Analysis of Advertising Language flouting the maxims of the Cooperative Principle
Abstract: With the growth of society and economy, advertising, as being the important part of the social culture, has directly and indirectly affected people's daily life including living, work and recreation etc. As an important way of commercial activity, advertisement has attracted more and more attention. This paper focus on the flouting of the Grice's Cooperative Principle in advertising language, leads to the production of implicature. By means of illustration of culled advertisements, this paper concludes that adroit and purposeful violation of Cooperative Principle is a language art and helps to realize the advertiser’s goal of elaborating the persuasiveness in advertisements and enticing people to purchase the product.
Key words: advertising language, cooperative principle, flouting the maxim,
Introduction:
With the soaring development of economy and the intense globalization, it is self-evident that advertising plays an increasingly important role in modern society. National economy needs advertising for its development. Enterprises need advertising for inter-enterprise competition, market occupation and sale promotion. People need advertising for help in choosing commodities and for the enrichment of spiritual life.
At present, advertising has invaded every aspect of modern society and exerted great impact on the life patterns of modern people. We are surrounded by various kinds of adverts. Whenever we open a newspaper or a magazine, turn on the TV or the radio, or look at the billboards in subways or on buildings, we are exposed to various advertisements. As a special form of communication, most advertisements are actually a kind of persuasive speech act with the aim to persuade consumes to accept and buy certain products. In order to achieve this purpose, advertisers frequently employ some strategies in the advertising language. One of the effective ways fulfilling this aim is by flouting the maxims of the Cooperative Principle.
1. Advertising
1.1 The Definition of Advertising
The English word "advertise" derives from the Latin word "advertere", which refers to a means to draw attention from the public to something and lead them to some direction (Yao Xi, 2002). For thousands of years, tradesmen used public cries and signboards to attract attention. Today we may find people standing at the roadside, waving towels as a means to say "Car washing service provided." However, advertising as we know it has its roots in the seventeenth century when the British saw in them a prosperity of trade and commerce (Zhao, 1996: 2). So far, though scholars in different countries have made different definitions of advertising, the main
idea does not differ. A most widely adopted definition was given by American Marketing Association as follows:
"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." (Zhao Jing, 1992: 1).
1.2 Features of Advertising
From the definition, we can identify the advertising features:
(1) Non-personal. The target group is the public, not any individual.
(2) A specific sponsor. Any advertisement is sponsored by some individual or organization for the purpose of convincing or persuasion.
(3) Advertisements are paid for. Usually the cost is borne by the sponsor.
(4) Communication of information. The information conveyed can be about a product and service or sometimes can be noncommercial, which publicizes some economic, political or religious idea.
(5) Media. Mostly, advertisements are spread through newspapers, magazines, television, radio and so on.
The most important, all advertising is meant to be persuasive. This is recognized as the most distinctive and predominant characteristic of advertising. As Tanaka puts that advertising is in reality socially `goal-divided' (Tanaka, 1998:9). The ultimate goal of an advertiser in putting an advertisement is to get the audience to purchase the product or service being promoted. However, this goal is not shared by the audience. If customers will buy the product anyway, there is virtually no need for the existence of an advertisement. Then the advertiser will strive to change the thinking of those uninterested audience and persuade them to buy the product being promoted.
2. Advertising Language
2.1 The Definition of Advertising Language
The language of advertising, among other aids and appeals, is of decisive importance to the persuasiveness and effectiveness of advertising. Given its key role in promoting a product or service, researchers have devoted much attention to the study of advertising language as follows:
The language of advertising is language that is used in efforts to persuade or otherwise entice people to purchase products or services, vote for particular political candidates, modify their behavior (Just say `No'!),or come to adopt a favorable view of some corporate entity (We're working to keep your trust.). ( Geis, 1994: 42)
In short, advertising language is the language used in advertisements, which, loaded with persuasive intentions for sales promotion or other purposes, is a linguistic device of well-conceived messages.
2.2 Features of Advertising Language
As a practical style, advertising language has its special features in terms of lexical, syntactical and rhetorical structures.
(1) Lexical features
Generally, simple and expressive spoken words are highly preferred in advertisements. Among the vocabulary used in advertisements, adjectives and verbs occur in high frequency. Adjectives are used to an unusually high degree, e.g. shining,
elegant and smooth. Adjectives are important in advertising, for they are used to add prestige, desirability and approval. Strongly positive evaluative adjectives tend to be chosen. Verbs in advertisements are used in imperative form where the consumers are told to try something.
(2) Syntactical features
Usually, sentences in advertising language are short and simple because short and simple sentences are emphatic, expressive and have special clarity. With the chief goal of advertisements set to urge desirable responses from readers, modern copywriters extensively use imperative sentences. Loaded with producers' confidence of their products and services, imperative patterns seem to deny any hesitance in purchase.
(3) Rhetorical features
Apart from skillful use of words and sentences, copywriters of advertisements often adopt some rhetorical devices to make the advertisements more noticeable and memorable, thus enabling the advertising language to be highly artful and loaded. Such devices as metaphor, simile, pun, irony, and repetition are frequently used.
3.Flouting the maxims of the Cooperative Principle
3.1 Definition of the Cooperative Principle
Herbert Paul Grice, in his famous paper "Logic and Conversation" (1975), suggests that there exists a set of maxims and sub-maxims that guide and constrain the conversation of rational people. He has formulated his widely-known "Cooperative Principle", which participants in conversation are expected to observe: "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." (Grice, 1975:45)
The principle breaks down into particular maxims that summarize particular assumptions about conversation. Grice proposes four maxims as follows:
(1)Quantity
(a) Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the current purposes of the exchange);
(b) Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.
(2) Quality
Try to make your contribution one that is true;
(a) Do not say what you believe to be false;
(b) Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.
(3) Relation
Be relevant.
(4) Manner
Be perspicuous:
(a) Avoid obscurity of expression;
(b) Avoid ambiguity;
(c) Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity); and
(d) Be orderly.
(Grice, 1975:41)
These maxims are obviously useful and necessary in everyday conversation, otherwise communication would be very difficult, and perhaps break down altogether. However, it is also important and interesting to note that these maxims are not strictly observed. In some special situation, such as in advertisement, we will violate these maxims intentionally or accidentally in order to achieve some special effect.
3.2 Flouting the Sub-maxims.
3.2.1Flouting the Quantity Maxim
On the advertising language, we often fail on following the quantity maxim. If the speaker rambles on without saying anything informative, the addressee will lose interest quickly and stop paying attention. In the advertising context, the advertiser is supposed to avoid redundant information in his contribution. On the one hand, the information that is devoid of meaning will confuse or even annoy the audiences and might cause the communication between the advertiser and the readers fail. On the other hand, the cost of print advertising is charged by the length and the space it takes, the more the advertiser says, the higher the cost is.
Considering expensive costs of advertisements and long-term memory in consumers’ minds, it seems that for no reason the advertiser will flout this sub-maxim. However, under the most circumstance, we are attacked by the advertising most. The following advertisements provide exact examples of this kind.
Example 1: It is the taste. (Nestle Coffee)
Given this sentence, one can hardly judge what it advertises for because it lacks enough information. But it is really a famous advertisement for Nestle Coffee. Obviously, it has not actual meaning, but with the premise that it is an advertisement propagating coffee, it actually conveys the underlying message that Nestle Coffee tastes very good. In this indirect way, the readers’ curiosity and desire for tasting is aroused and they are unconsciously induced to buy the product to have a try of the taste.
Example 2: Like father, like son. (MOTOROLA cellular phone)
After reading this ad, we may be puzzled and wonder what it advertises for. Only when we are confronted with the phone photo can we realize that it implies that Motorola cellular phone has a long history and still remains outstanding in this enterprise. In this way, the product leaves a deep and favorable impression on the mind of readers.
The above examples are deliberately withholding information in a hope that the readers will make it up. They flout the first sub-maxim of CP. Some advertisers even don’t refer to products brand. However, in this way, consumers will spend more time in thinking upon conversational implicatures in advertisements and then advertisers reach their aims of drawing consumers’ attention. And this kind of advertisements can easily arouse reader’s interest.
3.2.2 Flouting the Quality Maxim
The quality maxim, also called true maxim, requires people to make true contribution.
Advertising is an art of language and a kind of communication full of skills.
In order to propagate the commodity, the advertisers flout the quality maxim on
purpose by making their language in advertising paradoxical, illogical or by exaggerating facts; while from the seemingly unreal message, the consumers usually can infer the actual meaning.
Example 3:为您捧出第二个太阳。(桑普采暖炉广告)
The example 20 says presenting the second sun for consumers. We know there is only one sun in the world. “The second sun” gives people some room to imagine. Here “sun” refers to the warming machine which brings people warmth. One feature of the sun is warming others, so this way is very vivid to speak out the function of the product in a few succinct words.
Example 4:随身的绿荫。(美加净防晒护肤系列)
At the first sight of the advertisement in example 4, consumers may be amazed at the expression. “绿荫” means the trees on either side of the street to prevent people from exposing to the sun. How can people take the shade with them to go everywhere? Maybe the implicature can answer the question. In this advertisement advertisers compare a kind of suntan lotion to the shade. That implies this suntan lotion will protect people from being hurt by the strong light of the sun especially in summer. If someone uses it, he or she walks under the sun as if walking under the shade. It is unnecessary to worry about the health of the skin.
3.2.3 Flouting the Relation Maxim
The flouting of Relation maxim takes place in advertising when the advertiser deviates from the advertised topic on purpose. The consumers cannot understand its real meaning at the first sight and it causes their curious to use more time to find the answer. In this way, the advertiser ingeniously attracts the reader’s attention and reinforces the effect of the advertisement. Therefore, in some cases, slogans or headlines of advertisements seem unrelated to the products which are promoted.
Take the following several advertisements for example.
Example5:呈现完美品质,构建天堂般的家园。(千禧沙发广告)
This is an advertisement for a sofa. At first sight, paradise in the advertisement seems to be flouting the Relation maxim. But as it is known for us, the paradise is a wonderful place in Chinese fairy tales. People tend to describe their ideal life as one god is leading in paradise and consider it to be a very enjoyable place. The advertiser is emphasizing the super quality and elegance of the sofa by saying that your house will be as cozy as paradise with the sofa in it.
Example6: 今年二十,明年十八。(——白丽美容香皂广告)
It seems that advertisers are uncooperative and violate the maxim of relation in this slogan.When consumers know the conversational implicature, the relationship between the slogan and the product is naturally realized---- after using the soap you will keep young, so remaining.
Example7: 蓝哥牛仔裤:有如第二层皮肤。(吴为善,2002:204)
The advertisement for a pair of jeans makes a comparison between the product and a second skin. By mentioning another subject, the advertisement is flouting the Relation maxim. The audience will believe that the jeans must be very natural and make them comfortable because the skin is a natural and an inherent part of our body.
The above advertisements are cases of flouting the relation maxim. The
advertisements seem irrelevant to the advertised products or services. It is not easy for the readers to get what the advertised products are. However, readers usually spend more time and effort on such sayings out of curiosity and try to get the implicature. By flouting the relation maxim, the advertiser enhances the difficulty for people to decode the advertising language; while at the same time, the advertiser also lengthens the readers’attention time upon the advertisement which is a prerequisite of purchasing action.
3.2.4 Flouting the Manner Maxim
By the maxim of manner, it is meant that in a dialogue, we all try to be perspicuous (clear and lucid). In line with this maxim, there are four sub-maxims: 1) we try to avoid obscurity, 2) we try to avoid ambiguity, 3) we try to be brief, and 4) we try to be orderly.
But In advertising, the advertiser sometimes flouts this maxim in order to stimulate consumer’s interest and purchasing desire. The following section will examine how the special effects are achieved by flouting each sub-maxim of Manner Example9: The oragemostest Drink in the world.
It seems violate the maxim of avoiding obscurity. When one reads the ad, he or she may think the word oragemostest is wrong, but actually it is deliberately created by the advertiser. At the first glance, one may judge that there is a misspelled word, whereas most people may promptly understand the advertiser’s intention. Orangemostest in this ad consists of three parts: orange, most and est. it is known to all that orange juicy is popular for its nutrition and thirsty-quenching quality. Thus it will leave a great impression for people.
Example10: 唯有独品(毒品),让我上瘾。(洗发水广告)
Obviously this ad flouts the maxim of Manner “avoid ambiguity”. It sounds like somebody is addicted in the drug. So it arouses the audiences’ curiosity by showing the drug drum beating publicly. Therefore, they may be deeply impressed by it. They’d like to choose this product to check if it has the power making them be addicted in it too.
Example11: 天鹅般的迅速,天鹅般的轻盈,天鹅般的优雅,是天鹅牌自行车。(天鹅牌自行车广告)
Altogether, the word “swan” is repeated four times in this advertisement. Obviously, it flouts the Manner maxim of Cooperation Principle. The intention of doing so purposefully is to give prominence to the features of the bike and to enforce memory of the brand name in audience’s mind.
Example12: Adding Grand Marnier to one’s coffee can also create a stir. (Grand Marnier Café)
“Stir” has the meaning of “to move a spoon in liquid”, such as stir one’s coffee. Another meaning is “to excite”, such as he will cause a stir in the future. In this advertisement, the implicature is that this kind of coffee is related to one’s success. Conclusion
The paper analyzes the advertising language flouting the maxim of quantity, quality, relation and manner put forward by Grice.
Sub-consciously or even unconsciously, when we design the advertising language, we generally have something like the CP in our mind. However, it is possible to flout a maxim intentionally or unconsciously and thereby convey a different meaning than what is literally spoken. Many times in advertisement, this flouting is manipulated by a designer to produce a positive pragmatic effect. Now, we often accustomed to this phenomenon and even attracted by the flouting maxims of quality. And it increases the readability of advertisements.
References
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