CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION. the time on television. While watching TV, it is hard to avoid watching, seeing, or

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1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale and Significance of the Problem Television has become a major means of home entertainment that nowadays belongs to almost all households, especially in cities. There are various kinds of TV programs that come with it, including advertisements, which take up a great portion of the time on television. While watching TV, it is hard to avoid watching, seeing, or hearing those advertisements every time they appear on TV. One of the most frequently broadcasting types of TV advertisement is for non-alcoholic beverages. Various kinds of beverages, such as soft drinks, beer, and juice are advertised each year. According to ADintrend.com, in 2011, over 300 beverage advertisements were broadcast by television in Thailand. The TV advertisements have an advantage over other media since they present motion, music, sound effects along with spoken and written language use, and are viewed by millions of people. Language is usually ignored in most alcoholic beverage advertisements since they focus on motion and image of the product. Besides, TV advertisements for alcoholic beverages have been allowed to be broadcast only during restricted times, from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. since 2003 (Kanchanachitra et al. 19). As a result, the number of alcoholic beverage advertisements is relatively limited. Thus, the main focus of this study is on nonalcoholic beverage advertisements. Moreover, these advertisements have all the

2 2 characteristics of advertisement, such as motion, music, and language. Language is a simple and effective way that enables advertisers to convey a message to their audience. The language of advertising promotes understanding in the human mind; this can facilitate effective communication between advertisers and their audience (Tanaka 133). Language use is one of the key factors that make advertisements effective. A variety of language use is employed to promote TV advertisements, such as repetition, and dialogue. To promote brand recall, repetition of the brand name is widely used. Repeating product brand names through the use of language, especially in TV and radio advertisements, over and over again helps the customers recall the product when they stand in front of the product aisles in the store (O Guinn, Allen, and Semenik ). An example of this is from a TV advertisement for Nitipon Clinic. This 30- second advertisement repeats the brand name Nitipon four times in both song and dialogue. เพลง: ด ด ด ด... ท น ต พลคล น ก... น ต พลอ พล คท กๆความม นใจของค ณ... อ พ ล คใหม เป นไปได อ กท น ต พลคล น ก... Song: Look good, look good...at Nitipon Clinic... Nitipon upgrades your looks and confidence... Upgrade your new look at Nitipon Clinic... บทพ ด: ค ณก ด ด ได อ กท น ต พลคล น ก

3 3 Dialogue: YOU can be good-looking (if you visit us) at Nitipon Clinic. ( Nitipon ) Repetition in this advertisement serves as a language tool that captures the audience s attention. It helps the customer easily remember the brand and, in fact, not to be able to forget it. Repetition indicates the connection with Flouting Maxims in that it flouts the Maxim of Quantity (see further details in Literature Review). Another example dealing with the use of language is illustrated by the dialogue in a Foremost yogurt beverage advertisement as follows: Situation: Four asks Mod to buy her a bottle of yogurt beverage. When Mod comes back, she hands the yogurt beverage to Four. โฟร : เท าไหร? Four: How much is it? มด: เท าก บไฟเบอร ในมะเข อเทศสามล ก Mod: It is equivalent to the amount of fiber in three tomatoes. โฟร : เท าไหร นะ? Four: How much? มด: เท าก บไฟเบอร ในข าวโพดสองร อยก บอ กสามส บกร ม Mod: It is equivalent to the amount of fiber in 230 grams of corn. โฟร : ไม ตลก ตกลงเท าไหร? Four: That s not funny. How much, really?

4 4 มด: เท าก บไฟเบอร ในผ กสล ดหน งชาม Mod: It is equivalent to the amount of fiber in a bowl of salad. ( Foremost ) The question How much? in Thai contains an implicit meaning as well as a direct meaning, which can be answered differently. The direct meaning asks about the price of the drinking yogurt whereas the implicit meaning asks about the amount of fiber contained in the yogurt beverage. The question that Four asked focuses on the direct meaning, so she expected the answer to be about the price whereas Mod s actual answer focuses on the implicit meaning; that is why the answer is about the amount of fiber. That the answer answered the implicit meaning instead of the direct meaning of the question can be explained by the theory of Flouting Maxims. That implicit meaning overrules direct meaning can be explained by the concept of Flouting the Maxim of Relation. The philosopher of linguistics, H. P. Grice, developed the principle of Flouting Maxims to refer to the act of overtly breaking maxims to imply something else to catch the addressee s attention. The addressee has to look into a deeper level to understand what the addresser wants to convey (Grice 30). The speaker flouts maxims in order to convey a message via the Conversational Implicature. Conversational Implicature is a term referring to pragmatic inference and was coined by Grice to refer to the act of not saying directly, or implying one thing by saying something else (24-26). Since conversational implicature must be inferred, contextual information is important (Cruse 85). Implicature has been used in several ways, such as defending controversial semantic claims in philosophy and explaining

5 5 lexical gaps in linguistics. Grice developed the theory to clarify and predict conversational implicature as well as to describe how it occurs and is understood. The audience has to think critically to interpret the implicit meaning. Conversational implicature is based on the assumption that the speaker is following the Cooperative Principle. The concept of the Cooperative Principle was developed by Grice, who observed that people try to be cooperative during their conversation. This is asserted by Grice: Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged (26). Grice divided his cooperative principle into four maxims: Quantity, Quality, Relation, and Manner. Quantity requires the speaker to give enough information, not too little, or too much. Quality requires that the speaker not lie nor make an assertion without adequate evidence. Relation requires the speakers to be relevant to the subject of conversation. The final maxim, Manner, requires that the speaker be clear, brief, orderly, and ambiguity-free. Various studies on flouting maxims based on Grice s principles have been conducted using different types of media: movies such as Ratatouille, the series Friends, soap operas, printed advertisement, and TV advertisements. Nevertheless, studies on implicit meaning in non-alcoholic beverage advertisements have not been conducted. Therefore, it is interesting and challenging to conduct a study on this aspect of implicit meaning in media advertisements to see how language is employed in non-alcoholic beverage advertisements on TV.

6 6 The data used in this study are 28 selected television advertisements for Thai non-alcoholic beverages broadcast over Thai free TV channels 3, 5, 7, and 9 in 2011, selected by a simple random sampling method. Non-alcoholic beverages can be divided into various kinds, such as drinking water, milk, coffee, yogurt beverages, juice, soft drinks, energy drinks, etc. According to the Advertising Association of Thailand, among all types of TV advertisement in 2011, Coca Cola (1 st rank), and Singha (10 th rank), producing both alcoholic as well as non-alcoholic beverages, such as drinking water and soda, were in the top ten advertisement expenditures ( Ad Expenditure ); this is the reason why non-alcoholic beverage advertisements were selected as the source of data rather than alcoholic beverages advertisements. Furthermore, the implicit meaning in these advertisements is interesting to be analyzed because it is different when applied to other forms of media, such as movies, series, soap operas, etc. Language in television advertisements often makes use of implicature, which can be explained through the concept of Flouting Maxims. Thus, the writer aims to demonstrate the use of flouting maxims in Thai non-alcoholic beverage advertisements on Thai free TV by applying Grice s Flouting Maxims and Conversational Implicature theories to analyze which maxim is flouted and what is implied when it is flouted. It is believed that this study will help create understanding of flouting maxims and raise awareness of advertising language among viewers in order not to be persuaded so easily.

7 7 1.2 Purpose of the Study The purpose of the study is to analyze the data drawn from non-alcoholic beverage advertisements on Thai television broadcasts in terms of flouting maxims by using Grice s theories of Flouting Maxims and Conversational Implicature, focusing on Flouting Maxims theory. 1.3 Education/Application Advantages The findings from this research of selected television advertisements will enhance understanding of flouting maxims and its application in television advertisements. Furthermore, this study will raise awareness of the purpose and potential effects of flouting maxims and it can facilitate a better understanding of implicit meaning being employed in Thai television advertisements. 1.4 Definitions of Important Terms 1. Cooperative Principle refers to a principle of conversation proposed by H. P. Grice, stating that participants expect that each will make a conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange ( What Is the Cooperative Principle? ). 2. Conversational Maxim refers to any of the four rules which were proposed by H. P. Grice, stating that a speaker is assumed to make a contribution that

8 8 is adequately but not overly informative (Maxim of Quantity) the speaker does not believe to be false and for which there is adequate evidence (Maxim of Quality) is relevant (Maxim of Relation or Relevance), and is clear, unambiguous, brief, and orderly (Maxim of Manner) ( What Is a Conversational Maxim? ). 3. Flouting refers to the act of violating maxims blatantly (30). 4. Flouting Maxims refers to a situation in which the speaker fails to observe a maxim without the intention of deceiving or misleading the listener; however, the speaker wants to guide the listener to other meanings (30). 5. Conversational Implicature refers to implicit meaning inferred from the obvious flouting of a conversational maxim in combination with assumed adherence to the cooperative principle (Verschueren 34). 6. Implicit Meaning refers to secondary implied meaning which is not overtly expressed and which requires deeper analyzing (26).