Internet
and newspapers have a strong connection with the products. People will not
recognize a product if there are no words to describe it. In general, advertisers
employ a special device. As I have stated earlier, the words used in the
advertisements that persuade us is called doublespeak.
2
Maranatha Christian University
According to Lutz, doublespeak is, “. . . a language that pretends to
communicate but really does not” (1). The purpose of doublespeak is to mislead
or deceive a person; the incongruity between what it is said and what the reality
is (1). In other words, what it is said may not be the same as the reality. In my
opinion, without doublespeak it is hard to persuade people to buy their products.
The
topic
of
my
thesis
is
“Doublespeak
in
Apple
Products
Advertisements”. I will discuss the elements of doublespeak contained in the
advertisements of the Apple products, not only the slogan but also the content of
the advertisements. I choose Apple because in promoting the products, such as
iPhone, Macbook, iPad or iPod, they mostly used doublespeak, so some people
are easily misled. Besides, it is interesting to find out what the advertisers do in
competing with other producers. According to dailymail.co.uk, nowadays
Samsung is holding the market in terms of gadget follows by Apple in the second
place in 2013.
The data for my analysis are taken from Apple products advertisements in
some websites. The reason why I choose websites is because nowadays Internet
plays an important role in our lives. The Internet can be accessed anytime and
anywhere. That is why the Internet is one of the most effective media to publish
advertisements because we can check everything we want easily by searching
on the Internet. By checking the entire websites, we will know that a certain kind
of mobile phone will be released with the complete specifications and features.
The things that make me interested in doing this analysis is because I
myself feel curious about what advertisements say and what the reality is. I hope
this thesis can be useful to help people to understand more about doublespeak in
advertising. Therefore, the significance of my study is that people can become
3
Maranatha Christian University
aware of the use of doublespeak in advertisements, so that they will not be
misled by it.
Word Count: 807 Words
4
Maranatha Christian University
Statement of the Problem
In doing the analysis, I would like to find out:
1. What kind of doublespeak is found in the Apple products advertisements?
2. How does the use of doublespeak in the advertisement mislead the
readers?
Purpose of the Study
By solving the problem above, I would like to accomplish these purposes:
1. To identify the kind of doublespeak used in the Apple products
advertisements.
2. To show how doublespeak in the advertisements mislead the readers.
Method of Research
In conducting the research, the first step that I took is to understand the
meaning of doublespeak. The theory that I used is derived from Lutz’
Doublespeak. Then, I looked for the data sources, in this case Apple
advertisements. After that, I analysed the data based on the relevant theory. The
final step is writing the thesis.
Organization of the Thesis
This thesis is divided into four chapters. Chapter One presents the
Introduction, which consist of Background of the Study, Statement of the
Problem, Purpose of the Study, and Method of Research. Chapter Two contains
the Theoretical Framework, which presents the definition of Doublespeak and
Advertorial Doublespeak. Chapter Three discusses the analysis of the data.
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Chapter Four is the Conclusion. The last two parts are Bibliography and
Appendix
6
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CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, I will draw a conclusion from the analysis that I have done.
We can see in the advertisements that the data contain advertorial doublespeak,
such as weasel word, parity claim, unfinished word, and jargon. In the
analysis there are total 9 data, in which weasel word appears in every single
advertisement; jargon appears in 7 advertisements; while unfinished words and
parity claim appears in 5 advertisements respectively. The following paragraph
will discuss the reasons why those kinds of doublespeak appear in the analysis.
The effectiveness of using weasel word in the advertisements is the key
factor to attract the readers’ attention. We can see that weasel word mostly
appear in the advertisements. By using weasel words, the advertisers can
promote the products more easily. Take an example in our daily life, if our friend
tells you that the taste of the food in restaurant A is delicious, indirectly you are
encouraged to try the food in that restaurant without you know the real taste of
the food. However, you tend to assume that the food is good. Likewise, in my
analysis, with or without the picture; only by looking at the words, the readers will
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feel that the words are true. For example, the word new; the word that mostly
appears in the advertisements. When the readers hear or see the word new, they
will associate it with something positive, like the product is good, there are
several advantages of using the product, etc. Moreover, it leads their curiosity to
know more about the product.
Furthermore, the curiosity can also be tickled by the familiar words which
the advertisers use. By using the familiar words, such as amazing, powerful,
incredible, etc, the message received by the readers is that the product is true as
what it is stated. Moreover, it is delivered well and quickly without having to
describe of its overall quality. What is more, with the familiar words, the readers
will find it easier to know the meaning of the advertisements. For example, when
the readers see and hear the word powerful in mobile phone advertisements,
they will think that the specifications, including the camera etc, are very good.
However, in the advertisement, the word powerful itself is unclear as it does not
tell about like what is the powerful smart phone. Thus, the choice of words that
the advertisers use makes the readers easier to understand without having to
know more.
The next is the exclusivity of using jargon. By using jargon, the readers
will not know the terms; some may be know already the terms but does not know
the meaning. The terms such as iOS, Siri, Anodized 6000, Firmware 2.0, etc will
make the terms sounds exclusive and the readers will think that it is for a uppermiddle class regardless of the price that the product has. Some of the features
that iPhone have do not exist in android, like iTunes, iChat, and App Store.
However, the function is still the same; android has Google Play Store, Chat On
and other application to download music for free. Moreover, the use of jargon
makes the advertisements eye-catching. If the readers do not know the terms,
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they will think the product is rich of features different from others. This is the
reason why jargon appears in 7 data that I have analyzed.
Parity claim and unfinished words are also appear in the advertisements.
The use of unfinished word is also important. The unfinished word is brief but
attractive to the readers’ mind. However, it needs the visual images to make even
more promising. Sometimes, the advertisements claims that they have a faster
connection yet, it does not really explain and describe even though the
advertisers have added it with pictures.
Furthermore, the exclusiveness is also shown by parity claim. It is seldom
that the value of the iPhone is lowered. Thus, iPhone refers to upper-middle class
people. That is why, they are claiming that they are the most advanced, powerful
and amazing in order to prove that they are exclusive products.
Because of Apple is a well-known brand, the value of their products is not
easily lowered. The company also seldom gives discounts for their products.
Furthermore, the target market for Apple itself is to upper-middle class people.
iPhone 5-embedded with rare black diamond is the most expensive smart phone
in the world now; with the price at a whopping $15 million. For Apple users, they
know that Apple products have a weak point in maintaining the battery life, the
battery will weaken slowly even though we do not use it. However, the
advertisers do not put up to claim in their advertisements. It is just because they
do not want to show their weakness. They only focus on impressing the readers
by using weasel words. Thus, the weakness of the products is covered by other
claim.
I use the theory of doublespeak derived from Lutz to analyze the Apple
advertisements and as the result weasel word is the type of doublespeak which
appears in every single advertisement. The uses of weasel word in these
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advertisements are very important to increase the selling of the products as well
as jargon. Moreover, it cannot be separated from the other types of doublespeak,
like parity claim and unfinished words. In my opinion, the more doublespeak
found in one advertisement, the more the readers will take a notice.I wonder if we
use the same theory to analyze one of their competitors, like Samsung, the result
will be the same or different.
Finally, I hope this thesis can be beneficial to readers to know more about
doublespeak. By writing this thesis, I get the insight about the advertiser’s effort
to attract the consumers. Technology is thriving nowadays, not only the smart
phones but also others technology such as computer, laptop or tablet; thus, we
as the readers should not be blinded by what advertisements say. The more we
believe what the advertisements say, the more we will be disappointed. That’s
why, we should think twice when reading advertisements and perhaps searching
for some information about the products before we purchase something.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Data Sources
Castellano, Mark. iPhone 4 AD. N.p, n.d. Web. 28 September 2013.
iPhone 3G Advertisement. iLounge Incorporation, n.d. Web. 28 September 2013.
iPhone 4S Advertisement. N.p, n.d. Web. 28 September 2013.
iPhone 5 Advertisement. Apple Incorporation, n.d. Web. 28 September 2013.
iPhone 5S Advertisement. Apple Incorporation, n.d. Web. 14 January 2014.
iPhone 5C Advertisement. Apple Incorporation, n.d. Web. 16 January 2014.
The iPhone 3GS has Launched. NewLauncher, n.d. Web. 28 September 2013.
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