Online Language of Persuasion: A Case Study of Sunsilk Hair Care Products Advertising

Transcription

1 Online Language of Persuasion: A Case Study of Sunsilk Hair Care Products Advertising 1. Mr. Thitiphong Ketamon, Language and Communication, Didyasarin International College, Hatyai University, ketamon@hotmail.com 2. Dr. Patcharee Scheb-Buenner, Language and Communication, Teaching and Education, Didyasarin International College, Hatyai University, P401aaa@hotmail.co.uk 3. Dr. Kanokwan Watkins, Information Technology, Teaching and Education, Didyasarin International College, Hatyai University, kokoya002@yahoo.com, kanokwan@hu.ac.th Abstract The objectives of this qualitative research were to examine and interpret the online persuasive techniques appeared on the advertisements of the hair care products of Unilever Company. It was carried out to find out the advertising techniques in terms of communicative strategies for hyping up the products. The essential data for the study were seven pieces of quotations collected from the official website of Unilever Company. Theories of language of persuasion were employed to describe the textual information of the advertisements. The specific types of techniques, therefore, were systematically and profoundly decoded to interpret and explain the intended meaning of the messages. The research discovered that different types of persuasive techniques were intentionally used to generate positive perceptions towards the products and the brand name. The most prominent techniques were the employment of the Present Tense for making the products up-to-date. To vividly lure customers and capture attention to the products, the techniques of Alliteration or Assonance and Transfer were used to create such impacts. The tactic for making the products more attractive was the Emotive Appeal, while the Loaded Language and Simple Solutions were used to build up the positive recognition to the products. Keywords: Persuasive techniques, advertisements, products 136

2 Background 7 th International Conference on Humanities and Social Sciences Many business firms have invested a lot of money on advertisements to promote their products or services as part of marketing strategies to increase the competitive edge over others. The information technology and the internet then have been utilized as a potential channel for almost all business sectors to launch their advertisements to the public. The CMO Council (2014), a global network of executives, reported that $16.10 billion were spent last year (2014) for worldwide online marketing, increasing more than 45.3% from This figure, in fact, is probably lower than the accurate number of the whole world s digital marketing, which covers all kinds of online activities. The 2015 Digital Trends Briefing, a research conducted by Consultancy (2015); a marketing and ecommerce company, states that two-thirds of companies worldwide (64% higher than 2014) is going to work heavily with digital marketing along this year. Thus, the influence of the digital marketing is considerably significant for all business organizations these days. As the online advertisements can be easily accessed worldwide, the Sunsilk Company (Unilever) has actively levered up its competitiveness to be a global leading brand by making people to recognize the company and images through plenty of communicative strategies. Up until 2014, it is still the world s top five hair care manufacturers (Wood, 2014), and it is also ranked as one of the billion dollar brands" (Wikipedia, 2015). Therefore, to study those strategies on the perspective of language analysis will enable us to understand the Sunsilk Company s advertisements better. This is because the communicative strategies will indicate the advertisers goals of the advertisements and how the goals can be effective (O Guinn, Allen, and Semenik, 2009). Since the advertising is the process of telling people about a particular product or service, it can be made up with several formats such as a text, an image, and organization of those elements (Sells, 2012). One of the most famous theories to deal with studying advertising is working through persuasive techniques analysis, which we will focus on the employment of those techniques (National Council of Teachers of English, 2015). The techniques which the advertisers use to to grab our attention, to establish credibility and trust, to stimulate desire for the product or policy, and to motivate us to act (buy, vote, give money, etc.) called the "language of persuasion. (MediaLiteracy Project, 2015). 137

3 Hence, the researcher is interested in investigating the persuasive techniques employed on the online advertisements of the Sunsilk Company in order to find out how these advertisements play significant roles on persuading customers to buy the products and with what kinds of intentional purposes. Objectives 1. To study the online persuasive techniques employed on the advertisements of the Sunsilk Company s website. 2. To analyze those persuasive techniques as to describe the functions they perform on the advertisements of the world s leading hair care products manufacturer in the era of digital marketing. Research Question(s) What are the different kinds of online persuasive techniques intentionally used by Sunsilk Company and with what purposes for hyping the products and creating positive images? Research Methodology The study is the utilization of the persuasive techniques in describing the textual information of the advertisements obtained from the website of Sunsilk Company ( The primary sources of information are the seven pieces of advertisements (quotations), while the secondary ones are the persuasive techniques and the theories of language of advertising. 1. Samples 2. The seven pieces of advertisements in the format of quotations are the samples of this study. 3. Research Criteria 4. The textual information of the selected advertisements will be scrutinized by the theories of the language of persuasion of Media Literacy Project in order to find out the types of the persuasive techniques and intended purposes of launching those advertisements. 5. Data Analysis 6. The persuasive techniques will be used to analyze the advertisements. 138

4 7. The study will investigate the textual information on the advertisements only. 8. The explanation of the persuasive techniques used on the advertisements will be provided as to describe the characteristics and the insightful meaning. 9. The frequency of the employed persuasive techniques on those advertisements will be calculated and organized into orders from the most to the least. Findings The study revealed that the advertisers of Sunsilk Company employ several prominent persuasive techniques on the seven pieces of advertisements in order communicate their marketing messages with the customers. The top five obvious persuasive techniques are Present Tense, Alliteration or Assonance and Transfer, the Emotive Appeal, Loaded Language, and Simple Solutions. First of all, it is definitely clear that the employment of the Present Tense technique becomes the highest frequency of the employment of persuasive techniques (91.9%) among the seven pieces of advertisements, making the products fresh and timeless. For example, I see things in 3D - most people don't notice what I do. This technique is used for maintaining the trend of the products to be alive and active all the time. Secondly, the use of Alliteration or Assonance and Transfer (50%) are to capture customers attention towards the products. For example, To get the most out of our curls, there are three crucial things we girls need to get into our heads and our hair. The techniques are intentionally used to trigger customers attention to the products. Third, the Emotive Appeal (43.55%) is used to fascinate customers by hyping up the products more attractive. For example, With Sunsilk, I want to bring brilliant black shine to girls worldwide. In addition, to create the positive images towards the products, the technique of Loaded Language (29.04%) is implemented. For example, All women deserve to have soft, smooth and manageable hair. And the Simple Solutions (29.04%) is also used to create the positive perceptions about the products. For example, It is so easy to keep your hair look perfect. You just need keep the surface of hairs as healthy as possible, and Sunsilk can help you. Other techniques such as Fear Technique, Band wagon, and Figurative Language are fragmentally used in all pieces of the advertisements, and they are used for a specific purpose of their kind. 139

5 Discussions 7 th International Conference on Humanities and Social Sciences The advertisements of hair care products play a very potential role in our daily lives and on our decision of cosmetic products consumption. The Sunsilk Company and its business still become outstanding on the market of cosmetics as well as being the world s leading companies because of the effective online marketing through various types of advertisements. Throughout the investigation of the seven pieces of advertisements, it is empirically clear that several types of persuasive techniques are intentionally used by the advertisers of the Sunsilk Company. Focusing on the overall picture of the study, it indicates that all types of those persuasive techniques are used to either to hype the products or lure customers into buying the products. This phenomenon is accorded with Dayaporn (2001) and Phanomwan Na Ayutthaya (2008) who pointed out that advertisers used different types of appeal and techniques, for example, alliteration and consonance, figurative language, and positive sentences to deliver their persuasive messages to audiences; while Cogalniceanu (2011) emphasized that a message to act in a persuasive manner enables the advertisers to increase perspective customers. Apparently, the revelation of this study is substantially related to the results of other researches on the language of persuasion and advertising. The study has also reaffirmed that the development of employing persuasive techniques in the world of advertising are likely in accord with the contemporary ones. The most well-known persuasive techniques such as Rational Appeals, Emotional Based Techniques, and Figurative Language still play the key leading roles in the world of advertising today (Zaidi, 2012). Recommendations 1. This study only focuses on the advertisements of the Unilever Company s website. It might be interesting to do a study on the advertisements of other cosmetic companies such as Pantene and Head and Shoulder as to make the comparison. 2. This study only focuses on the textual information. Other elements such as colors and images, and layout designs may be necessary to be investigated as well as the video clips. 3. Other sources of media of Sunsilk Company s advertisements such as posters, product containers, and TV advertisements may need to be focused on as long as other types of products such as detergent and skin care products. 140

6 4. This study can be a rich source of information for studying the language of advertising in various different situations. References CMO Council. (2014). Marketing spend [Online]. Retrieved January 13, 2015 from Cogalniceanu, Natalia. (2011).The impact of persuasive communication in advertising 12_No-1S_Article-36.pdf Diyaporn, Wisamitanan. (2001). Persuasive Techniques in the Cover Story of Thailand South Guide Magazine, M.A. Thesis: Chulalongkorn University. Econsultancy. (2015). Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing: 2015 Digital Trends (Online). Retrieved January 13, 2015 from 2015-digital-trends Media Literacy Project. (2015). Media Literacy Project (Online). Retrieved May 13, 2015 from National Council of Teachers of English. (2015). Persuasive Techniques in Advertising (Online). Retrieved January 13, 2015 from (Online). Retrieved January 13, 2015 from html? Tab=4. O Guinn, C. Thomas, Allen, T. Chris and Semenik, J. Richard. (2009). Advertising and Integrated Brand Promotion 5 th Ed. U.S.A: South-Western Cengage Learning. Pawinee, Phanomwan Na Ayutthaya. (2008). A Study of Advertising Language in the Billboards in Bangkok, M.A. Thesis: Srinakharinwirot University. Sells, Peter. (2012). The Language of Advertising (Online). Retrieved May 13, 2015 from Wikipedia. (2015). Sunsilk (Online). Retrieved January 13, 2015 from 141

7 Wood, Laura. (2014). Top Five Global Hair Care Product Manufacturers: Performance, Strategies and Competitive Analysis 2013 (Online). Retrieved January 13, 2015 from Zaidi, Hussain. (2012). Examples of Advertising Techniques. Online). Retrieved January 13, 2015 from 142