Analysis of Doublespeak in Rimmel Mascara Advertisements.

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ABSTRACT

Di dalam penulisan tugas akhir ini saya menganalisis penggunaan

doublespeak dalam dunia periklanan. Doublespeak adalah penggunaan bahasa

yang sifatnya memperdaya konsumen. Doublespeak merupakan cabang dari ilmu Pragmatik, yaitu ilmu yang mempelajari tentang makna ucapan penutur.

Produk yang dibahas dalam tugas akhir ini produk maskara bermerek Rimmel. Saya memutuskan untuk menganalisis doublespeak dari iklan maskara Rimmel karena di dalamnya banyak terdapat penggunaan doublespeak, yaitu

puffing, weasel word, unfinished word, up to claim dan jargon.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Nowadays the advertising world has developed rapidly and it has spread widely. The activity of promoting something is called advertising. According to Green, “advertising is a form of communication paid for by individuals or companies, with the aim of influencing people to think or act in a particular way or providing information” (Green 6).

In daily life, we can find various types of advertisements such as food, drink, cosmetics and gadget. The products of those advertisements can be in the form of goods or services. One of the most significant things in advertising a product is putting a slogan or tagline in order to make the product easily remembered.

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public to remember, and is phrased in such a way that the public is likely to remember it” (Whittier 403).

One of the most well-known slogans that we have heard for years is from the Panasonic brand “Ideas for Life” (“About Panasonic”). All texts or slogans related to doublespeak will be analysed.

In this thesis I will analyse the use of doublespeak of the verbal text in the advertisement. I have chosen to analyse cosmetic advertisements because in cosmetic advertisements the reader can find a lot of words, phrases or expressions which belong to doublespeak. Besides, finding the data of cosmetic advertisement is quite easy as they are often advertised in the Internet. The words that are advertised are likely to contain doublespeak, since the aim of a beauty product is to beautify a woman,

There are two types of media that are frequently used, namely printed media and electronic media. Television, radio, and the Internet are types of electronic media, while banners, magazines, catalogues and newspapers are examples of printed media. Among those media, the Internet is the most effective tool to promote an advertisement. Moreover, the Internet is a sophisticated media that has complete visualization that can show various colours, pictures and even sounds. They all make the product more interesting, so that the reader can be attracted to buy the product.

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tagline or slogan because doublespeak can play on words and make an ordinary product appear better. Doublespeak can make something more attractive and interesting because the main purpose of it is to mislead the reader. At this point, the reader will most probably fail to understand what the advertisement actually says. As a matter of fact, the product does not promise anything. Doublespeak seems to promise something because it plays its role to mislead the reader.

In this thesis, I have decided to discuss a cosmetic brand, named Rimmel. I am interested in Rimmel product because I would like to know more about how doublespeak works in advertising Rimmel product.

Rimmel is a famous cosmetic product from London. It has been introduced

and marketed in some countries. At first, Rimmel only focused on one type of cosmetic product for the eyes, but then along with its development Rimmel also created cosmetic products for the face and lips. Rimmel cosmetics with high quality can be purchased with an affordable price (“About Rimmel”).

It is widely known that cosmetics are created to beautify people, especially women. Thus, the advertisement of a cosmetic product should be interesting. In advertising a cosmetic product, the advertiser puts interesting words or phrases which can make the reader feels that the product can make her look more beautiful. Those words or phrases may contain doublespeak.

By reading this thesis, the reader as the consumer is hoped to be more aware and critical towards doublespeak that can be found in many advertisements, especially in beauty products, so that the reader can discover more about what the advertisement says and what it actually is.

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1.2 Statement of the Problem

The problems that will be analysed are formulated as follows: 1. Which words or phrases in the advertisement belong to doublespeak? 2. What type of doublespeak is each word or phrase categorized into? 3. How does the use of doublespeak in the advertisement mislead people?

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this thesis are as follows:

1. To identify the words or phrases which belong to doublespeak. 2. To categorize each word or phrase into the type of doublespeak.

3. To explain how the use of doublespeak in the advertisement misleads people.

1.4 Methods of Research

There are four steps that I used in writing this thesis. First of all, I read the theory. Next, I looked for the suitable and reliable source of data and then I analysed the data. Finally, I wrote the research report.

1.5 Organization of the Thesis

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I conclude that the advertisement contains doublespeak, namely puffing, weasel word, unfinished word, up to claim, and jargon. Nevertheless, the Rimmel’s mascara advertisement, the advertiser does not use parity claim.

I come to a conclusion that doublespeak focuses on two aspects: quality and quantity. The term quality emphasizes on the sales-factor, luxury and prestige while the term quantity emphasizes on the size of the mascara.

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commercial language and at the same time weasel word also appears to give promises to the reader. The advertiser wants to highlight the quality in order that the reader will be interested in the product and the mascara will be sold easily. For instance, the advertiser changes the appearance of the product so as to make the reader interested. Even though there is only a little change whether in the product or in the packaging, the advertiser can state that the mascara is new and make the reader keeps her eyes on the product. In my opinion, something new can help the advertiser to increase the sales because the latest product is always attractive for the reader to buy.

The next type of doublespeak that is most frequently used is unfinished

word. In my opinion, the use of unfinished word in the advertisement is to

highlight the gimmick effect of the product. Unfinished word emphasizes the quantity of the product in terms of size, for instance, when the advertiser says that the product is bigger. In my opinion, the advertiser actually does not have a certain standard of the size but it looks very appealing for laymen since it leaves a kind of mystery, but actually it shows the weakness of the product because of the unclear standard that the advertiser can state; yet, it is very effective for an advertisement.

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The reader will be interested because of the number in the up to claim that sounds big, clear and impressive to the reader even though the fact is not like what the advertiser has said.

Furthermore, the use of puffing in advertisements is essential for its aim is to mislead the reader. In my opinion, the advertiser uses puffing with the aim to emphasize the quality in terms of the luxury or prestige of a product. The use of puffing can increase the value of a product because puffing uses unusual words to get the reader’s attention. Unusual words tickle the reader’s curiosity and then make the reader feel impressed by the advertisement. The use of puffing can make the mascara seems luxurious although actually it is not like that. In my opinion, women want to use a product which is luxurious and prestigious.

In my analysis, jargon is the most rarely used in the Rimmel mascara advertisements. It is only mentioned once in data 1. In my point of view, jargon is almost similar to puffing in focusing to the quality by using unfamiliar words in order to make the product seem more luxurious and have a quality. By using jargon the advertiser arouse the reader’s curiosity. For example, by the word

antioxidants the advertiser wants to claim that the product is excellent. Since the

reader does not know what the meaning of antioxidants is, the reader will directly think that the product is special and consequently purchase the product to get what the advertiser has promised.

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the advertiser does not want to compare Rimmel’s mascara to other brands which are typically the same.

I find that analysing advertisements using theory of doublespeak is very interesting because it gives me a new understanding that doublespeak is merely a play on words and the advertiser only tries to make it easy to sell the product without any intention to lie. By using doublespeak, the advertiser finds the right way to minimize the shortfall of the product that is being offered. Since the advertisement is made as attractive as possible, we have to be careful so as not to be easily deceived. Although, the advertisement is eye-catching, we do not need to buy the product if we do not need it.

Since this thesis is concerned with advertisements of mascara, in analysing every word in the advertisement I use the type of doublespeak especially for advertorial. However, if my thesis is extended, I may find that my data source can be analysed by other types of doublespeak other than advertorial types. In my analysis, I find that jargon is the general type. My data can also be analysed by using Semiotic approach namely by analysing the pictures in the advertisement.

In the end, I hope that my thesis also be useful for other writers who are interested in analysing doublespeak. I also hope my thesis also will provide new knowledge to anyone who has read this thesis. We must be aware when seeing or hearing an advertisement. Doublespeak neither limits nor forbids us to purchase the products but when we understand the effectiveness of doublespeak, we can be wiser in buying any products. It is hoped that by knowing doublespeak we will not buy anything we do not need simply because we are attracted by what the

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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