\ READING ADS WITH CRITICAL EYES by Vera Lúcia Menezes de Oliveira e Paiva FACULDADE DE LETRAS UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE MINAS GERAIS JANUARY, 1987 ABSTRACT The aim of this work is to show the importance of the study of advertising language in the classroom as a contribution to the formation of critical readers. Emphasis is put on the persuasive aspects of advertisements, the manipulation of human needs, the underlying ideology and the written and iconic devices used to influence consumers. Some suggestions of pedagogical activities are provided in order to show how the theory discussed can be translated into practical exercises. READING ADS WITH CRITICAL EYES by Vera Lúcia Menezes de Oliveira e Paiva Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Mestre em Ingles. Thesis Advisors: Dr. Vicente de Paula Andrade Prof. Elisa Cristina de Proença Rodrigues Gallo FACULDADE DE LETRAS UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE MINAS GERAIS JANUARY, 1987 UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE MINAS GERAIS FACULDADE DE LETRAS This is to certify that the dissertation prepared by Vera Lúcia Menezes de Oliveira e Paiva, entitled "Reading Ads with Critical Eyes" complies with the University regulat.ions and that it meets the accepted standards of this Faculty with respect to style and content for the degree of: Mestre em Inglis. Signed by the final examining committee. and by Dr. Ana Lucia AlmeiMa ^azolla Coordenadora dos Cursos de Põs-Graduação em Letras da FALE/UFMG ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am especially grateful to my thesis advisors Dr.Vicente de Paula Andrade for his assitance, interest and competence and to Prof. Elisa Cristina de Proença Rodrigues Gallo whose friendly help added to her competence enabled me to finish this work. I would like to express my gratitude to Aimara da Cunha Resende, the first person to call my attention to the importance of "Mass Media" in the classroom. She has been a constant source of stimulation, encouragement and friendship. \ I am greatly indebted to Suely Maria de Paula e Silva Lobo, whose course of English Literature at UFMG, in 1981 motivated me to go on with my studies and to Rosa Maria Neves da Silva, my academic advisor, whose friendly encouragement greatly contributed to my work. Two dear friends. Lúcio Navarro and Magda Veloso F. Tolentino are worth my tenderhearted thanks for their constant help and support. I could not forget those who helped me with bibliography and stimulation- My thanks to Ana Lúcia Gazolla, Carlos Gohn, Cleusa Vieira Aguiar, Else Ribeiro Pires Vieira, IlTdio Teixeira Bonfim, Ivana Versiani Galery, Júlio César Jeha, Júlio César Machado Pinto, Maria Luiza Cyrino, Maria Helena Rabelo and Rosana Silva do Espirito Santo. My last expression of gratitude goes to Nãdia Amorim Matta Machado whose skillful typewriting gave the final form to this work. To the maidservant.whose unflagging presence, year in year out, in performing the drab necessary household chores, enabled me to shun them and, in so doing, to dedicate my time to my studies and to the writing of this dissertation. Table of Contents Page Introducti on Chapter I Advertising X Propaganda 18 1.1 Introduction 19 1.2 Functions and goals of advertising 22 1.3 Kinds of advertisement 23 1.3.1 A classification of ads according to advertisers' point of view 23 1.3.2 A classification of ads according to consumers' point of view 41 1.4 Persuasive devices used by advertising.... 56 1.5 Conclusion 58 Notes Chapter II Ideology and Advertisements 62 11.1 Introduction 63 11.2 Ideology as an Instrument of domination... 64 11.3 The role of education in creating critical readers/consumers 67 11.4 The ideology behind printed ads 71 11.5 Concl u s i on . 84 Notes • 85 Chapter III Advertising and the Satisfaction of Human Needs 87 111.1 Introduction 89 111.2 Taxonomies of human needs 90 111.3 The role of advertising in the satisfaction of human needs 93 111.4 Advertising as a tool for cultural domination 96 111.5 Advertising and the creation of new desires . loo 111.6 Conclusion 110 Notes 112 Page Chapter IV Written Language and its Role in Advertising 114 IV . 1 I ntroducti on 115 IV.2 The plastic treatment of v/ords 122 IV.3 The use of cliches in advertisements .... 132 IV.3.1 Defining Cliche 132 IV.3.2 The role of cliches 133 IV.3.3 Cliches in Advertisements 135 IV.3.4 Tearing the masks off the cliches 148 IV.4 Grammatical Disruption and Poetic Devices. 150 IV.4.1 Grammatical disruption I55 IV.4.2 Poetic devices 168 IV . 5 Concl usi on 172 Notes 174 Chapter V Iconic Language and its Role in Advertising 176 V.l Introduction 177 V.2 Advertising and Dreams 178 V.3 The roles of pictures in advertising .... 180 V.4 Images and their levels of encoding 181 V.5 The Role of Symbols in Iconic Language .. 198 V.5.1 Exemplification 199 V . 6 Concl usion 211 Notes 214 Concl usi on 217 Pedagogical Appendix 221 Bi bli ography 271 List of Illustrations Fig. 1 - "Chevrolet - Citation 11" - Reader's Digest Fig. 2 - "Ford LTD Crown Victoria" - Reader's Digest Fig. 3 - "Honda - The Civic 4-Door Sedan" - Reader's Digest Fig. 4 - "Pontiac" - Reader's Digest, November, 1983 Fig. 5 - "Lazy Man's Way to Riches" - The Saturday Evening Post, July/August, 1981 Fig. 6 - "The Aqua-Home" - Boating, March, 1970 Fig. 7 - "Sheraton" - Time-, August 16, 1982 Fig. 8 - "Motorcycle Industry Council" - Fortune, February 20, 1984 Fig. 9 - "Chanel N9 5" - Desfile, December, 1986 Fig. 10 - "Parfum N9 5 Chanel" - Vogue, November, 1985 Fig. 11 - "Gentleman's Chanel" - Vogue, November, 1985 Fig. 12 - "BMW 325i" - Vogue, November, 1985 Fig. 13 - "West Bend" - Reader's Digest, June, 1986 Fig. 14 - "Lufthansa" - Fortune, February 20, 1984 Fig. 15 - "Heineken" ^ Time Fig. 16 - "Chandlers" - Vogue, October, 1981 Fig. 17 - "Anacin-3" - Reader's Digest Fig. 18 - "A collection of Brazilian ads" Fig. 19 - "Black Velvet" - Reader's Digest Fig. 20 - "Martini" - Vogue, October, 1981 Fig. 21 - "Air France" - Time, June 25, 1973 Fig. 22 - "Lufthansa" - Time, February 20, 1984 Fig. 23 - "DeBeers" - Reader's Digest Fig. 24 - "Johnnie Walker Red Label" - Time, September, 19, 1983 Fig. 25 - "Army ROTC." - Reader's Digest, September, 1985 Fig. 26 - "AEtna" - Reader's Digest Fig. 27 - "FTD FLorist" - Reader's Digest, December, 1983 Fig. 28 - "DeBeers" - Reader's Digest Fig. 29 - "Evan-Picone" - Glamour, August, 1981 Fig. 30 - "Air France" - Time Fig. 31 - "American Tourister" - Reader's Digest, November, 1981 Fig. 32 - "Spanish Olives" - Reader's Digest, September, 1986 ig. 33 - "Ecotrin" - Reader's Digest, July, 1986 ig. 34 - "Kraft Mayonnaise" - Reader's Digest, September, 1986 ig. 35 - "Fruit of the Loom" - Reader's Digest, December, 1983 ig. 36 - "Noxzema" - Mademoiselle, May, 1986 ig. 37 - "Benadryl" - Reader's Digest, September, 1986 ig. 38 - "British airways" - Time ig. 39 - "Hawaiian Punch" - Reader's Digest, July, 1986 ig. 40 - "Lady Kenmore" - Reader's Digest, December, 1974 ig. 41 - "Kodak" - Reader's Digest, July, 1986 ig. 42 - "Kodak" - Reader's Digest, December, 1974 ig. 43 - "Purina" - Reader's Digest, December, 1974 ig. 44 - "Clarins" ig, 45 - "Q-Tips" - Glamour, August, 1981 ig. 46 - "Duracell" - Reader's Digest ig. 47 - "Delicare" - Reader's Digest, July, 1986 ig. 48 - "Saxon" - Life, December, 1985 ig. 49 - "Shield" - Reader's Digest ig. 50 - "Cool Whip" - Reader's Digest, December, 1983 ig. 51 - "Kahlua" - Vogue, October, 1981 ig. 52 - "Newport News Shipbuilding" - Fortune, March 5, 1984 ig. 53 - "New Hattiness" - Vogue, October, 1981 ig. 54 - "Holiday Inn" - Reader's Digest, August, 1985 ig. 55 - "Karastan" - Vogue, October, 1981 ig. 56 - "The Leeds" - Cosmopolitan, March, 1978 ig. 57 - "Jheri Redding" ^ Mademoiselle, May, 1986 ig. 58 - "Spanish Olives" - Reader's Digest, September, 1985 Fig. 59 - "Head & Shoulders" - Reader's Digest, October, 1983 Fig. 60 - "Lil-lets" - Company, May, 1986 Fig. 61 - "Predictor" - Company, May, 1986 Fig. 62 - "U.S.Steel" - Reader's Digest, December, 1982 Fig. 63 - "Danskin" - Vogue, October, 1981 Fig. 64 - "Mobil Corporation" - Reader's Digest Fig. 65 - "E & J Brandy" - Reader's Digest, September, 1986 Fig. 66 - "American Wool Council" Fig. 67 - "Kool-Aid" - Reader's Digest, September, 1986 Fig. 68 - "Total" - Reader's Digest, August, 1985 Fig. 69 - "Baldwin" - Reader's Digest Fig. 70 - "Bath Gelee" - Vogue, November, 1985 Fig. 71 - "Freedom Stowaway" - Vogue, November, 1985 Fig. 72 - "Merle Norman" - Vogue, October, 1981 Fig. 73 - "A collection of Brazilian ads" Fig. 74 - "Air France" - Time, June 25, 1973 Fig. 75 - "Reynolds Wrap" - Reader's Digest Fig. 76 - "Soloflex" - Reader's Digest, October, 1982 Fig. 77 - "Kraft Mayonnaise" ^ Reader's Digest, September, 1986 Fig. 78 - "Good Everyday Breakfast Ideas" - Reader's Digest Fig. 79 - "Breakfast" - Reader's Digest Fig. 80 - "Crest" - Reader's Digest Fig. 81 - "Bayer" - Reader's Digest, July, 1986 Fig. 82 - "Cook Electric" Fig. 83 - "Christian Children's Fund of Great Britain" - Company, May, 1986 Fig. 84 - "Children, Inc." - Glamour, August, 1981 Fig. 85 - "Save the Children" - Time, March 26, 1984 INTRODUCTION "Quanto mais me capacito como profissional,_quanto mais sistematizo minhas experiências, quanto mais me utilizo do patrimônio cultural, que é patrimônio de todos e ao qual todos devem servir, mais aumenta minha responsabilidade com os homens." Paulo Freire Introducti on Piaget has taught us that learning has its base in the act of thinking via assimilation and accomodati on J Assimilation consists of the exploration of the environment by the learner, who becomes part of it through a process of perception and interpretation. The mind has "assimilation schemes"(e.g. l earned concepts and previous actions), which enable men to assimilate new concepts. Such schemes are developed through external stimulation. The obvious conclusion is that a child brought up in an environment full of stimuli will develop his scheme of assimilation in a more active way. Accocsodation consists of the transformation of one's own structure in order to adapt oneself to the imposed reality. For Piaget the intelligence is gradually built through challenge and stimulation, and Young reminds us that "The fact that few objects are naturally and intrinsically what they seem to be has been clearly indicated by such thinkers as George Herbert Mead, Jean Piaget, and Heinz Werner. A child growing up within a society begins by viewing an object in an idiosyncratic self centered way, and gradually redefines his relationship to it in terms of the broader, adult society. The acculturated individual internalizes the way the general society view the artifact, and sees the product in a setting of needs and values that control his action and attitudes about it."2 In other words, the more the student explores the world he lives in the more he understands reality around him. In order to be really conscious of reality, one must act instead of taking things for granted. As "Mass communication enters into all that we know, believe and understand, and becomes a part of the frame of reference which determines how we 3 interpret all experience," it cannot be left outside of the school. All kinds of Mass Media should be studied in the classroom and among them advertising occupies an outstanding position. Boys and girls should, since childhood, be taught the strategies advertising uses in order to convince consumers to buy more products and also the strategies used to persuade people to adopt false values. The public must be educated to analyze the information they get from advertisements and to be able to distinguish between informative and persuasive elements in advertising language. What is being proposed in this work is an attempt at modifying the learner's reading production by supplying himwith a knowledge of the mechanisms of advertising language in order to turn his position of victim into that of an active subject of reading. A critical reader will certainly be a critical consumer. Advertisements present a living language in its process of transformation. This fact in and of itself is enough to justify the importance of its use in the teaching-learning process. It can be used at any level of foreign language teaching, and when we use them as didactic devices we are able to reach many goals such as: - to use authentic material - to bring present "information" into the classroom - to study syntatic and semantic aspects in a real context - to develop creativity in oral and written activities - to increase vocabulary - to be in contact with the culture of the people who speak the target language. But the paramount importance of the study of advertising language lies in the possibility of creating a new kind of reader—a critical reader. According to Gutierrez "0 aluno tem que chegar a dominar a semió- tica e a criatividade para ser capaz de conver- ter-se em um "consumidor" inteligente, seletivo e critico dos Meios de Comunicação Social. Além do mais, estas mesmas linguagens lhe permitirão penetrar com maior facilidade no mundo do saber: arte, literatura, histõria, geografia, ciências, religião, etc."4 A child can not be brought up in a laboratory but in the real world; man cannot be an island. Human beings were born to think, to face their environment and to interact critically with their living reality. We believe that education must offer all the opportunities for men (since childhood) to think, act,and transform their own reality. Unfortunately, our educational system has been based on the ignorance and fragmentation of reality. The result is the great number of unthinking persons who learn answers to given questions, who internalize certain behavior patterns and can never get rid of them. Such persons are able to play just one role in their lives, the role of robots who will be able neither to defend themselves against massification nor to avoid being a mere "object" under the control of dominant forces. In the attempt to create an active reader the choice of the advertising register takes into account the learner's needs due to his social-cultural context. Advertising is part of the student's life and as such it deserves the teacher's attention. This dissertation was divided into five chapters and an appendix with pedagogical applications. The first Chapter compares advertising and propaganda, presents a classification of advertisements and shows the persuasive devices used by advertising. The second and third Chapters will show how misleading advertising can be. The second Chapter will show how the dominant ideology is subliminarly used in advertisements and the third Chapter will show how human needs are manipulated by advertising. The fourth and fifth Chapters will be dedicated to advertising language, the former describing the devices used by written language and the latter dealing with the power of iconic language. The appendix is an attempt to apply all the theoretical aspects to exercises which can be used in the classroom. The aim of such exercises is to enable students to identify the manipulation of human needs, the underlying ideology, the written and visual devices ,besides detecting the informative and persuasive aspects of an advertisement. In short, following Piaget's lessons, the proposed activities aim at leading the student into the exploration of his own reality in order to transform it. If such an aim is achieved the teacher will also be an educator, and a real educator sees education as prescribed by Paulo Freire: "A educação será portanto, um reagir (responder) criativamente do educando. E desenvolver uma capacidade de reagir frente aos outros e ao mundo c^ue nos rodeia t conseguir com que o homem seja capaz durante toda a sua vida,de interrogar-se e encontrar as respostas adequadas para transformar a realidade. Em resumo, que não sejam homens espectadores mas sim recriadores do mundo. Notes ^ Jean Piaget. Psicologia da Inteligência. Trans. Eglea de Alencar. (Rio de Janeiro: Fundo de Cultura, 1958). 2 James Webb Young, "A Mirror for a lady"in The Role of Advertising, ed. C. H. Sandage (Illinois: Richard D. Irwin, 1969) p. 197. ^ Young p. 218. 4 Francisco Gutierrez, Linguagem total: uma Peda- gogia dos Meios de Comunicação (Summus Editorial, 1 978) p. 83. 5 Paulo Freire, Pedagogia do Oprimido (Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, 1975) p. 82. CHAPTER I ADVERTISING X PROPAGANDA "The creation of the world is the victory of persuasion over force." Plato I.l INTRODUCTION It is worth establishing the difference between adverti sing and adverti sement. Both terms, advertising and advertisement, from the verb to advert (to call attention) derive from the Latin "advertere" which means "to turn towards."^ Adverti s i ng is "the action of attracting public'attention to a product or business;" it is "the business of preparing and 3 distributing advertisements." Adverti sement (informally called "ad") is "a public note; especially one published, broadcast, or displayed publicly to advertise a product, service, etc." Advertising involves market research, psychological studies of potential consumers, the choice of the media which will best convey the message, etc. A lot of work must be'done before an advertisement is worked out and displayed. The word propaganda is seldom used in advertising language but a semantic distinction from advertising/advertisement may be useful as well. Propaganda is "(the usually organized spreading of) ideas, information, or rumour designed to promote or damage an institution, movement, person, etc."^ It derives from "Congregatio de propaganda fide," a congregation whose function was to propagate the faith. It was established by Pope Gregory XV in 1622. So the word propaganda was first used in an eclesiastic context—"a systematic scheme for the dissemination of a doctrine or practice."® According to James Brown the "Congregatio de Propaganda" was formed by a group of Cardinals in charge of converting pagans abroadBrown emphasizes 20 that it was seen as a beneficial process which does not happen in our century. The term is now seen as something false and misleading. The basic distinction between propaganda and adverti s i ng is that the former aims at making people accept an idea, a principle, a theory or doctrine while the latter attempts to persuade people at the level of consumption of goods and services. Nevertheless both terms are generally used without much distinction in similar contexts. Edmund McGarry says that "Advertising as used today is primarily a type of propaganda. The essence of propaganda is that it conditions people to act in a way favorable to or desired by the propagandist. It deliberately attempts to influence, persuade, and convince people to act in a way that they would not otherwise act. Propaganda had its birth in the attempt of the church to propagate the faith. It is used by leaders who seek a following in politics, in religion, and in all affairs which require action by large bodies of people. In business it is used primarily by sellers to obtain a market by conditioning people in the market to accept the particular products offered. The growth of new techniques of communication has greatly extended the range of propaganda penetration,has expanded the number of products advertised, and has increased the total amount of propaganda disseminated, but the aim of the messages carried is essentially unchanged since the beginning of civilization. In fact the use of force of argument instead of physical force marked the change from savagery to civilized living."8 »Advertising is essentially a form of communication betwen powerful economic groups and consumers, who often buy without questioning all the products and "ideas" advertised by mass media. Instead of informing the public about the products and services, advertising persuades people to accept doubtful qualities as good ones. 21 "Information", loosely defined, is a factor which is always present in any advertisement. There is always something new about an old product (packaging, price, distribution, etc), besides the fact that new products are displayed to the public every day. What distinguishes advertising from the other forms of information is the fact that the message is always controlled by the advertiser, the one who pays the media to deliver the message. Although Christians consider advertising as "evil" and Marxists think of it as "alienation" it does exist as a social institution, making up a complete system of communication with its universe of signs, spreading a new language underlined by the ideology of consumption. Advertising stands side by side with the church, the school and the family. It is as important as those institut ions in the education of people and is therefore responsible for the creation and manipulation of people's opinions and values. Advertising creates a new fascinating world, without war or poverty, inhabited by beautiful and healthy people—intelligent children and lovely wives adored by lovely husbands. They are always surrounded by magic appliances and gadgets which make their lives more comfortable. It is a kind of "Mythical Paradise" where everybody is happy and innocent. This ideal world is supported by the myths of our new culture which are destroying traditional values with the help of advanced technology. Accordina to Pierre Kende "A tecnologia 'transforma o mundo' ^ segundo a formula de Marx. Mas é a cultura de massa e mais especialmente a publicidade que muda a vida , que faz crer nos grandes mitos^de nossa época, no Progresso, na Abundância, nos Lazeres, na Juventude. na Felicidade."9 22 1.2 FUNCTIONS AND GOALS OF ADVERTISING According to Fernando Almada, Advertising has three basic functions which correspond to the three fundamental expectations on the part of the advertiserJ^ FUNCTIONS ADVERTISER'S EXPECTATIONS 1. REFERENTIAL: the product is offered to the con- science of the consumer. 2. PREDICATIVE: the product is described in terms of its objective utility. 3. METAPHORICAL OR SYMBOLIC: the product is seen as a sign full of possibilities of representation. He wants the consumer to know the product, to be aware of its existence. He wants the consumer to believe, to use his reason to accept the product. He wants to awaken in the consumer certain feelings towards the product. The consumer is supposed to act according to his emotions,buying, for instance, the possibility of seduction in the place of a certain cosmetic product. 23 Each of the above mentioned functions may achieve different goals. These are: 1. REFERENTIAL to launch a new product in the market to remind the consumer of the existence of the product to familiarize people with the product to inform the potential consumer of the existence of the product. 2. PREDICATIVE to create preference to create a clear image of the product to neutralize the effects of the competing brand to get new consumers to increase sales to improve the image of the product. 3. METAPHORICAL OR SYMBOLIC to create feelings and impressions about the product to awaken the desire to buy to suggest the satisfaction of human needs to create fantasy in the consumer's mind to create the opportunity for the birth of "new human needs" (see chapter III on human needs). 1.3 KINDS OF ADVERTISEMENT 1.3.1 A classification of ads according to the advertiser's point of view. Advertisers usually divide ads into three different types: 24 A. INFORMATIVE ADS This kind of advertisement gives the reader useful information about the product. It usually describes the product telling the consumer about the material the product is made of, the way it is handled, its main uses, durability, price, safety, etc. If there is any picture to illustrate the ad, it always reinforces an important aspect of the product. The text appeals to the reader's reason and intel1igence,presenting logical arguments to convince the consumer to choose the product. The language employed is direct and objective. When the consumer buys the product he actually knows what he is choosing; he is freely expressing his wants in the market-place. This kind of ad tries to perform the predicative function of advertising. \ Example 1: "Citation II" Today's Chevrolet ' After making 16 engineering refinements, we made one more change... Fig. 1 Versatility is one thing we couldn't improve on. The room of a mid-size car. Citation Il's compact exterior dimensions can be deceiving. Inside there's a surprising 95 cubic feet of room and comfort for up to five adults. That's more room than Honda Accord. More than VW Jetta. More than Nissan Stanza DLX or Toyota Cressida. Plus Citation Il's spacious 19.5 cubic feet of cargo space handles vacation-size loads of luggage and sports gear. The handiness of a station wagon. Fold down the rear seat and Citation II acts just like a wagon. In fact, it has 35 cubic feet of cargo space. The front-drive car that's outsold all others for the past four years combined. That's a pretty impressive record. And now we're introducing Citation II. Sixteen engineering refinements over the past four years nave made it that much better. Bringing you the cars and trucks you want and need-that's what Taking Charge is all about. Some Chevrolets are equipped with engines produced by other GM divisions, subsidiaries, or affiliated companies world- wide. See your dealer for details. CHE V taking charge 28 This four-page ad describes the qualities of the product in terms of performance, ride, comfort and corrosion protection. Sixteen reasons are given (in the second and third pages) to convince the prospective buyer that the product deserves his preference. The last page presents further information about room and cargo space. Example 2:"Ford LTD Crown Victoria" In this example, twenty characteristies of the car are presented. Although most of them talk about minor details such as carpeting, electric clock, etc, the ad is still classified as an informative one. 30 B. PERSUASIVE ADS The persuasive advertisement appeals to man's emotions and feelings. It tries to create the desire for the product through emotional persuasion. This kind of ad is always offering the consumer an effect which goes beyond the product itself. Cigarette ads, for instance, are always selling high status, success, freedom, etc. The reader unconciously believes that the product will satisfy his desires and needs. This kind of ad gives rise to illusions, distorts consumer's needs and createsnew human wants in order to fit the producer's objectives. Consumers feel themselves urged to buy whatever the market wants them to. Actually the consumer does not buy the product itself. What he does, in fact, is evade reality an'd try to buy things such as social approval, love, sense of belonging, etc. Example 1 : "Honda - The Civic 4 - Door Sedan" The first sentence of this ad says that "Family and friends will say the nicest things when your 1986 Honda Civil 4-Door family Sedan is'delivered." So, the first statement appeals to man's need for social approval. The pregnant woman in the picture reinforces the message of the title—"Congratulations. It's a Honda." The car is presented as if it were a new born baby. Not only is the car compared to a beloved baby but the owner himself is so compared in the metaphorical sentence ". . . it will cradle you in comfort." The narrative focus changes again when the text talks about "child- proof rear door locks and child safety-seat anchors", in the standard version, and we understand that the child who will be born soon will find safety in that car. Although the text presents some information the basic characteristic is the persuasive style. CO CD 32 Example 2:"Pontiac" This ad is a good example of persuasive advertisement. The text does not give any information at all. It mere!y points out Pontiac style by appealing to man's need for high status. Example 3 Too Busy Earning a Living To Make Any IVloney? You ihinV you've got problems? Well, I remember when a bank turned me down for I S200 loan. Now I lend money to the bank — Cer- ificates of Deposit at SIOO.OOO a crack. I remember the day a car dealer got a little nervous >ecau$e I was a couple of months behind in my layments — and repossessed my car. Now I own a lolls Royce. I paid J43,000 for it — cash. I remember the day my wife phoned me, crying, lecause the landlord had shown up at the house, de- nanding his rent — and we didn't have the money to xy it. Now we own five homes. Two are on the ocean- Tont in California (I use one as my office). One is a âkefrom "cabin" in Washington (that's where we ipend the whole summer — loafing, fishing, swim- ning, wd sailing). One is a condominium on a sunny 9each in Mexico. And one is snuggled right on the Je« beach of the best island in Hawaii — Maui. Right now I could sell all this property, pay off the nortgages, — and — without touchirig any of my other nvestments — walk away with over $750,000 in cash. But I don't want to sell, because I don't think of my lomes as "investments." I've got other real estate — and iocks, bonds, and cash in the bank — for (hat. I remember when 1 lost my job. Because I was head Jver heels in debt, my lawyer told me the only thing I sould do was declare bankruptcy. He was wrong. I said off every dime. Now, I have a million dollar line of credit: but I Sill don't have a job. Instead, I get up every weekday Homing and decide whether I want to go to work or lot. Sometimes I do — for 3 or 6 hours. But about lalf the time, I decide to read, go for a walk, sail my x>at, swim, or ride my bike. I know what it's like to be broke. And I know what t's like to have everything you want. And I know hat you — like me — can decide which one it's going o be. It's really as easy as that. That's why I call it 'The Lazy Man's Way to Riches." So I'm going to ask you to send me something I lon't need; money; Ten dollars to be exact. Why? Jecause I want you to pay attention. And I figure hat if you've got $10 invested, you'll look over what send you and decide whether to send it back.. .or ccep it. And I don't wont you to keep it unless you Igree that it's worth at least a hundred limes what fou invested. Is the material "worth" $10? No — if you think of PROOF! Don't tikr my word for It. These are excerpts from irticln In newspapers and magazines: He only works half the year in his stunning ofnce on California's Sunset Beach, and even when he's there he puts in shon hours... In other words. Joe Karbo, 4^, is the prototype for.. ."The Lazy Man's Way to Riches." SeanW Tlan; Is it all honest? A man who has done business with I him says Kartm's reputation is excellent, and that he has managed to condua mutually beneficial deals with him with nothing but a handshake and an oral agreement. Want to be rich? Take my advice and follow his. HeraM-Amertcaa; The book has drawn hundreds of letters from persons who have prorited by it... Aag«l« Hcrald-Examlaer: An unpretentious millionaire, Joe Karbo of Hun- tmgion Harbor is a vibrant, living testimonial to his in- tellectual. pragmatic conviction. Fofbei: After bouncing around show biz, advertising, and real estate, he made his fortune.. -Last year (1972) he made 1250,000. MaUa^ Opportaaltlei: Maybe Joe Karbo has the secret. Don't you think you owe it to yourself to find out what it is all about?.. .1 just finished it — and I'm off on a vacation myself. Get the idea? Tke Bouoa Oolw: Jay Haws of Chico. Cal. said the pep t, Ik.. .in "The La^ Man's Way to Riches" has "changid my life," jndupped his freelance graphic designer income from J2000 to SJO.OOO annually. . "'*m not rich yet," said Haws, "but I see the light at tne end of the tunnel... It gave me the swift kick in the pants that 1 needed." la^peadmi: He s programmed the path to riches for the lazy man. it as paper and ink. But that's not what I'm selling. What I am selling is information. More information than I give when I'm paid $I(XX) as a guest speaker. More information than I give in a one-hour consulta- tion for $300. But you're really not risking anything. Because ,1' won't cash your check or money order for 31 days after I've sent you my material. Thai's the deal. Return it in 31 days — and I'll send back your check or money order — uncashed. How do you know I'll do it? Well, if you really want to be on the safe side, postdate your check for a month from today — plus 2 additional weeks. That'll give you plenty of time to receive it, look it over, try it out. I know what you're thinking: "He got rich telling people how to get rich." The truth is — and this is very important — the year before I shared "The Lazy Man's Way to Riches." my income was $216.646. And what I'll send you tells just how I made that kind of money.. .working a few hours a day.. .about 8 months out of the year. It doesn't require "education." I'm a high school graduate. It doesn't require "capital." Remember I was up to my neck in debt when I started. It doesn't require "luck." I've had more than my share. But I'm not promising you that you'll make as much money as I have. And you may do better. I per- sonally know one man who used these principles, workoJ hard, and made 11 million dollars in 8 years. But money isn't everything. It doesn't require "talent." Just enough brains to know what to look for. And I'll tell you that. It doesn't require "youth." One woman I worked with is over 70. She's travelled the world over, making all the money she needs, doing only what I taught her. It doesn't require "experience." A widow in Chicago has been averaging $2S.(X)0 a year for the past J years, using my methods. What does it require? Belief. Enough to take a chance. Enough to absorb what I'll send you. Enough to put the principles into action. If you do just that — nothing more, nothing less — the results will be hard to believe. Remember — I guarantee it. You don't have to give up your job. But you may soon be making so much money that you'll be able to. Once again — I guarantee it. I know you're skeptical. Well, here are some com- ments from other people. (Initials have been used to protect the writer's privacy. The originals are in my files.) I'm sure that, like you. these people didn't believe me either when they clipped the coupon. Guess they figured that, since I wasn't going to deposit their checks for at least 31 days, they had nothing to lose. They were right. And here's what they gained: 'Wow, It does workl' "Oddly enough. I purchased Lazy Man's Way to Riches some six months ago, or so, read it.. and real- ly did nothing about it. Then, about three weeks ago, when I was really getting desperate about my finan- cial situation, 1 remembered it, re-read it. studied it, and this time, put it to work and WOW, it does work! Doesn't take much time, either.. .1 guess some of us just have to be at a severe point of desperation before we overcome the ultimate laziness, pro- crastination." Mr. J.K., Anaheim, CA 'Made $50,000 Just fooling around' "In February 1974 you sent me (for ten bucks) your Lazy Man's Way to Riches. Since then I have made approximately SO grand (SSO.O(X)) just fooling around on the basis of your advice. You see, I really am lazy — otherwise I could have made 50 million! Tliank you!" Mr. R.McK., Atlanta, GA '$24,000 In 45 days' ".. .received $24,000.00 in the mail the last 45 days. "Thanks again." Mr. E.G.N., Matewan, W.VA , Made $70,000 "A $70,000 thanks to you for writing The Lazy Man's Way to Riches. That's how much I've made... Mr. D.R., Newport Beach, CA $260,000 In eleven months "Two years ago. I mailed you ten dollars in sheer desperation for a better life.. .One year ago, just out of the blue sky, a man called and offered me a part- nership...! grossed over $260.000 cash business in eleven months. You are a God sent miracle to me." B.F., Pascagoula, Miss. What I'm saying is probably contrary to what you've heard from your friends, your family, your teachers, and maybe everyone else you know. I can only ask you one question. How many of them are millionaires? So it's up to you. A month from today, you can be nothing more than 30 days older — or you can be on your way to getting rich. You decide. The wisest man I ever knew told me something I never forgot: "Most people are too busy earning a •living to make any money." Don't take as long as I did to find out he was right. I'll prove it to you. If you'll send in the coupon to my publisher now. I'm not asking you to "believe" me. Just try.it. If I'm wrong, all you've lost is a cou- ple of minutes and a postage stamp. But what if I'm right? Some have called it a Miracle. Some have called it Magic. You'll call it "The Secret of the Ages. " for me, I thank God that before he died Millionaire Joe Karbo left, for all to share, the secret of "The Laiy Man's Way to Riches." The above story, which is in his own words, is his gift to you. Because of the nature of this special offering, we can guarantee delivery only to the readers of this publication who respond to this printed notice before midnight. September 30. After that date, orders will be filled on a "first come, first served" basis as long as supplies last. To order, write your name and address on the coupon and send it with your $10 today. Remember, the only way to guarantee prompt delivery IS to respond before midnight. September 30. If you have any questions, you may call us at Í7I4> 846-5160 or (213) 592-5595 during normal business hours. Make your check or money order payable to Fmancial Publishers. ©Joe Karbo -1979, 17105 South Paciric, Sunset Beach. CA 90742 Sworn Statement: "On the basis of my professional relationship as lus accountant, I certify that Mr. Karbo's net worth IS more than one million dollars." Stuart A. C^ogan Bank Reference: Bank of Westminster 8251 Westminster Avenue Westminster, CA 92683 I Fmancial Publishers J 17105 South Pacific, Dept. 545-A ■ Sunset Beach, California 90742 i yo" may be full of beans, but what have I got I D* ^nd me the Lazy Man's Way to Riches. I But don't deposit my check or money order for I at least 31 days after it's in the mail. } T' rtlurn your material — for any reason — within that time, return my uncashed check or I order to me. On that basis, here's my ten I dollars. I I Name I (PLEASE PRINT CLEARLY) j Address ' Z" 1 City I ~ I State 2 I SORRY - NO COD'S 34 This is a typical persuasive ad. It promises a miracle which, as every sensible person knows, is impossible to be accomplished. The paradoxical title calls the reader's attention as it denies the similarity betwen "earning a living" and "making money." There is no illustration but the one-page text is full of arguments which try to persuade the reader to buy a book called "Lazy Man's May to Riches" by Joe Karbo. The title is funny because capitalist society has taught us that lazy people are condemned to suffer and die in poverty. Many stories have been written to remind us of the high value of work. Remember, for instance, the fable "The Ant and the Grasshopper." The text begins by presenting Joe Karbo's past failures and his present success. A bank turned him down for a $200 loan but now he lends money to the bank. He didn't have money to pay rent but now he owns five homes. After presenting several examples of failure and their corresponding success he starts offering arguments for people to pay for the book just because that is the best way for them to pay attention to it. In the middle of the list of arguments another text, whose title is PROOF! is presented. Eight excerpts from articles in newspapers and magazines are reproduced in order to give support to his arguments. Newspapers are generally trusted by the public; there is a general belief that what is printed in information- like form is to be considered as truth. Even after all these persuasive weapons, the author admits the reader may be skeptical, so he reproduces some comments from other people: all of them are thanking Joe Karbo for the miracle of having helped them to get a better life and by better life they mean "making money without effort." Finally a "Sworn Statement" assuring us that 35 Mr. Karbo's net worth is more than one million dollars and a "Bank Reference" (Bank of Westminster) are provided to get the reader's confidence. What remains now is a coupon to be mailed together with a $10 check and a promise to get the check back if, for any reason, the consumer returns the material. It is really incredible. The ad sells a bock which will teach people to be rich without requirements such as: luck, education, capital, talent, youth, experience and "working a few hours a day. . . about 8 months out of the year." It would be difficult to find a better example to show how deceiving and mischievous an ad can be. C. INFORMATIVE-PERSUASIVE As the name suggests, this kind of ad is a mixture of the previous ones. It gives information about the product and simultaneously tries to convince the reader to buy the product by appealing to his needs. Example 1: "The Aqua-Home" The picture itself is a very persuasive element. It shows how nice a holiday can be if your family has an Aqua-Home. We can see people swimming, fishing, talking together, sunbathing, preparing a oarbacue, wearing sports, diving and bathing clothes. The text starts by convincing you that most people get four months off during the year, which means leisure time. Then it goes on showing the advantages of having an Aqua-Home. Information about size, equipment, fuel capacity, material, facilities and price is provided. The text proves to be persuasive but,nevertheless, informative. 37 Although I have tried to illustrate three different kinds of advertisement, I do believe all of them are informative-persuasive. Even "pure" information, such as that of the kind found in a bottle of medicine, is, in fact, persuasive as it can awaken in people the desire to buy that special drug. Even a "purely" persuasive text can, at the same time, achieve an informative purpose. The example of the book "Lazy Man's Way to Riches", which is the best persuasive example I could get, has a certain informative value since through it we get to know there is a book, which, although a fraud, promises the miracle of transforming bankrupts into mi 11i ona ires. As we know, good readers do not accept newspapers and magazines as trustworthy information sources. The great majority of the public do not believe entirely in what they read. People are constantly cheated by distorted news. The same can happen with advertisement. Only good readers, and by "good readers" I mean critical readers, can perceive the tricks used by the language of mass media. One of the famous tricks consists of using famous people in order to advertise all kinds of products. It is common to find some of these people declaring some time later that they had never used the product they had sworn to be good.* •Example l;"Sheraton" * Clodovil Hernandes, a famous Brazilian dressmaker, declared that he advertises many products just because he needs money to survive. He added that the public was able to know which products he actually would recommend. He made this statement on November 3, 1986, during his program on Manchete TV called "Clô para os íntimos". 39 Pele is a good example of a famous person who sells himself to advertising. The example shown here if from Sheraton Hotels and it was published in Time Magazine. Many issues of' that magazine reproduced the same ad. The one presented here is from the August, 16, 1982, issue. Pele has also been the star of a kind of vitamin—Vita-Say for many years. In the same way I doubt he is a frequent guest at Sheraton Hotels I dare say he never takes "Vita-Say" as he states he does. Unfortunately for Pele a big scandal involving that product burst out in Brazil in 1986. The product was blamed for presenting a false description of its formula and for having increased its price, which goes against Brazilian laws. Example 2:"Motorcycle Industry Council" Charles Bronson is one among lots of movie stars who are always present in advertisements. In our example he appears in a "propaganda". I say propaganda because its superficial aim is not to sell motorcycles but to advise riders to be careful and aware of their responsibilities. This propaganda is also an advertisement because it persuades people to buy a motorcycle in order to look like Charles Bronson, a symbol of masculinity, courage and impetuosity. Charles Bronson, actor and motor- cyclist.'!Eüe;3; week- end we can, the kids and I pack our motor- cycles in the pickup and head for the California hills. We enjoy the excitement and challenge of off-road riding. But we're also aware ofourresponsibilities-to the land and whoever else might he using it We stick to off-road parks and approved trails, use the right mufflers and ride safely That way, everyone can have a great weekend." RIDB AWARE. SHOW YOU CARE. MOTORCYCLE INDUSTRY COUNCIL, INC. ^ 41 1.3.2 A classification of ads according to consumers' point of view While advertisers classify ads according to the concepts of information and persuasion, the critical consumer, the one who reads ads with critical eyes, will interpret them as a discourse analyst. Traditional classification might be replaced by the following one: A. TAUTOLOGICAL ADVERTISEMENTS I will call tautological any kind of advertisement whose text does not add any meaning to the existence of the product or the one which does not present any text at all, but only the photograph of the product. A classical example is "Chanel". It is common to find just the picture of a bottle of Chanel nQ 5. It is taken for granted that the product is well known and needs no further comments. But as "every sign is ideological" we will always findout elements in the picture which will tell us that Chanel is a product for rich persons. Example 1.1 -"Chanel n9 5" In the first example we see the left hand of a' woman holding a bottle of the perfume. The hyperbolic image of the bottle shows the label written in French. It is very common to find French words in the ads of perfume—they bestow high quality to the product because France is considered the native country of good perfume. The next aspect to be considered in this ad is the bracelet the woman is wearing and her well-done fingernails. All goes to show how elegant and refined she is. Example 1.2 -"Parfum N9 5 CHANEL" The second example shows the right hand and the legs of another elegant and rich woman. She is spraying the perfume behind her right knee. She is wearing leather clothes and leather gloves as well. A golden bracelet is also an index*of wealth. Her high.heeled shoes are made of crocodile leather which is considered "a question of good taste." The text does not talk about the qualities of the product. It just says: "Chanel nÇ 5 - Spray parfum and Eau de Toilette." Again French words are used. Example 1.3- "Chanel" Here, a picture of Gentleman's Chanel is shown .The fact that the product is for men and not for women is reinforced by the presence of a shaving brush which hides parts of the two words "After Shave". At the same time the shaving brush hides the letters of the words (we can only see "TER" and "VE"), it helps us to guess which words they are. So, the shaving brush is a double index: first because it tells us that the product is for men and second because the product is to be used after shaving. * index According to Charles Pierce, "index" 1s a sign characteri?, by a relation of "natural contiguity". It is an immediateir perceptible fact which causes to know something about something else which is not perceptible. It is oddospH to "Icon", a sign defined by its relation of re^mblan^fto the reality" of the exterior world and to "symbol" a sign based on simple social conventions. ' ^ "HANELN-'S ^nr^vParfi imanH ,, Ww^m r^T:' •.^.sárW-jVvr-i-.-V; '>)*%' ^[ ^i«s"víi'ii»i' i^4?f ir '* -,* V- •'' v'.'!,-1" A GENTLEMAN'S CHOICE. CHANEL FOR GENTLEMEN Fig. n 46 Example 2 -"B.M.W. 325 i" The photograph shows part of a trunk and the tail light of a car. The most important part of the picture is "BMW 325 i". The text just says "Enough said". Although this car make is not familiar to Brazilians, the ad emphasizes the idea that it is very famous and that no advertisement is necessary to make the product known. The product itself says everything, no text is needed. We may conclude that the basic aim of tautological ads is to remind the consumer that the product exists. The advertiser wants to keep readers aware of the existence of the product (referential function). B. DIDACTIC ADVERTISEMENTS This kind of ad teaches the reader how to use the product or points out all the uses of the same product. Example: "West Bend" The ad teaches us how to work with the cordless iron. The big photograph shows the device responsible for the heating of the iron, "West Bend Iron". A series of three photographs shows all the steps of its handling. This kind of ad is related to the predicative function. ENOUGH SAID. Fig. 12 4'#'^ P«K.[, COt/BtU Al IIMÍ Of GOIN&TOPKFS^.lNClUíifSCAH 1AX AN[J VAI HUt NOI W HVl HY OH NUMHi HflATI S INCLUSIVl Dl IM HY CtlAHtil INCOHIDHAl INC. »MW { Ml Hiil Nfv S{ RViCI ANO iNiIlAl síkvk k .-.w Pl-USE WRfTE TO. BMW (HfORMATlON SERVfCE . TO BOI 46. HOUNSLOW. MICXM-ESEX OR TELEPHONE 01 897 6665 (7 DATS A WEEK. 9 AM S.30PM LITERATURE REQUESTS 0NIT> fOW TAX FREE SAIE^. 56 PARH LANE I ^iWest Bend's new Freestyle* Cordless Iron ends the frustration of fighting' "the cord. It's easy-to-use, full featured and fast.-■ - --Because It's electric, It works like any other Iron. Just pre-heat. Iron and "return the iron to base before shifting fabric. Easy as 1, 2, 31 : :::The West Bend" Freestyle" Cordless Iron also has a spedal steam chamt>er - to minimize accidental water spotting, SilverStone' coated soleplate ii and continuous super steam setting. /r/.-::' " : : : t>«ft lr» ■ ' ■ r. •V .V.«.-:«lfÍ,., •• •.-,.'. , Ají, .••■■ '■«■■: ■ --,' ^'Z-- m ■y •:■ 56 GmraBtEElS Is there anything sexier than black lace? Shoe 34.99, bag 22.99 Chandlers shoo stores in most principal cities Fig, ]5 VOGUE, Octob.r, 1981 55 Example 2 - "Lazy Man's Way to Riches" This ad has already been studied as an example of a persuasive ad. It is however a good example of the trap ad. The product will only work as a bait to get $10 from the consumer. Of course it will not fulfil the reader's expectations. The book will probably prove to be good for nothing. The conclusion one reaches after analyzing these types of advertisements is that both advertising and propaganda do not aim at spreading information. Their real aim is human behavior control. Both want to guide men and make them behave according to pre-established values. Professor David M. Potter speaks of commercial propaganda "as an instrument of social control comparable to the school and the church in the extent of its influence upon society." It is McGarry who follows Potter in saying that "Like other types of propaganda, advertising has a barrage effect. Although it is designed primarily to induce people who have the money and the need to buy the product, its effect cannot usually be confined to these. It creates a pattern of thought in a much larger population. Its results are diffuse and pervasive rather than selective. Because of this diffusion, many who are not in a position to buy, read, or listen to the advertisement, and many others who do not see or hear the message directly, learn of it from others by word of mouth."12 56 1.4 PERSUASIVE DEVICES USED BY ADVERTISING In order to achieve the creation of a pattern of thought, advertising appeals to some devices such as: A. REPETITION "Constant dripping bores the stone." Slogans, catchwords and cliches are repeated so many times that in the end they are taken for granted. Some sentences which are sometimes meaningless are accepted as truthful. The following should suffice as illustrations: "Campari: simply a matter of good taste." "Come to where the flavor is. Come to Marlboro Country." B. AUTHORITATIVE APPEAL Professional classes are always mentioned in order to give support to ads. It is very common to find ads saying that priests, lawyers, engineers, doctors, advise people to buy such and such product. Example:"Anacin-3" The example chosen to illustrate this device shows three authoritative professionals talking in the name of their classes: Doctors, Nurses and Pharmacists. The nurse represents not only her class but hospitals in general. But we could ask: which doctors? Which hospitals? Which pharmacists? provided no special example is mentioned. May we trust that information? Is Anacin-3 really recommended by all of them? 3 Good Reasons to Try Anacin-3® 1 DOCTORS are ,■ recommending acetaminophen, the aspirin-free pain reliever in Anacin-3, more than any other aspirin-free pain reliever. O HOSPITALS ^■use acet- aminophen, the aspirin-free pain reliever in Anacin-3, more than any other aspirin-free pain reliever. O PHARMACISTS ^■recommend acetaminophen, the aspirin-free pain reliever in Anacin-3, more than any other aspirin-free pain reliever. ANAGIN-3 ^ Analgesic Tablets Available in Regular Strength and Maximum Strength USE ONLY AS DIRECTED 100% ASPIRIN-FREE Fig. 17 C. APPEAL TO HUMAN NEEDS (Chapter number III win be wholly dedicated to this subject). 58 D. CREATIVE WRITTEN LANGUAGE (see Chapter number IV on written language). E. CREATIVE ICONIC LANGUAGE (see Chapter number V on iconic language). 1.5 CONCLUSION Advertising is also a portrait of social reality and presents relevant features of people's daily lives, their humor, old and contemporary values, language development, public opinion, foreign influences, attitudes and tendencies in various fields such as fashion, science, etc. A study of people's characters and culture can be easily done through the analyses of advertisements. The ads select their readers. As consumers are classified into groups of the same age, sex, race, occupation, religion, income and education, there are different ads for the different groups. It is clear that persons with different jobs will have different concerns in life, the same way people brought up in different environments will have different attitudes, habits and motives. It is obvious that advertising tries to reach everybody by attracting different consumers by means of different advertisements. The young and the old will select different kinds of recreation; women and men usually have different hobbies; a black woman will demand different cosmetics from those demanded by a white one; a teacher may like books more than an athlete does; a religious person is much less permeable to the worldly attractions than the ones who are not much concerned with religion; the rich will be much more attracted by superfluous goods than the poor, and so forth. The same way the ads select their readers the readers choose what to read according to their different beliefs, attitudes and values. 59 All these factors must be taken into account when the teacher selects an ad to study in the classroom, mainly when the group is composed of young students. Propaganda and advertising are powerful persuasive forms of the Art of Persuasion. Roger Mucchielli warns us when he says that "Com um mínimo de técnica, pode-se lançar (e todos os discursos guerreiros são igualmente ilustrações) grupos, massas, povos num massacre de outros grupos, massas ou povos, com a consciência tran- qüila da legitima defesa e de serem os militantes do Bem Supremo."13 A careful reading of advertisements will supply the students with critical eyes to see the world he lives in. It is also important to be aware of the whole process involving advertising. This work will only deal with printed ads in magazines and newspapers, but the following quotation will give us an idea of the complex system of the magic world of advertising. "Hã quem diga, hoje, que Cristo foi o maior homem de marketing e propaganda de todos os tempos: estudou cuidadosamente o mercado, para chegar no tempo certo, a um preço certo. Fez, através dos arautos, uma campanha de teaser. Realizou uma espetaculosa campanha de lançamento, utilizando, inclusive, um veTculo do qual até hoje nenhum anunciante, por mais verba que tenha, conseguiu lançar mão— uma estrela. Botou no mercado um produto com uma forte promessa de gratificação— o céu. Criou um perfeito canal de distri- buição—a Igreja. Treinou chefes de venda— os apóstolos. Criou o mais perfeito símbolo até hoje conseguido—a cruz. E mensagens de venda absolutamente redondas—as orações. Adotou espetaculares atitudes promocionais—^ os milagres—as mais espetaculares já adotadas em todos os tempos. Deixou, inclu- sive, um procidium—a Bíblia. E um briefing—os mandamentos."14 60 NOTES ^ The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, ed. C. T. Onions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976). 2 The Heritage Illustrated Dictionary of the English Language, ed. William Morris (New York: American Heritage Publishing Co., 1975). 3 The Heritage. ^ Longman New Universal Dictionary. (London: Longman, 1982). ^ Longman. ^ The Oxford. 1 ^ J. A. C. Brown, Tecni cas de Persuasão (Rio de Janeiro: Zahar, 1971), p. 13. ^ Edmund D. McGarry. "The Propaganda in Marketing", in The Role of Advertising, ed. C. H. Sandage (Illinois: Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1960), p. 159. ® Pierre Kende. "A publicidade e a Informação do Consumidor", in Os Mitos da Publicidade, ed. Joaquim Marcus-Steiff (Petropolis: Vozes, 1974), p. 86. ^Fernando Almada. "A criação" in Comunicação Publici- tária , ed. Roberto Simões (São Paulo: Atlas, 1976), p. 267. David M. Potter in Edmund D. MacGarry, "The Propaganda in Marketing", in "The Role of Advertising", ed. C. H. Sandage (Illinois: Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1960), p. 160 61 12 Mac Garry, p. 160. 13 Roger Mucchielli. A Psicologia da Publicidade e da Propaganda (Rio de Janeiro: Livros Técnicos e Científicos, 1978), p. 28. 14 Eloy Simões and Roberto Simões. "Propaganda: Objetivos" in Comunicação Publicitária, ed. Roberto Simões (São Paulo: Atlas, 1976), pp. 123-24. CHAPTER II IDEOLOGY AND ADVERTISEMENTS "One gets the feeling sometimes that the struggle of men and societies are echoes, or perhaps ever parodied, by the struggle of symbols in some Platonic heaven, and that just as Homer saw the gods fighting above Troy, so above all ignorant armies on the darkling plain bright shapes of symbols struggle for the possession of men's minds." Sandage II.1 INTRODUCTION "All the world's a stage And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances. And one man in his time plays many parts. When a professional actor starts performing before an audience, he has already read the play many times, received instructions from the director, studied his gestures, stress and intonation,and marked the right spots on stage where he is supposed to act. A good actor rehearses a lot, observes the other actors' performances and tries to improve his own. When an actor finally appears in a scene, he actually knows what has happened, what is happening and what will happen according to both the author's and the director's points of view. It is clear to the audience that the actor is not the creator of the play, he is just a performer. Every actor has to follow the author/director/ producer's instructions. He/she must always act according to what he/she has been told to do, without criticizing, without trying to change parts of the play, without altering the speeches he has to utter, etc. Otherwise a conflict will be created. As the actors of the human drama, men are supposed to behave according to a dominant force, which will be the anonimous director of his behavior in the "Great Theater". When a baby is born he is put in the middle of the world stage and society expects him to follow all the patterns previously established for him. The more a man accepts this social guidance the more he will belong' to his society, feeling totally adapted. I shall call such social guidance or dominant force IDEOLOGY. 64 11.2 IDEOLOGY AS AN INSTRUMENT OF DOMINATION Marx, Barthes, Poulantzas, and other scholars see Ideology as an instrument of domination. Marx states that the dominant ideology of any society is the 2 ideology of the dominant class. Barthes says that the dominant classes use ideology in order to 3 perpetuate their domination. Poulantzas believes that ideology is necessarily false as its social function is not to reveal the true knowledge of the social structure but rather to insert the social agents in the activities which give support to that structure.^ According to Marilena Chaui, the ideas created by men to explain their individual lives, their social lives, and their relationship with nature and the supernatural tend to hide the real meaning of how these social relationships were produced, the origin of the forms of economic exploitation and political domination.^ For Marilena Chaui, this attempt to hide social reality is called IDEOLOGY. It is by means of ideology that men justify domination and exploitation making them appear fair. Ideology is thus in virtual opposition to what is cal led truth. Consumers, undergoing a constant process of alienation, adopt as theirs the ideas from the dominant class, which then become the dominant ideas. It is also alienation the factor which prevents men from seeing concrete reality. Gramsci uses the "cement" metaphor to describe Ideology as something that infiltrates into all the levels of social structure.^ Borrowing his metaphor, I could add that it comes first in liquid form permeating easily into the social structures and into the minds of the social agents. The liquid changes into a solid state that turns out to be so strong and powerful that it is almost impossible to be destroyed. Advertising is perhaps the strongest process of alienation. Its semiotic force shapes our daily habits. 65 and our opinions not only in what concerns the choice of a product but also our evaluation patterns as well. As Marcuse says, . . OS nossos meios de informação em massa encontram pouca dificuldade em fazer aceitar interesses particulares como sendo de todos os homens sensatos. As necessidades políticas da sociedade se tornam necessidades e aspirações individuais . . ."7 Advertising language is a two-edged knife. Although it informs and puts consumers in contact with new products, it spreads false values, which are eagerly adopted by consumers in general. Journalistic information itself is not free from the influence of advertising as newspapers and magazines depend mainly on advertisements in order to survive. The press must be careful with the information it displays,otherwise it may lose important advertisers. Those who support mass medi a would never view kindly any information which could damage their business. Many times, significant information is hidden from the public because of the pressure brought upon the news media by important industries. Sometimes it is also difficult to find out whether a piece of information is real information or advertisement. Some advertisers manage to get the display of their ads in journalistic style. All over the world, mass media is either supported by the government or by the capitalist system. The newspapers which receive financial support from the government are naturally subject to censorship. On the other hand, if they depend entirely upon advertising, they are helplessly linked to those who pay for the ads. One of the claims against advertising is the fact that it works for the monopoly of certain brands, reducing the consumer's choices because of its intense persuasion power. The mass media are not democratically managed since only powerful industries can afford to 66 convey their messages. Rarely do consumers hear of minor industries. Famous products are only those whose industries can pay for a rich advertising campaign. Ironically the mass media are democratically shared by people from all ranks. Children are brought up both by their families and TV advertisements. The former are often defeated by the latter. Children easily accept the false values imposed by ads and, as a result, parents are left with the challenge of coping with uncontrollable stimuli to buy useless and expensive products. Women and children are the advertisers' favorite targets, and this fact is easy to understand. Unfortunately, in most societies, information is not shared with women, who since childhood have been taught to stay away from important subjects such as politics, economy and philosophy. Such subjects belong to the male universe and women should not worry about them. The consequence is that women (of course, there are exceptions) and children's choices are always subject to other people's opinions. They usually have no opportunity to develop their own critical views. The mass media have killed individual thought and promoted public opinion,which is in fact forged by several economical forces. Truly pathologic reactions can be created through advertising. Just as an example, we can mention the increase in the consumption of spinach in the United States, due to the success of the Popeye Cartoons. As Hayakawa has pointed out: "Não se é contra a propaganda^em si. 0 motivo porque se faz objeção à propaganda é a sua promoção de reações patológicas ãs palavras e outros símbolos."8 Advertising is responsible for creating automatic reactions instead of limiting itself to the issuing of useful information. People have been urged to buy certain products through the effective appeal of the words. Consumers are generally compelled to accept as 67 real the language of fantasy and behave schizophrenica11y , losing contact with the real world. Advertising prevents men from discovering, by themselves, the right value of the reality which surrounds them. Men cannot be free to think as long as they are attached to traditional patterns of thought. Marcuse says that: "0 sujeito livre so nasce quando o indivíduo não aceita mais a ordem vigente e a ela resiste, porque descobriu o conceito das coisas, e descobriu que a verdade não se encontra nas normas e opiniões correntes. O indivíduo sÕ pode chegar a esta compreensão se se aventurar nos caminhos do pensamento abstrato. Este lhe dá o afastamento necessário dos padrões vigentes e sob a forma de pensa- mento critico e de oposição, constitui o elemento em que se move o sujeito livre."9 II.3 THE ROLE OF EDUCATION IN CREATING CRITICAL READERS/ CONSUMERS As educators, teachers can no longer be the persons whose role in society is to give advice. It is up to each member of society to make up his life project and targets and choose the adequate methods to accomplish them. But teachers should supply their students with good instruments of analysis. In the battle against the harms of advertising, they can provide the map of the battle field, the tools to find out the enemy's weak and strong points and the weapons to face the agents of the dominant forces. The present moment must be faced as the moment of the quest for critical thought. Consumers have been influenced (without questioning) by advertisement for many years. They have not chosen the models adopted by society since these patterns of behavior have been imposed on them by the dominant forces. Surprisingly, consumers have never revolted against the choices made for them and not by them. Studies denouncing the influence of advertising in human behavior are very recent and 68 deserve more research. It is time to bring the debate into the classrooms because the one who suffers the effects of advertising has the right to know its mechanisms and try to revert the process. Foucault foresees that "0 grande jogo da história será de quem se apoderar das regras, de quem tomar o lugar daqueles que as utilizam, de quem se disfarçar para pervetê-las, utilizá-las ao inverso e voltá-las contra aqueles que as tinham imposto; de quem,se introduzindo no aparelho complexo, o fizer funcionar de tal modo que os dominadores encontrar-se-ão dominados por suas próprias regras."10 Each citizen, besides suffering the effects of advertising, is at the same time one of its centers of transmission. He reproduces what he hears, he talks abO'Ut what he reads and influences the choices of those around him: "A peça representada nesse teatro sem lugar é sempre a mesma: é aquela que repetem indefinidamente os dominadores e os dominados. Homens dominam outros homens e i assim que nasce a diferença de valores; classes dominam outras classes e é assim que nasce a idéia da liber- dade."'^ It is time to change the plot of the human play and reveal what is under the masks of ideology. It is time to criticize, it is time to question, it is time to identify and denounce the domination imposed on human beings. Ideology is everywhere; wherever there is a sign there is ideology»and according to Bakhtin "Todo signo é ideológico; a ideologia é um reflexo das estruturas_sociais(. . .) Tudo que é ideológico é um signo. Sem signos não existe ideologia ." 12 As advertising language brings together different 69 systems of signs, it is a good area where ideology* can be detected and analysed. The first message of an ad is an invitation to buy something even when there is the predominance of informative language. Umberto Eco disregards the possibility of the existence of any informative value in the advertising language. He believes it is essentially persuasive.^^ Adverti sing in Brazil has also been a factor of cultural disintegration. It has been imposing on our people foreign values instead of working for the appreciation of our national culture. The individual is exposed to a fragmented reality and his conscience is formed through unrelated images which prevent him from having a global view of the world he lives in. Even pure information, via newspapers, cannot be considered truthful. The pieces of foreign information are first of all isolated points of view sent by foreign agencies like UPI. Teixeira Coelho thinks that "A informação tem pouco ou nenhum valor de revelação, servindo antes para desviar a atenção de outros assuntos e para_fazer as vezes de simples propaganda ideolõgica ." 15 Not only in Brazil, but in South America in general, the mass media help national and international dominating forces promote their imediate interests disregarding their role as educational vehicles. Advertising and other types of mass media should be studied by the receivers. Men must abandon their position of passive receivers and react against the alienating communication process. They must go beyond the message and check why a message was sent. Gutierrez predicts that * "Ideology in the sense of "false conscience, which disguises the real relationship among things. 70 "A solução^conflitiva entre o homem e seu_meio serã, sem dúvida, a tomada de posição do homem frente ã sua realidade vivencial. A educação deverá proporcionar as possibilidades para que o homem atue, modifique e transforme a propria rea1 idade. ^ and adds that • • • a massificação foi causada porque o homem não é capaz de "ler" outros signos além dos signos lingüísticos. O homem é presa fácil do fascínio e atrativo dos signos icÔnicos e sonoros."17 The symbolic signs employed by mass media are undeniably attractive and generally cause great impact on men. Those signs do affect our emotions, which is enough to deserve our study. This study should be directed towards the reading and interpretation of different signs, the recognition of disguised messages, the understanding of the signified through the interpretation of the signifier and the recognition of subliminal messages. The student should be provided with enough material in order to achieve a level of awareness which will allow his own transformation from a passive consumer into an active one, capable of dominating his own destiny through the acquired capacity of reflection and criticism. The student's mastering of a basic knowledge about signs will not only help him to acquire critical capacity but will also be an aid for the study of other subjects such as literature. As Marjorie Boulton has put it. "To read advertisements with a critical eye can be very entertaining, to read them with an uncritical eye is often to waste money, to undergo disappointment, and, by accumulation of impressions, to acquire some very unrealistic, psychologically unhealthy ideas about life. The habit of 71 critical reading is not only good exercise for our minds, it can make a real contribution to our health and happiness. 8 II.4 THE IDEOLOGY BEHIND PRINTED ADS Endless examples could be provided to show how misleading advertising can be, however only four of them will be discussed in this section. First we will analyze a sample of Brazilian ads. Then three representative examples of American ads will be studied, A. BRAZILIAN ADS These examples, presenting a collection of ads taken from Brazilian newspapers and magazines, show how saturated with foreign products our market is. They also reveal that the English language is invading Brazilian advertisements.and our everyday lives as well. Ads totally or partially written in English can be found in all Brazilian publications. Brazilian newspapers and magazines are full of English words, many of which have been incorporated into our lexicon. The ads written in English or containing English words are an index which tells us that those products are foreign products or produced by foreign technology. The consumer accustomed to "index reading" assimilates all the ideology brought by the ads. It is important for the reader to make a symbolic reading which could show the economic domination imposed on Brazil and the lack of actually national industries. This corpus of ads does not denounce, as one would expect, the imperialism undergone by Brazil, but quite the opposite, they translate ideological statements such as: - every foreign product is good. - national products reveal inferior quality. - buying foreign products is a matter of good ta ste. Saniello Doeksidcs iJfeS U2S.,t;Si CONJUNTO SYSTEM BARCELOS.* Composto da: Tape-deck CD-7.000. Aço Metal Dolby Metal Tape VU e LEGS. Toca-disco» BD-130-M com ciptula magnética. Receiver SR-2.000. Aço. 100 watts. 2 caixas acústicas CL-505-G Grafite. Estante Rack SS-3.000 opcional. À VISTA 389.000, Samello SPaco Nkulclos masculino ELETROFONE [CCBJ : SHC-BCOO.* , "^oz-viiii 3 em 1. Receiver AM/FM estéreo, j-oiJlM com 100 watts (PMP). Tape-deck frontal. Toca-discos Belt-Drive. 2 caixas acústicas. 110/220volts. , À VISTA' 239.000, fOGAo Semer radiante STAR 3046-S. 4 bocas. Tampa de cristal. Pés tubulares. Vérias cores. avista 52.900, ... y. ■ :,. 'J i Ui-S Conjunto GRADIENTESS1260-composto Ir de RECEIVER AM/FM, 120W, 2 caixas , > acústicas de 65W, toca-discos Direct Drive, liipe-Deck metal tape. Rack opcional. A.X???.736.300!, |0Ú 1 -I- 3 X 206.164,-TCIiTAL 824.656, i ®iíl ^ t 'Jmunflh INTf RNATIONAl i i ' Auto-rádlo stereo RX 300 >: ■--'.xi.'i IJ. ■■ P'C ■ Avista i "='* 73.000, 3 fâfttas de onda: AM/FM/OC. Mostrador ^ 2^ cores. Loudness e dial iluminado. Potência de ^40 watts. ' Bi lã w, *2 !, V ■ ■ ■ ^ ~ l kW*' ' ' - • ■ • • ..iJ F_L_ • Avista «L ■ Auto-rádio AM/FM/toca-fitas stereo CM 350 ... . '■ Mostrador do rádio (Dial) com iluminação em 2 cores. Tecla loudness para reforçar graves e agudos. 40 watts de' potência. <=^99.000, 420 litros. Frio seco a .circulante. Várias cores. 418;0Ò0^ Fig. 18 conjunto SYSTEM SS-140* Composto de: Toca-discos. Belt Drive com cápsula lape Rece^iver com 100 watts Estante Rack 140-S. À VISTA 359.900, 73 - only those who buy foreign products belong to high social classes. - foreign products must be more expensive than national ones. The understanding of such ads will depend on the reader's knowledge of English. But even if the reader does not know any English the presence of English words will prove to be useful as they bestow prestige upon the product. 74 At a first glance, one might think that the only "product" being sold by this ad is the blonde woman. She seems to be asking you to touch her by means of the "double entendre" in the invitation to "feel the velvet", not only the velvet of her dress but also the velvet of her body. 75 Advertising language can either annul or overestimate human values. In this example we can see that a woman and a bottle of whisky are put on the same level, receiving the same value. A parallel can be traced between the woman and the product: Whisky - It i s yel1ow. - Its bottle has a black label. - Part of the liquid can be seen above and below the black label. - There are silvery graphic - symbols on the black label which reads "Black Velvet." Woman She is blonde. She is wearing a black dress. Parts of the woman's body can be seen above and below the black dress. The black velvet dress has silvery details on the waist and so do the black high-heeled sandals. The gold of her hair associated to the silvery details stand for richness and high status. One can feel the whisky by drinking it or feel the girl by touching her; both "objects" can give pleasure to men. Both are being offered to the consumers as a premium, a Canadian imported premium. This ad is one among many which treat women as mere consumer goods. The body expression of the woman offering herself to the reader is compared to the glass of whisky on the rocks waiting for anyone who wants to taste it and FEEL THE VELVET, something very smooth and soft. The woman is twice compared to the whisky, through taste and temptation and the ideology underlying the ad is a common one, a cliche of our male dominated society. It may be translated as: / D - A woman is an object. - A beautiful woman is a "premium". - The role of a woman is to give pleasure. C. "Martini" It is very easy to find examples where women are treated as mere consumer goods but it is also possible to find some ads where men receive equal treatment. This example is a counterpoint to the preceding one. The title says "The Italian you.won't forget" and the image shows a handsome man holding a glass of Martini. The bottle is superimposed so as to call the reader's attention. The ambiguity arises from the words, written in Italian, on the labels. At first sight one might think that the man is unforgettable because he is handsome besides having good taste—he drinks Martini. After reading the Italian words on the label—Vino; confezionato per esportazone—and the name of an Italian town—Torino— we conclude that the drink is also Italian and also unforgettable. As in the example of "Black Velvet", there is a common element between the human being and the product which is being advertised: both the liquor and the man are dark and both can be named Martini or Rossi. It is worth saying that this ad was published in a magazine for women—VOGUE, which allows us to say that the man is being compared to the product and sold with it. Maybe both Martini and the Italian man may produce the same effect on women! Italian men are the symbol of "great lovers" for the Anglo-saxon society. Another detail reinforces the idea that this kind of drink/man pleases the female taste: under the initials M&R, on the upper label, we can read "Red Sweet". Women generally prefer sweet drinks/men. 78 The words at the bottom of the page add meaning to the ad: "Winning, Worldly. Well bred". As everything else, the adjective refers to both the drink and the man. They are winning because they have gained confidence and friendship. They have no competitors and are worldly because of their quality and attributes: they give pleasure. They are well bred, they have high social rank. The idea of status is reinforced by the objects in the setting: an expensive lampshade and a golden luxurious frame. Underlying ideology - Italian men are the best lovers in the world. - Italian men have the qualities of a good drink. They are warm, attractive, sensual, winning, well bred, enrapturing. . . - Men are consumer goods. D. "Air France" D.l The Pictures The image on the top of the page tells us that a housewife has just opened the door and her husband rushes into the house. The emphasis on the picture is totally put on the man who is fully colored. The man does hold the main position in the picture. Even his movements into the house are intensely traced by means of colored symbols which give the idea of hurry and impatience. The woman, the house, and the furniture are just delineated. No color is provided besides the black of the outlines and the white of the paper. The reader may conclude that they live in a nice green area because the outlines of some trees can be seen through the open door. The columns along the stairs There are times when your husband isn't quite himself after a business trip. At least he has one thing You may wonder what's so tough about a business trip. Well, your husband rushes to the Airport with a dozen projects on his mind. Tries to prepare his thoughts while coping with foreign languages, customs, money. Then he faces the usual interminable meetings. Insoluble problems. And right in the middle of everything, has to fly off to still another problem. No Wonder he comes home a little unnerved. going for him. Air France. We understand how difficult his life can be. So we do everything we can to make the time he spends with us as relaxed and enjoyable as possible. That means a real consideration for his needs. Service and entertainment when he wants it. Or peace and quiet if he's trying to work. With Air France it's simply a question of savoir-vivre. So that your husband comes home a little more like himself AIR FRJINCB Air France understands 80 and the one in the porch suggest high status, wealth and power. The furniture indicates that the scene happens in their home and not at the office. Furthermore, the furniture and other details like the knocker on the door and the columns tell us it is a traditional house and not a modern one. This kind of house reveals solid wealth and the owners are probably traditional people who keep old values mainly in what concerns masculine and feminine roles in married life. The woman is slim and young, which, according to the dominant ideology, indicates she deserves love and tenderness. Unfortunately fat and ugly people are always despised by society. The woman is looking at the man in a rather astonished manner, as if she were expecting him to kiss her or at least greet her. The man pays no attention to her, he does not even look at her. As there are no children around them we can suppose that they have not been married for a long time. That woman stands for lots of others who keep on suffering from the same "illness": lack of attention and tenderness. I am sure that many women will readly identify themselves with the one in the ad. The woman is just part of the setting of life, the main character is always the man. This conclusion may be drawn also through the observation of the way the man in the ad enters the house. He rushes angrily in, without even looking at or otherwise acknowledging the presence of his wife. For even without the word "husband" in the title one can easily infer the characters are husband and wife. A stranger would never enter a house in such a hurry; a boy-friend, a lover would also behave in a completely different manner. The man is wearing a grey suit, a green tie and black shoes. He is holding an executive case which tells us the kind of professional he is. On the briefcase we can see the label "XAirways":X of course stands for the airline which owns the plane he flew in his last trips. We don't know which company it is but we do know 81 it is not Air France because of the caption at the bottom of the page and the meaningful picture. Although the text tells us how boring business trips can be, it stresses by means of indirect speech acts that X-airline is the only one responsible for the man's bad humor. His bad humor is translated by: - His green face. - His big blue ear. - His hair standing on end. - His sharp pointed teeth which have different sizes, but are much bigger than normal teeth. His teeth remind us of a wild beast that is ready to attack. _ His bloodshot eyes, which constitutes another sign of ferocity and bestiality. - His tongue, red like an ember, with dense smoke is coming out of his mouth. The same kind of smoke can be seen on his way home. It is interesting to observe that this kind of smoke is a common iconic symbol, found in comic books and cartoons to show that one is in a hurry. It is generally v/hite but in our example it is a mixture of grey and green which enlarge the meaning, adding the idea of anger, ferocity and impatience. It is clear that the woman looks a little astonished but she seems to be calm; maybe it is not the first time she has to face her husband coming back from a business trip in such an angry manner. Now, let us analyze the picture at the bottom of the page. There is a man comfortably sitting in a big hand. We can see part of the sleeves of a white shirt and a blue coat, which evoke the uniform of an airline crew. The man in the hand is also wearing a suit and an atmosphere of fantasy makes it impossible to know what ÜZ color it is. The warmth of the hand, symbolized by the orange color, pervades all his figure, from head to feet. This warm color conveys the idea of comfort and protection; there are differences only in shades but it seems that the color of the hand has mixed itself up with the skin of the man, his clothes and his hair. Everything becomes orange. This mixing up suggests a perfect interaction between the passenger and the airline. The man looks relaxed; his eyes are closed, his hands are carelessly dropped down. His facial expression is in virtual opposition with the feelings expressed in the first picture. The picture of the hand is at the same time a synecdoche and a triple metaphor. Synecdoche because only part of a human body is shown— the hand which stands for the whole image of a man. We know it is a man and not a woman because of the clothes. The image is also a triple metaphor because it refers to a steward. Air France•itself and also good service. That hand can also be understood as a metonym—the helping hand standing for the service offered by Air France is visualized as Air-France itself. The intention is to mix all the ideas up so that one becomes the other: Air France is good service and good service is Air France. Such an idea is reinforced by the bold-typed sentence: AIR FRANCE UNDERSTANDS. Going further and entering the field of phsychoanalysis, I dare say that the hand reminds us of a womb. It protects and gives the man warmth in the same way a womb protects and gives warmth to an embry0.Passengers who travel with that airline deserve the same affection and love. A comparison between the two pictures suggests that if one flies X airways (which can be any airline but Air France) he will get home unnerved. The one who flies Air France will experience the sensation of being in a Paradise resting in the hand of almighty God 83 Ai r-France. D.2 THE WRITTEN MESSAGE The title selects the reader: "There are times when your husband comes home a little unerved." The ad aims at a business-man's wife and not the business man itself. The wife is expected to convince her husband to choose Air-France and despise the other air-ways. The text is going to repeat well known statements. Wives generally'hear the same from their husbands: how troublesome a business trip can be. After presenting the problems, the text promises the solution. It tries to persuade women that Air France will make life easier, that husbands and wives can be happier if they choose the right airline. D.3 UNDERLYING IDEOLOGY - Women should stay at home while men go out to earn a 1iving. - Whenever a man gets home unnerved the woman should prove to be an understanding person. - Lack of affection is generally due to problems at work. - Women should try to provide comfort for their husbands. - Women should accept, without complaining, men's undesirable behavior. - Women are inferior to men. - Work is a kind of punishment. - Men are the most important persons in society. - Men are always sacrificing themselves to provide for their families' comfort. - Women have the power to interfere in men's choices 84 II.5 CONCLUSION As a conclusion one can say that ideology is the screen through which the world is seen—a world view. Each step of our behavior reflects our ideology. As society is divided into classes and each class adopts a different ideology, life in society will be the result of ideological conflicts and ideological influences. Advertising will perform an important role in the process of spreading the dominant ideology and reinforcing the act of consuming. Advertising takes the place of traditional schools whose aim was, and maybe still is, to teach the dominant ideology in order to make people adopt those ideas as if they had been produced by themselves. When a group adopts the ideology of another, it becomes blind and unable to have another view of the world. There is no way out; we cannot escape ideology. "But if we cannot escape ideology, we can be at least constantly aware of its mechanism, of its process of construction. Awareness is, after all, a form of partial freedom, perhaps the only freedom we can expect to have at the present time."19 In other words, the one thing that can be done is the creation of a new kind of reader. 85 Notes ^ Shakespeare, As you like it, act II, scene VII. 2 Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies da Universidade de Birmingham, org. Da Ideologia (Rio de Janeiro: Zahar, 1982). O Birmingham, Da Ideologia. ^ Birmingham, Da Ideologia. 5 - Marilena Chaui, 0 que e Ideologia. Coleção Primeiros Passos (São Paulo: Brasiliense, 1985). fi • Birmingham, Da Ideologia. ^ Herbert Marcuse, Ideologia da Sociedade Industrial (Rio de Janeiro: Zahar, 1967) p. 13. ® S. I. Hayakawa, A Linguagem no Pensamento e na Ação (São Paulo: Pioneira, 1977). ^ Herbert Marcuse, Razão e Revolução. Heqel e o Advento da Teoria Social (Rio de Janeiro: Paz e Terra, 1978). Michel Foucault, MicrofTsica do Poder (Rio de Janeiro: Edições Graal, 1971) pp. 25-6. Foucault p. 25. Mikhail Bakhtin, Marxismo e Filosofia da Linauanpm (São Paulo: Hucitec, 1981). 86 Umberto Eco. A Estrutura Ausente (São Paulo: Perspectiva, 1971) p. 81. Eco p. 339. 15 - - Teixeira Coelho, O que e Industria Cultural, Coleção Primeiros Passos (São Paulo: Brasiliense, 1981) . Francisco Gutierrez, Linguagem Total: uma Pedagogia dos Meios de Comunicação (Summus Editorial, 1 978). Gutierrez Marjorie Boulton, The Anatomy of Language: Saying what we Mean (London: Routledge of Kegan Paul, 1978) p. 91. Sergio Luiz Prado Bel lei, "Reading Post Modern Fiction: From Work to Text, in Anais do XVI Seminário de Literatura Inglesa: Teatro Contemporâneo de LTnqua Inglesa (Belo Horizonte: PUC-MG, 1984) p. 116. CHAPTER III \ ADVERTISING AND THE SATISFACTION OF HUMAN NEEDS "Ne me dites pas que je delire; ce n'est pas moi ... Cast la realite qui delire." Alexandre Jodorowsky "When I have a choice I choose Lufthansa." This is an authentic passenger statement. Fig. 2 2 Lufthansa German Airlines Advertisement denies men's free will and their capacity to choose as false premises are imposed on them. III.l INTRODUCTION "Freedom to choose v/hat will be bought is as vital to this economic democracy as freedom of citizens to elect is vital to the political democracy. But first as the success of a political democracy depends upon an enlightened and educated citizenry, so does the* success of a consumer- oriented economic democracy depend upon educated consumers."^ Man is always striving to satisfy his desires and needs, the former being the conscious expression of the latter. Human behavior can be explained by means of the motives which urge man to act. The motives are also called urges, needs, impulses, wants, tensions and willful cravings. Some motives such as hunger and thirst are common to all human beings because they are physical NEEDS. These biological needs are the dynamic forces of our behavior. They appear the moment there is a rupture in our body equilibrium and urge us to act in order to reestablish our lost balance The lack of food breaks our body equilibrium and we feel hunger. This feeling leads us to act in order to provide our organism with food. Other motives differ, at least in their intensity from person to person and from culture to culture These secondary or learned motives are called DESIRES They do not come from our inside but are always produced by external stimuli and associated with our ways of life. The need for social approval, for instance, is more relevant to some persons than it is 90 to others. The existence of some motives will even depend on the kind of society the person lives in. In an illiterate society, for example, people will not have the need for "culture" in the sense of erudi tion. III.2 Taxonomies of Human Needs Psychologists usually divide needs into primary or physiological needs (such as thirst, hunger, sex...) and secondary or learned needs (social status, amusement, beauty...). There are several different classifications of human needs. The first one I would like to discuss is C. N. Allen's. He divides needs into PRIMARY WANTS, which have innate and biogenic origin and SECONDARY WANTS, which are sociogenic or learned. Allen's purpose is to provide advertisers with information about the consumer's motivation. According to him the PRIMARY WANTS are the fol1owi ng: - appetizing food - thirst - quenching drinks - comfortable surrounding - escape from pain and danger - sex companionship - welfare of loved ones - social approval - superioty over others - mastery over obstacles - play The SECONDARY WANTS are the following: - beauty and style - cleanliness - convenience - curiosity 91 - dependability and quality - economy and profit - education and information - efficiency - health - universaiity It is important to say that such classifications are arbitrary and it is not possible to say which is the best one. It depends on the purpose the classification is made for. Victor Schwab^, for example, does not divide the needs into primary and secondary. He lists ten motives or desires which he considers the leading ones. What distinguishes his work from Allen's is that, besides classifying the motives, he adds what consumers generally think when they feel urged to fulfil one of them. Schwab thinks that advertising must appeal to one of the following human needs in order to be effective: 1. Money and a better job. "There must always be some kind of short-cut to getting ahead faster." 2. Security in old age. "When I get along in years, I want to be able to take it easy." 3. Popularity. "It's fun to be asked out all the time, to be wanted by everybody." 4. Praise from others. "Praise from others is a nice thing to get and I like to get it when I deserve it, and I often do." 5. More comfort. "A lot of people who are not as industrious or as capable as I am seem to have more comforts, so why shouldn't I spread myself once in a while?" 6. Social advancement. "Where would a person be if he never tried to better himself and to meet and associate with better people? 7. Improved appearance. "It is awfully nice to 92 have people tell you how attractive and well- dressed you are. If I had the time and money some people spend on themselves, I would show them." 8. Personal prestige. "I am going to see to it that my children can prove that they have parents they need never be ashamed of." 9. Better health. "I don't feel any older than I did years ago, it's just that I don't seem to have the drive and energy I used to have." 10. Increased enjoyment. "I work hard, I do the best I can about things so why shouldn't I get as much enjoyment as I can?" The motives do not occur in isolation. They always come in connection with other motives. They are interlaced, one interfering with the other. George Horsley Smith says that: "Motivating conditions are varied. Thus we seek sensory gratification, pleasant feelings, emotional variety,and at times even enjoy tension and turmoil rather than quiescence of a fulfilled appetite. We look for meaning in the environment, we work hard for economic security and acceptance by our fellows and look for ways to express our individuality, satisfy our curiosity and experience new value qualities. ' Sometimes we are torn by conflicting needs for example, we want to be both masterful and submissive, to have fun and "purge" ourselvp-; through hard work."^ Sometimes the apparent motives hide inner motives Let us take, for example, the motive HUNGER. The way a human being tries to satisfy hunger varies from person to person, from culture to culture. Berelson and Steiner explain that 'The acts that satisfy primary motives as hunger, thirst and sex take on important social significance, far beyond what is 93 necessary to satisfy biological functioning In order to survive, for example, everyone must eat but consider the rites and rituals that are built around the satisfaction of that primary motive—the family meal, the business lunch, the corner pub, the selection of proper and improper diet (even to the point that some people would rather starve than eat food they consider inappropriate, like pork.)"5 III.3 The Role of Advertising in the Satisfaction of Human Needs The persuasive role of-advertising may determine the way the person will satisfy his/her primary needs and this is always done by associating the primary motives to the secondary ones. For example, one can choose a famous expensive restaurant both to satisfy one's hunger and also to acquire social prestige. One can invite a group of persons to eat at one's house just to fulfill one's need of exhibition, as it can be a very good opportunity to show off one's cooking ability, a new dinner set, the new decoration of the house, etc... According to Berelson and Steiner "it is social and psychological factors that often determine the specific form in which the primary motives will get expressed." Social and psychological factors are greatly influenced by advertising. If we believe that social motives arise out of interaction with other persons and that advertising does influence people's behavior, we can conclude that the myths created by advertising are destroying man's individuality. Man has been losing control over his wants and in a certain way behaving like a madman. It is Foucault who says that "0 louco toma as coisas por aquilo que elas não são, e as pessoas umas pelas outras- ignora os seus amigos, reconhece os estranhos julga desmascarar e impõe uma mascara. Inverte 94 todos os valores e todas as proporções, pois julga a cada instante decifrar signos."7 Let us try to exemplify FOUCAULT's statement, analyzing human response to advertisements. 1. "0 louco toma as coisas por aquilo que elas não são...." Examples; - people buy cigarettes in order to achieve success although cigarettes are harmful to health and do not actually provide success. - a piece of clothing is bought not because it fits one well but because it belongs to a famous brand. Luxury and famous brands are generally put at the top of consumers' scales of value. 2. "... e as pessoas umas pelas outras..." Examples: - people who resemble famous personalities are employed by agencies to advertise their products in an attempt to link that product to the image of such celebrities. Lady Diana's, Queen Elizabeth's and famous movie stars' doubles are frequently employed by mass media to persuade the consumers to buy such and such products. - characters take the place of actors and the actors themselves lose their own identity and are only seen as characters. Sean Connery and Silvester Stallone, for instance, disappear as they lend their bodies to their characters, giving life to James Bond and Rambo respectively. The actors vanish away while the characters go on working for the advertising machine. Reality itself gives place to fantasy which y b becomes then a new reality, not what IT IS but what IT SEEMS TO BE. 3. "... ignora os seus amigos, reconhece os estranhos..." Example: - famous people's statements are taken for granted and consumers buy anything advertised by celebrities ignoring their friends ' opinions. 4. "Inverte todos os valores e todas as propor- ções ..." Examples: - people buy what pleases their eyes and not what is useful for them. Velvet towels, for instance, do not dry one's body well, but they are beautiful and adorn the bathroom. - products are valued not for their intrinsic qualities but for their prestige or the external satisfaction they offer. As for the way the product works, explanations given by engineers do not matter. The purpose of a product lies in the satisfaction of any of the already listed human needs. 5. "... pois julga a cada instante decifrar signos." Man does not feel he is being cheated by advertising language^ just like the madman, living in a world of fantasy, the consumer thinks he is decoding signs all the time. Who has never bought an expensive product because of a special offering such as recipe booklets, toys, etc.?Consumers, being unable to decode advertisements properly, dive into a world of illusory promises, and go on striving for non-essential goals. Many times the physical properties of a product are not relevant for the purchaser. The consumer is looking for psychological values. The feeling of being well dressed, for example, may be obtained from a socially approved brand regardless of the quality of the clothing article itself. If the brand is well known and recognized as one belonging to a higher social status, people will be more pleased when wearing a piece of clothing bearing such a brand rather than wearing a high quality product whose brand is unknown or considered very popular. Motivating patterns change from person to person. Different consumers may buy the same product for different reasons. The same motive may be strong for one person and weak for another or even be strong today and weak tomorrow, since, depending on circumstances, individual values can change. Attitudes, beliefs and habits are also factors which interfere with the purchasing acts. Let's take the example of a dress. The motivation which underlies the act of buying a dress can vary: a woman may buy a new dress because she wants to surpass a special friend, be sexually attractive, be the most beautiful and charming woman at a certain party, attract everybody's attention, etc, or just because she does not want to look different from the others, or inferior to them. Depending on her attitude towards the national industry she will buy a national or a foreign product. If she believes a certain color can give her luck, that is the color she will choose. If she does not have the habit of wearing mini-skirts she will never wear one. Thus attitudes, beliefs and habits, together with human needs, will control the consumer's behavior and consequently the market itself. III.4 Advertising 3s a Tool for Cultural Domination Before starting an advertising campaign, all 97 factors are analysed and the arrows are thrown into the right targets. Advertisement does not aim exclusively at individual needs because they actually do not exist: primary needs are common to all human beings and secondary needs are identical among members of the same group. Hayakawa states that "A propaganda e talvez a maior das forças verbais* a modular os hábitos de nossa vida diária e da nossa cultura. Influencia profundamente nosso aspecto, nossas maneiras ,__nossa vida econômica, nossa saúde, nossas idéias sobre arte, ate mesmo sobre ética. Advertising kills our individuality, spreading desires which will be shared by all the members of the same society. In underdeveloped countries, for instance, advertising creates the need to go onward, to develop, to achieve progress, and progress stands for industrialization, higher consumption, luxury and comfort, instead of representing sanitation, health care and education. People all over the country go on starving to death but the higher classes can possibly buy almost all the superfluous products offered by the American society. Brazil is an underdeveloped country with a debt over US$ 100,000,000. Our biggest creditor is the United States which, in order to force us to buy their products, are always increasing interest rates, underestimating our products and creating barriers to our export policies. They overcharge their products and force us to undercharge ours making our economical survival quite impossible. * I would say "semiotic force" rather than 'verbal force'". 98 Maybe the Brazilian people are not aware of the fact that the survival of American imperialism depends on the failure of our economical policy. It is important for the United States to flood our market with their production in order to keep their industries working. They must get rid of the products which have no more room in their society either for being useless or obsolete or because new ones have appeared. Howard Morgens, in his article "Advertising from a Management Viewpoint," states that "It is going-to be vital to the survival of our way of life to persuade the peoples of other nations of our friendship and interest, and our willingness to share with them such elements of our know-how in the realms of industry, agriculture and various other technologies as they can use to advantage. Likewise, to promote among the nations which are today stumbling out of colonialism, sound ideas for organizing politically and socially to take advantage of their new freedom."^ David Mackenzie Ogilvy , in an interview to Veja, when asked if he believed that advertising forces the consumer to buy useless things, answered that the only things human beings really need are: a cave and some rabbits to eat. He went on to say that the one who decides what to buy is the person himself. He sees nothing wrong in the fact that advertising makes people want things. He sees this phenomenon through a positive angle and justifies that the moment men want to buy more products they will try to earn more money and consequent! * David Mackenzie Ogilvy is considered as one of the personalities who contributed to the success of the Industrial Revolution. His importance to the modern world can be compared to the famous economists Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes, the philosopher Karl Marx and the enterprising men Henry Ford and John Rockefeller. He was born in England and created Ogilvy and Mather, the fourth biggest Advertising agency in the world. 99 Labor Unions will be more active and more jobs will be created as a consequence of consumption increase. But when asked if this argument would be valid for the underdeveloped countries he was unable to answer. It was impossible for him to decide whether it was fair to expose poor people to the advertising campaigns usually displaying products they could not afford. He did try to justify himself by saying that he was an advertiser and not a philosopher, so he could not deal with such a problem. He added that philosophers and politicians were the right persons to see about the problem. ^ ^ ' Other experts in advertising, besides Mr. Ogilvy, say that advertising does not create wants in the consumer, it only stimulates latent desires. Is this true? Could a person desire a product he had never heard of? It is impossible to agree with those experts when one thinks of the kind of brainwashing our people undergo. After reading Paulo Freire's Pedagogia do Oprimido^ ^ . one can realize that the oppressed people feel an irresistible attraction towards the opressor's way of life. One of the greatest expectations which the oppressed cannot tame is the desire to achieve the same living standards of the oppressor. Drowned in the deepest alienatio they try, at all costs, to imitate and therefore look like the oppressor. In Frank Knight's opinion "The chief thing which the common- sense individual actually wants is not satisfactions for the wants which he has, but more and better wants. There is always really present and operative, though, in the background of consciousness, the idea of and desire for a new want to be striven for when the present objective is out of the way."^2 The discussion of latent desires makes it possible to say that 100 the Brazilian people are anxious to buy everthing the American people buy. In a rich society, the economy of the country is oriented towards consumption. In a society like ours—a society with a low purchasing power—the desire to obtain the advertised products will generate violence and a certain feeling of injustice due to class differences. On the other hand (following Ogilvy's arguments ) ,this same desire may stimulate the person to increase his purchasing power and that's what capitalism expects men to do, III.5 Advertising and the Creation of New Desires Plenty of examples show clearly how advertising explores human motives and creates new desires in men, urging them to buy the advertised products. Example 1: "DeBeers" The following is an advertisement from "DeBeers" which explores human need for affection. 102 The photograph shows a woman holding the face of a man and kissing his nose. Her left hand constitutes the main part of the image and the focus is on the diamond ring she is wearing. Light stresses the presence of the ring and a similar ring appears at the bottom of.the page displayed on a small black velvet bag. Although the purpose of the ad is to sell diamonds, it is actually selling "love" as if it could be bought in any jewelry store. The sentence "This anniversary, show your wife she's still your lover" is printed just above the ring on her hand to reassure us that it is a gift from her husband. The ad suggests that giving diamonds as presents is a way of offering someone a concrete proof of one's love. But, in the image, the roles are inverted, it shows the husband being kissed and caressed by his wife while one expected to see the husband kissing or embracing her. Then another reading level emerges from the iconic device leading us to the indexical reading—if you want to be loved by your wife, give diamonds to her or if you want to make your wife feel she is sexy, attractive, lovable and that she holds first place in your heart give her a diamond ring. Love is thus displayed as if it were an expensive object as everlasting as a diamond- "A diamond is forever." Diamond advertisements have been emphasizing the idea of love as a feeling that must be shared forever and those precious stones have been transformed into the symbol of eternal love. So, when you read "A diamond is forever" you are at the same time reading "Love is forever" or your love will be remembered forever (the person who is giving the diamond). The ad tries to persuade us that the act of giving diamonds is a way of proving the immortality of one's feelings. A woman who receives a diamond jewel is sure to be loved forever. This idea is reinforced in the last sentence at the bottom of the page: "A BAND OF DIAMONDSTHAT SAYS YOU'D MARRY HER ALL OVER AGAIN."* The high price of the product is minimized by its symbolic status and this reinforces the idea that love is priceless and worth a lot of money. In our culture, jewels have largely been used as baits for women's love and it is universally accepted that one who gives jewels wants either to show one's love or to be loved (to "buy" someone's love). The ideology underlying the ad is: - Love is worth a lot of money. - Love is appraised through the price of the gift given to the loved person. - Love must be eternal. - Marriage confirms (ratifies) love. ^ - A woman's love can be bought with expensive jewels. Example 2: "Johnnie Walker Red Label" This ad explores the need for social recognition and high status. What strikes me in this particular example is the emphasis put on the group; that is, every man wants to belong to a group. Individual characteristics are dismissed in favor of collectivity ones. The five characters are wearing rich clothes, an index of high social class. All of them are also wearing different masks in order to hide their own identities. It does not matter who they are, what matters is the fact that they belong to the same group and share the same values, likes and dislikes. The three men and the two women are * It reminds me of Salvador Dali who repeatedly married his Gala, undergoing different religious rituals, in order to reinforce his eternal love for her. lie Walker Red Label. Since 1820. Recognised for good taste throughout the world. ^ IOHNWAI.KF.R&SONS LTD..SCOTCH WHISKY DlSril.I.KRS.Kll.MARNOCK.SCOTI.ANn 105 holding glasses of whisky—Johnnie Walker—which is enough to make them different from common people. The title says "You'll always be recognized by your taste in Scotch," so in order to be recognized they need not take off their masks. Their faces are not important to our society. Advertising does not deal with individuals as such, but with individuals as parts of a larger group. To belong to any social group people must share the same values, the same taste and make the same choices. Their houses, their objects, their clothes are certificates of their high status. If such people drink Johnnie Walker Red Label, this whisky will be accepted as being of high quality. Everybody knows it is a passively accepted dogma that higher classes make the best choices. The text reinforces this idea when it says that "Johnnie Walker Red Label. Since 1820. Recognized for good taste throughout the world." The ideology underlying the ad is: - Every expensive product has high quality. - Rich social classes prefer the best products. - Rich people's choices are trustworthy. - A person's choices make clear the class this person belongs to. - Drinking is a positive social act. - People who drink are always enjoyable companions. - The one who knows how to choose a good whisky will be socially recognized. Example 3: "Army ROTC" 106 A LOT OF CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY STARTED OUT AS SECOND LIEUTENANTS. Startinfi out ns Army officers helped these top executives (jct the experience they needed to succeed in business. Rifjht out of college, they were given the kind of responsiliility most people in civilian life work years for. And instead of delaying their career plans, the time they spent as officers actually put them further ahead. How does someone become an Army officer? A great way to get the train- ing needed is in Army ROTC. ROTC is a college program that trains young men and women to handle the challenge of being Army officers. Help a bright young person you know prepare for a promising future in business. Tell him to begin his future as an officer. And that begins with Army ROTC. For more information, write- Army ROTC, Dept. FN, P.O. Box 9000, Clifton, N.J. 07015. ARMYROTC. BEAUYOUCANBE. Earl G Graves. Editor &. Publisher G. Brecn, Clinirtn.in, Pre.siilont Si CEO Bl.ick Enterprise- Ma^niine Sl.erwin-Willian» G>n.p„„v Fig. 25 The title "A lot of captains of industry started out as second lieutnants" gives emphasis to the present life of the characters, successful businessmen stating that in the past they had served the Army as Second Li eutnants. 107 The reader's eyes are directed from the title to the photographs which invert the order found in the title: present —► past. Now we have past—►present. The old black and white photographs that show the men in the Army stand alongside their colored photographs as top executives now. The small space between each pair of photographs conveys the idea that the two belong to the same person. The broader space shows that the other pairs belong to different persons: four altogether. Before reading the text, if we just look at the pictures we get to know that those men had been in the Army when young. Color plays an important role in the ad as it shows that many years have passed by since they left their military units. The readers know they had been in different branches of the Army because they are wearing different uniforms. In spite of their different backgrounds they were provided with equal opportunities as all of them are now successful "Captains of industry." The Army is thus visualized as an instituition which provides equal opportunities for all its members. The idea of future success is reinforced, in the colored photographs, by the facial expressions and clothes, such as suits and ties. The presence of a black man is another important datum. It tells us that there is no racial prejudice in the Army though we do know that is a lie—Are there any black Generals in the American Army or in the Brazilian Army? If there are, nobody has ever heard about them. After reading the text, we can see that this ad is selling future plans (which will become true only after leaving the Army) instead of trying to convince young men to join the Army because the government wants them to. This ad is thus appealing to five out of ten human needs listed on pages 91/2. m - Money and a better job. - Security in old age. - Popularity. - Praise from others. - Social advancement and personal prestige. The text does not show any real reason for a person to join the Army, which is merely presented as a good way to prepare a prospective successful businessman. We are told that a ROTC is a college program that trains young men and women but no visual example of any successful woman is provided. The text states what experience has proved to be the opposite; it says that the Army does not delay one's career plans when everybody knows it is just the opposite. No real information is supplied. As we know, there is no place for creativity, critical judgment and individuality in the Army, There is no questioning, no debate. The soldier has just one "right"; to obey orders without arguing. Should we think this kind of education promotes experience and responsibi1i ty? The ideology underlying the ad is: - The Army helps the young. _ £v0)''yone who spends part of his life in the Army will be prepared for business life. - The Army is the best school in the world. - There is no racial prejudice in the Army. - The Army is a "spring board" to success. Example 4: "AEtna" This ad appeals to man's need for Security in old age. In a capitalist society people are valued for what they produce. As children and old people do not increase productivity they are despised and forsaken o -3 V) C O •O RI = CQ a, Ü •" c -S to o sg o. .2 2 -í p S " • S o w C "3 O O ^ "p u S "3 ^ < i"S I u -a -G ^ E 2 « H-cg W I Jí ^íq a** ts *» o. i- T te 2 o®6 S)Jf o C M) M CjO -ü-S 2-^ J s6 2 «i w n ^ s -n s li :S«lÍ gb I = 1<31 ^ "S "3 -Ij ill ^ go -®--g 2^1 «sO og O) PÍÜHI ji %i}íiii P^f J2>»*=v*»>í c Co *a «4 o Cl . o H.;^IÍ|ÍL^ÍÍ Ml lláíill •" V a ** ã g ^:02 fc o E-r.si S i a.f ^>•3 £,^-p S o c 3 p-ãi - ^ M ■S, E o gÍB.ré-Sgsas s O' Sí 2 c-gS- » iõ|-;i2-Jlijl |-S»sSl5»s:-^ -^•3 g-g ° «2S- l-rjil ."s 8.S g.E * 3 »fcj,Íi|s£-2 5'" 2õí s-asilti!^ .i 1Í2 J|S ? Ic e-J 2i O) ^ o Q S (U no by the government. This idea is metaphorically presented in the picture: an old couple in trash cans like disposable rubbish. Society takes them for rubbish because they have retired; they are no longer working but living at the expense of the state. The title says: Let's have disposable retirement income, not disposable retirees." There is a pun with the word disposable, so that "disposable retirement income" means income available for use, and "disposable retirees" means that retired people who have already performed their role in society can, therefore, be thrown away. They have no contribution to give us. The idea of the picture was borrowed from Samuel Beckett's End Game, a play which presents a couple, without legs, living in trash cans. The absurdity of human condition is not a Beckettian fiction but a product of the ideology created to hide the injustice of actual social relationships. The ideology underlying the ad is: - Old people should not be supported by society. - Retirement is a social disaster. - Employees must save money to face the future. - Old people are a burden on their families and on society. - Old age is a synonym for loneliness and isolation. III.6 CONCLUSION The task of educators is to help people to exercise effective judgement when making choices. Research has proved that children under eleven years of age are not able to distinguish an "ad" from a news report. Although they get disappointed all the time, they go on believing in the promises of advertising. Children, m teenagers, and even adults not only buy what ads tell them to but,what is worse,they do believe that by acting that way they will be more popular and loved than those who do not surrender to the pressures of mass media. False behavior patterns are thus created interfering in the process of critical judgments. Because of this, one of the aims of education in our century should be the study of advertising language, as an attempt at exposing the treacherous messages spread by mass media in order to make people aware of the useless things they are forced to buy and do through mischievous stimuli. Men should also understand that the frustration of not fulfilling certain desires (most of them totally unimportant) leads them to aggressive behavior and unhafpiness. The conclusion is that man's vision of the world has been fragmented. As a result, in the interrelation of goods X purchasers, the goods have lost their identity, their ontology. When the objects lose their own identity, they are metonymically replaced by the purchaser's inner motive satisfaction. Michel Foucault has said that "Na representação, os seres ja não manifestam sua identidade mas a relação exterior que estabelecem com o ser humano. Thus people do not buy the products but the effects they can produce. Sex appeal is bought through a special shampoo, beauty is bought through a hairdryer, etc. The objects are no longer perceived through iconic conscience. Each object is the index which points out to the satisfaction of a desire of social approval, sex, companionship, and so forth. 112 Notes ^ Martin Mayer,"The American Myth and the Myths of Advert i s i ng,"i n The Promise of Advertising, ed. C. H. Sandage (Illinois: Richard D. Irwin, 1961) p. I5i. ^ C. N. Allen,"A Psychology of Motivation for advertisers,"in Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. XXV, n. 4, 1941 pp. 386-8. ^ Victor Schwab."Ten Copy Appeals." Printer ' s Ink (December 17, 1943) pp. 17 ff. ^ George Horsley Smi th . "Mot i va ti on Research,"in Advertising and Marketing. (New York: McGraw Hill, 1954) p. 10. ^ Bernard Berelson and Gary A. Steiner, Human Behavior (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1967) p. 160. ^ Berelson p. 160. ^ Michel Foucault, As Palavras e as Coisas (São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 1966) p. 74. ® S. I. Hayakawa. A Linguagem no Pensamento e na Ação (São Paulo: Pioneira, 1977). ^ Howard Morgens."Advertising from a Management Viewpoint,"in The Promise of Advertising, ed. C. H. Sandage (Illinois: Richard D. Irwin, 1961) p. 196. Veja. Abril ed., 795, 30 Nov. 1983. Paulo Freire, Pedagogia do Oprimido (Rio Janeiro: Paz e Terra, 1975). Frank H. Knight, The Ethics of Competition (New York: Harper & Bros. 1935) p. 22. Michel Foucault. As Palavras e as Coisas (São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 1966) p. 407. CHAPTER IV WRITTEN LANGUAGE AND ITS ROLE IN ADVERTISING "Language, no less than history, has been the instrument of domination. Herbert I. Schiller IV.1 INTRODUCTION "Quando Ezra Pound declara que a grande literatura e simplesmente ^ linguagem carregada de significado até o máximo grau possTvel , indica o caminho para uma boa definição de propaganda: é o mínimo de lingua- gem carregada de significado até o máximo grau possTvel."^ Almada seems to take the word "language" to mean verbal language. If so his definition is quite good. But if we think of TV commercials and printed advertisements with pictures, color, different sizes and types of letters, etc, then his definition turns out to be inaccurate. The ads we find in magazines are overburdened with different languages (or codes) which help to increase the meaning of an ad beyond that conveyed by the minimum of verbal language. There are endless codes in the world and we can find references to them in the ads themselves. Example 1:"FID" "A nice way to say hi to someone feeling low." 116 A nice way to say hi to someone feeling low!' mxen som^e you know is down, send the Wish 'N Weir Boi.nn.f from your FTD'' Florist. It's a b^tiful way to give them a lift Merlin Olscn Send your thoughts with special care." ® Registefed trademark oi FlorisB' TfansworW DeKvery Assodalloo 27 This ad tells us that flowers replace verbal language and are able to perform an effective communication, so as to change somebody else's mood The text advises us to send flowers when someone we know is down in order to give him/her a lift. It does not advise us to talk to the person or to listen to him/her.The idea is that the flower language will get better results than verbal language. Example 2:"DeBeers" This ad warns us that "romance is not a dead language." The couple in the picture is not talking, but their bodies are. They are caressing each other and their facial expressions show tenderness, pleasure happiness, etc. The advertiser tries to add a new element to the language of love—a diamond ring.* Body language will be an important element in the analysis of icons in advertising language. * I will not discuss the diamond ring as a symbol because I have already done so in Chapter Three. See page 101. 'mfm 118 EVAN-PICONE is a brand of stockings and socks for women. There are six photographs showing women's legs wearing different stockings and one wearing a pair of winter socks. The clothes added to the kind of socks/ stockings, the position of the legs, the kind of shoes, the microphone, the gift box, the dog and the man will tell us what kind of woman they are and what they are doing. The fifth photograph, for instance, shows a girl kissing a man. How doweknow that? Well, because of the leg language. The combination of the various elements in an ad leads to the ultimate aim of advertising, which is to awake in the consumer the desire to buy a certain product. Each element in an ad can be studied separately, but each one is essential to the process of understanding the other elements, either because one completes the other, or because one duplicates the other. Title, subtitles, icons and text go together in an ad and it is not worth trying to establish a rank among them. Example 4: "AIR FRANCE" In the Aip Frflnco ad for instance, the picture, title, and text repeat the same idea: luxury and comfort, which is to say, each element reinforces the other, and this duplication is necessary to make the message effective. Example 2 :"EVAN-PICONE HOSIERY" EVAN-PICONE SPEAKS LEG LANGUAGE.' ^ Fin AirFrlnr^ n^PP''Kiated ali over the ' refinpmlL you can enjoy that •-y^g back 'ong-range Franfe |e,\u ^«^^-long and w,de i-e jet-Sleeper you will be in a AIR nM^m\ First Class position for everything that Prenniére has to offer The charming and eificient cabin crew will first present you with champagne and cocktails. And with the marvelous cuisine, discover the best French wines. Then, relaxing in your peaceful cabin. en/oy the many other status n la tn r pleasures that your Premiere ground^the Air Francf staff will Insure separate boardi the Air France t'me you fly look for the four n^h Jiíríin ,Íe^k7" ^^9. 3n 121 Example 5:"AMERICAN TOURISTER" American Tourister is beautiful under pressure. Bfutol bungling brings out the true beoufy of an American Tourister hord-sided suitcase. Becouse it's buiit to take it. With o sturdy stainless steel frome. The strongest moteriols we con find. Solid locks thot won't spring open even after o beastly bounce. And in the bigger sizes, rugged wheels and 0 tough t-bor handle. To us. it's not enough to give a suitcosea hondsonie shope or a luscious color (even if it is npe cranberry), 16 "S. there s no point in building a suitcose at all if you don t build in the most important kind of beauty The kistir^ kind. Iti not just how good it looks. Itli how long it looks good. SpüSir 1 g. 3 In the American Tourister ad each element is important to understand the other. The picture without the title would be meaningless or at least puzzling The reproduction of the label, on the right of the bottom of the page associated to the labels on the suitcases explain the meaning of "American Tourister" in the title. The text makes everything clear while the minor caption synthesizes the main ideas: beautifulness and durability. An ad may be formed by titles, illustrations (photographs, paintings, drawings, graphics, etc), text, slogan and logotype. There is always a complete interchange between linguistic devices and non-linguistic elements such as photos, colors, drawings, etc. Advertising language tries to create in our minds a programmed response by stimulating our emotions. In order to achieve this aim it makes use of imagery and associations evoked by words, pictures, colors and shapes. Every symbol, whether word or picture, evokes a wide range of meanings and reactions. What is really important is the ad as a whole and not the singling out of isolated elements. IV.2 The Plastic Treatment of Words The interchange between linguistic and non- linguistic elements in advertisements is so great that sometimes one assumes the characteristies of the other. For example, the graphic transcriptions approach the realm of icons and vice-versa. This is called Plastic trcatnient. Example 1: "Spanish Olives" In this ad an olive takes the place of the "0" in the word Ole. As both have an egg shape there is no difficulty when one reads the main caption of this ad. Slices of olives seem to be falling down from the 123 word "Olõ," which metonymica 1 1 y symbol izos Sp.iin. The slices fall down and finally rest inside a cheeseburyer sandwich. The brand of the product is "Spanish Olives" and the smallest caption says that "Every th i tuj ' s better 124 With olives from Spain." The words "Olè" and "Spain" are the signs which actually attract our attention- the former because of its originality in the graphic representation and the latter because of the shape size and the white color of the handwriting which looks like an original signature. In a certain way the slices' falling down from the Olive/Ole is an iconic representation of the origin of good olives: Spain. Example 2:"ECOTRIN" ^Menley & James 1985 ^^Which sa aspirin tablet is recommended by more doctors ' M ^ for renevinp arthritis painr' "ibu can't buy arything stronger than Ecotrin for relief of arthritis pain and stiffness associated with inflammation. Yet tests prove that Ecotrin is safer for your stomach than plain or even buffered aspirin because it's safety-coated. Try Ecotrin. It's the choice of doctors for relieving arthritis pain and inflammation. Eri'dieTibert © ■m ^ Ecotrin 1 S A F E T Y - C q A T E P S.PJ R1N 1 Li Available in Regular and Maximum Strength tablets and capsules. ^^9. 33 125 In this ad the tablets of Ecotrin, a kind of aspirin, are transformed into dots attached to each "i" in the words of the leading question. The same device is repeated in the word Ecotrin in the picture of the bottle. Example 3:"Kraft Mayonnaise" 126 The product here presents a feature which distinguishes it from the others. It comes in a squeezable plastic bottle which makes it easier to work with. That is why the caption at the bottom of the ad says: "Maybe we should call it "Mayonn-ease." No intrinsic quality of the product is mentioned. We are not told about its ingredients and the amount of calories it contains. We do not even know if it tastes good. The picture of a big sandwich shows how easy to deal with Kraft Mayonnaise is by presenting the squeezed mayonnaise forming the word SQUEEZE. The plastic treatment given to that word functions as metalanguage The graphic representation talks about itself, that is it shows that the letters were produced by means of physical pressure. At the same time the word squeeze is a kind of intonation; squeeze the sandwich and eat it Example 4: "Fruit of the Loom" The leading sentence of this ad is a complex sentence. "If we can warm up the U.S. Alpine Ski Team going 90 MPH down a 9.000 FT mountain at 9 below imagine what Fruit of the Loom thermal underwear will do for you." The if-clause, written in white letters, is detached from the main clause by means of suspension dots In fact we can state that the main caption is not the subordinate clause, although it is the biggest visual element in the ad. The main caption lies in the main clause, written in black letters. The white words in the subordinate clause are distributed so as to take the form of an iced mountain. There are seven lines altogether and the sentence in the middle is "The U.S. Alpine" which makes the word Alpine the most visible of all. A skier is racing 127 ^^Wheh you'fíecrádng"íclpwn;mi!« of shpYv;ih''a mattérbf m lyouwant tothlhicãbóut is th'e;cold;'Thatíí(Wljjrthe U,Si\Alpln#'Ski Teám.hairieá iFrúit òfthe Loom its'offidal thérrnárundeweár^^jtí^^ ^^With^spedalcirciilar knit, that trapsJp the body)t^n>arii^th?doübtôibb^ twristsránaàókjes to hold in that.warmth';ãnd a'prpTOrtiÒDai;;tíit;tíiat^^^ kfré^òm"òfmôvémènti|:Fnjit 'pf.thé loom thefiyiál'ühdélrw,e'ajjic^ K-eawfoh'anyorieto.warm áifAvhethèpltV"a'snow-pack«l Hill or,^,frort-fi|edfi StíHeJ^Tth!nàvóUWàdt.ònyouÈi:njnd.|í^ pri yqurJ)ody^ undeFWean^>^ pwomipliiEMiuuNii^^ ;C 1^3.Í)hÍ4>n Uriderwur Company, Ihci ROí Box AnopcfatinocomMnyofNorthwotIndustfImFl n down Isâving clouds of snow bshind him. If our refsrence is not the written words as such but the message as a whole, the conditional clause turns out to be the main element of the sentence. The 128 form undertaken by the words added to their white color concretizes the message in an attempt to assume the form of "Concrete Poetry." As we have seen in the examples thus far, the plastic treatment given to the letters gives a second meaning to the words. It is possible to find other kinds of plastic treatment. One of them consists of transforming static graphic symbols into dynamic ones. The visual image will present different levels of meaning—"the minimum of language overburdened with meaning." We can find sentences in which the letters seem to be dancing, running, trembling, etc. The letters can be given life or may receive artistic treatment which will reinforce ideas contained in the text or in captions. Example 5: "Noxzema" \ Noxzema is the name of skin cleaning pads which are supposed to clear acne pimples. The title of the ad is a big one, with only one word—ACNE. The letters are black, which is the color of acne pimples, and a hand appears, holding a pad which has just cleared up parts of the Letters of the title. We know what has happened because of some indices: color, the hand, the pad and movement. One can trace back the movement of the hand along the white track which crosses the word. The white color stands for absence of acne and cleanliness. it out with Noxzema® Clear-Ups.'' Clear-Ups Medicated Cleansing Pads clear the acne pimples you already have, absorb oil. and actually help prevent new pimples before they surface. That's because Clear-Ups fight acne with one of the most effective acne medicines you can buy. In fact, there's nothing more effective. So when it comes to taking care of your skin, remember; Clean is good, but clear is better. JJowema® %£AR'0 ^ D I c A T Í \ ^SKinaiANsmP*"^ ) ^'985 NOXELL CORP Clean is good. Clear is better. 1 30 Example 6: "Benadryl" The irritating, sometimes painful world of itch; Insect bites, allergic rashes, even the sun. That's why, today, there's the relief of Benadryl* Cream and new Benadryl Spray...the kind of itch relief you can't get from hydrocortisone products. That's because both Benadryl Cream and new Benadryl Spray contain the most recommended topical antihistamine...to stop the pain... block the Itch...and help stop it from coming back. Use Benadryl Cream or new Benadryl Spray as directed for maximum strength itch relief. Benadryl Benadryl >•. ir-. Maximum Strength Itch Relief from PARKE-DAVIS® For more Information, coll 1-800-223-0182 Fig. 37 The biggest word in the ad is ITCH whose letters are standing in a dry field surrounded by aggressive vegetation full of thorns. Two insects can be seen on the right side of the picture and one leaf is semi- destroyed by insect bites. The letters themselves look like burning blocks of iron. The sky is red and yellow. The color of the letters mixes up with the color of the sky. Cracks and holes can be seen in the letters which seem full of thorns. The caption, which is in fact the title of the text says: The irritating, sometimes painful world of itch. Then we understand that the landscape we see in the picture is a concrete image of the "world of itch." All the negative ideas in the text can be felt by observi ]31 the image: irritating, painful, insect bites, allergic rashes, the sun, itch. Going back to Almada's definition we can say that advertising language does not make use of superfluous words. It is an economic language, which manages to communicate highly condensed messages without damaging its context and consequently the reader's understanding. The artist who creates ads must be very imaginative and creative in order to be able to associate beauty and harmony with effectiveness. Communicative patterns are obtained through the arrangement of available symbols. The right selection of symbols and their organization in the structure of an ad will be responsible for the clarity and effectiveness of the message. The wrong choices may arouse inappropriate feelings or reactions. IV.3 The use of Cliches in Advertisements 132 "Falar é incorrer em tautologias ." (. . .) "A certeza de que tudo está escrito nos anula ou nos fantasmagoriza ." Jorge Luiz Borges IV.3.1 Defining Cliche The word cliche is defined by the Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics as "A phrase or figure which from overuse, like a dulled knife, has lost its cutting edge; a trite expression. Cliches in verse result v/hen the poet's imagination arises from other poems rather than from a fresh response to experience."'^ Ivana Versiani defines cliche as "Todo grupo de palavras que se situe no ponto de maior previsibilidade do contTnuo de combinabi1ida de das paiavras_desde que haja nele um mínimo valor metafórico. "3 According to Bakhtin "Toda atividade verbal consiste em distri- buir a "palavra de outrem" e a palavra que parece ser de outrem." Both the Encyclopedia definition and Versiani's suggest the idea of somebody else s v/ord. When Versiani talks about "predictability," it should be understood that one is only able to predict what he already knows, what has already been said. The Encyclopedia talks about overuse, that is to say, the same phrase has been 133 used by many people and repeated many times. When the cliche in verse is seen as repetition of another artistic creation, once more we see the appropriateness of Bakhtin's statement. It is Bakhtin again who says that "0 centro organizador de toda enunciação, de toda expressão, não é interior, mas exterior: está situado no meio social que envolve o indi- víduo. So o grito inarticulado de um animal procede do interior do aparelho fisiolõgico do indivíduo isol^ado. E uma reaçao fisiológica pura e não ideol^õgicamente marcada. Pelo contrá- rio, a enunciação humana individual, é, do ponto de vista de seu conteúdo, de sua significação, organizada fora do indivíduo pelas condições extra-orgânicas do meio social. A enunciação enquanto tal é um puro produto de interação social, quer se trate de um ato de fala determinado pela situação imediata ou pelo seu contexto mais amplo que constitui o conjunto das condições de__^vicla deu ma determinada comunidade 1ingüTstica."^ A man does not create his own speech, he just repeats the language imposed on him by society. The language (parole) as a whole becomes then a big cliche, the opposite of a hypothetic "speech zero degree." Whorf's hypothesis that a person's world view and behavior depends on his native language seems reasonable when we analyse the metaphors which pervade our world view. The repetition of these metaphors will create the cliches and it is in the world of native language, full of cliches, that a man looks for his identity; accepting or not the values established by the society he lives in. IV.3.2 The role of cliches The repetition of cliches produces ideas and values accepted as undeniable truth. Paradoxical cliches 134 live side by side. Take "Time is money" and "Money does not bring happiness." While the former heightens the value of money and measures time by means of a monetary unit, the latter depreciates money, and receives the catholic concept that "heaven belongs to the poor- the rich will be unhappy forever." Obviously, such cliches never come together. They appear whenever society requires them to explain capitalist contradictions According to Maria Nazaré Lins Soares the use of cliches ". . . dispensa o exercTcio da reflexão e simplifica pelo empobrecimento a tarefa da troca de idéias em sociedade."6 In daily discourse, the dominator's voice reveals itself through the ordinary man's repetition of concepts. Men go on repeating the imposed concepts without thinking, without criticizing. Alienation arises out of this intertextual phenomenon and the wo rid is seen through an alienating lens. Artists are the ones who manage to cheat the dominant ideology underlying the clichês, by disrupting either their syntactic or semantic structure, Speech play, in contrast with the use of efficient language, keeps the object of discourse itself but, looking for an immediate aim, breaks the ideological structure. Thus proverbs such as "What can't be cured must be endured" receives the complementation "but not until you take an aspirin;" "No use crying over spilt milk" is complemented by "Have your cat lick it." Cliches are a kind of sacred language. As we know, the language used in religious rituals is usually considered sacred. Any word change, even pronunciation change, is supposed to be a threat to the effectiveness of the ceremony. Of course, whenever one breaks an ideological structure, another ideology is born. This writer's intention, however, is not to interpret this 135 phenomenon with manichaeistic eyes. IV.3.3 Cliches in Advertisemgnts Cliches are widely employed in advertisements. This statement is reinforced by the metalinguistic ad from the British Airways presented on the next page which tells us that the British Airways first class service does not need any claims, clichês or superlatives. The apparent criticism underlying this statement is in fact the acknowledgement of advertising language as a code made of claims, cliches and superlatives. They are useful and powerful linguistic devices used to persuade consumers to buy such and such products. The overuse of cliches in advertising is by no means due to lack of creativity but an effective way of fulfilling the consumer's expectation; it is the kind of language people v/ant to listen to. Some of the cliches found in the majority of advertisements we come across have been 1i sted below: 1. Adjectives: new, wonderful, comfortable, modern, different, successful, better, incredible, natural, special, practical, bigger, famous, safer, super, reliable, higher, pure, lighter, etc. 2. Phrases: high efficiency; half the price; the gift of love; feel the difference; win one of these prizes; lasts longer; visible action; etc. According to Riffaterre^ there are four rules of clichê renewing. They are a. Substitution One of the components of the cliche is substituted by one or more words. The remaining component is responsible for the context which makes tne reader predict the other element(s). As the expectation is not fulfilled the readt--»r gets surprised. The one first class service for which lo claims, clichês or superlatives are necessary. Fly the British way British airways 137 Example 1: "HAWAIIAN PUNCH" Evenylliiiig veinuped. niotbing gained: ^^Siimp fWBlíHfAlHlllfilSCII Drink Mix. Ttie faste tliat keeps you pullin'on tiiepeii;i^vriiáTi# No sugar. No regrets^if Just the great taste of,HAWAIIAN PUNCH Fruit Punch, swéetefiêâ, with 100% Nutrasweet® so it has ôril^.4 calories a glass* Make a stir.Witf^ Fruit Juicy Red,'" Island Fixiil^ Cocktail, or Wild Fruit flavors, i- n Now you can have t^knockoim taste you love. And still knock 'em del \ '■"'M 01986 CM Mont* Corpontloli,'ownw bi NulraSweet and the NulnSwtel symM are regisHrad Mdami *Per8o2.serving. The caption "Everytiiing ventured. Nothing gained" comes from the pro verb "Nothing ventured, nothing have " The indefinite pronoun "nothing" was substituted b "everything." ^ Example 2; "LADY KENMORE" No scraping. No prc-rinsing. Lady Kcnmore has 13 power' f^ul hot water jets for the bot- tom rack, surging hot water with enough force to scrub every dish, pot and pan really clean. Even baked-on food comes off. And dishes on top get as clean as those on the bottom. 8 upper jets scour every cup and glass inside and out. Then there's the Lady Kenmorc pro- tected pulverizer for leftovers. It's a mini-grinder with 12 stainless steel teeth that grind soft foods into tiny particles that wash down the drain. (And water is always fresh and clean — water that rinses dishes hasn't washed them.) 8 dilfcrcnt cycles include Sani-wash, for an extra- hot 155° final rinse. So every- thing is hygienically clean. And when you use Sears "Power Miser" feature, you can save electricity in the drying cycle. Sears Lady Kenmore is built to perform. iUit if you ever do have a problem, you can rely on Sears service. Sea rs Lady Ken more does just about every- thing, itself. That's why we call it The Freedom Maker. The Freedom Maker, built-in and portable, available at Sears, Roebuck and Co. stores and through the catalog. Sears Lady Kenmore» The do-it-itself dishwashen Thii JemnmtTaiion recreatci the /miicr/i.i WfdnmR 03 ^ 03 ^ í- - E ^ c ^ 'jz: . di CO ca LU E o (/) O) 03 E CD W ZJ c - ^ <1^ o 3 •§ •3"?" o '"■grô Aj ^ S o .gj (D CD • m "S 03 k- 1"^ o^v> >> CD 3 ca CD XJ •D c ca CO c d O " c ca ^ o t/3 C3) t/3 CD - _ > ~ ^ CD ^ $ -i^o o — ^ . .í2 ® •ÍÍ? o _ CD ü C3) c CO Z) ü c o tJ -o 4=! O CD »- ^ CD AJ O -O ca c 0.;;= 142 d. Metalinguistic remark A metalinguistic remark on a metaphorical element is made in order to warn the reader that the cliche is to be literally understood. Advertising language presents a similar phenomenon when it plays with two different 1anguages: iconic and written language. Two types can be analysed. 1. The picture tells us that the metaphorical expression is to be literally understood. Example 1: "PURINA" We beefU-up WviaixHl Come and it _B| For your pet's health . . See your veterinarian annually. Fig. 43 ' »^12Zli-£8l5ton Purina Cn H3 "We beef'd-up the flavor." The metaphorical verb means "to add weight, strength, or power to." In our example, the photograph of a box of food for dogs, "chunky beef flavor,"tells us that "beef'd-up" is to be understood in its literal meaning. Example 2: "CLARINS" In this example the cliche "A ray of hope" keeps its metaphorical meaning as long as it advertises a product which promises the solution for a problem which seemed insoluble. But the drawings of sun rays, around the name of the product tell us that the word RAY must be understood as sun ray. The signifier ray has two different meanings: ray (light) and ray (small sign, a sign of hope). Although the product cannot sell sun rays, it doesn't work without them. Any tanning product will work only if there is sunshine. The pun makes the ad interesting and calls the reader's attention. Example 3: "Q-TIPS/AZIZA" The cliche presented in this ad is "I can't believe my eyes." The photograph shows a woman's eyes beautifully made up and the cliche divides itself into two meanings. 1. I can't believe what I see/read. 2. I can't believe my eyes are so beautiful Under the main caption there is a smaller one telling us that the product is at a bargain price. Besides being cheap the consumer can get nine eye shadows at one time. This reading restores the basic meaning of the cliche. So the signifier "eyes" will have two different meanings: When someone reads the caption linked to the picture, he does a different reading from Tan vs. Skin Damage: A ray of hope! Çrème Solaire Anti-Rides auxplanles Sun Wrinkle Control Cream "oiiA plant extracts ^IKnWTECnON FACTO» 10 ^ It is now possible to safely achieve a benutiful j;oldeii Uiii. Clarins provides the answer with tanning treatments formulatod with protective UVA/UVB sun filters and Tyrosin, a natural tanning accelerator. Clarins recognizes the causes. Sun exposure without protection can cause irreparable skin damage. Too much sun, too fast, allows UVA/UVB rays to penetrate through the epidermis, only to destroy skin's connective tissues. Without filtering out these rays—sunburn, and dehydrated skin are certain to result. Clarins is the Problem-Solver. Clarins Hmning Treatment Collection allows you to tan beautifully and safely. Containing natural UVA/UVB sun filters, the dermatologically and allergy-tested formulations help prevent sunburn while promoting tanning. They also act to moisturize', preventing after-sun dryness and peeling. PABA-free, for even the most sensitive skin. Clarins Self Tanning Milk makes tanning possible—even without sun. Truly innovative! Achieve a natut-al golden tan in just 2 to 3 hours. Safe and effective, use it pre-sun to get a head-start on tanning; while sunning to speed up a tan; or after-sun to prolonga tan. It's the answer to a beautiful tan, year-round. Clarins Sun Wrinkle Control Cream protects while tanning delicate skin. Give special protection to those areas demanding extra care—face, shoulders, and decollete—while promoting gradual tanning. Contains natural UVA/UVB sun filters and unsaponifiable extracts of avocado and shea butter to replenish moisture to sundrenched skin. Clarins Skin Care Specialists provide personal beauty advice. Consult with our trained Specialists to find answers to your personal beauty needs. And, receive a sample selected just for you, compliments of Clarins, from Clarins face, bust or body treatments. Formulated with natural plant extracts. Dermatologically and allergy tested. Self Tanning Milk SPF6 • Promotes golden color In 2-3 hours—even witliout sun • Accelerates tanning while providing protection from UVA/ UVB rays Key Ingredients: Selt- tanning factor, Copra oil, Sun (liters and Tyrosin Sun Wrinkle Control Cream SPF10 • Provides protection to delicate skin while promoting gradual tanning ■ Combats sunburn, wrinkles, and dehydration Key Ingredients: Parasol pine, Sun filters, Avocado, Shea butter, and Tyrosin clarins Paris the PPnRt em-solver in skin care, premier in FRANCE! f^cvs • WANAMAKER'S Fig. 44 "I can't believe my eyes!" lust S3 99 for 9 beauuful Azto eye shadows and •' difone perfect way to put them on-Qj.^. ^ It's a $10.50 retail value, and it's all yours for just $3.99. Nine exciting new Aziza eye shadows for fall, plus a Q-tips cotton swabs sampler pack. With disposable Q-tips swabs, you apply fresh, true color even' time, blend and contour beautifully. And, of course, their soft cushion of cotton treats the tender eye area very, very gently. Send for your Q-TIPS/AZIZA Cosmetic Palette in the pretty tortoise-look case today; Q-tips cotton swabs for eyes. Beautiful. rQ-TIPS*/AZIZA Cosmetic Palette Offer, P.O. Box 4014,T ■ Jefferson City, MO 65102 Please send me Q-TIPS/AZIZA Cosmetic Palelte(s). I am enclosing a check or money order for S3.99 lor each Palette ordered. Make check payable to: Q-TIPS/AZIZA Cosmetic Palette Offer. Name Address Ciiy Stale Zip Picijsc allow 6-H weeks' lor deli\cr>. Thi* olfer expires .XuguM ."il. 19H'i. is limiled to ll)c U.S.A. jnd is not v;ili(t for shipnieiK into suies where pri>- ^hibiccd or reslriited, j Q.TIPS* tolton swabs is a regislered iradetiiarkol C.hesebrounh-l'ond's I in. Fig. 45 146 that of the person v;ho reads it associated with the small text. 2. The written expression is associated with a picture which ignores the metaphor presented in the cliche and calls the reader's attention to the literal meaning. Suprisingly enough,communication is not broken; on the contrary, the reader gets so surprised that the simultaneous presentation of two different meanings for the same referent, through different codes, does not make him confused but urges him to decode the verbal language and enjoy the visual image. Example: "DURACELL" "Now they last even longer. (Obviously, we're on the right track.)" In this ad, the word track (the parallel rails of a railway) is, of course, a metaphor which means "a line of action." Nevertheless the picture shows two male dolls on a toy vehicle, which works with Duracell batteries. The text states that over the years, they have kept trying to find ways to improve the batteries, which last up to 20 percent longer than the ones they made just three years ago. The text adds that they intend to go on improving the product to which they give all their attention (one-track mind=another metaphor with the word track). The verbal metaphor (track = a line of action) is ignored by the picture but another metaphor is born, now a visual metaphor; the track as a pre- established route which must necessarily be followed because those who are "off the track" can have an accident. It is worth observing that the photograph shows the track going upwards which stands for the future in iconic language. 147 [y^-—■< You'd think we'd I ave lei well enough alone. DURACELL" balterivs are, after all. famous for their long life At Duracell, however well enough isn't quite good enough. So over the years, we've kept trying to ijnd ways to improve them. The result: Today's DURACELL batteries ast up to 20 percent ongcr than the ones we •nade j jst three years ago. And we'll go right on mproving them. Because on that score, jve have a one-track mind. , -v 1(8 to making them Ia$t longer, '• stop.': These examples show us of the cliches via the iconic more recognizable, bringing o humor. that the apparent disruption devices makes them actually ut the effect of surprise and 148 IV.3.4 Tearing the masícs off the cliches New jargons are constantly created by advertising and other mass media. The text repeated by comedians is immediately copied, adapted, repeated, quoted and many times renev;ed. "A intertextualidade é pois maquina perturbadora. Trata-se de não deixar o sentido em sossego—de evitar o triunfo do "clichê" por um trabalho de transformação. "8 The ideological masks .are sometimes torn off by means of transformations, additions,substitutions,or metalinguistic remarks. By raising objections to this "ready-made," non creative language man has the possibility of seeing the v/orld with different eyes. It is Marjorie Boulton who says that 'Because when we have a habit of hearing things we tend also to acquire a kind of habit or at least readiness to believe them, we can usually examine the meaning of some quite unfamiliar statement more critically than that of a statement we have often heard before. It follows that since we are more likelv to be misled by repeated assertions, preciso'ly the assertions we most often hear and those^we should examine most carefully with regard to their meaning, in order to consider whether or not they are true. Our most dangerous errors are probably the ones we take for granted.'^ As cliches tend to make students uncritical, teachers should work with this kind of language in the classroom in order to make people aware of the unconscious repetition process they have been undergoing. Cliches in form of slogans create automatic habits of consuming although they are often meaningless and sometimes mere tautologies. Uncritical minds are always ready to accept orders, to behave and act without stopping to think. lea s Example: "DELICARE" 1 49 Advertising uses ambiguity in order to avoid guilt of spreading harmful ideas F We pulled the wool over Mrs. Johnson's eyes. This white side's okay... ■ ••hul lhis pink sides much Siiflor, fresher. The wiiite side's washed in your hrand. The pink side in new Delicare® Only Delicare's jjol an exclusive fabric softeninji, freshcnint; formula. Brand "W" cleans. [3u( Delicare cleans belter, and leaves fine fabrics feeling soller, smellinji fresher. You bet. I'm switching to I'm switchinj; to new Delicare. I cleaner, softer, fresher care. , I I Cleaner, softer, fresher care S) IU8() Bcccbjii) I'roducl.'i. Inc. ig. 4 7 Delicare COLD WATER WASH FOR ALL FINE WASHABLES ^,-^jAFELy SOAKS CIEANER, SOFTER, FRESHER 1 50 In this example, the first photograph tells us that the proverb "Pull wool over one's eyes" is not to be taken in its metaphorical meaning. It means that Mrs. Johnson put on a wool jersey at the manufacturer's request in order to test the quality of the washing product. Even so the first meaning is present in the ad in an indirect reference to the other brand—Brand W, as a dishonest product. Marjorie Boulton reminds us that "any cliche that renounces responsibility may be a very harmful one."^^ Repetition of proverbs such as: - "A closed mouth catches no flies" - "The end justifies the means" - "Everything comes to him who waits" prevent men from thinking and reacting against domination, as they take the proverbs for granted. IV.4 Grammatical Disruption and Poetic Devices Advertising language uses all kinds of weapons to get the reader's attention. Two of these weapons are grammatical disruption and poetic devices. It is quite impossible to quit reading an advertisement if it contains any of those devices. We never forget an ad when it presents puns, deliberate ambiguity or repetition, either phonological (alliteration, assonance and rhyme) or syntactical (parallelism and symmetry). Short words, eliptical sentences, small paragraphs, contractions, etc, also attract the reader's attention by giving speed to the text. Abstract ideas aim at concreteness through the use of similes, descriptive associations and choice of labels with metaphorical meaning. The names of 151 the products are chosen according to euphonic principles which will please the consumer's ears and be easily pronounced. The right choice of a label is also responsible for the evocation of pleasant associations, either related to the product or not. Example 1: "SAXON" The main caption in this text reads THE JOY OF SAX. Sax, the short form for Saxon, evokes the word sex. This idea is reinforced by the sequence of photos which shows a couple caressing each other. The woman is touching the man's face which seems to have very soft skin. The text says that "Saxon is a pleasure to smell. And it makes your face a pleasure to touch." Both photographs and text try to seduce the reader in order to persuade him to buy the product and a contract is made: the consumer buys the product and his "partner will respond to the difference." Both will feel the "joy of sax/sex. The following diagram will show the process the consumer is supposed to follow. And the message is:if you cannot enjoy sex because of skin irritation, try saxon and you will enjoy sex The joy of sex v;ill disappear if you don't use saxon lotion. no joy of sex joy of sex joy of saxon no joy of saxon or THE J070F SAX There's nothing quite lilce if. Saxon Soothing Alter Shave, Its a pleasure to smell. And it makes your face a pleasure to touch. Because Sax is diilerent Irom high-alcohol alter shaves. It's a soothing sensation. Cool and relreshing. But there's no sting- even il you're razor-sensitive. The special Saxon condition- ers soothe irritation, relieve red- ness, protect against dryness all through the day And the distinc- tive Iragrance lasts into the night. Your partner will respond to the dillerence. Because Saxon doesn't just smell good. It makes your skin leel good. To you. And to her In Woodsplce and Golden Musk. SAXON. •^wmoN rOBUCN isi;: LASTINQ ' ' ' COUrORT , ATTCB ' i ; SHAVWa SAXON SOOTfflNG AFTER SHAVE. '"'O- 48 1 53 Example 2: "SHIELD" The label can also be a metaphor as in this example of a deodorant soap called SHIELD. The word shield means 1 54 "1. An article of orotectiv/o ^°°d. carried on the forearm to ward off blows or mis^iipc 2. A means of defense, protection ^ fu• resembling a shield in shape ' c Something of rubberized or absorbent cloth'wor^at thf" armpits of a garment as protection í?oS persp1ration. . . ."11 " rom If we analyse the last meaning, found in the dictionary, we will see that an object has already been named after the shield metaphor. In a certain way the absorbent cloth (shield) and the soap (shield) have a similar function. But the first idea that comes to our mind is that of a "protective armor" due to the verb "fight" in the title "New shield fights odor better." The paradigmatic axis is twice affected: first in the denotative reading when shield is metonymica11y used in the place of the warrior; secondly in the conotative reading when we have a metaphor- the soap "shield" is compared to a warrior and "fights" the odor (the enemy). To make a digression at this point, it would be interesting to point out three characteristies of advertising discourse which can be found in this ad: 1. The word NEW is a kind of magic word which fulfills the myth of progress. Martin Mayer says that "The public do firmly believe that what is new must be better than what old."12 2. The eliptical comparison: the text says "New Shield fightsodor better" and one could ask better than what? Hardly do we find the second "i element in comparisons; we never know what standard to use in order to compare the product. Comparative structures sound vague and even false when we do not know what the product is being compared to. 155 3. The appeal to science: in our example the text says that the product has undergone clinical tests in order to bestow credibility on the product. Advertising is always appealing to scientific authority as nobody doubts the truthfulness of scientific tests. Nevertheless, whenever an ad says that a product was approved by science it never reveals the kind of tests and who was responsible for them. No concrete data are ever given. The presence of the word science (or any other word connected with it) is enough to get the consumer's acceptance. These three features, together or separately can be found in the majority of the ads found in any magazine. This part has been divided into "grammatical disruption" and "poetic devices" for didactic reasons but both could be called speech play. "Speech play defines a broad area of language usage in which linguistic forms at any level are purposely manipulated. Speech play thus defined can be understood in terms of what Jakobson (1960) calls the poetic function of language. For Jakobson, this poetic function, which occurs in many verbal genres in addition to poetry, involves the projection of paradigmatic axes onto syntagmatic axes, resulting in a focus, foregrounding, and/or manipulation of any aspect of language (phonetic, lexicon, syntax, etc) for its own sake. In speech play, the poetic function of language becomes so predominant that one might say it is on display."13 IV.4.1 Grammatical Disruption a. firaDholoqical Deviations Example 1: "Cool Whip and Jell-o Instant Pudding." Spelling is sometimes altered in order to intensify 1 56 lÀnHiHnake waves! i With Cool Whip and Jep Instant Pudding, yDU can make a smoother, creamier homemade frosting. Smooth 'n Creamy Frosting f»fQte: Froalodcake iihoutd bo it>rriiforfttod. Foi a firmor rrosllnK. lot mixlurcnUltd S miiuilcs beroro roldin»; In Cool Whip. t packaffi' (4-Horvlng: sixo) JKt.L-O* Drund VanUhi F'luvor ln«i«nt Pudding and Flo Killing (or any olhor flavor) 1/4 cupconroctlonorn' sugar 1 ctip cold milk lc«iUainor(8 oz.) HIUDH KYK* COOI. Non Dairy Whipped Ibpping, thawed BaBjr AS I. 8. 3. 1. Combino pudding mix, sugar, and milk In small bow]. 2. Doat slowly with rotary iHNitor or at lowoHt HL>4H?d or at) oliKitrlc nvixiM* until well bRMtdml. alM)ul 1 minuto. 3. Kold In whippod topping. Spread on cake at onco. Makes at)out 4 cups or enough for two 0-lncti layors. m " 3 • \ i ' ' .V . .it-., ■ ,i» - r communication. In the folio imperative sentence suggest creamy frosting. "M-m-m-make waves!" The repetition of the wing example we have an ing what to do with the graphic representation of 1 57 the phoneme /m/ suggests a kind of interjection with the meaning of "delicious, tasty;" and the repetition of the letter M functions as metalanguage for waves as both graphic representations M and m iconicall> resemble waves. The same forms appear on the surface of the cake. Again attention should be called to the presence of comparatives (smoother, creamier), and the word NEW (. . . with the sensational taste of new Smooth'n Creamy Frosting). Example 2: "KAHLUA" (licor de café) In this ad we can see the word "fresh" spelled th i s way: "fr r r esh ." The repetition of the fricative sound /r/ suggests coldness (as in the onomatopoea brrr). and once v/e read the text in small letters we see that the photo of the drink shows the three ingredients: something dark which must be "Licor de Café," something white which looks like milk or cream and a piece of ice. The iconic representations are translated by the big words Kahlua (which stands for "Licor de Café"). Cream (which can be replaced by milk) and "fr r r esh" which is an index of ice, coldness. "Fresh" is then working as a metonym because the result is in the place of the cause. The repetition of the sound /r/ increases the freshness of the drink. Again we find the presence of comparatives (one of the most naturally delicious drink . . .; a taste as frresh as can be). The word "frresh" is in virtual opposition with the note on the bottle"Imported from sunny Mexico."The word "Imported" is written in white and the rest of the sentence in yellow in order to suggest the color of the sun. The idea of hotness is enhanced by the red color of the label. The white color is the element which will link the bottle to the other white elements either in the text or in the iconic images. üf> »dii •• SUNNY Mir? 1,' Í ■.N • ' V. è o' the most níiturally delicious drinks imajjinable: an ounce of Kahiúa, four ounçfiSji^cream, or milk, over ice. since you make it yourself, a taste as frrresh as can be. The Kahlua recipe book telfs all. Do send for it. Our treal Maidstone Wine & Spirits Inc., RO. Box 892.5, Universal City, CA 91608. I'WI K«)hlu,i Int b. Word Formation Advertising language is responsible for the coinage of new words and consequently it will be one of the agents of language change. Some trademarks, for instance, have been incorporated into language, through a metonymic process, and these trademarks are now common names. "Pyrex" is one example. It is "a trademark for any of the various types of heat-resistant and chemical- resistant glass.Any heat-resistant glass is called pyrex and the name of the manufacturer does not matter. Example 1: "Newsport News Ship building" The title of the text is JUMBOIZING and it begins with a metalinguistic statement: "We coined the term* and jumboized our first ship in 1956. Since then we've jumboized 24 ships. . Dictionaries tell us that jumbo is a. "n. An unusually large person, animal or thing, adj; Larger than average: jumbo shrimp. ITTFter Jumbo, a large elephant exhibited by P.T. Barnum.^ b. "n. a very large specimen of its kind [prob fr mumbo-jumbo]—jumbo adj" jumbo jet n.a large jet aeroplane capable of carrying several hundred passengers. "16 The noun jumbo received the verb suffix -ize which means according to "The Heritage Illustrated Dictionary of the English Language:" l.a. To cause to be or to become; make into 1 .b. To make conform with I.e. To treat or regard as * empha s is mine. Making a ship b^ger is the job for a real shipyard. Jottiboizing We coined the term ^djumboizedourfiist hipm 1956. Since then ® ve jumboized 24 ships •• -more than the rest of mc ■^dustry combined. 5 J J have an engineering design staff of . .and J^^work force of more than °^risdentioiis craftsmen, r . have 8 piers up to 1200 [Jt^d up to 200 feet of space... deep-drai docks from ^ to ®eUongand92to250feet ^de...Sx),OOOsq.ft.of ships.. .an 11% acre Fn J "cabon center.. .a l^uidryfliat specializes in ' '^ring marine castings. We can produce any size jumbo... bulk tanker, cargo vessel, container ship, sp^ product earner. We have more experience than any other U.b. yard in designing, installing and testing inert gas systems, crude oil vvasl^g systems, segregated ballasts and Newport News Shipbuilding A Tenneco Company Newport News, Virginia 23607 161 2. To cause to acquire a specified quality 3. To become or become similar to 4. To subject to 5. To do or follow some practice. We can conclude that jumboizing is a synonym for the first part of the title "Making a big ship bigger. It was an intelligent coinage as the word jumbo had already been linked to a means of transportation jumbo jet. Example 2: "New Hattiness" This example was found in the title of a magazine report which was in fact advertising Hat shops. The title is "NEW HATTINESS." * Two new words were formed from the base hat, first the adjective formation with the addition of the adjective suffix -y (like . . . , covered with . . -hatty which then receives the noun suffix -ness 1 R (state, quality) and becomes hattiness. Hattiness can be then understood as the state of being covered with a hat. The sound of "hattiness" reminds us of the sound of "happiness." Example 3: "HOLIDAY INN" Another example is the word COUNTRYFUL in this ad of a chain of hotels in the U.S. The title is:"A COWNTRYFUL OF BETTER VACATIONS." * The small caption presents an example of back formation -Surreal from surrealism which has already been dictionarize 163 A COUNTRYFUL OF BETTER VKCATIONS. HOLIDAY INN: A BETTIBR PLACE TO BE: Fig. 54 The adjective suffix -ful means in the word countryful "the amount or number that will fill."19 The same way we have a spoonful of sugar, the amount of sugar which fills a spoon, we have a To Jicre are almost 1,500 Holiday Inn" hotels in the U.S. alone So we're always on the way to the good times, or right in the middle of them. On the beach, along the highway, in small towis and big cities, close to the favorite travel attractions... wherever you want to be this summer, we're the one to call first. And nobody does more to make every vacation moment just a little better. Because what the rest don't always have. Holiday Inn hotels always do. A nice pool. A good restaurant. A spotless room. And of course, the kind of service that makes you very glad you came. Making your reservations with us takes only seconds. So this summer, why not turn a good vacation into a great vacation? Call 1-800-HOLIDAY. 164 countryful of better vacations. Better vacations are indeed a metaphor for Holiday Inn hotels. So there are so many Holiday Inn hotels in the U.S.A.that they can fill the country. This idea is explored in the beginning of the text when we are told that whenever we want to be in the U.S. we will find one out of the 1,500 Holiday Inn hotels. Again we have the misleading comparisons "better vacations," "a better place to be" and "And nobody does more to make every vacation moment just a little better." The indefinite pronoun "nobody" does not tell us who the text is referring to. The statement turns out to be vague and impossible to be tested. Is it referring to other chains of hotels, to isolated hotels? We do not know. Indefinite pronouns such as everybody and nobody introduce dishonest statements, as unanimous opinions are hardly found. C. Semantic Idiosyncrasy Apparently contradictory statements are found in ads. They serve the purpose of motivating the reader, to awaken in him the desire to read the whole text. Example 1: "KARASTAN" The caption at the bottom of the page reads "Don't buy low-cost carpet unless you can afford it." The presence of the word "low-cost" denies the pressupôsition of the idea of "high-cost" for the existence of the word "afford." Nevertheless the text will provide a semantic investment, that is, a new semantic distribution is made and "low-cost" receives the extra-meaning "expensive mistake" which is then compatible with the word "afford." S; i- S) lg =l . íl^í ,^jfií;i'^^''i^:'■lí■-^;/;v■';'i■l1Ç 'oi-" •■ l''-*i '.<"■''i''. l^yí ■wii'-WiYife, ;i '-'í ídi.fif' 16 6 The caption strikes the reader because the clause "unless you can afford it" destroys the implicit idea of affordability in "low-cost carpet." After reading the text the title becomes clear and the concepts of low-cost and high-cost change places. Thus we have: low-cost = unaffordable "expensive mistake" high-cost = affordable "investment What is low-cost at the moment of the purchase turns out to be expensive with the passing of the time and vice-versa. low-cost high-cost i affordable uTraffordabl e (no high-cost) (no low-cost) Example 2:"THE LEEDS" This example does not find much support in the text as the preceding example did. Nevertheless we can explain the contradictory presence of the concepts "rain" and "shine" together. "Shine" means in fact "smile." After interpreting the text one concludes that Leeders are the people who are saving at the Leeds. Leeders like the two in the photo, have a good reason to smile, to shine: their money is growing. Rain can also be interpreted as failure, "money running away like water" and that never happens with Leeders because their money is well protected; "in fact, nowhere would your money be safer and easier to get at. When it rains i.eeciers sliine saying 'the Leeds'. You'll find I "I? , TTiat's the effect the has on people. Denil^ ^ Leeds, ^ P'e |"