A cross cultural pragmatic analysis of commercial advertisements in american and vietnamese magazines

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF
LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF
POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

DO THI PHUONG MAI

A CROSS-CULTURAL PRAGMATIC
ANALYSIS OF COMMERCIAL
ADVERTISEMENTS IN AMERICAN AND
VIETNAMESE MAGAZINES

(Nghiên cứu dụng học giao văn hóa về quảng cáo
thƣơng mại trên tạp chí Mĩ và Việt)

Major: English Linguistics
Code: 9220201.01

A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy


Hanoi - 2018


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF
LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF
POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

DO THI PHUONG MAI

A CROSS-CULTURAL PRAGMATIC

ANALYSIS OF COMMERCIAL
ADVERTISEMENTS IN AMERICAN AND
VIETNAMESE MAGAZINES
(Nghiên cứu dụng học giao văn hóa về quảng cáo
thƣơng mại trên tạp chí Mĩ và Việt)

Major: English Linguistics
Code: 9220201.01
Supervisor

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang

Hanoi - 2018


DECLARATION

I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the Doctor of
Philosophy degree at the University of Languages and International Studies,
Vietnam National University, Hanoi, is solely my own work other than where I
have clearly indicated that it is the works of others.
The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is
permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be
reproduced without my prior written consent.
I warrant that this authorization does not, to the best of my belief, infringe
the rights of any third party.

Hanoi, 2018
Signature

Do Thi Phuong Mai

i


ABSTRACT

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the use of politeness
strategies, advertising appeals and the realization of politeness strategies in
advertising appeals in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine
advertisements. The data for this study consist of 310 magazine advertisements
collected within a period of six months at the end of 2014. These advertisements
are analyzed on the basis of Brown and Levinson’s (1987) politeness theory and
Pollay’s (1983) advertising appeal system. The results reveal the preferences in
the use of positive politeness strategies in both American and Vietnamese
advertisements. Additionally, Effectiveness, Distinctive and Modern are the three
most popular appeals in selected advertisements. Another similarity between
American and Vietnamese magazine advertising is the realization of positive
politeness strategies in Effectiveness appeal. However, there exist the differences
in the use of politeness strategies and advertising appeals between American and
Vietnamese advertising. At the same time, the manifestation of some politeness
strategies, advertising appeals, and the realization of certain politeness strategies
in advertising appeals in American advertising is different from that of
Vietnamese advertising. The findings of the study, therefore, suggest that
appropriate advertising strategies be employed to achieve the goal of the
advertisements.

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like first and foremost to extend my most sincere thanks to
Professor Nguyễn Quang, my supervisor, for his critical comments and valuable
instructions without which this thesis could not have been completed. I do
appreciate his kind encouragement, astute advice and immeasurable guidance
and support through every stage of my Ph.D. journey.
My indebtedness also goes to lecturers of University of Languages and
International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, for their immensely
helpful guidance and support during my time of study therein.
I am also grateful to my colleagues at Faculty of English, Hanoi National
University of Education for their support throughout the process of writing this thesis.

Last but not least, I am especially indebted to my beloved family members
whose help and encouragements contributed greatly to the completion of my study.

iii


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

FTA: Fact Threatening Act
H

: Hearer(s)

S

: Speaker(s)

iv


LIST OF TABLES
Table 1.1. Pollay’s appeal system, 1983.............................................................. 13
Table 1.2. Classification of advertising appeals.................................................. 15
Table 2.1. American and Vietnamese magazines used in the study.....................47
Table 2.2. Research framework for politeness strategies in the study.................52
Table 2.3. Single bald-on record strategies in the study...................................... 53
Table 2.4. Single positive politeness strategies in the study................................ 55
Table 2.5. Single negative politeness strategies in the study............................... 55
Table 2.6. Single off-record politeness strategies in the study............................ 56
Table 2.7. Mixed politeness strategies in the study............................................. 56
Table 2.8. Result of pilot test on Pollay’s system................................................ 58
Table 2.9. Five newly-added advertising appeals (Shen, 2013).......................... 59
Table 2.10. Advertising appeals in the study....................................................... 60
Table 2.11. Elements in the research design........................................................ 64
Table 3.1. Frequency of politeness strategies in American and Vietnamese
commercial magazine advertisements................................................................. 66
Table 3.2. Frequency of single positive politeness strategies in American and
Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements............................................. 69
Table 3.3. Frequency of single negative politeness strategies in American and
Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements............................................. 83
Table 3.4. Bald-on record strategies in American and Vietnamese commercial
magazine advertisements.................................................................................... 90
Table 3.5. Similarities and differences in politeness strategies used in American
and Vietnamese magazine advertisements.......................................................... 99
Table 4.1. Advertising appeals in American and Vietnamese commercial
magazine advertisements.................................................................................. 102
Table 4.2. Similarities and differences in the use of advertising appeals in

American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements....................124
Table 5.1. Summary of the realization of politeness strategies in advertising
appeals in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements...147
v


LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1. Marketing mix.................................................................................. 10
Figure 1.2. Promotion mix............................................................................................................ 10
Figure 1.3. Why Politeness?, adapted from Nguyễn Quang (2011).................... 17
Figure 1.4. Lakoff (1973)’s rules of pragmatic competence............................... 19
Figure 1.5. Leech cost-benefit scale (1983)........................................................ 20
Figure 1.6. Possible strategies concerning the delivery of an FTA (Brown and
Levinson, 1987: 69)............................................................................................ 21
Figure 2.1. Possible strategies concerning the delivery of an FTA, Nguyễn
Quang (2012), adapted from Brown and Levinson (1987)................................. 57
Figure 2.2. Data analysis procedure.................................................................... 63
Figure 5.1: Proportion of politeness strategies realized in advertising appeals in
American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements....................126

vi


TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION..................................................................................................i
ABSTRACT......................................................................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................. iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS............................................................................ iv
LIST OF TABLES...............................................................................................v

LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................... vi
INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................1
CHAPTER 1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE.....................................................7
1.1. Advertising.....................................................................................................7
1.2. Advertising appeals...................................................................................... 11
1.3. Politeness..................................................................................................... 16
1.3.1. Definition.................................................................................................. 18
1.3.2. Approaches to politeness........................................................................... 18
1.3.3. Concluding remarks.................................................................................. 31
1.4. Politeness and advertising............................................................................ 33
1.5. Review of previous studies.......................................................................... 35
1.5.1. Previous

studies

of advertising

from

cross-cultural

pragmatic

perspective.......................................................................................................... 35
1.5.2. Previous studies of advertising appeals..................................................... 42
1.5.3. Concluding remarks.................................................................................. 44
CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY............................................. 45
2.1. Research questions....................................................................................... 45
2.2. Samples........................................................................................................ 45
2.2.1. Selection of the magazines........................................................................ 47

2.2.2. Selection of advertisements....................................................................... 47
2.3. Collection procedure.................................................................................... 48
2.4. Coding.......................................................................................................... 49
vii


2.5. Research frameworks................................................................................... 50
2.5.1. Politeness.................................................................................................. 50
2.5.2. Advertising appeals................................................................................... 57
2.6. Data analysis................................................................................................ 60
CHAPTER 3 POLITENESS STRATEGIES

IN AMERICAN AND

VIETNAMESE COMMERCIAL MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS.......65
3.1. Frequency of politeness strategies in American and Vietnamese commercial
magazine advertisements.................................................................................... 65
3.2. Single positive politeness strategies in American and Vietnamese
commercial magazine advertisements................................................................. 68
3.2.1. Frequency of single positive politeness strategies in American and
Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements............................................. 68
3.2.2. Linguistic realization of single positive politeness strategies in American
and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements....................................... 70
3.3. Single negative politeness strategies in American and Vietnamese
commercial magazine advertisements................................................................. 83
3.3.1. Frequency of single negative politeness strategies in American and
Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements............................................. 83
3.3.2. Linguistic realization of single negative politeness strategies in American
and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements....................................... 87
3.4. Bald-on record strategies in American and Vietnamese commercial

magazine advertisements.................................................................................... 89
3.4.1. Frequency of bald-on record strategies in American and Vietnamese
commercial magazine advertisements................................................................. 89
3.4.2. Linguistic realization of bald-on record strategies in American and
Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements............................................. 93
3.5. The hybrid negative-positive politeness strategy in American and
Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements............................................. 95
3.6. Concluding remarks..................................................................................... 97
viii


CHAPTER

4

ADVERTISING

APPEALS

IN

AMERICAN

AND

VIETNAMESE COMMERCIAL MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS.....101
4.1. Frequency of advertising appeals in American and Vietnamese commercial
magazine advertisements.................................................................................. 101
4.2. Linguistic realization of advertising appeals in American and Vietnamese
commercial magazine advertisements............................................................... 109

4.2.1. Linguistic realization of Effectiveness appeal in American and Vietnamese
commercial magazine advertisements............................................................... 109
4.2.2. Linguistic realization of Distinctive appeal in American and Vietnamese
commercial magazine advertisements............................................................... 115
4.3. Concluding remarks................................................................................... 122
CHAPTER 5 REALIZATION OF POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN
ADVERTISING APPEALS IN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE
COMMERCIAL MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS ................................
5.1.

Realization of positive politeness strategies in advertising appe

5.2.

Realization of negative politeness strategies in advertising app

5.3.

Realization of bald-on record politeness strategies in advertisi

5.4.

Realization of mixed politeness strategies in advertising appea

CONCLUSION.................................................................................................
1.

Recapitulation of the study .............................................................................

2.

Implication .....................................................................................................

3.

Limitations .....................................................................................................

4.

Suggestions for further studies .......................................................................

REFERENCES .................................................................................................
APPENDIXES ......................................................................................................
APPENDIX 1: POLITENESS STRATEGY FRAMEWORK .............................
APPENDIX 2: ADVERTISING APPEAL FRAMEWORK............................
APPENDIX 3: SELECTED ADVERTISEMENTS IN THE STUDY ..............

ix


INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale for the study
In today’s world of consumerism, advertising plays a significant role in
that “it [advertising] creates needs, more needs and entices the consumer”
(Jurgensen, 2006: 9). The advertising market is so cunning that it transforms
simple shirts, bags, shoes or sneakers into precious objects. In order to do so, adwriters have used a variety of techniques to make their products more appealing
to their consumers. They have applied both textual and non-textual methods,
including all kinds of visual and linguistic tricks in order to persuade their
audience. An ideal advertisement, as Chow (2010) explains, must draw attention,
arouse interest, stimulate desire, create conviction, and above all, get action.

Shimp & Andrew (2013) argue that most consumer behaviors are swayed by
emotions rather than rationality. As a result, when forming the language of
advertising, ad-writers normally resort to two major advertising approaches, namely
“soft-sell” appeal (or indirect advertising) and “hard-sell” appeal (or direct
advertising) (Mueller, 1986). Additionally, with regard to other interlocutor’s
emotions, rapport may be the most essential factor determining the attraction and
sustainment of their involvement in communication. Advertisers, therefore, apply a
variety of strategies to guarantee the rapport with their potential consumers, of
which politeness strategies are one of the most popular ones.

The study of politeness in advertising text is of interest to many linguists
as the language used by ad-writers must be careful in order not to offend the
prospective customers and at the same time successfully in persuading these
customers to buy the products or use the services advertised. There have been
relatively

few

studies

on

politeness

and

advertising

nationally

and

internationally. Such research includes studies by Mai Xuân Huy (2005), Hồ Vi
Nữ Mỹ Linh (2011), Ngũ Thiện Hùng (2011), Hardin (1997; 2001), Escribano
1


(2006), Stehlik (2007), Wise (2011), to name a few. There are also certain studies
comparing the expression of politeness in advertising in two languages, for
example Koga and Pearson (1992), Gas & Neru (2006), Wise (2011) or
Hermosilla (2012). However, there have not been sufficient studies on politeness
strategies in American and Vietnamese advertising.
Furthermore, thanks to the globalization of the world marketplace,
international advertising segment has been expanding (Tomkins, 2000).
Therefore, it is significant that advertisers understand cultural universals and
exclusions that tend to condition advertising appeals in different markets.
Cultural difference is an important factor in understanding international
advertising successfully (Keegan, 1989) because consumers growing up in a
particular culture are accustomed to a specific culture (Zhang & Gelb, 1996). In
other words, advertising is culture-oriented discipline as it is based on language
and other communication tools which are deeply rooted in the given culture of a
society (Shutte & Ciarlante, 1998). Particularly, advertising communicates
cultural values through advertising appeals (Pollay, 1983) because ad-writers
often refer to cultural values when they have to select the primary advertising
appeals. Based on this view, a larger number of cross-cultural studies have
examined similarities or differences in cultural values embedded in advertising
contents. Typical examples include Cheng and Schweitzer (1996), Albers-Miller
and Stafford (1999), Lin (2009, Shen (2013), and Sar & Rodriguez (2014) who
employ content analysis to see the cross-national differences in advertising
strategy. However, to the best of the author’s knowledge, virtually no study has

focused on the potential relationship between politeness and advertising appeals.
Consequently, this study employs Brown and Levinson (1987)’s politeness
theory and Pollay (1983)’s advertising appeal conceptual framework to examine
how American and Vietnamese advertising differ from each other in the use of
politeness strategies and advertising appeals.
2


2. Aim and objectives of the study
The overall aim of the study is to pragmatically provide a study on
politeness strategies, advertising appeals, as well as the realization of politeness
strategies in advertising appeals in American and Vietnamese commercial
magazine advertisements.
In order to achieve this aim, the objectives set out for the study are:
 to find out what politeness strategies and advertising appeals are used in
American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements;
 to examine how politeness strategies are realized in advertising appeals
in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements;
 to discuss the similarities and differences in the use of politeness
strategies, advertising appeals, and the realization of politeness strategies
in advertising appeals in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine
advertisements from cross-cultural pragmatic perspective.
3.

Research questions
In consideration of the aforementioned aim and objectives, the following

research questions were posed:
1.

What are politeness strategies employed in American and Vietnamese

commercial magazine advertisements?
2.

What are advertising appeals employed in American and Vietnamese

commercial magazine advertisements?
3.

How are politeness strategies realized in advertising appeals in

American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements?
4.

Scope of the study
The aim of this study is to examine politeness strategies and advertising

appeals used in American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements.
It attempts to investigate the similarities and differences between American and
Vietnamese magazine advertisements’ preference of politeness strategies and
advertising appeals, which reflects the influence of American and Vietnamese
3


cultures on advertisers’ choices for such phenomena. According to Trehan (2006:
120), an advertisement consists of headlines, subheads, illustrations, slogans, text
or body-copy, blurbs, boxes or panels, identification marks, and closing ideas.
However, since it is impossible to cover every single aspect of an advertisement,
this study focuses on intra-linguistic factors only. Consequently, paralinguistic

and extra-linguistic factors are out of the scope of this study.
Another noteworthy point is that many other issues related to commercial
advertisements such as the rhetorical features of advertising language or the
advertising strategies also fall out of the scope of the research.
5. Significance of the study
This work is important for different reasons. Theoretically, the study
contributes to an investigation into some research areas in Vietnam on linguistic
politeness and advertising appeals. Additionally, the study’s findings are
expected to reinforce or deny existing hypotheses in the fields and to bring about
a better insight into the issues of linguistic politeness and advertising appeals in
advertising.
From a practical perspective, this research work is expected to contribute
to an enhanced understanding of how advertisers from the two cultures employ
politeness strategies and advertising appeals in magazine advertisements. More
importantly, it is hoped that as a cross-cultural pragmatic study, the research can
provide advertisers and practitioners sufficient details and specific examples to
help them appropriately use politeness strategies and advertising appeals in
different cultures.
From a methodological point of view, this study seeks to explore the
extent to which Brown and Levinson’s (1978, 1987) theory of politeness
strategies and Pollay’s (1983) advertising appeal framework are applicable to
other languages and cultures.
From a pedagogical perspective, the findings of the study can serve as a
valuable reference for schools and other educational institutions in establishing
4


their educational programs about advertising, politeness strategies and
advertising appeals. It is also important that the study contributes to raising
faculty and students’ awareness and appreciation of cultural differences.

6. Methodology
To answer the three research questions mentioned, the present study
looked at both quantitative and qualitative dimensions of data, but focused
mainly on qualitative from a cross-cultural pragmatic approach. Specifically, 310
advertisements taken from six different American and Vietnamese magazines are
analyzed based on two research frameworks, Brown and Levinson’s (1987)
politeness theory and Pollay’s (1983) advertising appeals. Additionally, content
analysis is employed as a research technique for the study. Owing to these
methods and techniques, American and Vietnamese advertisements taken from
American and Vietnamese commercial magazines within a period of six months
at the end of 2014 were analyzed to figure out the similarities and differences in
the use of politeness strategies and advertising appeals as well as the realization
of politeness strategies in advertising appeals. The methodology is presented at
length in Chapter 2 of the thesis.
7. Structure of the study
The present study is divided into three main parts, as follows:
The first part, Introduction, gives the reader an overview of the study
through the rationale for the study. Other issues clarified in this section are
research aim and objectives, research questions, scope, significance, and
methodology. A summary of all the parts and chapters is also presented in the
structure of the study to help the audience have an overall idea of the study.
The second part of the study consists of five chapters which present the
major issues of the thesis.
Chapter 1 presents a theoretical background and literature review in the light
of cross-cultural pragmatics. It begins with an introduction to basic terminologies,
concepts, and approaches which are used in the two research frameworks of the

5

research. Then, up-to-date relevant studies of advertising from cross-cultural
pragmatic perspective and studies on advertising appeals are discussed.
Chapter 2 addresses the methodology of the present study. In this chapter,
samples of the study, data collection procedures, research frameworks and data
analysis instruments are presented.
Chapter 3, 4, and 5 present and discuss the research results in response to
the three research questions posed in the study, including the analyses of
politeness strategies, advertising appeals, and how politeness strategies are
realized in advertising appeals. In particular, chapter 3 presents and discusses the
findings on the frequency and linguistic manifestation of politeness strategies in
American and Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements. It then
compares and contrasts the use of politeness strategies in American and
Vietnamese commercial magazine advertisements. Chapter 4 discusses the
findings on the frequency, linguistic manifestation, as well as similarities and
differences of advertising appeals in American and Vietnamese advertising.
Chapter 5 focuses on the way that politeness strategies are realized in advertising
appeals and the similarities and differences in the realization of politeness
strategies in advertising appeals in American and Vietnamese advertising. The
findings and discussions in these three chapters are based on cross-cultural
pragmatic perspective.
Finally, the part of Conclusion summarizes the major findings and the
research work performed. It also provides recommendations as to how this study
can contribute to the current literature on advertising research, to cross-cultural
pragmatic analysis, as well as to education. Finally, limitations of the study and
suggestions for further studies are also presented.

6


CHAPTER 1

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Chapter 1 aims at establishing the theoretical framework underlying the
present study and locating the present study within linguistic research in general.
The chapter firstly gives an account of the basic concepts and major approaches
in politeness and advertising appeal theories. It then reviews the previous studies
of cross-cultural pragmatics and advertising appeals which are relevant to the
current research. Finally, a brief summary of the fundamental literature locating
the gap to be filled by the present study is provided.
1.1. Advertising
1.1.1. Definitions
“Advertere,” a Latin word meaning to warn or to call attention to, is the
root of the word “advertise.” There are a variety of definitions of advertising.
Dyer (1982) defines advertising as a means of “drawing attention to
something, notifying or informing somebody of something. This act can be done
by words of mouth to an individual or to a group of people.” However, if there
are a large number of people to be introduced about something, advertisement –
public announcement – might be used.
According to Bovee & Arens (1992), advertising is “the non-personal
communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature
about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media."

From Dyan (1995)’s point of view, advertising is the paid, impersonal,
one-way marketing of persuasive information from an identified sponsor
disseminated through channels of mass communication to promote the adoption
of goods, services or ideas.
Based on the above definitions and from the author’s perspective,
advertising is informing a large group of people about a product or service via
7

different advertisements in order to attract their attention and then encourage them
to do some actions like buying a product, using the service, or doing charity.

1.1.2. Classification
Advertising can be classified based on different criteria. The following
classification is based on Bovee & Arens (1992)’s as their typology is exhaustive
and comprehensible.
In terms of media, advertising includes print advertising (newspapers and
magazines), broadcast advertising (radio and television), out-of-home advertising
(outdoor and transit advertising), and direct-mail advertising.
With regard to geographic area, it consists of international advertising,
which aims at foreign market; national advertising targeting at customers in
several regions of the country; regional advertising used for advertising products
which are sold in one area or region and local advertising which is directed at
customers from only one city or local trading area.
As far as target audience is concerned, consumer advertising and business
advertising can be named. The classification of advertisements by target
audience is strongly tied to the purpose of the advertisements as the purpose of
the advertisement determines its target audience. The manufacturer of any
product usually determines the purpose of the products. The position of the
product in the product life circle also determines the purpose of the
advertisement. Therefore, different forms of advertisement suit the different
stages of the product life circle.
Action advertising and awareness advertising are two kinds of
advertising based on consumer response. Action advertising is often used in
newspapers or magazines in order to provoke an immediate action on the part of
the reader. Such advertisements contain telephone numbers and/or links to
websites where the customer can get additional information or order the
advertised product. Awareness advertising, on the other hand, attempts to build
8

the image of a given product, to create interest in the product and to influence
people to choose and become loyal towards a certain brand.
Product advertising and non-product advertising are two advertising types
when considering the advertising objects. Product advertising is aimed at promoting
goods or services whereas non-product advertising aims at selling ideas to affect
people's awareness of and attitudes to organizations and their activities. This
category includes advertisements for charities and political parties.

In terms of purposes, commercial advertising and non-commercial
advertising can be classified. In this way of classification, commercial
advertising promotes goods, services, or ideas of a business with the expectation
of making a profit. So as to achieve the commercial purposes, ad-writers have to
make great efforts in attracting consumers. On the other hand, non-commercial
advertising has such functions as recruitment, promotion of public health or
encouraging charity donations. The focus of this study is on commercial
advertising in the print medium namely magazines.
1.1.3. Significance
Advertising is firstly a marketing norm. According to marketing theory,
there are four significant factors that a company or a business should and must
control, including product, price, place, and promotion (The four Ps). These four
factors together create the so-called marketing mix. Among these four elements,
promotion consists of advertising, personal selling, publicity and sales
promotion. According to Pride (1990), advertising is the most important tool in
improving sales and interest. Figures 1.1 and 1.2 can illustrate the position and
role of advertising in marketing. (Pride, 1990)

9

Product

Price

Place

Figure 1.1. Marketing mix, Pride (1990) Figure 1.2. Promotion mix, Pride (1990)

Additionally, advertising is acknowledged as the engine that drives
consumers purchase and therefore, it “keeps the wheels of the economy turning”
(Rodgers & Thorson, 2012). The most outstanding function of adverting is to
introduce a wide range of goods to the public and thus to support the
development of the market economy. All in all, advertising plays an important
role in the modern society.
1.1.4. Characteristics of advertising language
In order to attract the audience, advertising language should be in
accordance with the criteria of an effective act of verbal communication which
includes six language roles stated by Jakobson (1960, cited in Sebeok, 1960:
350- 377) as follows:


Referential function: describes a situation, an object, or a mental state

and is oriented toward the context.


Emotive function: adds the information about the internal state of the

speaker and orientates toward the addresser.



Conative function: engages the addressee directly and is represented in

imperatives and vocatives.

Phatic function: establishes, discontinues, or prolongs the
communication.



Meta-lingual function: describes and discusses the language itself.



Poetic function: focuses on the message for its own sake.


10


Among the six roles mentioned, the conative and referential functions are
of great importance in advertising as they are intended to get people to act in a
way the advertiser desires. These roles are also in line with Pollay’s (1983)
advertising appeals which are discussed in detail in the following part.
1.2. Advertising appeals
1.2.1. Advertising appeals
Appeals can be understood in different ways. According to Wells, Burnetts
and Moritaty (1995), appeals are something that makes the product particularly
attractive or interesting to the consumer. Appeals are closely related to products’

attributes in the way that they are created to represent the supposed values of the
advertised products.
Appeals are classified in different ways. Kotler (1997) differentiates three
types of appeals; namely, rational appeals, emotional appeals and moral appeals.
In this way of classification, Rational appeals are the ones which appeal to the
audience’s self-interest. Consequently, they are involved in quality, value or
performance of the product. Emotional appeals attempt to stir up negative or
positive emotions and include fear, guilty and joy. The last type of appeals
named Moral appeals refers to the audience’s sense of what is right or proper.
Therefore, they include such appeals as ecological appeals or nationalism. This
way of classification is somewhat similar to advertising values which are
manifested in advertising messages.
Another way of classifying advertising appeals is based on the overall
level as either rational or emotional (Laskey, Fox, and Crask, 1995). The idea of
rational versus emotional appeals originally came from Copeland’s (1924, cited
in Albers-Miller, N. D., & Stafford, 1999) proposition that for either rational or
emotional reasons, individuals buy products. Rational advertising derives from
traditional information processing models of decision making in which the

11


consumer tried to make logical and rational decisions. Therefore, these
advertising appeals are related to the audience’s self-interest, and they show
product benefits such as product’s quality, economy, value or performance.
Meanwhile, emotional appeals are closely related to the emotional, experiential
side of consumption, i.e., ad-writers seek to make the consumers feel good about
the product, by creating a likeable or friendly brand, they rely on feelings for
effectiveness. The author of the study is in favor of this classification as it is
comprehensible and appropriate for the study.

1.2.2. Pollay’s appeal system and its application to the present study
Pollay (1983) proposes a framework of 42 advertising appeals drawn from
the review of a variety of related previous research to measure cultural values
embedded in advertising. He also shows that advertising reflects a somewhat
different set of values that can be found in the society in general. Therefore,
advertising may have only positive appeals related to products, but such negative
appeals like fear or guilty are depicted as safety appeals in Pollay’s framework.
Pollay’s framework is considered the most complete set of advertising
appeals with definition to many scholars (Dahl, 2002). It is also an exhaustive
category scheme of the entire advertising appeals and has been tested and
validated by several empirical studies like Albers (1994), Cheng (1997), and
Harwood & Roy (1999).
Conceptual definitions of Pollay’s appeals are described as in Table 1.1.

12