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Maranatha Christian University
ABSTRACT
Dalam penelitian tugas akhir ini, saya mengkaji penggunaan doublespeak dalam iklan The Body Shop. Doublespeak merupakan suatu fenomena bahasa yang biasa digunakan oleh beberapa orang yang memiliki maksud tertentu untuk menyesatkan atau memperdayai orang lain. Dalam periklanan, doublespeak biasa ditemui di berbagai media, seperti media elektronik atau pun media cetak.
Ada beberapa macam tipe doublespeak yang ditemukan di dalam pembahasan tugas akhir saya, yaitu weasel word, the rule of parity, up to claim dan unfinished word. Penggunaan tipe-tipe doublespeak tersebut dimaksudkan untuk menarik perhatian pembaca atau penggunanya. Doublespeak menjadi suatu cara yang mudah untuk meningkatkan penjualan produk The Body Shop.
Salah satu temuan yang saya peroleh dalam kajian di iklan ini adalah bahwa penggunaan weasel word adalah tipe yang paling sering digunakan, karena weasel word merupakan tipe yang paling mudah digunakan untuk menekankan efektifitas dari produk The Body Shop. Penggunaan the rule of
parity adalah tipe yang digunakan untuk menggarisbawahi kualitas produk. Up to
claim digunakan untuk menunjukkan daya tahan dari produk dan yang terakhir
i Background of the Study……… 1
Statement of the Problem ... 3
Purpose of the Study ... 4
Method of Research ... 4
Organization of the Thesis ... 4
CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Definition of Doublespeak………. 5
Types of Doublespeak………... 6
The Rule of Parity ... 6
Weasel words ... 6
Up to Claim... 7
Unfinished word ... 7
CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF DOUBLESPEAK IN THE BODY SHOP ADVERTISEMENTS ... 9
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ... 24
BIBLIOGRAPHY………... 29
APPENDICES Advertisement 1………. 31
Advertisement 2………. 32
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APPENDIX
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Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Humans being are social creatures, so they need to communicate with one another. Human cannot live by themselves, but they need to live together and socialize with others. According to Sachdeva, “Communication is the exchange or flow of information and ideas between one person and another. Effective communication occurs when the receiver comprehends the information or idea that the sender intends to convey”. Communication process happens when we have an idea that needs to be communicated and that idea is sent to the receiver. There are a number of ways to communicate, either verbally or non-verbally. There are different means of communication with through television, radio, magazine, newspapers and the Internet. Therefore, because of the rapid progress in technology, we can get more information, and perhaps in the near future there will be more ways to exchange information.
Information is closely related to media advertising, which is a way to convey information. Nowadays, we can easily find many advertisements on television, on the radio, in magazines and so on. According to Collins Cobuild
Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary, advertisement is “an announcement in a
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Maranatha Christian University event, or job”. Almost all companies use advertisements to promote their product, because it is an effective way to attract consumers. To support the product, the advertisement should be unique and creative. That is why, the company uses good-looking models, eye-catching colours and attracting words. The aim of the company to use those features is to attract the consumers to buy the product.
The words used in advertisements are one of the most important elements to attract people’s attention. The advertisers formulate the words to be put on the advertisements in such a way that they make the consumers believe that the product goes along with their expectations. Finally, it makes the consumers eager to buy the product. One way to materialize their intention is through doublespeak. Doublespeak is often used in advertisements by advertisers in order to make the products look more attractive and more interesting, so that the consumers may think and believe that the products are really what is said in the advertisement. (Lutz 77)
This is the case that I will analyze in my thesis, and specifically I have chosen The Body Shop advertisement as the source of the data, because in The
Body Shop there are a number of advertisements which can be considered to
deceive and mislead the consumers. Besides, skin care products are one of the advertisements that often use doublespeak (Lutz 83). I am interested in analyzing this topic because I want to show that The Body Shop frequently uses doublespeak in advertisements.
The topic of my analysis is Analysis of Doublespeak in Facial Skin Care
Product in The Body Shop Advertisements. My topic belongs to Pragmatics.
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Maranatha Christian University theory, doublespeak. In advertising, doublespeak is commonly used to attract people’s attention.
I also include the history of The Body Shop. The Body Shop, founded by Dame Anita Roddick, is one of the brands that produce beauty products. Their first store opened on 26th March 1976 in Brighton, the south coast of England.
The Body Shop itself first came to Indonesia in 1992. The first store of The Body
Shop is located in Pondok Indah Mall, Jakarta. Today, The Body Shop has nearly
89 stores spread across Indonesia, including Java, Bali, Sumatra, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi. Nowadays, The Body Shop not only produces women products but also products for men. The Body Shop now becomes one of the most well-known brands and lots of people are interested in using the products.
The significance of my topic is that people would become aware and wiser when they choose a particular product, especially skin care products. They should be aware of the fact that an advertisement is like a tool or a way to sell those products. What is stated in the advertisement may not be the same as in reality. Some words are intended to mislead the consumers because they appear to be very promising but actually not.
Word count: 716
Statement of the Problem
The problems I want to analyze in this thesis are:
1. What words or phrases in The Body Shop advertisement that contain doublespeak?
2. What kind of doublespeak are they categorized into? 3. How does the doublespeak mislead the consumers?
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Maranatha Christian University This thesis is conducted to show the following points:
1. To identify the words or phrase that contain doublespeak in The Body
Shop advertisement.
2. To categorize the doublespeak into its kinds.
3. To show how those words can mislead the consumers.
Methods of Research
I searched for Doublespeak theory by Lutz and the advertisements from the Internet that I would analyse. Then, I read the theory from Doublespeak by Lutz and some references from the Internet, understanding the theory and the data. After that, I analyzed the advertisements by referring to literary theories from some references to support the analysis of the advertisement. Eventually, I drew some conclusion based on my findings.
Organization of the Thesis
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Maranatha Christian University
CHAPTER FOUR
CONCLUSION
In this chapter, I would like to draw some conclusions from my findings. After analyzing the data, in total there are three data, consisting of twenty three words that can be analyzed by using the theory of doublespeak in The Body
Shop’s advertisements. After analyzing the data, I find The Body Shop’s
advertisements tend to use doublespeak, especially for skin care products. The most dominant used in those advertisements that I have analyzed is weasel word, there are sixteen of twenty three words from the whole data. Weasel word
is used more than the other types of doublespeak, because what is said is not really true; besides, weasel word is the most effective way to promise something. Weasel word appears in all the advertisements that I analyzed.
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Maranatha Christian University easily; for example, from the first advertisement there is a word new, which has the potential to mislead the consumers. When they know that the product is new, they will buy the product because basically the consumers tend to be curious and have an expectation that the product is really new without thinking of the proof. The advertisers can use some words containing weasel word to promote their product. However, it is important to look carefully at what the advertisement says, because probably the consumers cannot get what they expect from the product.
The second mostly used is unfinished word. There are five words out of twenty three words. Unfinished word does not really stand out if we compare it with weasel word. An unfinished word means a claim with incomplete comparison, and usually it contains the words more or suffix -er. Unfinished word is an effective device to highlight the result after using the product. The consumers will have an imagination that the result will be like the advertisement says. There are some words that can potentially mislead the consumers; for example, the words plumper and firmer in the first advertisement. The result of having plumper and firmer skin could really happen if the consumers use the product. However, the consumers must be aware of it, because they may not be able to get what the advertisement says and the advertisers are not responsible for it.
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Maranatha Christian University quality of the product, the rule of parity is considered the most effective device to use because the choice of word best in the first advertisement indicates that the product is superior to other products although actually not. On the other hand, up to claim is the most effective device to highlight the durability of the product, because the words up to 24 hours in the second advertisement indicate the product can stand for 24 hours, although actually not. In my opinion, 24 hours in this context is closely related to a long time. However, even the rule of parity and up to claim are not so important in The Body Shop’s advertisements but their existence is also necessary to support the advertisements.
I believe when a producer wants to create or make a product they do some researches or surveys to know what the consumers need to solve their problem. After the research, the producer makes an advertisement by using doublespeak with the hope the consumers will be attracted and want to buy the product. However, if we talk about the product we also talk about the quality of it. I think different products should use different types of doublespeak and the advertiser must convince the consumers that the quality of their product is good.
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Maranatha Christian University consumers will believe that the product is really good just like what the advertisement says and they will buy the product.
In my opinion, weasel word is mostly used in the advertisements not only in cosmetic advertisements but also in other advertisements. In every advertisement, the advertiser use doublespeak and the consumers should be aware of this because each word has a meaning. As we see in the analysis, there are at least seven or eight words which contain doublespeak, which means that The Body Shop tends to use doublespeak to mislead the consumers. To avoid being misled, it is important for us to really understand the real meaning of every word; besides, we have to know for sure what the advertisement says, because the advertisers are not responsible of it.
Sometimes, The Body Shop Indonesia uses advertisements in English to promote their product; however, they also use Indonesian for some advertisements. I am also quite interested to analyze doublespeak advertisements in Indonesian; for example, food or beverages advertisements. Besides using doublespeak theory to analyse the data, I think it is also acceptable to analyze the data with Semiotics theory. I hope in the future there will be a theory of doublespeak in Indonesian which can make us easier to analyze the data, or probably in the future there is a new theory to analyze or to discuss data taken from the advertisements or other media. Hence, I hope that my analysis will help the readers to understand what the advertiser means with their product advertisements.
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Maranatha Christian University
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Data Sources:
Almeida, Lena. “The Body Shop : Natrulift Skin Care”. Listen to Lena, 2011. Web. 10 July 2012.
Our History. The Body Shop, 2008. Web. 2 April 2013.
Pulse Store The Body Shop New Concept Store. Pikiran Rakyat. 2013. Web, 2
April 2013
Rockman, Ilene F. “Integrating Information Literacy into the Higher Education
Curriculum: Practical Models for Transformation”. John Wiley and Sons,
2004. Web. 3 Dec 2012.
Sachdeva, Santosh. “Effective Communication – That’s is just what I mean!”. Live Positive. 2000. Web. 20 Feb 2014.
References:
“Advertisement” Def. 1.Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed. 2006. Print.
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Maranatha Christian University “Best.” Def. 3.Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed.
2006. Print.
“Enhance.” Def. 1.Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed. 2006. Print.
“Enriched.” Def. 1.Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed. 2006. Print.
“Feel.” Def. 3.Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed. 2006. Print.
“Firm.” Def. 2. Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed. 2006. Print.
“Fresh.” Def. 2.Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed. 2006. Print.
“Health.” Def. 1.Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed. 2006. Print.
“Help.” Def. 1.Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed. 2006. Print.
“Improve.” Def. 1.Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed. 2006. Print.
“Look.” Def. 10.Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed. 2006. Print.
Lutz, William. Doublespeak. New York: Harper Perennial (A Division of Harper Collins Publisher), 1990. Print.
“Natural.” Def. 6.Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed. 2006. Print.
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Maranatha Christian University “Powerful.” Def. 2.Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed.
2006. Print.
“Plump.” Def. 1. Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed. 2006. Print.
”Proven.” Def. 1.Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed. 2006. Print.
“Reduce.” Def. 1.Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed. 2006. Print.
“Smooth.” Def. 1.Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed. 2006. Print
“Soft” Def. 1.Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed. 2006. Print.
“Soften.” Def. 1.Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed. 2006. Print.
“Supple.” Def. 1.Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary. 5th ed. 2006. Print.
Thomas, Jenny. Meaning in Interaction: an Introduction of Pragmatics. London and New York: Longman Group Limited, 1995. Print.
