A STUDY ON THE LANGUAGE USED IN ADVERTISEMENTS IN THE JAKARTA POST
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Rufina Andang Paskaningsih Student Number: 061214024
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
A STUDY ON THE LANGUAGE USED IN ADVERTISEMENTS IN THE JAKARTA POST
A THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Rufina Andang Paskaningsih Student Number: 061214024
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop. Confucius Philosopher (551 BC – 479 BC)
Dedicated to my beloved parents:
...
Bapak Michael Sugita
and Ibu Bernadeta Sarjinem ...
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, December 3, 2010 The Writer
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Rufina Andang Paskaningsih
Nomor Mahasiswa : 061214024
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaanan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
A STUDY ON THE LANGUAGE USED IN ADVERTISEMENTS IN THE JAKARTA POST
Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta,
Pada tanggal: 3 Desember 2010 Yang menyatakan
ABSTRACT
Paskaningsih, Rufina Andang. 2010. A Study on the Language Used in the Advertisements in The Jakarta Post. Yogyakarta: Sanata Dharma University.
Communication is a process to deliver a message through a medium in order to make a change in people’s behavior. Communication process occurs in advertising. Since it promotes a product and persuades people to purchase the product, advertising is considered as a commercial communication. This research aimed at analyzing the English language used in the advertisements in The Jakarta Post. In general, the researcher wanted to know how English was used in the advertisements. There were two questions that would be answered through this research. They were: 1) How is the English language used in the advertisements in The Jakarta Post?; 2) What are the possible reasons for the use of such language in the advertisements in The Jakarta Post?
Qualitative research was the method that was used in this research. The advertisements taken as the data were limited only to the ones sized 2 columns x 100mm. They were taken from the advertising pages named Clads. The researcher was the instrument employed in carrying out the research. The researcher collected seven editions of The Jakarta Post and sorted out the advertisements with the required size. In order to answer the first question as well as to analyze the data, the researcher has conducted several steps that were proposed by Creswell (1998) as cited by Leedy and Ormrod (2005: 151). They were: 1) organizing the data, 2) perusing the data, 3) identifying the data, and 4) synthesizing. To answer the second question, the researcher conducted a library study to gain enough understanding of the problem to interpret the possible reasons of the existing phenomenon.
In analyzing the data, the researcher focused on the texts employing English language. The texts, then, were broken down into elements they belonged. The researcher found that the texts were richly used in the four format elements. They were the headlines, subheads, body copy, and slogans. Next, the researcher focused on analyzing the features in each format element.
The researcher has identified that there were many variations in using the English language in the advertisements taken from The Jakarta Post. These variations mostly occurred in the choice of words, words combinations, pronouns, and type of texts. The researcher has identified two possible reasons of the existence of the variations as well. The first reason is the nature of advertising as something persuasive and commercial. The second is the ability of the advertising world to adapt to the always changing environment of both media and customers. Additionally, advertisements in The Jakarta Post could be one of the authentic material sources to be used in English teaching and learning process. They provided the examples on how English was used in the society as a means of communication.
ABSTRAK
Paskaningsih, Rufina Andang. 2010. A Study on the Language Used in the Advertisements in The Jakarta Post. Yogyakarta: Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Komunikasi adalah sebuah proses penyampaian pesan melalui sebuah medium yang bertujuan untuk mempengaruhi perilaku seseorang. Proses komunikasi tersebut terjadi dalam periklanan. Iklan adalah sebuah bentuk komunikasi komersial yang bertujuan untuk mempromosikan sebuah produk dan mempengaruhi masyarakat untuk membeli produk tersebut. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis pemakaian Bahasa Inggris dalam iklan yang dimuat dalam koran The Jakarta Post. Secara umum, peneliti ingin mengetahui bagaimana Bahasa Inggris dipakai dalam iklan-iklan tersebut. Terdapat dua pertanyaan yang akan dijawab dalam penelitian ini, yaitu: 1) Bagaimanakah Bahasa Inggris dipakai dalam iklan yang dimuat di koran The Jakarta Post?; 2) Apa sajakah yang mungkin menjadi alasan penggunaan Bahasa Inggris dalam iklan-iklan tersebut?
Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif. Iklan yang diambil sebagai data dalam penelitian ini adalah iklan yang berukuran 2 kolom x 100mm. Iklan-iklan ini diambil dari kolom khusus Iklan-iklan bernama Clads. Dalam hal ini, peneliti berperan sebagai intrumen yang digunakan dalam proses pengambilan data. Peneliti mengumpulkan tujuh edisi The Jakarta Post dan menentukan iklan-iklan yang akan diambil sebagai data. Untuk menjawab pertanyaan pertama, peneliti telah menerapkan beberapa langkah yang diperkenalkan oleh Cresswell (1998) sebagaimana dikutip oleh Leedy & Ormrod (2005: 151). Langkah-langkah tersebut adalah: 1) mengorganisir data, 2) mengkaji data, 3) mengidentifikasi data, dan 4) sintesis. Kemudian untuk menjawab pertanyaan kedua, peneliti telah melakukan studi pustaka untuk mendapatkan pemahaman yang mendalam yang akan digunakan untuk mengurai permasalahan yang ada.
Dalam menganalisis data, peneliti berfokus pada teks tertulis dalam iklan yang menggunakan Bahasa Inggris. Teks-teks yang terdapat dalam iklan tersebut kemudian dipecah menjadi elemen-elemen sesuai dengan fungsinya dalam iklan. Peneliti menemukan bahwa terdapat empat elemen yang banyak menggunakan teks-teks tersebut, yaitu: headlines, subheads, body copy, dan slogans. Dalam langkah selanjutnya, peneliti mengidentifikasi karakteristik dan penggunaan Bahasa Inggris dalam setiap kelompok elemen.
Jakarta Post dapat digunakan sebagai salah satu materi autentik dalam proses pengajaran Bahasa Inggris. Iklan-iklan yang dimuat dalam The Jakarta Post dapat digunakan sebagai contoh penerapan dan penggunaan Bahasa Inggris di dalam media komunikasi.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to praise Jesus Christ, the One I have put my trust on, for giving me so much love and strength that I could finally accomplish this wonderful project. I thank Him for lots of His invisible guidance through my beloved family, friends, boyfriend, and the people around me. All I could say is that I have given my best and God has done the rest. I also would like to express my gratitude to those who have supported me.
First, I would like to thank Made Frida Yulia, S.Pd., M.Pd., my sponsor, for her guidance and advice in the completion of my thesis. I am grateful to her for giving me the meaningful improvements for my thesis. I was always helped by her carefulness and kindness in checking my work.
Second, I also thank all the lecturers and the staff of English Language Education Study Program for their participation in my “journey.” I thank them for the knowledge and experiences they have shared. I believed that the knowledge and experiences will be so much useful for me in the future.
Fourth, I thank Stanislaus Risadi Apresian for so much love and affection he has given. I also thank him for the never-ending support and patience that he gives in my every single day. Finally, he and I could win the battle.
Fifth, I would like to appreciate all the precious moments I have shared with all my friends in PBI, especially for Eva Kristina, Elisabet Kurnia W., Rani Perwita Sari, Maria Heni Krisnasari a.k.a Sarce, Agatha Wikan Adhisti and all my friends in 3G Group, my Play Performance group. I thank them for their never-ending support that keeps me strong to move on. This friendship will never end and the memories will remain.
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to those whom I cannot mention here by name. I thank them for their direct and indirect participation so that I could accomplish this project.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page TITLE PAGE ………
APPROVAL PAGES………. DEDICATION PAGE……… STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ………... LEMBAR PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK
KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS... F. Definition of Terms………
CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE……….. A. Theoretical Description………...
1. Communication………..
2. Advertising……….
a. The Nature of Advertising……….. b. Advertising Media………..
c. The Types of Advertisements……… d. The Format of Advertisements……….. 3. Advertising Language……… 4. Marketing Process and Advertising………... 5. Writing Styles and Purposes………..
a. Description………. D. Data Gathering Technique……….. E. Data Analysis Techniques……….. F. Research Procedure……….
CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION………… A. The Language of Advertising………. 1. The Analysis of the Language Used in the Advertisements….. a. Organizing the Data………... b. Perusing the Data………... c. Identifying the Characteristics and Features of the Language... 2. Identifying the Possible Reasons of the Language Use……….
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND
1. The Use of English Language in the Advertisements of The Jakarta Post Newspaper...
2. The Possible Reasons of the Language Use in the
Advertisements in The Jakarta Post Newspapers……….. B. Implications……… C. Suggestions……….
REFERENCES………...
APPENDICES
Appendix 1: The List of the Advertisement’s Headlines ……….. Appendix 2: Noun Phrase Headlines ………. Appendix 3: The List of the Advertisement’s Subheads ………... Appendix 4: The List of the Advertisement’s Body Copy………. Appendix 5: The List of the Advertisement’s Slogans ……….. Appendix 6: Sample Advertisements from The Jakarta Post
Newspapers... 64
66 66 67
69
71 72 73 74 83
LIST OF TABLES
Table
4.1 The Advertisements Classification by the Products……….. 4.2 The Number of the Advertisements in Every Edition of The Jakarta Post Newspapers ………....
Page 38
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure
2.1 Communication Diagram by Shannon & Weaver………. 2.2 Human Communication Process by Peter & Olsen………... 3.1 The Data Analysis Spiral by Cresswell………...
Page 9 10 32
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This chapter contains six points that describe the researcher’s ideas and thoughts about the research. The six points that help the researcher describe the nature and content of the research are research background, problem formulation, problem limitation, research objectives, research benefits, and definition of terms.
A. Research Background
communication is simply to change or to reinforce the attitudes of the many individuals and, if possible, to cause them to take action favorable to the communicator.”
often employ English language without paying attention to the grammatical rules. The researcher is interested in the existence of these features and special language within the advertisement. Therefore, this research is going to analyze the advertising language in the advertisements published in The Jakarta Post issued on April 11, 2010 - April 17, 2010. The research is intended to see the variation of English language use in print advertising.
B. Problem Formulation
There are two problems that are going to be discussed in this research. The problems are formulated as follows.
1. How is the English language used in the advertisements in The Jakarta Post? 2. What are the possible reasons for the use of such language in the
advertisements in The Jakarta Post?
C. Problem Limitation
Thus, the elements used to create these advertisements should be able to catch the attention of the readers both visually and verbally. In this research, the discussion is limited only to the English language used and the possible reasons of the language use in the advertisements taken as the data.
D. Research Objectives
The objectives of the research are to answer the questions stated in the problem formulation. This study aims to:
1. analyze the language use in the advertisements in The Jakarta Post
2. identify the possible reasons for the language use in the advertisements in The Jakarta Post
E. Research Benefits
The benefits of this research are specified for two groups; they are English language learners and the other researchers of English language. The benefits for English language learners are formulated as follows.
1. The learners of English will have the broader knowledge of the advertising language and perceive it as the language phenomenon happens in the society. 2. The learners will be able to use appropriate language in certain situation. If
The benefit for other researchers of English language is that the research could be the reference to conduct similar research and the source for reading and broadening the view about English language especially in the linguistics fields.
F. Definitions of Terms 1. Advertising
Bovee & Arens (1986: 5) state that “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.” Goddard (2002: 5) defines advertising as the act of communication. Printed advertisements found in newspaper are the means of communication between companies and readers. The researcher employed some advertisements published in certain newspaper as the research subject. This research analyzed how English language was used to communicate the message in the advertisements.
2. Advertisement
as apartments, restaurants, furniture, hospital, and other services. The sample advertisements were limited only to which were sized 2 columns x 100 mm and were published on April 11, 2010 - April 17, 2010. These advertisements were taken from the advertising pages named Clads.
3. The Jakarta Post
The Jakarta Post is a local daily English written newspaper that is
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter is divided into two main parts namely theoretical description and theoretical framework. Theoretical description presents the theories related to this research. Meanwhile, the theoretical framework explains procedures organized to accomplish this study.
A. Theoretical Description
In order to obtain good understanding of advertising language, this theoretical description is presented. This section consists of the discussion about communication, advertising, and the advertising language.
1. Communication
audience).” Miller (2002: 8) also mentions that “communication is a social activity that communication involves two people or more or communication can occur within one individual.” Thus, it can be concluded that communication is our everyday action to convey some information to people around us. The information is created for various intentions such as to persuade, to ask, to invite, or to inform. Shannon and Weaver (1949: 98) as cited by Severin & Tankard (2007: 57) explain communication process through a communication diagram as it is shown in Figure 2.1.
Figure 2.1: Communication Diagram by Shannon and Weaver (in Severin & Tankard, 2007: 57)
Communication process could be interpreted in various ways. Arens (2006: 8) adds that all the process takes place in an environment characterized by noise – the distracting cacophony of many other messages being sent at the same time by other source. Peter and Olsen (1994: 184) as cited by Arens (2006: 9)
source transmitter
message
noise transmitted
signal
received
signal message receiver
mention similar thing about communication process through a brief explanation and a diagram shown in Figure 2.2.
The process begins when one party, called the source, formulates an idea, encodes it as a message, and sends it via some channel to another party, called the receiver. The receiver must decode the message in order to understand it. To respond, the receiver formulates a new idea, encodes it, and then sends the new message back through some channel. A message that acknowledges or responds to the original message constitute feedback, which also affects the encoding of a new message.
“Most often, the purpose of communication is that the creature receiving the message does something; the message has an effect on the behavior of the creature receiving it. When this happens, the message is a stimulus and the behavior of the other creature is a response to this stimulus (Purba, n.d).” As it is stated before, communication is always done without no intention. The main purpose of human communication, then, is to obtain the expected behavior from the one whom they communicate with.
Figure 2.2: Human Communication Process by Peter & Olsen (in Arens, 2006: 9)
Taylor, Meyer, Rosegrant & Samples (1986: 22) classify types of communication into four. The first one is intrapersonal communication. In intrapersonal communication, the received stimuli are internal, for example: a
noise
person hears him/herself speak or feels him/herself move. The second is interpersonal communication. It occurs when a person communicates directly with another person in a one-to-one relationship. The third is called public communication. It takes place in situations where many people receive messages largely from one source, for example: a movie, a TV and political speech. The last type is mass communication. It is also public communication that is transmitted electronically or mechanically such as via television, a radio, and a newspaper. In addition to mass communication, Littlefield & Kirkpatrick (1970: 28) state that “the purpose of mass communication is simply to change or to reinforce the attitudes of the many individuals and, if possible, to cause them to take action favorable to the communicator.”
2. Advertising
a. The Nature of Advertising
According to Bovee and Arens (1986: 8), there are five basic functions of advertisements. The first is to identify products and differentiate them from others. The second is to communicate information about a product, its features and its sale location. The third is to induce consumers to try new products and to suggest reuse. The fourth is to increase product usage. The fifth is to build brand preference and loyalty.
b. Advertising Media
Advertising is always delivered to the public through a medium. Arens (2006: 127) mentions “the medium that carries the advertiser’s message is the vital connection between the company that manufactures a product or offers a service and the customer who may wish to buy it.” Subsequently, he classifies advertising media into six major categories: print, electronic, digital interactive, out-of-home, direct mail, and other media.
1) Print Media
The term print media refers to any commercial published, printed medium - such as newspaper and magazines - that sells advertising space to a variety of advertisers. Printed media also includes directories such as the Yellow Pages; school or church newspaper and yearbooks; and program used at sporting events and theatrical performances.
2) Electronic Media
3) Digital Interactive Media
It allows the audience to participate actively and immediately. The internet for example, suddenly gives tiny companies with scant resources instant access to customers worldwide by creating marketplace in which they can swap advertising space on their own sites for space on others.
4) Out-of-Home Media
The major categories of out-of-home media are outdoor advertising and transit advertising. Outdoor advertising includes billboard and transit advertising includes bus, taxi and subway advertising. Out-of-home media also include posters in the bus shelters and train stations, billboard in airport terminals, stadium scoreboards, flying banners and lights, skywriting, and kiosk posters.
5) Direct Mail
When companies mail or e-mail their advertising directly to the prospective customers without using one of the commercial media forms, it is called direct-mail advertising. The ad may be a simple sales letter, or it may be a complex package with coupons, brochures, samples, or other devices designed to stimulate a response.
6) Other Media
Computer can also put callers on hold and play prerecorded sales messages until a customer service replies answers.
c. The Types of Advertisements
Based on the medium, Arens (2006: 15) classifies the types of advertising into five categories.
1) Print advertising: Newspaper, magazines. 2) Broadcast (electronic) advertising: Radio, TV. 3) Out-of-home advertising: Outdoor, transit.
4) Direct-mail advertising: Advertising sent through the Postal Service and by e-mail.
5) Interactive advertising: Internet, kiosks, etc.
Furthermore, Bovee and Arens (1986: 408) classify the advertisements in newspaper and magazine into four major classifications. They are display advertisements, classified advertisements, small display, public notice, and preprinted insert.
1) Display Advertisements
Display advertisements appear in different sizes, from small boxes to one-paged advertisements. They have three main elements, such as headlines, body copies or texts, pictures or images, and typographies. There are local and national display advertisements. A common variation is the reading notice.
2) Classified Advertisements
heading describes the class of goods or the needs to be offered, such as “Business for Sale”, “Help Wanted”. Classified advertisements consist of some commercial messages of articles, services and opportunities of every type that are related to the advertisers. The advertisers are not mainly big companies but mostly they are individuals.
3) Small Display
Like display, small displays are characterized by large size type, photos, art borders, white space, and sometimes color. What makes them different from display advertisements is that the uses of those devices are simpler and in small size. If small displays are run in the classified section on news, they are called display advertisements.
4) Public Notices
Public notices or public announcements can be legal notices of changes in business or personal relationship, or public governmental reports. Sometimes they are treated similarly to a small display that they require little creativity in designing.
5) Preprinted Inserts
Magazines and newspapers usually issue preprinted inserts or supplement, although they are still rare. The inserts can be printed by the publishers.
d. The Format of Advertisements
Arens (2006: 417-424) explains profoundly about the key format elements in print advertising.
1) Headlines
The headline contains the words in the leading position in the advertisement – the words that will be read first and are situated to draw the most attention. Effective headlines attract attention, engage the audience, explain the visual, lead the audience into the body of the ad, and present the selling message. If they have not been overused in a category, “power” words that suggest newness can increase readership and improve the broom factor of an advertisement. They should be employed whenever honestly applicable. Examples include free, now, amazing, suddenly, announcing, introducing, it’s here, improved, at last,
revolutionary, just arrived, new, important development. Copywriters use many
variations of headlines depending on the advertising strategy. Headlines may be classified by the type of information they carry. Benefit headlines are to promise the audience that experiencing the utility of the product or service will be rewarding. The news/information headline announces news or promises information. Provocative headlines are used to provoke the reader’s curiosity – to stimulate questions and thoughts. A question headline asks a question, encouraging readers to search for the answer in the body of the advertisement. A command headline orders the reader to do something, so it might seem negative. 2) Subheads
overline and may be underlined. Subheads may also appear in body copy. Subheads are usually set smaller that the headline but larger than the body copy or text. Subheads generally appear in boldface or italic type or a different color. Like a headline, the subhead transmits key sales points fast. Subheads are important for two reasons: most people read only the headline and subheads, and subheads usually support the interest step best. Subheads are longer and more like sentences than headlines.
3) Body Copy
4) Slogans
Slogans are also called as themelines or taglines. Slogans have two basic purposes: to provide continuity to a series of ads in a campaign and to reduce an advertising message strategy to brief, repeatable, and memorable positioning statement.
5) Seals, Logos, and Signatures
A seal is awarded only when a product meets standard established by a particular organization. Logotypes or logos and signature cuts or sig cuts are special design of the advertiser’s company or product name. They appear in all company ads and, like trademarks, give the product individuality and provide quick recognition at the point of purchase.
3. Advertising Language
In printed advertising, language is the powerful gun to shoot the target of the advertisements. “Advertising is a business in which language is to persuade people to do things and/or believe things. Language plays a crucial role in advertising. In the case of print advertising, we find both graphic and linguistic messages (Mc Manis, Stollenwerk, & Zheng-Sheng, 1988: 209).” In order to shoot its target, the copywriters use their creativity and imagination to create the message with the language.
featuring words such as New, Quick, Improved, Now, Amazing, Suddenly, Easy, Introducing are especially effective at attracting our attention and selling us
products. Goddard (2002: 74) adds that “vocabulary is carefully chosen to promote positive association in the minds of the target audience.”
There are some other important points in writing effective copy for print advertising that are offered by Arens (2006: 422).
a. Write short sentences. Use easy, familiar words and themes people understand.
b. Avoiding bragging and boasting. Write from the reader’s point of view, not your own. Avoid “we,” “us,” and “our.”
c. Use vivid language. Use lots of verbs and adverbs.
d. Stick to the present tense and active voice. It is crisper. Avoid the past tense and passive voice. Exceptions should be deliberate, for special effect.
e. Use personal pronouns. Remember, you are talking to just one person, so talk as you would to a friend. Use “you” and “your” whenever appropriate.
f. Use contractions. They are fast, personal, and natural. People talk in contractions.
g. Do not over punctuate. It kills copy flow. Excessive commas are the chief culprits.
Second, we should keep the headline short. A headline is largely a device to put part of the message across and lure the reader into reading the rest.
Goddard (2002: 5) calls advertising as the act of communication. Additionally, he (2005: 9) mentions that “the whole aim of the copywriters is to get us to register their communication either for purpose of immediate action or to make us more favourably disposed in general terms to the advertised product or service.” Print advertising always contains written texts. Goddard (2002: 37) argues that written text is more impersonal, less expressive emotionally and less individualized. He (2002: 24-127) points out some features of the language in advertising. They are:
a. Narrative point of view
The way in which the language of a text sets up a relationship between the person who appears to be addressing us (the narrator) and the person being addressed (the narratee). The narrator may use first person pronouns ‘I’ or ‘we’, in which case the relationship may appear close and more personal than if third person address is used (the pronouns ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’), which can often sound more removed and distant.
b. Intertextuality
c. Deictics
Deictics are reference terms such as ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘those’, ‘it’, ‘here’, and ‘there’, which indicate items in the immediate context.
d. Comparative reference
Comparative reference establishes a reference which is about making a comparison of some sort. For example, ‘Her car is newer than yours’ links the two cars on the comparative basis of ‘newness’. Comparative reference can also feature in expressions of superlative excellence.
e. Pun
Pun is a comic play on words as a result of a word having more than one meaning or two words with different meanings have the same sound.
4. Marketing Process and Advertising
manufacture. The second purpose of advertising is the creation of good will, the primary impact of which is upon sales volume. The third purpose of advertising is to reduce marketing costs, particularly product selling costs.
As one of marketing communications, advertising will always encounter what is called as ‘noise’ during the transmitting process to the customers. Graydon (2003: 35) explains that advertisers are keenly aware of the mountain of noise that prevents their message from being received. Graydon (2003: 35) adds that the advertisers’ job is to climb that mountain to overcome the distractions that are constantly competing for the people’s eyes, ears, and wallets. Thus, he (2003: 35) argues that advertisers have to engage the people’s interest long enough for the message to be delivered.
5. Writing Styles and Purposes
There is always a reason for a writer to write a text. As the copywriters do, they write the advertisements in order to persuade the people. Persuading the readers, then, is the purpose of their writing. Podis & Podis (1984: 16) elaborate that “in composition, purpose is defined as the practical aim of your writing. By writing, you hope to accomplish a goal – whether to inform, to persuade, to explain, to recommend, to motivate, to warn, to inspire, and so on.” There are some styles in writing a text or a composition.
a. Description
Baker (1985: 59) argues that “description is essentially spatial.” It is supported by Scholes & Comley (1985: 11) that “work in description is practice in the organization of space.” They also add that in description, a scene or an object is taken and captured in language. Langan (1996: 128) says that when a writer describe someone or something, he gives the readers a picture in words by observing and record specific details that appeal to your readers’ senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch). Trimmer & Sommers (1984: 163) say that when describing something, the writer needs to capture both details and wholeness. He must select specific, vivid details so that he can make the readers see what he sees. b. Narration
form of writing shared by the creative writer, who invents the events to be narrated, and the reporter or researcher who seeks to record or recover some actual sequence of events.” Langan (1996: 136) says that in writing narrative text, the writer must present the details in order in which they happened.
c. Exposition
Baker (1985: 65) says that “exposition is a setting forth, an explaining, which naturally may include both description and narration. It also includes some essential modes of thought: comparison and contrast, cause and effect, classification, and definition. Good exposition depends on specific details to illustrate its general point.”
d. Persuasion
e. Argumentation
Scholes & Comley (1985: 12) argue that argumentation is different from persuasion by being more rational. Subsequently, they (1985: 12) also say that persuation is aimed at clarifying a topic rather than at moving a reader. Its function is to make the reader see things in a particular way rather than to make the reader do something. The basic structure of (1) a thesis to be argued, and (2) the evidence to support the thesis and certain very specific ways of reasoning from evidence – especially the logic of cause and effect – is at the heart of all research in the humanities, the social studies, and the sciences.
B. Theoretical Framework
Arens (2006: 417) mentions the key format elements in print advertising are the visual(s), headlines, subhead, body copy, slogans, seals, logos, and signatures. Therefore, the texts in each advertisement will be broken down into elements that there will be groups of headlines, subheads, body copy, slogans, etc. Next, the researcher identifies the occurrence of the features in each element. In identifying the features, the researcher refers to the theories suggested by Arens (2006: 422), Goddard (2002: 24-127), Graydon (2003: 41), and White (1988: 79-81). Besides that, the researcher identifies the writing style of the texts. After analyzing the language in the advertisement texts, the researcher figures out the possible reasons of the occurring of the features by reviewing some related references, and contributes some ideas to elaborate the results.
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
In conducting this research, the researcher applied certain methodology. This chapter discusses the systematic process of the methodology that was used in this research. The discussion includes research method, research subject, research instrument, data gathering technique, data analysis technique, and research procedure.
A. Research Method
what is being advertised. Through their creative copywriters, the advertising companies explore their creativity to make the language interesting to attract the readers’ attention. In this process, the language evolves and adjusts its rules to the nature of advertising.
The Jakarta Post, a local daily newspaper in Indonesia, is written in
English. The advertisements published in this newspaper are also written in English. For the sake of advertisements’ goal, English language may evolve when it is used in the advertisements. Some incorrect structures and grammatical rules might be found. However, this incorrectness is excused. Sheperd (1994) mentions copywriters have vocabulary and structures which may be somewhat unconventional. This kind of language, then, is powerful to draw the images in people’s mind.
to analyze this phenomenon. In addition, Leedy & Ormrod (2005: 133) say that “qualitative research approaches involve studying the phenomenon in all its complexity.” Therefore, the researcher also discussed the possible reasons why the phenomenon exists in the society.
The research is a descriptive research. Bungin (2007: 68-69) explains that descriptive study involved an in-depth exploration of the object being studied. This research presented the analysis and description of the advertising language as the language phenomenon that exists in the society. This research is a descriptive research because it is an in-depth study of the advertising language in The Jakarta Post newspapers. In conducting the research, the researcher also applied library
study. Library study is included in the secondary research. Library study is based on the secondary sources, especially other researchers’ books and articles. The researcher required some theories and references from other researchers and experts to analyze and describe the data.
B. Research Subjects
The Jakarta Post newspapers issued on April 11, 2010 - April 17, 2010
the popular culture documents that have been studied in two ways: first, as a text where the transcripts of the show, lyrics and films are treated as field notes; and second, as part of studies where the interpretations of the viewers are a central part of the project.”
C. Research Instruments
The researcher was considered as the research instrument of this research. It was supported by Merriam (2005: 5) who explains that “a second characteristic of all forms of qualitative research is that the researcher is the primary instrument for the collection and data analysis. Since understanding is the goal of this research, the human instrument, which is able to immediately responsive and adaptive, would seem to be the ideal means of collecting and analyzing data.”
Leedy and Ormrod (2005: 133) also mention about human instrument. They mention that “qualitative researchers believe that the researcher’s ability to interpret and make sense of what he or she sees is critical for understanding any social phenomenon.” They also say that “in this sense, the researcher is an instrument in much the same way that a sociogram, rating scale, or intelligence test is an instrument.” The researcher collected the advertisements using his senses and ability to collect the data. The researcher would use her eyes, ears and hands to differentiate, select, and collect the ads.
advertisements provided the source of English language which would be observed and analyzed. In the next step, these documents then became the data being analyzed and discussed.
D. Data Gathering Technique
In the previous chapter, it has been mentioned that the data was the advertisements in The Jakarta Post. To gather the data, the researcher employed a certain method. The method is called participant observer. Bungin (2007: 115) states that this method is a data gathering method which collects the data through observation and sensory perceptions. The researcher used the ability to see, watch, feel and touch to obtain the advertisements. In obtaining the advertisements, the researcher employed some steps.
The first step was collecting The Jakarta Post newspapers. The researcher collected some editions that were issued in April 2010. After that, the researcher focused on seven editions of The Jakarta Post that were issued on April 11, 2010 – April 17, 2010. The researcher looked into the advertising pages named Clads in each edition. In the next step, the researcher observed and examined the advertisements found in Clads. In this process, the researcher decided on which advertisements sized 2 columns x 10mm. After that, the researcher collected the advertisements by cutting them out from the newspapers and placing them in a folder.
analyze the data. The researcher would require some theories and references about advertising and advertising language. The researcher collected the theories and references about advertising and advertising language from books and journals written by some linguists and other researchers.
E. Data Analysis Techniques
Holliday (2002: 99) defines “data analysis as the process of making sense, sifting, organizing, cataloguing, selecting, determining themes – processing the data.” In analyzing the data the researcher followed the steps created by Creswell (1998) as cited by Leedy and Ormrod (2005: 151). He created seven steps named data analysis spiral. The steps diagram of data analysis spiral is presented in Figure 3.1.
Raw Data Organization
Perusal Classification
Synthesis The Final Report
In the data gathering, the researcher has done the step to collect raw data. The raw data were the advertisements taken from the newspapers. The next step after collecting the raw data was organizing the data. The advertisements collected were categorized based on the products being advertised. There would be some advertisement categories. Those were advertisements of apartments, hotels, hospital, furniture, restaurant, housing, service and invitations. The second step was perusing the data. The researcher needed to examine the advertisements in order to obtain the overview for analyzing and describing the data. In this process, the researcher read the English language in each advertisement carefully and paid attention to the details. The third step was identifying the characteristics and features of the language of the advertisements. The researcher identified how the language was used in the advertisements by paying attention to the characteristics, and other features. The researcher would also relate the theories and references about advertising language with the language used in the advertisements. The fifth step was identifying the possible reasons of the use of the language within the texts by reviewing some theories related and elaborating them with the researcher’s ideas.
F. Research Procedure
1. Selecting the source of data
The first step was selecting the source of data. The Jakarta Post was the selected source. It is a local daily newspaper in Indonesia that is written in English. Seven editions of The Jakarta Post newspaper issued on April 11, 2010 – April 17, 2010 were employed as the source where the advertisements were taken. 2. Collecting the data
The second step was collecting the data. The researcher read and examined the advertisements found in Clads. The researcher only selected the advertisements which have certain size as mentioned in the previous chapter. The size of the advertisements was 2 columns x 100 mm. The advertisements were cut out from the newspapers and they were placed in a folder to be organized.
3. Organizing the data
The third step was organizing the data. The advertisements would be grouped into some categories. The categorization was based on the things or products that were advertised. This categorization would help the researcher to analyze the advertisements in the next step.
4. Analyzing the data
5. Identifying the possible reasons
The fifth step was identifying the possible reasons of the existing phenomenon. The reasons would be obtained from the study of the related literatures and other similar researches written by the linguistics experts. The researcher’s interpretations in the phenomenon were also taken into account in this part.
6. Reporting the research
CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter presents the data and findings which have been analyzed by the researcher. This chapter is aimed to answer the two research questions presented in the previous chapter. They are: 1) How is the English language used in the advertisements in The Jakarta Post?; 2) What are the possible reasons for the use of such language in the advertisements in The Jakarta Post issued?
A. The Language of Advertising
Advertising exists in the society as a part of communication. The nature of advertising as something attractive and persuasive causes the occurrence of some features. The features could appear in the choice of words, words arrangement, pronouns, punctuation, or in the types of the texts. According to Arens (2006: 417), there are some elements that usually appear in the print advertisements. Those elements were headlines, subheads, body copy, slogans, seals, logos, and signatures.
1. Analysis of the Language Used in the Advertisements
In the process of analyzing the language used in the advertisements in The Jakarta Post newspapers, the researcher employed the steps offered by Creswell
integrating and summarizing the data. Further explanation and discussion of the four steps are presented in the next sections.
a. Organizing the Data
The data of this research were the advertisements in The Jakarta Post newspapers issued on April 11, 2010 - April 17, 2010. There were seven editions of The Jakarta Post newspapers that the writer employed. They were as follows.
1. Sunday, April 11, 2010 2. Monday, April 12, 2010 3. Tuesday, April 13, 2010 4. Wednesday, April 14, 2010 5. Thursday, April 15, 2010 6. Friday, April 16, 2010 7. Saturday, April 17, 2010
The researcher limited the specification of the data. The advertisements taken as the data were required to be in 2 columns x 100mm in size. This size allowed the readers to pay more attention to the advertisements because the bigger the advertisements, the more people would notice them. Thus, the elements used to create the advertisements should have been able to catch the attention of the readers both visually and verbally.
research. The advertisements advertised various kinds of products. According to the variety of the products being advertised, the advertisements could be classified into several groups. The classification could be seen in Table 4.1.
Table 4.1 The Advertisements Classification by the Products
No. Types Numbers Percentage
1. Hotel/Resorts/Villas 13 43,3%
2. Apartments & Residences 11 36,7%
3. Invitations 2 6,7%
4. Furniture 1 3,3%
5. Restaurant & Bakery 2 6,7%
6. Hospital 1 3,3%
TOTAL 30 100%
Table 4.2 The Number of Advertisements in Every Edition of The Jakarta Post
Newspapers
No. Day & Date Numbers Percentage
1. Sunday, April 11, 2010 3 10%
2. Monday, April 12, 2010 - 0%
3. Tuesday, April 13, 2010 - 0%
4. Wednesday, April 14, 2010 2 6,7%
5. Thursday, April 15, 2010 4 13,3%
6. Friday, April 16, 2010 7 23,3%
7. Saturday, April 17, 2010 14 46,7%
TOTAL 30 100%
The researcher could categorize the 30 advertisements as print advertising since they were published in the print media, newspapers. Furthermore, 28 advertisements taken as the data could be categorized in the display advertisements. The advertisements possessed three elements. They were headlines, body copies or texts, pictures or images. The other two advertisements could be categorized as public notices. The advertisements announced an event to some groups of businessmen. The sample advertisements could be seen in Appendix 6.
b. Perusing the Data
conducting the data perusal, the researcher focused on the language that was used in each of the advertisements. There are some key format elements of print advertising that Arens (2006: 417) mentions. They are the visual(s), headlines, subhead, body copy, slogans, seals, logos, and signatures. Throughout the data observation, the researcher found that in the advertisements, the words and the language were richly used in the headlines, subheads, body copy, and slogans.
Arens (2006: 417) mentioned that a headline contains the words that will be read first and the words are situated to draw the most attention of the readers. The headline was supposed to be the first thing the readers read within an advertisement. As a result, copywriters had to put much of their efforts to create a powerful words combination to attract readership. The researcher has listed the headlines from each advertisement. The list is presented in Appendix 1.
A subhead could be the second thing the readers would notice within an advertisement. Arens (2006: 421) mentions that “subheads are usually set smaller that the headline but larger than the body copy or text.” It is placed under the headline, bolded and slanted. Though the subhead seemed important, not all of the advertisements put the subhead in their formats. A subhead was optional because in display advertisements subhead was not included in the main elements that must appear within an advertisement format. There were 18 out of 30 advertisements having the subheads. The list of the advertisements’ subheads is presented in Appendix 3.
within its format. For display advertisements, this element was very important and essential because it was one of the main elements in the format. From the data observation, the researcher found that this element used longer texts than the other elements. In writing the copy, the copywriters usually used more words and longer texts. The list of the advertisements’ body copy is presented in Appendix 4. Another element that contained words was the slogans. As a subhead, a slogan was not included in the main elements in display advertisements. It was optional that not every advertisement in the data had a slogan. Arens (2006: 424) adds that a slogan is a brief, repeatable, and memorable statement. Some advertisements employed slogans in their formats. The list of the advertisements’ slogans is presented in Appendix 5.
In the following section, the researcher would focus on analyzing the texts in the elements. Before that, the texts in each advertisement were sorted out based on its positions whether it was a headline, subhead, body copy or slogan. Then, the researcher would have the lists of the advertisements’ headlines, subheads, body copy, and slogans. After that, the researcher would identify how the language was used in the texts.
c. Identifying the Characteristics and Features of the Language
urgency of each element, the researcher has found out that most of the texts functioned as headlines, subheads, body copy, and slogans.
After examining the 30 advertisements taken from The Jakarta Post newspapers, the researcher found several variations in using English language within the advertisement texts. The researcher identified that there were many features found within the texts. These features were employed in the headlines, subheads, body copy and in the slogans of the advertisements. However, they could be categorized into five categories. The five categories are stated as follows. 1) Choice of Words
The choice of words was really paid attention to when writing the advertisement text. The words should be able to make the readers notice the advertisement. The features belonged to this group were the key words and comparative references. Some key words that were employed in the advertisements were new, free, exclusive, now, and special. The researcher discovered that these words could occur in the headlines, subheads, or body copy. While the some words showing comparative or superlative references used in the advertisement were newest, higher, and best. Comparative reference was found in the headlines and body copy.
2) Word Combinations
used in the slogans to create brief, repeatable, and memorable statements. The data revealed that the words found in the advertisement texts were arranged as brief and short as possible to get to the point to the main idea of the message. That was why the use of phrases was more likely to occur than the sentences.
3) Pronouns
Building a close and personal relationship between the advertisers and customers was important to promote the product. Some advertisements tried to build such kind of relationship by employing personal pronouns such as you and your. The advertisers called the readers with the pronoun you as they spoke to a
friend. These pronouns were found in the subheads and body copy. 4) Type of Text
The data showed that body copy contained longer texts than did the other elements. It was because body copy explained the features, benefits, and utility of the product being advertised. The researcher found that many apartment advertisements employed descriptive text within the copy. The apartment that they promoted was something spatial. The texts mostly described the scene and objects of the apartments in details in order to draw the vivid image in the readers’ mind. 5) Other Features
Subsequently, the researcher would present the analysis of the features in each element more profoundly by providing some examples.
1) Headlines
Most of the advertisements had the headlines in their formats. The headlines were placed in the leading position or were typed in the biggest size among the other elements. Headlines’ leading position and bigger size allowed the readers to read them first. Thus, the words in the headlines should have been carefully chosen and arranged by the copywriters. There were some features that the researcher found in the headlines.
a) Choice of Words (1) Key Words
White (1988: 79), Graddon (2003: 41), and Arens (2006: 419) agree that using some ‘powerful’ words within the advertisement would help to attract the readership. Some words such as new, save, win, best, now, try, quick, improved, amazing, and easy could be used in the headlines to give strength and a sense of
fine quality to the product. This strategy was used by the copywriters in creating the headlines in some advertisements taken. There were four advertisements that applied these kinds of words in its headlines.
[1] Best Price – Every Day at Kokonut Suites [2] SPECIALS
The four headlines employed the words best, special, excellent, and exclusive. By using these words, Graydon (2003: 41) argues that the headlines are
expected to be able to attract the readers’ attention. Further, according to Goddard (2002: 74), those words are chosen to promote positive association in the minds of the target audience. The words best in example [1], special in example [2], and excellent in example [3], for examples, implied positive meaning. Thus, it could create positive images about the product. It was a general truth that customers always preferred a good and qualified product. Similarly, the word exclusive in example [4] gave images of limited and private product which is usually preferred by the readers.
(2) Comparative Reference
Using comparative reference in an advertisement implied that one product was being compared to other similar products. It is supported by Goddard (2002: 24-127) that argues “comparative reference establishes a reference which is about making a comparison of some sort.” Superlative forms could also appear as the alternative to the comparative ones. One of the advertisements’ headlines employed comparative reference in its headline. Example [5] was the headline taken from the advertisement of Kokonut Suites.
[5] Best Price – Every Day at Kokonut Suites
did not directly name and refer to certain products as the comparison. It is supported by Goddard (2002: 71) “advertisers tend not to make specific comparison between their product and others by naming and refer to their rivals.” The things being compared in the advertisement was the hotel price.
b) Word Combinations (1) Noun Phrases
The researcher found that the most headlines were noun phrases. Among the headlines of the advertisements taken as the data, there was a tendency to use a noun phrase to formulate the headlines. The researcher discovered that 20 headlines were noun phrases. The list of the noun phrase headlines was presented in Appendix 2. The researcher presented four examples of the noun phrase headlines.
[6] RAFFLES HOTEL modifier noun head
[7] Simple Deal modifier noun head
[8] Strategic Living in South Jakarta modifier modifier noun head
[9] Special menu prepared by our famous Executive Chef modifier noun head modifier
[10] A REMINISCENCE OF ETERNAL VIRTUE [11] A home away from home
The two headlines in example [10] and [11] tried to associate the products with other things. The headline in example [10] tried to describe the hotel as something eternal and memorable to possess. The headline in example [11] associated the apartment as another home that people might have.
(2) Sentences
The headlines presented in the following examples were sentences. Further, the researcher specified how the statements were used in the headlines.
[12] GET 50% OFF* [13] ALL ARE WELCOME
There were two statement headlines found in the data. The headline in example [12] claimed that the customers would get 50% discount if they purchased the product. It was an imperative. While the headline in example [13] was taken from an invitation of a gathering event intended to oil, mining, and gas businessmen. The headline exclaimed to the readers that the event would welcome all the guests attending the event.
c) Other Findings in the Headlines
(1) The Absence of the Headlines
Headline was one of the three main elements that a display advertisement should have. Though the presence of a headline was considered important, the copywriters were the masters who had the power to decide what important elements should be in the format. The research discovered that there were two advertisements employed no headlines. They were the advertisement of Bukit Merah Laketown Resort and the advertisement of Apartemen Arkadia Mampang. The sample advertisements are presented in Appendix 6.
(2) The Occurrence of Code Switching Case in the Headline
In every edition, The Jakarta Post employs English as its main language. Therefore, the advertisements published in the newspaper were supposed to be written in English. However, the researcher found out one code switching case in the data. The code switching case occurred in the advertisement of an apartment in Singapore.
[14] INVESTASI PROPERTY DI SINGAPORE
The type of code switching case in the headline inscribed in example [14] was lexical (single-word) code switch. The words “investasi” and the preposition “di” belonged to Indonesian words. While the words “property” and “Singapore” belonged to English words. The copywriter put and mixed the words together to formulate the headline.
2) Subheads
body copy or text. Subheads are longer and more like sentences than headlines.” The researcher found out that several subheads employed longer text than the headlines. The subhead is the optional element to be put in the advertisement format. Therefore, some advertisements taken as the data employed no subhead in their format. The researcher has identified the characteristics and features of the advertisements’ subheads.
a) Choice of Word (1) Key Words
A subhead could also employ a key word in its text. It might strengthen the headline as well as explain other things. There were three advertisements’ subheads employing key words.
[15] NEW RELEASE the Suites at Central [16] GUARANTEED: [17] Newly built Residences
Apartemen Golf Pondok Indah
b) Word Combination (1) Modifying Phrases
The researcher also discovered another way in writing the subhead. The headline and subhead should be connected and interrelated. Thus, the subhead could be a modifying phrase for the headline.
[18] Opening of IR Casino and Universal Studio Sales! [19] Supporting You and Your Family. All Day. Every Day.
The subhead in example [18] was taken from the advertisement of Era Real Estate and the subhead in example [19] was taken from the advertisement of SOS Medika Clinic. The two subheads were the modifying phrases for the headlines. They referred to the headlines. Additionally, their role within the format was to explain the headlines.
c) Pronouns
(1) Personal Pronouns
Arens (2006: 422) says that using personal pronouns such as “you” and “your” whenever appropriate can give more personal approach to the readers. There were two advertisements’ subheads employing personal pronouns.
[20] Just What You Need ;)
[21] Supporting You and Your Family. All Day. Every Day.
and “your.” By using these personal pronouns, the advertisers wanted to speak to the readers as close as speak to a friend.
d) Other Features (1) The Brand Names
Several subheads contained the name or brand of the product. The subhead, then, specified the headline. There were four advertisements’ subheads containing the brand name of the product. They are presented as follows.
[22] THE PHOENIX HOTEL YOGYAKARTA [23] ORCHARD SCOTTS
[24] HORIZON RESIDENCES [25] Newly built Residences
Apartemen Golf Pondok Indah
As it has been mentioned previously, the role of the subheads in the format was to specify the headlines as well as giving additional information. The advertisers started to introduce themselves to the readers. In an advertisement, it is very important to know who offers what product. By mentioning the name of the product, the readers might be able to differentiate the product from the other sort of products.
(2) The Types of the Product
[26] Mandiri power discount
[27] WEDDING CAKE & BIRTHDAY CAKE
The subhead in example [26] was taken from the advertisement of The Luxton Bandung. The product offered by The Luxton Bandung was a discount for certain Bank member. The subhead in example [27] was taken from the advertisement of Timothy Cake. It specified its product as wedding and birthday cake.
(3) The Expert’s Name
In order to convince the readers that the product was really qualified, the advertisers would involve an expert to promote the product. This strategy existed in one of the data.
[28] Mr. Ewald Falk
In the advertisement of Oasis Restaurant, the subhead contained a name of a chef. Previously the headlined mentioned that the chef was a famous executive chef. In the layout, the advertisement also put the picture of the chef. By doing this, the advertisement wanted to convince the readers that the food served in the restaurant was delicious and tasted good because it was cooked by a professional chef.
(4) Product Classification and Price Information
[29] One bedroom suites: USD 89 ++ / night Two bedroom suites: USD 140 ++ / night
[30] 1-BEDROOM POOL VILLA – RP.2.500.000 NET 2-BEDROOM POOL VILLA – RP.3.250.000 NET 3-BEDROOM POOL VILLA – RP.4.250.000 NET 4-BEDROOM POOL VILLA – RP.5.250.000 NET
The two examples were taken from the advertisements of Kaniska Villas and Gending Kedis Villas. The two subheads presented the information about the room classification and the price rate of each type.
3) Body copy
As it has been mentioned previously, the researcher discovered that most of the data used longer texts in the body copy than those in the other elements. Arens (2006: 421) presents his idea that body copy contains the complete sales story that the advertiser want to tell. The body copy comprises the interest, credibility, desire, and often even the action steps. There were some features that the researcher has identified in the body copy of each data.
a) Choice of Words (1) Key Words
The use of the key words such as now, new, free, and exclusive was also found in the text of the body copy. Graydon (2003: 41) supports this key words existence by saying that based on a research, advertisements featuring such words are especially effective at attracting people’s attention and selling them products. There are some examples of the data containing the key words in the body copy.
[31] Studio Room Rp. 488.000 net / Room / Night
The text was taken from the advertisement of Grand Kuta Hotel and Residence. It employed the word now in the last line of the text. The advertisement expected the readers’ immediate action after reading the text to call and book the hotel room.
[32] Starting from Rp 668,000 NETT *ROOM ONLY Free WiFi
The text was taken from the advertisement of Harris Resort Bali. It employed the word free. The advertisement would offer the facility to access Wi-Fi freely to the resort guests.
[33] New Launched:
NATHAN SUITES @ RIVER VALLEY 2/3/4bdrm & Penthouses, From $2000 psf L’VIV @ NEWTON RD
1 / 2 + bdrm, From $2100 psf TOP SOON
THE TRILLIUM @ KIM SENG 2/3/4/5 bdrm, from $2.5 M
ST THOMAS SUITES@ST THOMAS WALK 3 / 4 bdrm & penthouses, From $3.5M
OTHER PROPERTIES: (MANY UNITS)
SEAFRONT LIVING @ SENTOSA COVE CAIRNHILL RISE
PROPERTY & GOODWOOD VIEW SELLER / BUYER WELCOME!
would help the advertisers to build the image of a better product in the readers’ mind.
(2) Comparative Reference
Another feature found in the body copy text was the use of comparative or superlative references. The researcher found that this feature was not only used in the headlines but also in the body copy. Some texts in the data employed the words showing comparative or superlative reference. Goddard (2002: 74) mentions that “vocabulary is carefully chosen to promote positive association in the minds of the target audience.” By mentioning that the product had better or the best quality, the readers would have positive association about the product.
[34] Best Price Inclusion: • 1 x Arrival transfer
• 1 x Dinner at Suka Suka Restaurant (or) • 1 x 1 hour spa treatment at The Spa • 1 x Afternoon tea & assorted cookies
• Daily buffet breakfast at Suka Suka Restaurant • Daily mineral water in the room
• Daily turn down services
• Free upgrade to higher room category • (based on availability)
• Free fruit basket in the room upon arrival • Free access using gym & kid’s room facilities • Free shuttle service within Seminyak area
The text was taken from the advertisement of Kokonut Suites. The text employed superlative excellence. In the first line of the text, it mentioned best price. Through the word best the advertisement claimed that the company had a
