Analysis of The Use of Doublespeak in The Taglines of Food and Drink Advertisements.
ABSTRACT
Dalam tugas akhir ini, saya membahas doublespeak dalam tagline
makanan dan minuman karena makanan dan minuman adalah kebutuhan pokok
dari setiap orang dan saya menemukan banyak iklan makanan dan minuman yang
menggunakan doublespeak. Iklan makanan dan minuman yang dipasarkan melalui
majalah biasanya disertai gambar dengan tujuan agar pembaca atau konsumen
tertarik untuk membeli produk tersebut. Di setiap iklan, kita akan menemukan
slogan dan tagline yang tanpa kita sadari terdapat kata-kata yang mengandung
doublespeak.
Dalam penulisan tugas akhir ini, saya menggunakan teori Doublespeak
dari William Lutz yang terdiri atas the rule of parity, weasel word, “up to” claim,
dan unfinished word.
Saya mengambil 15 iklan makanan dan minuman dari berbagai majalah
seperti Cosmopolitan, Women’s Health, The Singapore Women’s Weekly, Country
Living dan Better Homes sebagai data. Saya menemukan penggunaan empat jenis
doublespeak seperti the rule of parity, weasel word, “up to” claim, dan unfinished
word dalam iklan makanan dan minuman tersebut. Saya juga menemukan
beberapa tagline yang menggunakan dua jenis doublespeak yang berbeda.
iii
Maranatha Christian University
Saya menyimpulkan doublespeak dapat digunakan untuk menjerumuskan
para konsumen supaya mereka tertarik untuk membeli produk makanan dan
minuman yang dipasarkan. Saya juga menemukan efek yang berbeda dari setiap
jenis doublespeak terhadap para konsumen.
iv
Maranatha Christian University
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………………… i
TABLE OF CONTENTS ……………………………………………………..ii
ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………iii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study ..………………………….….…………………1
Statement of the Problem ..………………………………….…………….4
Purpose of the Study ……………………………………….…………….4
Methods of Research..……………………………………………………..4
Organization of the Thesis.………………………………………………..4
CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK…...…...........................6
CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF THE USE OF DOUBLESPEAK IN
THE TAGLINES OF FOOD AND DRINK ADVERTISEMENTS..........….12
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION …………………………………………27
BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………………..31
APPENDIX ..…...………………………………..….........................................33
APPENDICES
Table 1 : The findings of the analysis
No
1
2
3
4
5
Product
Pasta sauce prego
(Sauce)
Marigold
(Milk)
Heinz Baked Beans
(Beans)
Cornetto
(Ice Cream)
New Zealand natural
(Ice Cream)
6
Egg-Land’s Best
(Egg)
7
Kellog’s Special K
(Crunchy Flakes)
8
Extra
(Chewing Gum)
Jelly Belly
(Candy)
Bacon
(Bacon)
9
10
Taglines
Deliciously
thick and rich
Very Fresh.
Very Good
Deliciously
full of rich
nutrients
No Boring
Bits
100% great
tasting ice
cream
Better taste.
Better
nutrition.
Better Eggs
High in
protein and
taste
Lasts Longer
Than That
So Smoothie
Doublespeak
Expression
Thick and
Rich
Fresh and
Good
Deliciously,
full and rich
Weasel Word
Boring
Weasel Word
great
Weasel Word
Better
The rule of
parity
High
Weasel Word
that
Weasel Word
So Smoothie
Weasel Word
To make the
The very best
very best
bacon, we take
the slow road
32
Type(s) of
Doublespeak
Weasel word
Weasel Word
The rule of
parity
11
Minute Maid
(Fruit Juice)
The Only
Orange Juice
Proven to Help
Reduce
Cholesterol
Losing up in 2
weeks just got
easier
Only and Help
The rule of
parity and
Weasel Word
12
Kellogg’s Special
K2O
(Juice)
Up to and
easier
Celsius
(Dietary Drink)
Burns up to
100 calories
and more
Up to and
more
14
V8
(Vegetable Juice)
Rooted in
Goodness
Goodness
“Up to” claim
and
Unfinished
Word
“Up to” claim
and
Unfinished
word
Weasel word
13
15
SKYY Infusion
(Vodka)
Go Natural
Natural
Weasel word
33
Data 1
34
Data 2
35
Data 3
36
Data 4
37
Data 5
38
Data 6
39
Data 7
40
Data 8
41
Data 9
42
Data 10
43
Data 11
44
Data 12
45
Data 13
46
Data 14
47
Data 15
48
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
The definition of advertisement according to Collins Cobuild Dictionary is
“an announcement in a newspaper, on television, or on poster about something such
as a product, event or job” (21). In Britain and Japan, advertisements have become a
very popular research topic and they are studied among others in the fields of
anthropology, sociology, and linguistics (Tanaka 1). The process of making an
advertisement is called advertising, which aims at attracting consumers or buyers to
buy the advertised product (Rossiter and Percy 4). Therefore, the language style of
advertisements is persuasive because the purpose of advertising is to persuade people
to buy the product.
I am interested to study doublespeak because this kind of language use in
advertisements has capacity to mislead the consumers of the product advertised.
Misleading information is given in tagline of advertisements so that when the
consumer read or see the advertisements, they will have their interpretation about the
products. As a result, when they buy the product, they might feel cheated because the
product they have bought is not the same with what they have expected. Doublespeak
1
Maranatha Christian Universtity
is not only be found food and drink products, women’s products or in the cover of
movies, but be can found in the speech like a president’s speech.
In this thesis, I would like to analyze the doublespeak in the taglines of some
food and drink advertisements because food and drinks are such prominent necessity.
I realize that the advertisements of food and drink are potential to present
doublespeak because the language which is used in that advertisement is to make
consumer interested or attracted to buy the product by promising something. The
advertisers can use many words to make their advertisement more interesting and use
a famous actress or actor to promote their products in television or magazines.
There are many kinds of food and drink products including food and drinks
for people on diet, organic fruit and vegetables, food and drink for pets, and many
more. Mostly, food and drink advertisements can be found in women magazines
because women tend to be interested in them. Moreover, women who are housewives
commonly will shop a lot of food and drink products. The food and drink products
advertised in the magazines are frequently presented with pictures. The advertisers
present the pictures of the products in the advertisements in many colours to make
people interested enough to buy them.
In addition, almost every advertisement has a tagline, which is sometimes
confused with a slogan, “a short phrase that is easy to remember” (Collins Cobuild
Dictionary 1363). For example: the slogan of Coca Cola company is “it’s the real
thing coke”. The definition of tagline in Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged
Dictionary of the English Language is “a phrase or catchword that becomes identified
or associated with a person, group, product, etc through repetition” (1447).
2
Maranatha Christian Universtity
An example of a tagline can be seen in a coca cola zero product in the magazine with
the words “coca cola with zero calories”. The words said the tagline of the product. In
practice, taglines tend to use doublespeak.
According to Lutz, doublespeak is the use of words that pretend to
communicate but really does not (1). A doublespeak can be found in a mall where
you see the word “ALL ITEM DISCOUNT UP TO 50%” in one shop. In their
tagline, they said that they will give a discount until 50%. But in fact, the discount
can more or less from 50% or for several items even does not give discount. This
notice uses doublespeak because it presents something that in fact is different with
their promise in their tagline. In advertisements, doublespeak is divided into four
types. There are the rule of parity, weasel word, “Up to” claim and unfinished word
(Lutz 83-95). In this thesis, the theory of doublespeak will be discussed thoroughly
in Chapter Two.
Analyzing doublespeak in the advertisements of food and drink products is
necessary because sometimes people feel disappointed after they have bought the
products. They buy the product because they are interested in the advertisements,
either those in magazines or on television. However, they may feel tricked by the
taglines of the products because of they use of doublespeak. After reading the thesis,
the readers will understand the use doublespeak in advertisement, so they will be
more aware of the use of the doublespeak in advertisement and they will not be
cheated with advertisements.
3
Maranatha Christian Universtity
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Based on the background of the study, the problems are formulated as follows :
1) What expressions in the taglines are identified as doublespeak?
2) What types of doublespeak do the expressions in the taglines belong to?
3) Why is it doublespeak?
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
1) To identify the expressions that are considered to be doublespeak in the
taglines.
2) To classify the identified doublespeak expressions into different types.
3) To explain the reason why it is doublespeak.
METHOD OF THE RESEARCH
I do this study in four steps. The first step is collecting food and drink
advertisements from some magazines and investigating the taglines to observe if
they contain doublespeak. The next step is selecting the taglines that contain
doublespeak and classifying the doublespeak expressions into several types.
Finally, I explain why each of the selected taglines is said to contain doublespeak.
ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS
The thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter One is the Introduction, which
contains the Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the
Study, Method of the Research and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two
presents the Theoretical Background, which contains the theories to support the
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data analysis. In Chapter Three, there is the analysis of the data. Finally, Chapter
Four is the Conclusion, in which I give comments and opinion on my findings.
The thesis ends with the Bibliography and Appendices, where the advertisements
used as the data source are presented.
5
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CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
This chapter presents the conclusion from the analysis of the use of
doublespeak in the taglines of food and drink advertisements. In analyzing fifteen
data, I use the theory of doublespeak by William Lutz.
From the data analysis, I found four types of doublespeak used in the
advertisements. I found two data which use “Up To” claim, eleven data that use
weasel word, three data which use the rule of parity, and two data that use
unfinished word. Weasel word is mostly used by the advertisers because I think it
is used to trick the consumers so they will be interested to buy the products as
Lutz states weasel word appears to promise one thing when in fact they promise
the opposite or nothing at all (85). In my data, I found the words thick, rich, great,
help, and many more. These words are only used to make the consumers
interested, whereas in fact, these words can not proved.
Unfinished word is often used by advertisers because they try to compare
their products with the other products. This type of doublespeak lets the
consumers to finish
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the sentence by themselves. As it can be seen in Lutz’s theory, unfinished words
are more powerful words used in advertisement taglines to make significant
promises about a product’s effectiveness but the advertisements present no clear
evidence (Lutz 95). In my data, I found the use of the word easier and more. I
conclude that these products claim that they are easier and more than the others,
whereas in fact, they present no clear evidence and they are the same like the
other products.
“Up to” claim are the least used in my data. The advertisers rarely use
“Up to” claim in food and drink products because these products must be sold in
fresh condition, like vegetables, meat, milk, and many more. So the consumer can
consume the fresh vegetables, meat, milk and many more as soon as they buy
them. I think this type is more suitable to be used in women’s products like
shampoo, cosmetics, and many more because the women will think the product
can help them get what they want. For example, in the tagline of a mascara
advertisement which states that the mascara can strengthen your eyelash up to
70%. When the women read this advertisement, they feel interested with the
product and want to buy it because they think this product can make their eyelash
stronger than before.
The rule of parity is used in the food and drink advertisements because this
type assumes that the product is the best among the other products. So the
consumer will buy and consume this product continously. According to Lutz, the
rule of parity states that the products of the same category are the same (Lutz 83);
27
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however, in my data, I found the word better, very best and the only orange juice
proven to help reduce cholesterol. the word better, best and only are to show that
the product of egg, bacon and orange juice are the best among the other products,
whereas in fact, these products are the same as the others. They have similar taste
and quality. In my opinion, the advertisers add doublespeak in their products to
trick the consumers so they will be interested to purchase their products.
Sometimes the consumers feel cheated with the products because they do not
understand doublespeak. For example: in a shop where you see the phrase
“DISCOUNT UP TO 50%”, you will assume that all items in this shop will be
discounted 50%, whereas generally only few items that get 50% discount.
The effect of each type of doublespeak to the consumers can be different.
It depends on the consumer’s interpretation. For example, the rule of parity from
data six is to claim the egg product is better, data ten is to claim that the very best
bacon and data eleven is to claim only orange juice that can reduce cholesterol,
but in fact, their qualities are the same as the other products. As consumers, they
might assume that these products are different from the other products: however,
they can find other products with similar quality.
The use of weasel word can be found in data one, two, three, four, five,
seven, eight, nine, eleven, fourthteen and fifteen. By using weasel word, the
advertisers want to promise that their products are delicious, rich, have great taste,
can help reduce cholesterol and many more, but in fact, they promise nothing at
all. In my opinion, the effect of weasel word on the consumers is to make them
get attracted with the products and they will use the products continuosly.
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“Up to” claim can be found in data twelve and thirteen. The products state
that they can burn up to 100 calories, or lose up to 6 lb’s, but in fact, these
products can burn 50 calories or lose only two or three pounds. In my opinion, the
effect of up to claim on the consumers is to make they assume that these products
can help them lose weight or burn their calories maximally, so they will consume
these product everyday until they reach what they want.
Unfinished word can be found in data, twelve, and thirteen. In my opinion,
the effect of unfinished word on the consumers is they can use their interpretation
to finish the tagline so they can answer which products that better than, faster than
and longer than because in this type, the advertiser try to compare their products
with the other products.
Finally, I conclude doublespeak in the taglines can make people confused.
So the consumer should read the tagline carefully because they might be cheated
by the words in the tagline since I think all advertisements are made to persuade
the consumer to buy the products.
My suggestion for other researchers who want to take this topic for their
thesis is they can take other advertisements like medicine advertisements, men’s
products or animal’s food that contain doublespeak as their data because I think
there are so many kinds of advertisements that use doublespeak in their slogan or
tagline. However, they can use the same theory by William Lutz.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
References:
Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. Britain: HarperCollins
Publisher, 1987.
Keiko, T. Advertising Language. London: McGraw-Hill, inc., 1994.
Lutz, W. Doublespeak. New York: HarperPerennial, 1990.
Rossiter, John, R., and Larry Percy. Advertising and Promotion Management.
Singapore: Routledge, 1987.
Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridge Dictionary of the English Language. New York:
Dilithium Press, 1989.
Yule, G. Pragmatics. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Data Sources:
Better Homes and Garden. March. 2006.
Cosmopolitan. June. 2005.
Cosmopolitan. January. 2007.
Cosmopolitan. October. 2007.
Cosmopolitan. April. 2010.
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Country Living. July. 2009.
The Singapore Women’s Weekly. December. 2003.
Women’s health. February. 2009.
Women’s Health. January/February. 2010.
Internet Sources:
Chen, Will. “The Protein Water Scam: Kellog’s Special K2O Can Do Anything.”
Killer Aces Media 14 Januari 2007: 1. Wisebread. 2010.
Galden, Naomi Rockler. “Advertising and Persuasive Strategies.” Suite101 9
September 2008: 1-2. Suite101. 2008.
Kleinberg, Jason. “Van Gogh Vodka Pineapple.” Van Gogh Vodka 2002: 1-2.
Van goghvodka. 14 April 2010.
Manohar, Uttara. “Different Types of Advertising.” Buzzle 4 October 2008: 1-3.
Buzzle. 2009.
The Health& Wellness Instute, PC. “A Vegetable Juice For Antioxidant Support.”
Juice Plus+® Health News 07 September 2009: 1-2. Juice Plus+®. 19
April 2010.
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Dalam tugas akhir ini, saya membahas doublespeak dalam tagline
makanan dan minuman karena makanan dan minuman adalah kebutuhan pokok
dari setiap orang dan saya menemukan banyak iklan makanan dan minuman yang
menggunakan doublespeak. Iklan makanan dan minuman yang dipasarkan melalui
majalah biasanya disertai gambar dengan tujuan agar pembaca atau konsumen
tertarik untuk membeli produk tersebut. Di setiap iklan, kita akan menemukan
slogan dan tagline yang tanpa kita sadari terdapat kata-kata yang mengandung
doublespeak.
Dalam penulisan tugas akhir ini, saya menggunakan teori Doublespeak
dari William Lutz yang terdiri atas the rule of parity, weasel word, “up to” claim,
dan unfinished word.
Saya mengambil 15 iklan makanan dan minuman dari berbagai majalah
seperti Cosmopolitan, Women’s Health, The Singapore Women’s Weekly, Country
Living dan Better Homes sebagai data. Saya menemukan penggunaan empat jenis
doublespeak seperti the rule of parity, weasel word, “up to” claim, dan unfinished
word dalam iklan makanan dan minuman tersebut. Saya juga menemukan
beberapa tagline yang menggunakan dua jenis doublespeak yang berbeda.
iii
Maranatha Christian University
Saya menyimpulkan doublespeak dapat digunakan untuk menjerumuskan
para konsumen supaya mereka tertarik untuk membeli produk makanan dan
minuman yang dipasarkan. Saya juga menemukan efek yang berbeda dari setiap
jenis doublespeak terhadap para konsumen.
iv
Maranatha Christian University
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………………… i
TABLE OF CONTENTS ……………………………………………………..ii
ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………iii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study ..………………………….….…………………1
Statement of the Problem ..………………………………….…………….4
Purpose of the Study ……………………………………….…………….4
Methods of Research..……………………………………………………..4
Organization of the Thesis.………………………………………………..4
CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK…...…...........................6
CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF THE USE OF DOUBLESPEAK IN
THE TAGLINES OF FOOD AND DRINK ADVERTISEMENTS..........….12
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION …………………………………………27
BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………………..31
APPENDIX ..…...………………………………..….........................................33
APPENDICES
Table 1 : The findings of the analysis
No
1
2
3
4
5
Product
Pasta sauce prego
(Sauce)
Marigold
(Milk)
Heinz Baked Beans
(Beans)
Cornetto
(Ice Cream)
New Zealand natural
(Ice Cream)
6
Egg-Land’s Best
(Egg)
7
Kellog’s Special K
(Crunchy Flakes)
8
Extra
(Chewing Gum)
Jelly Belly
(Candy)
Bacon
(Bacon)
9
10
Taglines
Deliciously
thick and rich
Very Fresh.
Very Good
Deliciously
full of rich
nutrients
No Boring
Bits
100% great
tasting ice
cream
Better taste.
Better
nutrition.
Better Eggs
High in
protein and
taste
Lasts Longer
Than That
So Smoothie
Doublespeak
Expression
Thick and
Rich
Fresh and
Good
Deliciously,
full and rich
Weasel Word
Boring
Weasel Word
great
Weasel Word
Better
The rule of
parity
High
Weasel Word
that
Weasel Word
So Smoothie
Weasel Word
To make the
The very best
very best
bacon, we take
the slow road
32
Type(s) of
Doublespeak
Weasel word
Weasel Word
The rule of
parity
11
Minute Maid
(Fruit Juice)
The Only
Orange Juice
Proven to Help
Reduce
Cholesterol
Losing up in 2
weeks just got
easier
Only and Help
The rule of
parity and
Weasel Word
12
Kellogg’s Special
K2O
(Juice)
Up to and
easier
Celsius
(Dietary Drink)
Burns up to
100 calories
and more
Up to and
more
14
V8
(Vegetable Juice)
Rooted in
Goodness
Goodness
“Up to” claim
and
Unfinished
Word
“Up to” claim
and
Unfinished
word
Weasel word
13
15
SKYY Infusion
(Vodka)
Go Natural
Natural
Weasel word
33
Data 1
34
Data 2
35
Data 3
36
Data 4
37
Data 5
38
Data 6
39
Data 7
40
Data 8
41
Data 9
42
Data 10
43
Data 11
44
Data 12
45
Data 13
46
Data 14
47
Data 15
48
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
The definition of advertisement according to Collins Cobuild Dictionary is
“an announcement in a newspaper, on television, or on poster about something such
as a product, event or job” (21). In Britain and Japan, advertisements have become a
very popular research topic and they are studied among others in the fields of
anthropology, sociology, and linguistics (Tanaka 1). The process of making an
advertisement is called advertising, which aims at attracting consumers or buyers to
buy the advertised product (Rossiter and Percy 4). Therefore, the language style of
advertisements is persuasive because the purpose of advertising is to persuade people
to buy the product.
I am interested to study doublespeak because this kind of language use in
advertisements has capacity to mislead the consumers of the product advertised.
Misleading information is given in tagline of advertisements so that when the
consumer read or see the advertisements, they will have their interpretation about the
products. As a result, when they buy the product, they might feel cheated because the
product they have bought is not the same with what they have expected. Doublespeak
1
Maranatha Christian Universtity
is not only be found food and drink products, women’s products or in the cover of
movies, but be can found in the speech like a president’s speech.
In this thesis, I would like to analyze the doublespeak in the taglines of some
food and drink advertisements because food and drinks are such prominent necessity.
I realize that the advertisements of food and drink are potential to present
doublespeak because the language which is used in that advertisement is to make
consumer interested or attracted to buy the product by promising something. The
advertisers can use many words to make their advertisement more interesting and use
a famous actress or actor to promote their products in television or magazines.
There are many kinds of food and drink products including food and drinks
for people on diet, organic fruit and vegetables, food and drink for pets, and many
more. Mostly, food and drink advertisements can be found in women magazines
because women tend to be interested in them. Moreover, women who are housewives
commonly will shop a lot of food and drink products. The food and drink products
advertised in the magazines are frequently presented with pictures. The advertisers
present the pictures of the products in the advertisements in many colours to make
people interested enough to buy them.
In addition, almost every advertisement has a tagline, which is sometimes
confused with a slogan, “a short phrase that is easy to remember” (Collins Cobuild
Dictionary 1363). For example: the slogan of Coca Cola company is “it’s the real
thing coke”. The definition of tagline in Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged
Dictionary of the English Language is “a phrase or catchword that becomes identified
or associated with a person, group, product, etc through repetition” (1447).
2
Maranatha Christian Universtity
An example of a tagline can be seen in a coca cola zero product in the magazine with
the words “coca cola with zero calories”. The words said the tagline of the product. In
practice, taglines tend to use doublespeak.
According to Lutz, doublespeak is the use of words that pretend to
communicate but really does not (1). A doublespeak can be found in a mall where
you see the word “ALL ITEM DISCOUNT UP TO 50%” in one shop. In their
tagline, they said that they will give a discount until 50%. But in fact, the discount
can more or less from 50% or for several items even does not give discount. This
notice uses doublespeak because it presents something that in fact is different with
their promise in their tagline. In advertisements, doublespeak is divided into four
types. There are the rule of parity, weasel word, “Up to” claim and unfinished word
(Lutz 83-95). In this thesis, the theory of doublespeak will be discussed thoroughly
in Chapter Two.
Analyzing doublespeak in the advertisements of food and drink products is
necessary because sometimes people feel disappointed after they have bought the
products. They buy the product because they are interested in the advertisements,
either those in magazines or on television. However, they may feel tricked by the
taglines of the products because of they use of doublespeak. After reading the thesis,
the readers will understand the use doublespeak in advertisement, so they will be
more aware of the use of the doublespeak in advertisement and they will not be
cheated with advertisements.
3
Maranatha Christian Universtity
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Based on the background of the study, the problems are formulated as follows :
1) What expressions in the taglines are identified as doublespeak?
2) What types of doublespeak do the expressions in the taglines belong to?
3) Why is it doublespeak?
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
1) To identify the expressions that are considered to be doublespeak in the
taglines.
2) To classify the identified doublespeak expressions into different types.
3) To explain the reason why it is doublespeak.
METHOD OF THE RESEARCH
I do this study in four steps. The first step is collecting food and drink
advertisements from some magazines and investigating the taglines to observe if
they contain doublespeak. The next step is selecting the taglines that contain
doublespeak and classifying the doublespeak expressions into several types.
Finally, I explain why each of the selected taglines is said to contain doublespeak.
ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS
The thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter One is the Introduction, which
contains the Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the
Study, Method of the Research and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two
presents the Theoretical Background, which contains the theories to support the
4
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data analysis. In Chapter Three, there is the analysis of the data. Finally, Chapter
Four is the Conclusion, in which I give comments and opinion on my findings.
The thesis ends with the Bibliography and Appendices, where the advertisements
used as the data source are presented.
5
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CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
This chapter presents the conclusion from the analysis of the use of
doublespeak in the taglines of food and drink advertisements. In analyzing fifteen
data, I use the theory of doublespeak by William Lutz.
From the data analysis, I found four types of doublespeak used in the
advertisements. I found two data which use “Up To” claim, eleven data that use
weasel word, three data which use the rule of parity, and two data that use
unfinished word. Weasel word is mostly used by the advertisers because I think it
is used to trick the consumers so they will be interested to buy the products as
Lutz states weasel word appears to promise one thing when in fact they promise
the opposite or nothing at all (85). In my data, I found the words thick, rich, great,
help, and many more. These words are only used to make the consumers
interested, whereas in fact, these words can not proved.
Unfinished word is often used by advertisers because they try to compare
their products with the other products. This type of doublespeak lets the
consumers to finish
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the sentence by themselves. As it can be seen in Lutz’s theory, unfinished words
are more powerful words used in advertisement taglines to make significant
promises about a product’s effectiveness but the advertisements present no clear
evidence (Lutz 95). In my data, I found the use of the word easier and more. I
conclude that these products claim that they are easier and more than the others,
whereas in fact, they present no clear evidence and they are the same like the
other products.
“Up to” claim are the least used in my data. The advertisers rarely use
“Up to” claim in food and drink products because these products must be sold in
fresh condition, like vegetables, meat, milk, and many more. So the consumer can
consume the fresh vegetables, meat, milk and many more as soon as they buy
them. I think this type is more suitable to be used in women’s products like
shampoo, cosmetics, and many more because the women will think the product
can help them get what they want. For example, in the tagline of a mascara
advertisement which states that the mascara can strengthen your eyelash up to
70%. When the women read this advertisement, they feel interested with the
product and want to buy it because they think this product can make their eyelash
stronger than before.
The rule of parity is used in the food and drink advertisements because this
type assumes that the product is the best among the other products. So the
consumer will buy and consume this product continously. According to Lutz, the
rule of parity states that the products of the same category are the same (Lutz 83);
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however, in my data, I found the word better, very best and the only orange juice
proven to help reduce cholesterol. the word better, best and only are to show that
the product of egg, bacon and orange juice are the best among the other products,
whereas in fact, these products are the same as the others. They have similar taste
and quality. In my opinion, the advertisers add doublespeak in their products to
trick the consumers so they will be interested to purchase their products.
Sometimes the consumers feel cheated with the products because they do not
understand doublespeak. For example: in a shop where you see the phrase
“DISCOUNT UP TO 50%”, you will assume that all items in this shop will be
discounted 50%, whereas generally only few items that get 50% discount.
The effect of each type of doublespeak to the consumers can be different.
It depends on the consumer’s interpretation. For example, the rule of parity from
data six is to claim the egg product is better, data ten is to claim that the very best
bacon and data eleven is to claim only orange juice that can reduce cholesterol,
but in fact, their qualities are the same as the other products. As consumers, they
might assume that these products are different from the other products: however,
they can find other products with similar quality.
The use of weasel word can be found in data one, two, three, four, five,
seven, eight, nine, eleven, fourthteen and fifteen. By using weasel word, the
advertisers want to promise that their products are delicious, rich, have great taste,
can help reduce cholesterol and many more, but in fact, they promise nothing at
all. In my opinion, the effect of weasel word on the consumers is to make them
get attracted with the products and they will use the products continuosly.
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“Up to” claim can be found in data twelve and thirteen. The products state
that they can burn up to 100 calories, or lose up to 6 lb’s, but in fact, these
products can burn 50 calories or lose only two or three pounds. In my opinion, the
effect of up to claim on the consumers is to make they assume that these products
can help them lose weight or burn their calories maximally, so they will consume
these product everyday until they reach what they want.
Unfinished word can be found in data, twelve, and thirteen. In my opinion,
the effect of unfinished word on the consumers is they can use their interpretation
to finish the tagline so they can answer which products that better than, faster than
and longer than because in this type, the advertiser try to compare their products
with the other products.
Finally, I conclude doublespeak in the taglines can make people confused.
So the consumer should read the tagline carefully because they might be cheated
by the words in the tagline since I think all advertisements are made to persuade
the consumer to buy the products.
My suggestion for other researchers who want to take this topic for their
thesis is they can take other advertisements like medicine advertisements, men’s
products or animal’s food that contain doublespeak as their data because I think
there are so many kinds of advertisements that use doublespeak in their slogan or
tagline. However, they can use the same theory by William Lutz.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
References:
Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. Britain: HarperCollins
Publisher, 1987.
Keiko, T. Advertising Language. London: McGraw-Hill, inc., 1994.
Lutz, W. Doublespeak. New York: HarperPerennial, 1990.
Rossiter, John, R., and Larry Percy. Advertising and Promotion Management.
Singapore: Routledge, 1987.
Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridge Dictionary of the English Language. New York:
Dilithium Press, 1989.
Yule, G. Pragmatics. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Data Sources:
Better Homes and Garden. March. 2006.
Cosmopolitan. June. 2005.
Cosmopolitan. January. 2007.
Cosmopolitan. October. 2007.
Cosmopolitan. April. 2010.
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Country Living. July. 2009.
The Singapore Women’s Weekly. December. 2003.
Women’s health. February. 2009.
Women’s Health. January/February. 2010.
Internet Sources:
Chen, Will. “The Protein Water Scam: Kellog’s Special K2O Can Do Anything.”
Killer Aces Media 14 Januari 2007: 1. Wisebread. 2010.
Galden, Naomi Rockler. “Advertising and Persuasive Strategies.” Suite101 9
September 2008: 1-2. Suite101. 2008.
Kleinberg, Jason. “Van Gogh Vodka Pineapple.” Van Gogh Vodka 2002: 1-2.
Van goghvodka. 14 April 2010.
Manohar, Uttara. “Different Types of Advertising.” Buzzle 4 October 2008: 1-3.
Buzzle. 2009.
The Health& Wellness Instute, PC. “A Vegetable Juice For Antioxidant Support.”
Juice Plus+® Health News 07 September 2009: 1-2. Juice Plus+®. 19
April 2010.
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