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False Claims and Weasel Words in On-Line Advertisements of Weight Loss Products.

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iii Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Meningkatnya orang yang menderita obesitas di banyak negara menyebabkan munculnya produk-produk obat pelangsing yang diiklankan secara sangat persuasif tanpa mempertimbangkan efek negatif yang mungkin terjadi pada para konsumennya. Iklan-iklan tersebut banyak dijumpai di Internet karena iklan di dunia maya lebih memungkinkan transaksi langsung antara pembeli dan penjual. Masalah yang muncul adalah banyaknya iklan obat pelangsing yang menggunakan bentuk bahasa tertentu yang dapat menyesatkan calon konsumennya.

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iv Maranatha Christian University konsumen, misalnya kata new “baru” dan fast “cepat,” karena kata-kata semacam itu memiliki arti yang relatif.

Data penelitian ini berupa enam iklan obat pelangsing berbahasa Inggris yang diambil dari Internet. Hasil analisis data menunjukkan bahwa False Claims dan Weasel Words selalu ada dalam setiap iklan. Jenis False Claims yang dominan adalah natural/safe claim, lose weight without exercise/diet claims dan scientific claim. Sedangkan Weasel Words yang paling banyak digunakan adalah

new “baru,” dan help/assist “membantu.”

Penelitian ini diharapkan dapat membantu para pembaca iklan obat pelangsing berbahasa Inggris dalam memahami makna sebenarnya dari bahasa yang digunakan dalam iklan yang dibacanya. Lebih dari pada itu, hasil penelitian ini dapat digunakan oleh pengajar dan pembelajar bahasa Inggris sebagai masukan untuk lebih memahami bahasa Inggris dalam iklan.

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ii 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 ... 5

Method of Research ... 5

Organization of the Thesis ... .. 5

CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK... 6

CHAPTER THREE: FALSE CLAIMS AND WEASEL WORDS IN THE ON-LINE ADVERTISEMENTS OF WEIGHT LOSS PRODUCTS ...15

CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION ... 32

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1 Maranatha Christian University

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Many people are familiar with weight loss product advertisements because they frequently appear in almost all kinds of media forms: magazines, newspapers, radio, television, and Internet websites. The advertisements have successfully persuaded prospective consumers to spend their money on the advertised products although the products can be ineffective or may endanger their health. However, these consumers, who may have different reasons for purchasing the weight loss product, in fact have the same purpose: they want the easiest way to lose weight. In this thesis, these prospective consumers are classified into two types: the first consists of people who need to control their body weight to stay healthy or to be healthier, whereas the second is made up of people, mostly women, who want to reduce their weight to look more attractive.

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2 Maranatha Christian University addition, obesity is related to the level of Body Mass Index (BMI). If the level of BMI of a person is equal to or greater than 25, he/she is just called overweight, while a person with the level of BMI equal to or greater than 30 is called obese (“Obesity and Overweight”). Information about the danger of obesity can make

people anxious and think that obesity is a disease. In fact, obesity is not a disease but it can lead people to many serious health problems, such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, gallbladder disorder, and some kinds of cancer. Therefore, it is understandable that people desire very much to become slimmer.

The second type of consumers, mostly women dreaming to look slimmer and more attractive, are perhaps tempted by the weight loss product advertisements showing the pictures of slim, young, beautiful women with some persuasive words luring the readers. Apparently, whatever reason they have, those consumers are not willing to follow the WHO’s guidance for losing weight in

reasonable ways, namely by “doing regular physical activities and making a

healthier choice of food” (“Obesity and Overweight”). For people in industry, the

negative attitude toward doing the right but painful ways of losing weight becomes the motivation to produce more weight loss products that promise quick, easy results and to promote the products through advertisements, especially in the Internet.

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3 Maranatha Christian University World Stats stated that the biggest part (44.0%) of the Internet users in the world was in Asia, which suggests that Asian people have more possibility to be influenced by on-line advertising than people in other parts of the world. Meanwhile, many Asian people, including Indonesians, are unaware of the advertiser’s strategies of promoting the product by using false claims and weasel

words in the advertisements. With this in my mind, I choose to analyze the language of the weight loss product advertisements in the Internet.

This kind of analysis is necessary because most of the advertisements claim that their products will cause rapid, easy weight loss but they do not truly warrant the results. Consumers, who spend a big amount of money on the products, may be deceived if they are not able to understand the real message sent by the advertisers. In order to reveal the truth behind the advertising language, I try to identify and classify the false claims and explain the words with unclear thing when in fact they say the opposite or nothing at all” (Lutz 85). In the field of

Linguistics, this study belongs to Pragmatics, which is the study of the speaker’s

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4 Maranatha Christian University The focus of the study is on words showing the characteristics of false claims and weasel words. The data are the language used in the data sources, which are weight loss product advertisements collected from Internet websites. Studies on the use of weasel words in advertisements have been done several times by students of the English Department in Maranatha Christian University but weasel words in weight loss product advertisements have never been analyzed. Moreover, Blackburn’s theory of false claims has never been used in previous students’ theses.

This study is significant because it can be used to help English speaking people understand the real message in the weight loss product advertisements, and it is useful for English learners, especially in Indonesia, to be aware of language manipulation in advertisements that persuade or even deceive consumers to buy products with unwarranted quality.

Words: 869

Statement of the Problem

The problem of this study is formulated as follows:

1. Which words in the data of weight loss product advertisements show false claims?

2. What weasel words are used in the advertisements?

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5 Maranatha Christian University Purpose of the Study

This study has the following purposes:

1. To identify the words in the data that show false claims.

2. To identify the weasel words used in the data.

3. To reveal the advertiser’s purpose of using the weasel words.

Method of Research

To conduct the study, first I learned the theories of advertising language from several sources. Then I collected information and theories that will support the language analysis. After that, I collected some weight loss product advertisements from the Internet and analyzed the language by using the theories of False Claims (Blackburn) and Weasel Words (Lutz). Finally, I reported the results in this thesis.

Organization of the Thesis

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32 Maranatha Christian University

CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

This thesis has presented the analysis of false claims and weasel words in six on-line advertisements of weight loss products, namely PROACTOL, FULFILL PLUS, SLIMKICK, LI-DA, ACAIMAX CLEANSE, and CAPSIPLEX. The theory of false claims belongs to George L. Blackburn, whereas the theory of weasel words is taken from William Lutz’s book entitled Doublespeak.

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33 Maranatha Christian University In the data of this thesis, the nine of Blackburn’s false claims have been used 15 times, but the most frequently used false claims are natural & safe claims (4 times), scientific claim (2 times), and lose weight without exercise/diet claim (2 times). These claims are the most effective to attract consumers because generally people prefer a safe and easy weight loss program to one that requires a longer time and makes use of dubious ingredients.

A natural claim is purposively designed to attract consumers who prefer products that have natural ingredients and think that natural substances are always safe to consume. Therefore, natural & safe claims are used to convince them that the advertised product is safe to consume so that they will feel confident to buy the product. Unfortunately, however, some natural ingredients are not safe to consume. Ephedrine, for instance, is harmful for the human heart and it can result in serious organ injuries for some people (Blackburn 20). Cerbera manghas can affect cardiac work, whereas some mushrooms are found to be poisonous (“Buah Bintaro, Buah Beracun yang Berguna). Scientific claim is made to make

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34 Maranatha Christian University Some false claims occur only once in the data; they are rapid weight loss, before/after, customer’s testimonial, permanent weight loss claim, and no more failure. All these claims are also helpful to advertise the weight loss products but

when compared to natural claim, scientific claim and lose weight without exercise/diet, it is apparent that they are less often used. The only claim that does

not occur in the data is money-back guarantee claim. In my opinion, many companies would feel reluctant to make this claim because they know that to lose substantial weight, one needs a long term process while it is potential that the weight will be gained back. With this knowledge, the companies realize that they cannot promise consumers a guarantee let alone money-back guarantee.

False claims are used in ads to mislead consumers by giving dishonest promises whereas weasel words, such as help, new, improved, fast, act and like magic, have a different function. Weasel words are generally words that do not

have an exact meaning so that they may seem to say something but they really do not. In the data, some weasel words are also used to strengthen certain false claims, for instance help on page 21 of this thesis. Some others, namely, virtually, like, improved, act, work, which also belong to Lutz’s weasel words, are not found

in the data. In my opinion, this fact is due to the type of the advertised product. In the advertisements of many other products, those weasel words are easily found.

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35 Maranatha Christian University previous product; nevertheless, the advertiser does not show or explain the changes made to the product. The ad persuades consumers to think that the product has been an innovation in the weight loss product industry and it promises a successful result. In this case, the word new is a weasel word as it makes the ad seem to claim something while in fact it claims nothing.

The other weasel word that most frequently appears in the data is help/ assist, which occurs, for example, in data 3: help boost your weight loss. By using

the word help, the ad does not mean to solve consumers’ weight problem or eliminate their fat. The word is used just to support the dramatic result of the word related to it or placed after it, namely boost, which leads consumers to forget the word help/assist and focus on the effect of boost your weight loss only. Critical consumers will realize that the word help should be interpreted as “help to a

certain degree,” which can be so limited that the effect is not significant.

In the findings, there are also two unfinished words, namely the word more in SlimKick can help your body burn more calories in the third data and the

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36 Maranatha Christian University In the fifth data, the word better is also made unfinished so that consumers do not know “feel better than which situation?” Thus, after reading the claim increase energy and feel better, consumers may think that this product will make

them feel better because it increases their energy. This possibility will enable the advertiser to promote their product without having to promise anything even though consumers may see many promises in the unfinished sentence.

On the whole, I arrive at a conclusion that both the false claims and the weasel words are designed to mislead consumers and to convince them that the advertised product is effective; therefore, the selling of the product will be boosted. These designed methods are commonly used because many prospective consumers will only be attracted to buy a product if the ad claims that the product is effective and worth buying, even if the claim is false.

By understanding the style of the advertising language, consumers will be more careful in buying weight loss products. They will understand the hidden meaning of the false claims and the weasel words so that they will not buy an unworthy product, which could not only make them feel disappointed but could also harm their health. Consequently, understanding the use of false claims and weasel words in English ads is also important for English learners in Indonesia to make them more aware of the real message behind the advertising language. Therefore, teachers are encouraged to include this topic in their teaching material to make their students more critical.

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37 Maranatha Christian University

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

“Better.” Cambridge Advance Learner’s Dictionary. 3rd ed. Singapore: Green

GiantPress,2008.Print.

“New.” Cambridge Advance Learner’s Dictionary. 3rd ed. Singapore: Green

Giant Press, 2008.Print.

“Up to.” Cambridge Advance Learner’s Dictionary. 3rd

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38 Maranatha Christian University Lutz, William. Doublespeak. New York: HarperCollins Publisher, 1989. Print. Websites

Blackburn, George L. “Weight-Loss Advertising: An Analysis of Current Trends.” United States: Federal Trade Commission, 2002. Web. 9 September 2011.

Carol, Robert Todd. “From Becoming a Critical Thinker.” Web. 3 October 2011 Hardayanto, Maria. “Buah Bintaro, Buah Beracun yang Berguna.” (Bintaro Fruit,

Poisonous but Useful). Web. 1 November 2011.

Himanshu. “10 Reason why people use Internet.” Web. 2 October 2011.

“Internet Users in the World.” Miniwatts Marketing Group, 2011. Web. 2

October 2011.

“KitKat Works Like a Machine.” N.p. N.d. Web. 30 December 2011

“Obesity and Overweight.” WHO, 2011. Web. 1 October 2011.

Obat Pelangsing dan Pengaruhnya Terhadap Ginjal.” (Slimming Products and

their Effects on Kidneys). Admin, 2009. Web. 24 October 2011.

Schrank, Jeffrey. “The Language of Advertising Claims.” Web. 5 October 2011.

Source of Data

PROACTOL. Web. 18 September 2011. FULFILL PLUS. Web. 25 September 2011. SLIMKICK. Web. 24 September 2011. LI-DA. Web. 24 September 2011.

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