Analysis of Rhetorical Figures in Covergirl Advertisements.

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ABSTRACT

Iklan adalah salah satu kunci bagi para produsen untuk memasarkan barang

atau jasa mereka. Iklan dapat membantu menarik perhatian konsumen agar mereka terbujuk untuk membeli barang yang ditawarkan. Oleh karena itu, untuk membuat konsumen tertarik dengan produk yang dibuat iklan harus dibuat semenarik

mungkin. Salah satu cara untuk membuat iklan lebih menarik adalah dengan memakai gaya bahasa dalam iklan tersebut.

Dalam bidang linguistik, penggunaan gaya bahasa dikaji dalam ilmu

Stylistics. Ilmu stylistics mencakup beberapa kajian, salah satunya adalah rhetorical

figures. Dalam skripsi ini, saya meneliti penggunaan rhetorical figures pada empat

belas iklan produk kosmetik CoverGirl.

Berdasarkan dari hasil penelitian, saya menemukan bahwa pengulangan

adalah jenis operasi yang paling sering digunakan dalam iklan CoverGirl. Selain itu ditemukan juga bahwa penggunaan Rhetorical Figures dalam iklan CoverGirl

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 ... 15

Figure 2 ... 19

Figure 3 ... 21

Figure 4 ... 23

Figure 5 ... 27

Figure 6 ... 31

Figure 7 ... 33

Figure 8 ... 37

Figure 9 ... 39

Figure 10 ... 41

Figure 11 ... 43

Figure 12 ... 45

Figure 13 ... 47

Figure 14 ... 49

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Maranatha Christian University

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Nowadays, people generally are familiar with advertisements. It is easy to find advertisements everywhere. Advertisements can be found in different types of

media, such as newspapers, television, websites and social media. For most businesses, advertisement is an important key in improving their business (moneymatters101, 2016). This is also supported by Barnali Chetia in her journal

article entitled Rhetorical Devices in English Advertisement Texts in India: A

Descriptive Study. She says advertisements can be said to be “vital marketing tool as well as a powerful communication force” (2015, p. 980). This is because

advertising help companies to drive their message to consumers. What is more, the

main goal of advertisements is to persuade the consumer to buy their product. Advertisements inform consumers about the brands and the variety of products useful to them. In order to attract the consumers, a company or an advertising

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Maranatha Christian University To attract target consumers, advertisements can use celebrities, creative designs and persuasive language.

According to Gillian Dyer in her book Advertising as Communication,

language also has important parts, besides the visual aspect (2009, p. 111). It is also said that “language has a powerful influence over people and their behaviour.

Language also helps people to identify a product and remember it” (linguarama,

2016). Thus, the choice of language is vital to advertisements.

In linguistics, there is a study called stylistics. Stylistics is the study of style.

People have different styles of using language to deliver a message. Geoffrey Leech in his book Style in Fiction, describes style as “dress of thought” (2007, p. 13). This

refers to how the writers present an idea. Stylistics has various tools: one of the tools is rhetorical figures.

Rhetorical figures play an important role in advertisements. According to

McQuarrie and Mick in their journal article, Figures of Rhetoric in Advertising

Language, the use of rhetorical figures is “to produce a more positive attitude toward the advertisement” (1996, p. 427). The positive attitude is the consumers’

attention toward the product. For example, an advertisement that uses rhetorical figures is expected to be more memorable. When one can remember the good

quality of the product, they may be attracted to buy the product.

According to McQuarrie and Mick, rhetorical figures can be defined “as an artful deviation in the form taken by statement” (1996, p. 424). The word rhetoric

itself is originally from Greek, rhetorike (Chetia, 2015, p. 480). Based on the website called literarydevices, rhetoric means “a technique of using language to

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Maranatha Christian University convince the readers or the listeners about the author’s point. McQuarrie and Mick

state that there are two kinds of rhetoric mode, namely, scheme and trope (1996, p. 426).

McQuarrie and Mick explain that scheme concerns with regularity. In contrast to scheme, trope deals with irregularity (1996, p. 426). Each rhetorical

operation is divided into two parts. Scheme is divided into two parts, which are repetition and reversal. Trope is divided into two operations, which are substitution and destabilization.

After reading Figures of Rhetoric in Advertising Language journal article, I become interested in rhetorical figures in advertisements. So, in this thesis I decide

to analyze rhetorical figures in advertisements. I also decide to focus only on one brand, which is CoverGirl. The reason why I choose CoverGirl is because

CoverGirl’s advertisements are interesting, as they use rhetorical figures.

Furthermore, I want to know the types of rhetorical figures which are used and how rhetorical figures can give a positive effect in the CoverGirl advertisements.

The tittle of my thesis is “The Rhetorical Figures Analysis in CoverGirl Advertisements.” CoverGirl is a cosmetic brand from America. It was established

in 1961. (CoverGirl, n.d.) In 1997, CoverGirl introduced their famous tagline, “Easy, Breezy, Beautiful...” Since the first time I heard this tagline, I have always

remembered it. The sound of the tagline is pleasant to hear and easy to remember. Later, while studying Stylistics, I found out that the tagline has rhetorical figures.

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Maranatha Christian University repetitive words. Later, I also realized that CoverGirl advertisements use other kinds of rhetorical figure, such as comparisons and opposite words.

It is hoped that, this topic is significant to make the reader will be aware of

rhetorical figures. They will be able to understandthe purpose of rhetorical figures in advertisements and how advertisements can be delivered. In addition, this thesis

can encourage the reader to use rhetorical figures to convey some messages not only in advertisement but also in daily life.

(805 words)

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Based on the topic that I choose, I am going to analyze the following problems:

1. What types of rhetorical figures are found in CoverGirl advertisements?

2. How do the rhetorical figures help make CoverGirl advertisements interesting and memorable?

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The purposes of this study are:

1. To know the types of rhetorical figures in CoverGirl’s advertisement. 2. To know how the rhetorical figures help make CoverGirl advertisements

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Maranatha Christian University 1.4 Method of Research

First of all, I decided to choose the linguistic area to be discussed, which is Stylistics. Then, I focused on rhetorical figures. I searched for cosmetic brand

products that have rhetorical figures in their advertisement. After focusing on one brand, I analyzed the data. Finally, I wrote my thesis.

1.5 Organization of the Thesis

This thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter One is Introduction, which is divided into five parts: Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose

of the Study, Method of Research, and Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two is Theoretical Framework, which provides a brief description of the theories that I am going to use in my analysis. Chapter Three presents the analysis of the data. The

last chapter, Chapter Four, is Conclusion. At the end of the thesis, there are Bibliography and Appendix.bghg

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I would like to draw a conclusion based on my findings from

the analysis that has been done in the previous chapter. Furthermore, I would like to present my opinion related to the use of rhetorical figures in CoverGirl

advertisements.

From the fourteen selected CoverGirl advertisement that I have analyzed, I find eighteen different types of rhetorical figures. The rhetorical figures are divided

into four types of operations. They are repetition, reversal, substitution and destabilization. In the repetition operation, I find thirty-eight lines which employ

parallelism, rhyme, assonance, consonance, alliteration, anaphora, epistrophe, and anadiplosis. In the reversal operation, I find three lines which use antithesis. In the

substitution operation, there are nine lines which involve hyperbole, hypopora, rhetorical question, portmentau, and solecism. Regarding, last operation, destabilization, I find five lines, in which metaphor, simile, catachresis and allusion

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Maranatha Christian University Based on my findings, it can be concluded that in CoverGirl advertisements, the mostly used rhetorical figure is repetition. CoverGirl usually uses repetition to

show the feature of the product. When the consumers read the line that has repetition, it is easier for them to remember the line. The line will automatically

resonate in their mind. Moreover, repetition is also easy to be understood.

Reversal is the most rarely used in the fourteen CoverGirl advertisements that I used as my data. In terms of reversal, CoverGirl only uses antithesis.

The uses of antithesis in the CoverGirl advertisements is quite significant in order to make the advertisement interesting. The use of antithesis helps CoverGirl

emphasizes the feature of the product. By reading the line that contains opposite words, the consumers will instantly notice the feature.

The next operation is substitution. In the terms of substitution, CoverGirl

more often uses hypophora than the others. By using hypophora, CoverGirl and the consumers have an interactive dialogue. It reduces the distance between CoverGirl and consumers. As a result, consumers will be more interested in the product,

because they will feel that they are involved.

The last operation of rhetorical figure is destabilization. Destabilization is

rarely used in this CoverGirl advertisement. In my opinion, why CoverGirl rarely uses destabilization is because sometimes destabilization needs a higher level of language competence from the consumer to understand the meaning shift. For

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Maranatha Christian University understand the comparison, they would not cannot grasp the message. As a consequence, the line will not be attractive and CoverGirl would fail to deliver the message of the line to the consumers.

In terms of destabilization operation, I am interested in how CoverGirl uses allusion. Although in my analysis I only find one allusion, I think the use of allusion

is interesting. In my opinion, when an advertiser wants to use allusion, they should consider several things. They have to estimate the knowledge of the potential target consumers and make sure they will understand the allusion. In addition, the

advertiser has to choose the appropriate allusion to make sure the readers understand the message they want to deliver in their advertisements. The use of

allusion takes a higher risk, but when the advertiser successfully uses the allusion, it will make the advertisement more interesting and easy to remember.

In doing this analysis, I find that CoverGirl often uses several kinds of

rhetorical figures in the same line. The use of different rhetorical figures in the same line can make the advertisement more attractive to the consumers. Furthermore, some of the product names also contain rhetorical figures. This, of course, will help

the consumers recognize the product easily.

This brings me to the conclusion that the uses of rhetorical figure in

CoverGirl advertisement is significant. CoverGirl tries to make their advertisement

interesting and memorable by using rhetorical figures. Moreover, rhetorical figures in CoverGirl advertisement are easy to be found.

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Maranatha Christian University of an advertisement is to promote a product or brand, the producer must find the strategies to grab their target consumers’ attention, especially since there are so many cosmetic product on the market. In order to win the market, CoverGirl should

make their advertisements interesting in order to make the consumer persuaded to buy their products.

The producer hopes that when consumers remember the product, it will be more likely for them to choose the advertised product rather than the others. I believe that the use of rhetorical figures can affect to the consumers behavior in

choosing the product as the consumers are more likely to choose the product that something they are familiar into.

I believe that analyzing stylistics in advertisements is interesting. There are still many linguistic areas that can be analyzed in advertisements. Now, I would like to share some suggestions for the future researchers who are interested in doing

an analysis on a similar topic or types of data that I have done.

First, I suggest that the future researchers should fully understand all the theories that are going to be used. In analyzing rhetorical figures, the future

researchers should not rely on only one source of information. They should be open-minded to any possible theories that could be used in their analysis. Secondly, future

researchers should be able to choose the right data that are suitable for the topic. Furthermore, the researchers should make sure that they will have enough data to be analyzed.

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Maranatha Christian University the rhetorical figures in advertisements which are outside the field of cosmetics, I suggest that they should choose a brand that has many competitors. Lastly, it is best for future researchers to read journal articles that analyze the same topic as them. It

helps to add information to their topic.

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ANALYSIS OF RHETORICAL FIGURES

IN COVERGIRL ADVERTISEMENTS

a thesis

submitted to the English Department of the Faculty of Letters

in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the ‘Sarjana’ degree

TESSA SKOLASTIKA 1241002

ENGLISH DEPARTEMENT FACULTY OF LETTERS

MARANATHA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY BANDUNG

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to thank God for His grace that is sufficient for me. Thank you for working perfectly in my weakness and giving

me wisdom, strength and people around me so that I am able to finish my thesis. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my research supervisor, Bernadette Santosa, S.S., M.A, who has patiently guided and given her time to

correct my work and give suggestions so that I can get the right understanding and finish this thesis. I would like also to show my gratitude to Cheryl D. Groth,

M. Ed., for devoting much time to correcting my work and her encouragement and prayer. It is a great privilege and honor to work under their guidance.

I am profoundly grateful to my beloved parents and my sister. Thank you

for always believing in me, encouraging and supporting me to finish this thesis. My special thanks go to the following friends for their continued support

and friendship: Morin, Irene, Dian, and Ria.

Last but not least, I would like to thank all my friends, lecturers, and people who have contributed to the writing and completion of this thesis,

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