研 究 生 毕 业 论 文
（申请硕士学位）
论 文 题 目
顺 应 论 视 角 下 广 告 话 语
中 的 性 别 身 份 建 构 研 究
作者姓名
学科、专业名称
赵
筠
外国语言学及应用语言学
研 究 方 向
语用学
指 导 教 师
陈新仁 教授
2011 年 5 月 21 日
学
号：MG0809088
论文答辩日期：2011 年 5 月 21 日
指 导 教 师：
（签字）
Gender Construction in Advertising Discourse: The Adaptationist
Perspective
by
Zhao Yun
Under the Supervision of
Professor Chen Xinren
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the degree of Master of Arts
English Department
School of Foreign Studies
Nanjing University
May 2011
I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my
knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another
person or material which has to a substantial extent been accepted for the award of any
other degree or diploma at any university or other institute of higher learning, except
where due acknowledgement has been made in the text.
Signature:
Name: Zhao Yun
Date: May 21th, 2011
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to those who have
offered me support and encouragement in completing this thesis.
Firstly, my deepest gratitude goes to Professor Chen Xinren, my supervisor, who
not only imparts to me profound knowledge on pragmatics and general linguistics but
also offers his consistent assistance and supervision for this study. Without his
assistance, guidance and encouragement, this study would not have taken the present
shape.
I am also deeply obliged to Professor Wang Wenyu, for her brilliant mind and
research that have acquainted me with the theories in linguistics.
A few Ph.D. students including Li Min, Yuan Zhoumin and Yu Rui, who have
taken part in Prof. Chen’s class of Thesis Writing and Discussion Seminar, generously
provided their help and offered their critical comments on my thesis. Great thanks
should be extended to them.
Furthermore, my special thanks go to all my classmates who have helped me to
shape the design of the research and to improve the manuscript during the various
stages of the thesis writing.
Finally, my hearty gratitude is extended to those cooperative citizens who have
participated in this study and answered the questions without any complaint.
Z.Y
ii
南京大学研究生毕业论文英文摘要首页用纸
THESIS ： Gender Construction in Advertising Discourse: The
Adaptationist Perspective
SPECIALIZATION:
POSTGRADUATE:
General Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
Zhao Yun
MENTOR: Professor Chen Xinren
ABSTRACT
With the development of economy, the advertising industry has become more and
more prosperous. So far, advertising discourse has been researched from various
perspectives. Unlike others, this study focuses on gender construction in Chinese
magazine advertisements based on Adaptation Theory.
This thesis attempts to find out whether there are some special preferences in
gender portrayal in advertisements and how they are pragmatically realized. Secondly,
it aims at digging out the relationship between product categories and gender
preferences. Thirdly, an interview is designed to investigate how these preferences
adapt to gendered consumption and what are the effects of gender construction in
advertising discourse reflected in customers’ eyes.
A total of 344 advertisements were selected as samples from 13 different kinds of
magazines of 2008. These magazines were primarily for male readers or female readers
or both in their readership. The data were analyzed and classified in terms of the
pragmatic presupposition. The participants who participated in the interview part of the
study were six citizens from the street. The author chose them randomly to investigate
their attitudes towards and feelings about Chinese magazine advertisements.
The major findings of this study are as follows: a) There are some gender
preferences in advertisements according to different product categories. Some special
products like cosmetics, clothing, health products and jewelry are mostly presented for
women, while some other products like cars and motorcycles are mostly presented for
men. In addition, things like electronic products can be presented for both women and
men or the whole family. All these preferences are presented in terms of gender images,
gender roles and males and females’ needs. b) Pragmatic presupposition may contribute
to the construction of gender in advertising discourse. In order to adapt to the
customers’ needs, the advertisers try their best to express as much information as
possible about the product or service to appeal to and motivate the potential customers.
In Chinese magazine advertisements, the advertisers usually use questions and
comparison as their strategies to arouse recipients’ interest and shorten the distance
between them. c) The advertisers make efforts to adapt to the customers’ needs,
although their intentions cannot be totally accomplished. The effects of advertisements
are not as good as the advertisers think. Idol effect is obvious for young people, but
adults may pay more attention to the quality and functions of the product itself and take
care of their own needs.
This study has important theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, the
analysis of gender construction in advertising discourse can enlarge our vision and
deepen our understanding of identity on both its definition and contents, and offer us a
new research perspective to analyze advertising discourse. Practically, this study will
help the advertisers to make more attractive advertisements and know more about
customers’ needs. Besides, it helps the customers to recognize the strategies in
advertisements and buy products reasonably.
Key Words: gender construction; advertising discourse; adaptation; pragmatic
presupposition
南京大学研究生毕业论文中文摘要首页用纸
毕业论文题目： 顺应论视角下广告话语中的性别身份建构研究
外国语言学及应用语言学 专业 2008 级硕士生姓名：
指导教师（姓名、职称）
：
赵筠
陈新仁 教授
摘
要
随着经济的发展，广告行业日趋繁荣。广告话语也在多个领域被学者们所研
究。作为语用学中一个新兴的热点话题，身份建构吸引了越来越多的研究者们的
目光。本研究试图在顺应论的框架下，采用语用预设的分析方法，对现今流行杂
志广告中性别身份的建构情况进行实证研究。
本研究主要试图弄清以下几个问题：首先，广告商们对于具有性别形象描绘
广告的角色选取是否有什么特殊的倾向？如果有，它们是怎么样并且以何种程度
展现这种倾向性的？除此之外，广告中性别的倾向性是否与被广告的物品类型有
关？其次，这些倾向性又是怎样通过语用语言形式呈现的？广告商们所使用的策
略有哪些？此外，这些被语用标记的倾向性是如何顺应消费者需求的？顺应的结
果如何？
本文的研究语料来源于 13 种不同类型的杂志，共 344 篇广告被选作样本。这
些广告有些是女性为主要读者的杂志，有些是男性为主要读者的杂志，还有一些
是综合类型的。笔者从语用预设角度切入，对这些广告进行分析及归类。研究者
还在南京街头随机选取六位市民参与访谈，以调查消费者们对于中文杂志广告的
态度和感觉。
本研究的主要发现包括：1）不同的商品类型确实存在广告的性别倾向性。一
些特殊的产品例如化妆品、医疗保健产品、珠宝首饰等大部分呈现女性角色，一
些汽车、摩托车等广告大部分呈现男性角色。此外，诸如电子产品等可由男性或
女性或者家庭的形象呈现给读者。广告里关于性别身份构建的语用预设可以分类
为性别形象预设、性别角色预设和性别心理需求预设。2）语用预设存在于广告话
语中并且为广告话语中性别身份建构做出了贡献。为了顺应消费者的需求，广告
商力图用最少的话语去传递更多的信息，从而吸引潜在的消费者购买其产品或者
服务。中国杂志广告商通常使用提问和对比的手法作为吸引消费者的手段，拉近
和消费者的距离。3）广告商们大多努力从顾客的心理需求出发去推销他们的产品。
他们的意图不可能完全实现，效果也肯定不如他们所预想。明星效应对于年轻人
的作用比较明显，成年人则更注重产品自身的功能和品质，并关注自己的需求。
本研究具有一定的理论价值及应用价值。在理论上，本研究关于广告话语中
性别身份建构的分析，可以加深和扩大研究者们关于身份建构这一现象的认识，
并且展示了一个可以用来分析广告话语的新视角。在实践上，此研究可以为广告
商们创作广告提供一定的启示，也可以帮助消费者们认清商家的策略和意图，更
好地进行理性消费。
关键词：性别建构；广告话语；顺应；语用预设
TABEL OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................. ii
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ..................................................................... v
CHAPTER ONE
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
INTRODUCTION .............................................................. 1
Object of the Study ............................................................................................. 1
Need for the Study .............................................................................................. 2
Significance of the Study .................................................................................... 3
Structure of the Thesis ........................................................................................ 4
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................... 5
2.1 Pragmatic Studies of Advertising Discourse....................................................... 5
2.1.1
Definition and features of advertising discourse ......................................... 5
2.1.2
Existing pragmatic studies on advertising discourse ................................... 7
2.2 Linguistic Studies of Gender in Advertising Discourse ...................................... 8
2.2.1
The definition of gender .............................................................................. 8
2.2.2
Existing linguistic studies of gender in advertising discourse ..................... 9
2.3 Pragmatic Studies of Identity Construction ...................................................... 11
2.3.1
Defining identity ........................................................................................ 11
2.3.2
Existing pragmatic studies on identity construction .................................. 12
2.4 Summary ........................................................................................................... 15
CHAPTER THREE
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ................................. 16
3.1 A Sketch of Adaptation Theory......................................................................... 16
3.1.1
Language use as choice-making ................................................................ 17
3.1.2
Contextual correlates of linguistic adaptation ........................................... 17
3.2 Presupposition and Adaptation in Verbal Communication ............................... 19
3.2.1
Defining presupposition ............................................................................. 19
3.2.2
Using presupposition as a strategic act ...................................................... 21
3.3 Summary ........................................................................................................... 23
CHAPTER FOUR
4.1
METHODOLOGY ......................................................... 24
Research Questions ........................................................................................... 24
iii
4.2 Participants........................................................................................................ 25
4.3 Data Collection ................................................................................................. 26
4.3.1
Collecting data from the magazines........................................................... 26
4.3.2
Collecting data from the interview ............................................................ 28
4.4 Data Analysis .................................................................................................... 28
4.4.1
Analyzing data from the magazines........................................................... 29
4.4.2
Analyzing data from the interview ............................................................ 30
CHAPTER FIVE
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ....................................... 31
5.1 Types of Gender Construction in the Chinese advertisements ......................... 31
5.1.1
Male construction in the Chinese advertisements...................................... 31
5.1.1.1 Presupposition of images in the male advertisements ............................ 32
5.1.1.2 Presupposition of roles in the male advertisements ............................... 33
5.1.1.3 Presupposition of needs in the male advertisements .............................. 34
5.1.2
Female construction in the Chinese advertisements .................................. 35
5.1.2.1 Presupposition of images in the female advertisements......................... 35
5.1.2.2 Presupposition of roles in the female advertisements ............................ 36
5.1.2.3 Presupposition of needs in the female advertisements ........................... 37
5.1.3
The comparison between male and female construction in the Chinese
advertisements
……………………………………………………………………………39
5.1.3.1 The classification of products ................................................................ 39
5.1.3.2 Differences between male and female construction in the Chinese
advertisements ...................................................................................................... 41
5.2 Strategies of Gender Construction in the Chinese advertisements ................... 42
5.2.1
Presupposition by asking questions ........................................................... 43
5.2.2
Presupposition by comparison ................................................................... 44
5.3 Effects of Gender Construction in the Chinese advertisements........................ 45
5.4 Summary ........................................................................................................... 49
CHAPTER SIX
6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
CONCLUSION .................................................................. 51
Major Findings of this Study ............................................................................ 51
Implications of this Study ................................................................................. 52
Limitations of the Study.................................................................................... 53
Recommendations for Future Research ............................................................ 54
References ...................................................................................................... 55
Appendix ....................................................................................................... 61
iv
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Table 4.1: Information about the participants involved in this study ............... 25
Table 4.2: The information of magazine category .............................................. 27
Table 5.1: Product categories of advertisements ................................................. 40
Figure 3.1: The contextual correlates of adaptation ........................................... 18
v
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
This chapter consists of four sections. The first section introduces the object of the
present research. It is followed by illustrating the purposes and significance of carrying
out this study. The last section of this chapter presents the structure of this thesis.
1.1 Object of the Study
With its economic development and the implementation of its opening up policy,
China has been increasingly exposed to the whole world in the new century. During the
process of cultural shock and integration, the Chinese domestic companies play a very
important role. They not only introduce our own advanced technologies and managerial
skills to the whole world, but also present Chinese cultural values to western countries
through advertisements.
Advertising, as a communication tool as well as a cultural propagator, is a major
instrument which these companies use for recommending their products or service and
home country cultural values to both domestic and international consumers. Through
this way, people from both home and abroad might examine the prevailing cultural
values in Chinese society. In addition, under the influence of social development and
fast-growing economy, advertising is probably a transformation of our traditional values
1
after interaction with foreign cultures.
For the reasons mentioned above, advertising is considered as a conveyer of
cultural information. So how to make it more effective to consumers has been a great
concern for advertisers. On the one hand, the advertising practitioners weave some roles
and characters into the advertisements that consumers like, e.g. popular stars and
famous models; on the other hand, the advertisers know that the closer a consumer feels
to a character in the advertisement, the greater the similarity between them, and the
more effect an advertisement may have on the consumer (Sutherland, 1993).
China’s prosperous advertising industry offers scholars and researchers more and
more opportunities and abundant resources for research. In this study, the author tries to
find out the characteristics of Chinese advertising on gender issues, so that it could
provide directions to advertisers and help consumers to get clear about the advertisers’
intention as well.
1.2 Need for the Study
In advertisements, gender construction is usually applied by advertisers as a
strategic act for persuading customers to join in the buying action. So far, no
researchers have done research about gender construction in advertising discourse from
the perspective of pragmatics. The present study is undertaken to analyze gender
construction in Chinese magazine advertisements by adopting quantitative and
qualitative approaches based on Adaptation Theory and pragmatic presupposition. For
that purpose, the following questions are to be addressed: (a) Are there any special
preferences in gender portrayal in advertisements? If so, do advertisements like those
for cosmetics exhibit gender preferences? To what extent and how do advertisements
exhibit gender preferences? Are the gender preferences sensitive to the types of
products advertised? (b) How are the preferences pragmatically realized? What are their
strategies? (c) In what way can the pragmatically marked preferences be considered
2
adaptive to gendered consumptions? What effect may the adaptation have on consumers?
This thesis is designed to dig out the situation, strategies and effects of the advertising
language reflected in today’s Chinese advertisements on gender level.
1.3 Significance of the Study
This research is expected to achieve theoretical and practical significance in the
following ways.
Theoretically speaking, the analysis of gender construction in advertising discourse
can enlarge our vision and deepen our understanding of identity and offer us a new
research perspective to analyze advertising discourse. As the strategies and effects of
advertising language related to gender construction are examined in this study, the
results can shed some light on the characteristics of the style of advertising language
itself.
Practically, this study will help advertisers to make more attractive advertisements
and know more about customers’ needs on one side, and help the customers to
recognize the strategies in advertisements and buy products reasonably on the other
hand. This thesis will try to analyze the gender construction in Chinese magazine
advertisements by classifying gender advertisements and analyzing advertisers’ gender
preferences to find out the current gender situation in China. Today, in the global
business context, where advertising becomes a challenge for all the international
advertising practitioners, the study can help current and potential advertisers compose
better advertisements and present themselves in a more favorable way. In addition, for
the customers, this study may help them realize the intentions and strategies of the
advertisers while appreciating print advertisements.
Therefore, this study is helpful to both advertisers and customers in various
practical ways.
3
1.4 Structure of the Thesis
This thesis consists of six chapters. Chapter One serves as the introduction to the
whole thesis. The need, significance and focus of the present study are presented in
detail. Chapter Two reviews the related research on the definitions, categorizations, and
functions of identity construction and advertisements with a focus on “gender”, and
then presents some empirical studies concerning this subject. Chapter Three illustrates
the Adaptation Theory briefly and pragmatic presupposition in verbal communication in
order to pave the way for analyzing the situation of gender construction in
advertisements and explaining how these strategies are related to promoting products
and services. Chapter Four renders a concrete and complete explanation of the research
design including the research questions, participants, materials, instrument and
procedures of data collection and analysis. Chapter Five presents and discusses the
results yielded from the study in the sequence of research questions. Chapter Six
summarizes the major findings, proposes implications, points out the limitations of the
study, and finally offers some suggestions for future research in this field.
4
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter attempts to review in brief the pragmatic studies of advertising
discourse, linguistic studies of gender in advertising discourse and pragmatic studies of
identity construction. The definition, classification and related sources will be given in
detail during the following sections. As we are going to see, this chapter consists of four
major sections. In the first section, the definition and features of advertising discourse
will be introduced first, and then previous pragmatic studies on this issue are presented.
In section two, the author will examine some related linguistic studies about gender in
advertising discourse. The third section reviews the definition of identity construction
and some related research papers in order to fill in the research gaps as summarized in
the last section.
2.1 Pragmatic Studies of Advertising Discourse
2.1.1 Definition and features of advertising discourse
Advertising language, with its conspicuous features, has increasingly aroused
scholastic interest. As a variety of language, “advertising” has many and varied
definitions. Among them, according to O’guinn, Allen and Semenik (1998, p.6),
“advertising is a paid, mass-mediated attempt to persuade.” In addition, Dyer gives a
detailed definition:
5
“Advertising helps us to make sense of things. It validates consumer
commodities and a consumer life-style by associating goods with personal and
social meanings and those aspirations and needs which are not fulfilled in real
life. We come to think that consuming commodities will give us our identities”
(1982, p.185).
Advertising discourse is regarded as playing a vital role in advertising
communication. As Vestegaard and Schroder put:
“The wording of advertisements is, in most cases, carefully crafted to meet
particular ends. Sometimes it is intended to inform, but more often, and more
importantly, to persuade and influence” (1985, Editor’s Preface).
In addition, they think that the language of advertisements must be able to “attract
attention, arouse interest, stimulate desire, create conviction and get action” (1985,
p.49).
Generally speaking, advertising can be classified into commercial advertising and
non-commercial advertising. For example, what we usually watch on TV to promote
products or service are commercial advertisements, whereas those for improving
people’s mental world belong to non-commercial ones, namely public welfare
advertisements. In this thesis, the author chooses commercial advertisements, because
they use the most frequent type, cost the most money and affect people most deeply.
The advertisements, especially print advertisements, can be divided into two parts:
verbal and non-verbal. The verbal ones contain pictures and advertising discourse,
while the non-verbal ones only have pictures and slogans. In this thesis, the author pays
more attention to verbal advertisements. Among verbal advertisements, the headline,
body part and the slogan are the three key elements. A headline serves to emphasize the
customers’ benefits, arouse curiosity, ask questions, make commands, and so on. The
body part of an advertisement provides the detailed information and further emotional
reasons to persuade the customers into buying the products or service. In general, the
manufacturers use one or two shortest sentences, phrases or slogans to make the
audience know the products and leave them a good impression by stressing their
6
responsibility and intention.
As Tanaka points out, “information is subordinated to persuasion” (1994, p.36).
From the quotation above, we can see that the intention of advertisers is not to present
information, but to sell their products.
2.1.2 Existing pragmatic studies on advertising discourse
As “the study of the relationship between linguistic forms and the users of those
forms” (Yule, 1996, p.4), pragmatics is a good angle to analyze and dig out the
“relation of signs to interpreters” (Levinson, 1983, p.1). In western countries, the
pragmatic studies on advertising discourse have mainly focused on the sorts of
text-processing strategies. Those strategies are opened up to an idealized
reader/viewer/listening by using a particular piece of advertising discourse. For
example, the scholars (Ganzalo Martinez Camino & Manuel Perez Saiz, 2010) offer an
analysis of the pragmatic ways in which the advertising discourse is used to achieve
certain purposes within a specified context. Simpson’s study explores the pragmatic
features of advertising discourse, but his analysis differs slightly from other
explorations (2001). In his study, based on his own portrayal, he says that:
The present study concentrates initially on the marketing tactics of a particular
copywriter, before examining the manner by which these tactics are encoded
into language practice. To this extent, my linguistic methodology is derived in
the first instance from what the copywriter has to say about the text rather than
from what inheres in the advertising text itself. It is hoped that this
‘process-orientated’ approach can supplement those studies which focus
exclusively on the communicative dynamics of advertising copy.
In his book: Advertising language: a pragmatic approach to advertisements in Britain
and Japan, Tanaka analyzes the written advertising in Britain and Japan within the
framework of pragmatics and explains how communication takes place between readers
and advertisers (1994). His book seeks to explore various aspects of advertising based
7
on the Relevance Theory. The six chapters of his book are listed in sequence: a.
advertising and communication; b. communication; c. covert communication; d. puns; e.
metaphors; f. images of women. After reading his book, some younger scholars like
Crook, take their relevance-theoretic account as a starting point and explore the covert
communication of advertising in relation to Relevance Theory (2004).
Among all the pragmatic studies of advertising discourse, some scholars from both
China and western countries choose one of the key notions, i.e. presupposition, as their
point of departure to carry out their studies. In western countries, Peccei (1999) and
Goddard (1998) briefly illustrate the importance of presupposition in advertisements,
while Chinese scholars like Chen, explore the pragmatic presupposition in Chinese
advertisements (1998). Chen makes further contribution to the classification of
pragmatic presupposition in advertisements. His four categories are fact presupposition,
belief presupposition, state presupposition and action presupposition. Besides, Guo
discusses the brevity of presupposition in advertisements (2001). Some scholars analyze
the functions of presupposition, some other researchers like Cui choose Adaptation
Theory as the tool to explore the advertising discourse (2009), arguing that
presupposition is an assumption supposedly shared by the two sides of communication
in terms of adaptation in the physical, social and mental worlds.
2.2 Linguistic Studies of Gender in Advertising
Discourse
2.2.1 The definition of gender
Gender is one of the main factors that relate to language variation. Till now, many
attempts in a variety of fields such as sociology, anthropology, linguistics and so on
have been made to explain the correlation between language and gender, so the research
on language and gender is by no means new. In recent years, many scholars (e.g.,
8
Bergvall et al., 1996; Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 1992; Ochs, 1992) come to agree that
gender roles are learned and constructed in society.
Traditionally, the word “sex” has been used to refer to biological categorization,
whereas “gender” has been regarded as a linguistic category. According to Giddens,
“sex” means “biological or anatomical differences between men and women” (1989,
p.158), while according to Ruth and Gertrude, “gender” concerns the psychological,
social and cultural differences between males and females (1997). That is to say,
“gender” is more social-constructed of male and female than “sex.”
2.2.2 Existing linguistic studies of gender in advertising
discourse
One of the best ways to study gender is to research it in advertisements, since
gender identities in advertisements pervade and influence everyone’s daily life. During
recent decades, many scholars have conducted some linguistic research about
advertising language from different angles. From the perspective of stylistics,
researchers (Leech, 1966; Qin, 1986) study the features of advertising language;
Vestergaard and Schroder take a sociolinguistic approach to analyze the features of the
language of advertising by using TV commercials as an example (1985). Scholars (e.g.,
Cook, 1992; Huang, 2002) investigate the characteristics of advertising language based
on discourse analysis.
Generally speaking, the studies of advertisements in relation to gender are mainly
divided into three groups according to their different research methods. Firstly, the
studies are carried out from the perspective of marketing management. The scholars
(Orth & Holancova, 2004; Shields, 1994) aim at enhancing the effectiveness of gender
advertisements and consumers’ purchasing power. Secondly, studies are made by using
content analysis. The researchers (Allan, 2003; Brandth, 1995; Budgeon, 1995;
Coltrane & Adams, 1997; Lucila de Sousa Campos, Emma Otta, & Jose de Oliveira
Siqueira, 2002; Tinkler, 2001) analyze the visual and verbal portrayals in
9
advertisements and reveal the social representation of sex roles.
However, fewer researchers have researched about the issue of gender from the
perspective of linguistics. That is to say, the advertisements are less taken as media
texts for discourse analysis. In western countries, some scholars focus on this issue by
using the cognitive and pragmatic approach, but most of them choose the topic of
metaphors in advertising English as their focus of attention. For example, according to
Marisol Velasco-Sacristan and Pedro A. Fuertes-Olivera (2005), there are three steps of
their testifying process. In their article, they begin their research by reviewing the recent
studies in cognitive linguistics, pragmatics and critical discourse analysis with regard to
advertising metaphors and gender, and then they find advertising gender metaphors are
used as indirect cognitive-pragmatic devices in advertising English. The second step is
presenting
a
description
of
advertising
gender
metaphors,
subtypes
and
cross-categorization in a case study of 1142 advertisements from British Cosmopolitan
(1999-2000). In the end, they draw the conclusion that advertising gender metaphors are
most salient because they permit advertisers to unmask their rhetorical intentions
without making public their intentions to do so and call for addressees’ action to
overcome the negative social consequences of its use in advertising English. Another
study comes from Maria Sol Velasco Sacristan and Maria Enriqueta Cortes de los Rios
(2009), who argue that the ideological metaphors can be special cases of conceptual
interaction between metaphor and metonymy along with synecdoche (2009). They
conduct a case study with 292 advertising metaphors, but they use the cognitive
semantic-pragmatic
framework
to
analyze
the
strategies
and
complex
metaphoric-metonymic patterns.
In mainland China, most researchers use Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to
analyze the gender phenomenon in advertising discourse. For example, Kuang and Guo
(2010) do research about cosmetic advertising discourse based on the framework of
CDA. Some other researchers, like Li, use the L’Oreal cosmetics for male as the sample
text to analyze how the advertisers construct males’ masculinity based on the
framework of semiotics，advertising and gender theory put together (2010).
10
2.3 Pragmatic Studies of Identity Construction
2.3.1 Defining identity
During the last two decades, identity as well as its construction has become a key
and hot notion in the social sciences and one of the most central themes in
sociolinguistic research. According to Wang (2008), “identity” has two basic meanings.
Firstly, it is the cognition of “who am I?” Secondly, it is the cognition of others who
belong to the same categorization as “me.” Actually, the research about identity and
identity construction is to find out the relationship between individual and society or
individual and collectivity.
According to Antaki and Widdicombe:
Social identity is clearly a useful mediating concept between language and
social structure. On the one hand, it allows one to see interactants as being
involved in linguistic ‘acts of identity’ through which they claim or ascribe
group membership, or more precisely, through certain speaking styles (which
usually incorporate certain linguistic ‘variables’). On the other hand,
membership categories can be regarded as constituting members’ knowledge
and perception of social structures (1998).
In addition, according to Tajfel’s social identity theory:
The groups (e.g., social class, family, football team etc.) which people
belonged to were an important source of pride and self-esteem. Groups give us
a sense of social identity: a sense of belonging to the social world (1982).
Therefore, we can divide the world into “them” and “us.” He says there are three mental
processes in distinguishing “us” and “them,” namely social categorization, social
identification and social comparison. Through these processes, people can enhance their
self-image and self-esteem.
The relation between language and identity is much researched in many disciplines.
Spolsky (1999, p.181) makes a strong statement by proposing that “language is
11
fundamental in defining identity.” Safran (1999, p. 80) says that “language serves as an
important instrument for protecting collective identity and communal cohesion.” Safran
makes this utterance from the perspective of nationalism. Padilla (1999, p.115) states
that “ethnicity refers to an individual’s membership in a social group that shares a
common ancestral heritage.” Liebkind gives us three reasons for why ethnic identity
and language are connected intrinsically:
First, language is very significant to the individual as an instrument for naming
the self and the world. Second, the upbringing of a child is dependent on
linguistic interaction. Third, spoken language is one of the most salient
characteristics of ethnic groups (1999, p.143).
Among the existing research findings, a large number of researchers focus on the
relationship between language and gender identity, especially about the characteristics
of female language. For example, Lakoff (1975) portrays the features of female
language from the perspective of vocabulary, sentences, and tone in his book language
and women’s place. Later on, many researchers (e.g., Fasold, 1990; Fishman, 1983;
Giles and Marsh, 1979; Kramarae, 1982; Sachs, 1975) illustrate the differences about
the language itself and language choice by male and female speakers. In this thesis, the
author will define the female and male identity mainly in terms of their images, social
roles and needs, as captured by advertisers in the advertisements.
2.3.2 Existing pragmatic studies on identity construction
Identity is not a fixed state at which we can arrive. “The ‘who and what you are’ is
dependent on context, occasion and purpose” (Blommaert, 2005, p.203). From the
perspective of pragmatics, some western scholars pay attention to the relationship
between code-switching and identity construction in recent ten years. Auer (2005), in
his article: A postscript: code-switching and social identity, discusses various ways like
conversational code-switching and code-mixing on the questions of social identity. In
his opinion:
12
Bilingual speech is usually constructed by members as an index of some
extralinguistic social category. This category is not only ethnic but also social:
bilingual speakers are portrayed and portray themselves in semiotic
constellations.
In the article Code-switching and the construction of ethnic identity in a
community of practice, Anna de Fina (2007) illustrates the process of constructing the
ethnic identity. The author illustrates how ethnicity is negotiated as a central category
defining the collective identity of a card-playing club through a variety of strategies,
among which code-switching into Italian has a central role.
In addition, a book called Discourse and Identity, written by A.D.Fina, D.Schiffrin
and M.Bamberg, published in 2006 by Cambridge University Press, discusses the
theories and methodologies in identity construction research. It shows the relationship
between individual and collective identity, introduces the gender identity, and talks
about identity transition. The book suggests four research directions in recent years,
namely social constructionism, categorization and classification of social members,
anti-essentialist vision on the “ego” issue, and indexicality. The methodologies they use
in this book are conversational analysis and critical discourse analysis. Besides, four
research topics and five main viewpoints are also illustrated in this book. The four
topics are as follows: a. positioning; b. interaction order; c. footing, multivocality and
intertextuality; d. local and global identity. The five core viewpoints are as follows: first,
language is the fundamental carrier of identity construction; second, context is the basis
of social communication; third, real language resources (e.g., interview, record, menu,
newspaper, etc.) are the carrier to overcome the subjectivity and limitations existing in
identity research; fourth, identity is dynamic; fifth, interactions have many levels
according to different communicators, identities and contexts.
In China, many scholars focus on the issue of the relationship between language
use and social identity. According to Li (2008), the features “unity” and “continuity” of
identity are constructed in social practice and react to changing circumstances. The
choice of language reflects social identity. Gu and Li (2007) consider that early
13
variationists attempt to spot the correlation and covariation between language and social
identity. In their opinion, pragmatic researches in this field argue for the contextuality
and performativity of social identity, which comes as a consequence of the agent’s
implementation on pragmatic norms. Secondly, some researchers do their research
about identity construction in discourse or verbal communication. For example, Liu’s
(2004) article shows that discourse is a kind of social activity and a social practice in
social situations. People in different cultural groups choose different social languages to
create different activities and build different identities. Yuan and Fang (2008) research
identity construction in verbal communication. Their opinions are as follows:
In the process of verbal communication, the social identity theory, the
communication theory of identity and the dialogic theory provide theoretical
motivations for identity construction. The study of identity construction in
verbal communication will facilitate the explanation of various pragmatic
phenomena and provide evidence for online inference of utterances.
Thirdly, identity, as a new research perspective, has been used more and more
frequently in pragmatic studies since 2000. According to Ren (2007), face and
impoliteness are two main topics in pragmatics, which have been investigated by many
scholars from different perspectives. However, several articles in Journal of Pragmatics
(2007, p.24) focused on the study of impoliteness and face from the new perspective of
identity. Ren reviews the papers presented in the special issue and summarizes the
major contributions and implications for further study. Fourthly, some researchers make
use of the related identity theories to analyze the linguistic phenomena around us. For
example, Yuan (2009) makes use of the related identity theories to analyze Clinton’s
first inaugural address and investigate the linguistic realization of identity construction
from cultural, lexical and syntactical perspectives. In his opinion, “speakers’
communicative needs of a particular phase regulate its different identity construction
and speakers can utilize various linguistic resources to construct the identity.” Another
researcher, Gao Xiaoxiao (2009) interprets how advertising discourse reflects and
constitutes the diverse social identities of modern Chinese women by analyzing the
14
advertising discourse of daily commodities such as shampoo, washing powder, beauty
soaps, and so on.
2.4 Summary
After defining and classifying advertising, the feature of high cost and deep
influence of commercial advertisements are explained as the main reasons to be chosen
for analysis. The author discovers the intention of advertisers is not to present
information, but to sell products. Scholars have studied advertisements by using
marketing management and content analysis and done research about this issue from the
perspective of linguistics as well. Both in China and in western countries, scholars tend
to use cognitive or pragmatic way or CDA as their methods to analyze advertising
gender metaphor, but all in all, few of them have focused on gender identity in
advertisements from the perspective of linguistics. No researchers have done research
about gender construction in advertising discourse from the perspective of pragmatics.
Among all those scholars who conduct pragmatic research, some of them have
focused on the text-processing strategies of advertising discourse in order to explore the
advertisers’ intentions; some of them have used Relevance Theory, Adaptation Theory
or Presupposition Theory as their theoretical framework to analyze linguistic
phenomena. Although their studies lay good foundation for the present study, the
published works are far from enough and perfect to dig out the complexity of pragmatic
phenomena in advertising discourse. Besides, the author finds out that scholars usually
take TV commercial advertisements as their research objects, but fewer of them have
chosen print advertisements.
To sum up, in order to fill in these research gaps, the following chapters will first
introduce the theoretical framework of this thesis, and then design a feasible
methodology to solve the problems which have not been tackled by existing research
yet.
15
CHAPTER THREE
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
In this chapter, the author aims to establish the conceptual and theoretical
framework for the current study. In the first section, Verschueren’s Adaptation Theory
will be introduced briefly as the theoretical support for the whole study. In the second
section, the important pragmatic notion, presupposition, is presented as the theoretical
framework and the analytical tool in support of the current study as well.
3.1 A Sketch of Adaptation Theory
After reviewing some related research papers about pragmatics written by the
former scholars, Verschueren (1987) claims that pragmatics should be capable of coping
with three features of language, namely variability, negotiability and adaptability. It also
should be able to relate the linguistic features with the contextual phenomena.
Pragmatics is defined as a functional perspective on language and covers the linguistic
features at every level of linguistic structuring and relates them with contextual features,
but does not fall into any of the component scope. Based on the new understanding
mentioned above, Verschueren builds up his Adaptation Theory.
16
3.1.1 Language use as choice-making
In our daily life, people talk and use language expressively or communicatively by
making choices consciously or unconsciously for linguistic or some other reasons. In
Understanding Pragmatics (1999), Verschueren proposes a pragmatic perspective on
language use and assumes that language use is a continuous making of linguistic
choices with different degrees of salience for the purpose of adaptation. According to
him, the language choice-making has seven characteristics:
a. these choices are made at every possible level of structure;
b. these choices are made by choosing strategies as well as forms;
c. these choices are made with various degrees of consciousness;
d. these choices are made both in producing and interpreting utterances;
e. these choices are made even when the range of available options is not fully
suitable;
f. these choices are made from options that are not equivalent;
g. these choices are made in such a way that choices evoke their alternatives.
According to Verschueren (1999), during the process of language choice-making,
language is said to have three features: the first one is variability, which defines the
range of possibilities from which choices can be made; the second one is negotiability,
which means choices are not made mechanically or according to strict form-function
relationships, but rather on the basis of highly flexible principles and strategies; the
third one is adaptability, which enables people to make negotiable linguistic choices
from a variable range of options for communicative needs in order to approach the
points of satisfaction. Among all the three features, the third one adaptability is the core
in language choice-making, which nevertheless depends on the first two features.
3.1.2 Contextual correlates of linguistic adaptation
According to Verschueren (1999), in Adaptation Theory, there are four
investigation angles: contextual correlates of adaptability, structural objects of
17
adaptability, the dynamics of adaptability, and the salience of adaptation processes.
Since this thesis is to analyze linguistic phenomena from the angle of contextual
correlates of adaptability, the author will illustrate the first angle in detail only.
Figure 3.1 below presents a sketchy summary of what is involved in the form of
visual representation:
Figure 3.1: The contextual correlates of adaptation (Verschueren, 1999, p.76)
In the diagram above, the physical world means temporal reference, spatial reference,
utterer and interpreter in the physical world; the social world includes social setting and
culture; the mental world contains personality, emotions, beliefs, desires or wishes. In
this diagram, the alphabet “U” refers to the utterer, while the alphabet “I” refers to the
interpreter. In the lowest part of this diagram, “channel” means linguistic channel. It can
be divided into two kinds. The first one is verbal linguistic channel which refers to
speech sounds, face-to-face conversation, handwriting, printing, e-mail and so on. The
second one is non-verbal linguistic channel including gesture, gaze and so on. That is to
say, although utterers have many voices, interpreters can play a variety of roles. The
categorie of interpreter may influence the utterer’s choice-making in a fundamental
way.
18
3.2 Presupposition and Adaptation in Verbal
Communication
3.2.1 Defining presupposition
Presupposition is a core concept in pragmatics. Generally speaking, the definitions
of presupposition can be divided into two categorizations. One is semantic
presupposition and the other is pragmatic presupposition (Levinson, 1983, p.168-225).
Semantic presupposition is a semantic relation holding between sentences and
presuppositions. But sometimes, the presupposition phenomena require a pragmatic
account. So since 1970, many scholars have begun to give definitions on pragmatic
presupposition. Some scholars (Peccei, 1999; Yule, 1996) consider that it is the speaker
rather than the sentences, propositions, speech acts or something else that have or make
presupposition. All in all, in terms of pragmatic presupposition, speakers have
presupposition, whereas semantic presupposition is closely connected with the
sentences’ literal meaning or the propositions of the sentences.
According to Huang (2007), presupposition is usually generated by the use of
particular lexical items and/or linguistic construction. Lexical items and linguistic
constructions that engender presuppositions are called presupposition triggers.
Presupposition-triggers can successfully communicate about something without
explicitly asserting it. Levinson proposes a list of thirteen presupposition triggers after
drawing on a list made by Karttunen. In the list reproduced below, among the sentences,
the
positive
versions
and
negative
versions
are
separated
by
“/”;
the
presupposition-triggers are italicized; “>>” stands for the content of presupposing
(Levinson, 1983, p.181-184).
1) Definite descriptions
John saw/didn’t see the man with two heads.
>> There exists a man with two heads.
2) Factive verbs
19
Martha regrets/doesn’t regret drinking John’s home brew.
>>Martha drank John’s home brew.
Some other factive predicates: realize; be aware that; be sorry that; be proud
that; be indifferent that; be glad that; be sad that.
3) Implicative verbs
John managed/didn’t manage to open the door.
>>John tried to open the door.
Some other implicative predicates: forget, avoid.
4) Change of state verbs
John stopped/didn’t stop beating his wife.
>> John had been beating his wife.
Some other change of state verbs: begin; continue; start; finish; carry on;
cease; take; leave; enter; come; go; arrive; etc.
5) Iteratives
The flying saucer came/didn’t come again.
>> The flying saucer came before.
Some other iteratives: anymore; return; to come back; restore; repeat; for the
nth time.
6) Verbs of judging
Agatha accused/didn’t accuse Ian of plagiarism.
>> (Agatha thinks) plagiarism is bad.
Ian criticized/didn’t criticize Agatha for running away.
>> (Ian thinks) Agatha run away.
7) Temporal clauses
Before Strawson was even born, Frege noticed/didn’t notice.
>> Strawson was born.
Some other temporal clause constructors: while; since; after; during; whenever;
as.
8) Cleft sentences
It was/wasn’t Henry that kissed Rosie.
>> Someone kissed Rosie.
What John lost/didn’t lose was his wallet.
>> John lost something.
9) Implicit clefts with stressed constituents
Linguistics was/wasn’t invented by CHOMSKY!
>> Someone invented linguistics.
10) Comparison and contrast
Comparisons and contrasts may be marked by stress, by particles like too, back,
in return, or by comparative constructions.
Jimmy is/isn’t as unpredictably gauche as Billy.
>> Billy is unpredictably gauche.
11) Non-restrictive relative clauses
The Proto-Harrappans, who flourished 2800-2650 B.C., were/were not great
temple builders.
20
>> The proto-Harrappans flourished 2800-2650 B.C..
12) Counterfactual conditionals
If Hannibal had only had twelve more elephants, the Romance languages
would/would not this day exist.
>> Hannibal didn’t have twelve more elephants.
13) Questions
Is there a professor of linguistics at MIT?
>> Either there is a professor of linguistics at MIT or there isn’t.
Is Newcastle in England or is it in Australia?
>> Newcastle is in England or Newcastle is in Australia.
Who is the professor of linguistics at MIT?
>> Someone is the professor of linguistics at MIT.
According to Levinson (1983), the list above contains the core presuppositional
phenomena. A presupposition must be mutually known to the speaker and the addressee
and considered appropriate in context. It is worthwhile to mention that in our daily
conversation, presupposition is not always triggered by explicit linguistic devices. Quite
often, it may be implicitly conveyed. For example, in the sentence “Beauty lies in the
eyes of the beholder,” the love of beauty is implicitly presupposed. Thus,
presupposition can be broadly defined as covering anything that the speaker assumes to
be true or existing for making a particular utterance (Chen, 2009, p. 94).
3.2.2 Using presupposition as a strategic act
Concerning the properties of presupposition, many scholars （Chen , 1998; Green,
1996; Huang, 2007; Levinson, 1983）from both home and abroad have proposed various
viewpoints. For example, according to Huang (2007):
Presupposition exhibits a number of distinctive properties, notably: (i)
constancy under negation and (ii) defeasibility and cancellability. In addition,
certain cases of defeasibility give rise to what is known as the projection
problem.
Except for the two main properties of presupposition —— mutual knowledge and
21
felicity conditions, presupposition has three other properties (Chen, 1998). Firstly, the
presupposition could only be triggered by the speaker; secondly, presupposition is
related to the subjectivity of the speaker; thirdly, the presupposition part is hidden in a
certain context. For example:
(1) “Who take care of the nasty germs while I look after the little monster?”
——British magazine Women (May 22, 1995, P. 36) Domestos Multi
Surface Cleaner
From the expectation expressed in the utterance, we can easily guess that the utterer is
probably a woman who wants to look after the little kids with some troubles. At first,
she assumes that there has been one person existing who could take care of the nasty
germs. Who could take this responsibility? This question in the advertisement’s body
part arouses readers’ interest to get known about the truth. It is surprising that we do not
need one person to do the cleaning work, only the brand of Domestos cleaner could
help the woman to solve the problem. The cleaner leaves the children and the woman
free to do more important things. The presupposition in the form of question concerns
customers’ needs and enhances the persuasive power in a subtle way.
Due to the properties of presupposition mentioned in the last paragraph,
presupposition is frequently employed as a strategic act and an adaptative way by
advertisers in various means to construct human images, express people’s needs and
enhance the effects of persuasion of their advertisements. According to Liu (2008),
pragmatic presupposition has the following four main functions:
1) Pragmatic presupposition leads to the brevity and diversity of advertising
language;
2) Pragmatic presupposition perfects the macrostructure and contributes to
the coherence of advertising discourse;
3) Pragmatic presupposition enriches the advertisement information and
enhances the quality of advertisement information communication;
4) Pragmatic presupposition serves the implementation of the market
strategies of advertising in that it has leading function, concealment function,
self-protection and euphemism functions and that it can make the advertising
language humorous and shorten the distance between advertisers and the
22
advertisement recipients.
Owing to its four functions mentioned above, presupposition has an irreplaceable
status in advertising discourse. It is used as a tool to adapt to customers’ needs, create
more attractive designs of advertisements and persuade the potential customers to buy
the products. Advertisers, solicitors, and others frequently resort to the mechanism of
presupposition in order to attract and persuade people.
3.3 Summary
Since adapting to the audiences' needs in their social mental worlds and psychical
worlds is the basic motivation of advertisers, the Adaptation Theory was introduced
briefly at the beginning of this chapter. Besides, the author introduces the theoretical
framework of this thesis. Presupposition, as the important topic in both semantics and
pragmatics, is usually adopted by advertisement writers to serve the purpose of giving
people a deep impression. The properties such as subjectivity, implicitness and
deception of presupposition are often used by advertisers as a strategic act to enhance
the effects of persuasion in advertisements. In the following part of this thesis, the
author will analyze the advertising discourse from the perspective of presupposition.
23
CHAPTER FOUR
METHODOLOGY
From the previous chapters, we can see that pragmatic presupposition bears some
properties. They conform to the needs and linguistic principles of advertising. In the
following parts of this study, the author adopts a primarily qualitative design,
complemented with necessary quantitative computation and analysis to find out how
domestic companies depict male and female images when they make advertisements.
The purpose of this chapter is to present the research design of this study in detail,
including research questions, participants, materials, data collection and data analysis.
4.1 Research Questions
Based on the analytical framework, the present study is to show how Chinese
advertisements construct male and female images and to investigate whether there is
gender preference in Chinese advertisements and what strategies are used by the
advertisers. In addition, the author also wants to explore the effects of these strategies.
So the following research questions are to be addressed:
1. Do Chinese advertisements like those for cosmetics exhibit gender preference? If so,
to what extent and how do advertisements exhibit gender preference? Are the
24
gender preferences sensitive to the types of products advertised?
2. How are the preferences pragmatically realized? What are their strategies?
3. In what ways can the pragmatically marked preferences be considered adaptive to
gendered consumption? What effects may the adaptation have on consumers?
4.2 Participants
The participants in the present study were six citizens from Nanjing. They were
three males and three females ranging from age 20 to age 55, with a mean age of 36.
Six people were chosen randomly from the street of Xin Jiekou, the commercial center
of Nanjing on Jan.18th, 2011. The author interviewed them about the effect of identity
construction in the advertisements. Table 4.1 shows the detailed information about the
participants.
Table 4.1: Information about the participants involved in this study
Items
Job
Sex
Age
Degree
No.
Marital
status
1
Engineer
Male
32
Master
available
2
Worker
Male
53
Senior
married
High
3
Student
Female
26
Bachelor
available
4
Office
Female
20
Technical
available
worker
5
Worker
Secondary
Female
55
Senior
married
High
6
Staff of
Male
28
Bachelor
married
ICBC
25
4.3 Data Collection
The data collection of this study went through two different steps: collecting data
from the Chinese magazines and collecting data from the interview. Thus, this section
first depicts the procedure of collecting data from the thirteen kinds of magazines, and
then describes how the data from the interview were collected.
4.3.1 Collecting data from the magazines
The present study was undertaken on the basis of the author’s collection of print
advertisements in thirteen kinds of Chinese magazines both from the mainland and
Taiwan of China. Among the thirteen kinds of magazines, ten of them were collected in
the Library of Nanjing University during the summer vocation of 2010, while the other
three kinds were from the library of National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. Since
the author spent her last five months of the year 2010 in Taiwan as an exchange student,
it was possible for her to acquire the print advertisements to enrich the variety of
magazines. In addition, all the magazines were presented in Chinese, although Taiwan
magazines use the original complex form of the simplified Chinese characters, the
author still considered that it would not affect the results of the research.
All these magazines were among the most popular ones in the mainland and
Taiwan of China. The author considered that the different kinds of sources would
guarantee the authenticity of materials. The dates of issues ranged from January to
December 2008, so that seasonality problem could be minimized. These thirteen
magazines were primarily for male readers or female readers or both in their readership.
In order to achieve the purpose of broadening the coverage of advertisements to the
largest extent, 344 pieces of advertisements were collected.
The magazines categories included news and current affairs, literature and culture,
health and family life, fashion and clothing, electronics and computer technology,
automobiles and motorcycles. The criteria of selection were as follows. Firstly, the
26
advertisements were of sufficient size to provide usable information, and the size was
restricted to one quarter page or larger; secondly, all the advertisements contained
human depiction. A total of 344 advertisements met the requirement for the sex role
portrayal analysis. The category of magazine advertisements is showed in Table 4.2.
Table 4.2: The information of magazine category
The Magazine Category
News and Current Affairs
半月谈 CHINA COMMENT
青年文摘 QINNIAN WENZHAI
海外文摘 HAIWAIWENZHAI
Literature and Culture
知音 BOSOM FRIEND
读者 DUZHE
Health and Family Life
家庭 FAMILY
上海服饰 SHANGHAI STYLE
瑞丽服饰美容 RAYLI
Fashion and Clothing
悦己 SELF
昕薇 XINWEI
Electronics and Computer Technology
電腦王 DIANNAO WANG
汽車購買指南 QICHE GOUMAI ZHINAN
Automobiles and Motorcycles
摩托車雜誌 MOTUOCHE ZAZHI
All the advertisements with presupposition and adaptation analyzed in the
following parts of this study might be full advertisements or parts of them, such as
slogans, sentences from the body parts with the human depiction. While selecting the
advertisements, the author followed two principles.
1) These advertisements should cover as many kinds of products and services as
possible to reflect the features of modern advertisements comprehensively. During the
process of data collection, two kinds of products which belong to the same brand were
both selected, and accounted for two kinds of products.
27
2) These advertisements must use successful and effective language in their main
parts.
4.3.2 Collecting data from the interview
In order to measure the effects of the strategies used by advertisers in
advertisements, the author designed an interview to test the feelings, thoughts and
intentions of the customers. The author conducted a semi-structured interview included
several open-ended questions which were carefully worded and arranged with the
intention of taking the six interviewees through the same sequence and asking them the
same questions with the same words. The interview questions are presented in the
Appendix 1 at the end of the thesis.
The interview process consisted of two steps, and the two steps were conducted
simultaneously. The first step was asking the interviewees questions; the second step
was tape-recording. The detailed process is as follows: firstly, the interviewees were
asked about their personal information such as job, degree, age and marital status;
secondly, the author asked them five other questions about advertisements and took
record at the same time, which was licensed by the interviewees. In all, the author spent
nearly 2 hours to finish the whole interview. Each of them answered the questions in an
open-ended form, and the author always encouraged them to talk more. After collecting
the data, the author listened and made dictation of the raw resources. Then the author
proceeded to analyze the data in the later part of this study.
4.4 Data Analysis
This section presents how the raw data collected in the previous part were further
analyzed in this study. Thus, it can be divided into two parts: how the data from the
magazines were analyzed and how the data drawn from the tape were processed.
28
4.4.1 Analyzing data from the magazines
In the analysis of the advertisements from the magazines in the following chapter,
there were two main steps. The first step contained some little sections to analyze how
advertisers constructed gender identity, how advertisements exhibited gender preference,
and whether the gender preference was sensitive to the types of products. The second
step was summarizing the strategies used by the advertisers within the theoretical
framework of presupposition.
In the first step, the advertisements were analyzed and classified in general by
examining the pragmatic way of presupposition according to different genders that
appeared in the advertisements; secondly, the author calculated the whole number of
advertisements and classified them into different product categories according to
different gender portyal in the advertisements in detail and explained the reasons for
them. The classification of male and female identity construction in advertisements
were analyzed under the theoretical framework of presupposition from the perspective
of images, roles and needs. The author analyzed the samples like the following
example:
(2) “呵护女人，呵护爱。”(“Protect women, protect love.”)
——妇炎洁广告 (Fu Yanjie)
It was an advertisement of health product for couples. Obviously, the needs of health
and love from men of women were presupposed. The man presented as a husband to
take care of his wife chose the product named “fu yan jie.” In the body part, “he hu nǔ
ren” was the presupposition of “he hu ai.” Only by using the product to keep his wife
healthy could he protect their love. Female identity construction was analyzed
following the previous parts of male. Then, the author compared the gender preference
between male and female according to the different types of products.
The second step was to dig out the strategies the advertisers used in their
advertisements within the framework of presupposition and explained them with some
29
samples. The author also found out how the preferences were pragmatically realized.
4.4.2 Analyzing data from the interview
After listening to the tape recorder, the author collected the interviewees’ useful
information and cited it in the discussion part. Through the interviewees’ utterance, we
could get to know the effects of Chinese advertisements.
30
CHAPTER FIVE
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter reports the results and discussion of this study that addresses the
situation of gender construction in Chinese commercial magazine advertisements.
Together, it includes four sections which will report and discuss the findings obtained
from both the qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative results about male and
female construction in advertisements will be presented and discussed in the first
section. The second section reports and discusses the qualitative findings of the
strategies used for gender identity construction in advertisements. The third section
deals with the effects of adaptation in advertisements. The adaptative ways and the
effects of the advertisements are both examined in this section. The last section will
give the summary of this chapter.
5.1 Types of Gender Construction in the Chinese
Advertisements
5.1.1 Male construction in the Chinese advertisements
Presupposition abounds in gender advertisement language, and the presupposition
concerns the images, roles and needs of both male and female. The advertisers can
enhance the persuasive power by using presupposition. Detailed analysis about male
31
construction by using presupposition is from the three perspectives mentioned above.
5.1.1.1 Presupposition of images in the male advertisements
In people’s eyes, males are supposed to be superior more than the other sex. Words
like “tall”, “big”, “firm” and “strong” are usually borrowed to portray males. Yet what
is the situation of male image construction in magazine advertisements? The following
examples will partly show the answer.
(3) “實現男子漢的浪漫。”(“Realizing the romance of men.”)
——Bridgestone 13 motorcycle
This advertisement was collected from a Taiwan’s magazine. In the body part, the
image of men’s courage and spirit is presupposed as indicated by the trigger “實現”
（realize）. The use of presupposition here shortens the length of the sentence and
catches the male readers’ needs immediately. What kind of products could help them
realize the dream of being a powerful man and show off the romance in front of the
other sex? The slogan gives us the answer: the Bridgestone 13 motorcycle can do this.
From the perspective of men’s image, males are often presented as successful
people in the world. From the ancient times till now, males’ traits always contain
“achievement, assertiveness, dominance, success, competition and heroism.” (Hofstede,
1984, p.81). The example below may serve as a good example.
(4) 一般的決策者問：我要什麽？（Ordinary decision-makers ask themselves
that “what do I want?”）
成功的決策者問：我如何才能全部都要？(Successful decision-makers
ask themselves that “how could I get all?”)
——大眾汽車 (The car of Volkswagen)
In this ad gathered from a Taiwan magazine, the image of males is constructed as
successful decision-makers. The advertiser constructs a successful image first to get
male readers’ psychological identification. If a male reader gets the hint from the
advertiser, the ad will be successful. In this advertisement, the comparison between
32
ordinary decision-makers and successful decision-makers has strong effect on
customers’ potential decision. The presupposition and comparison arouse potential
buyers’ interest to focus on this all-round functional Volkswagen.
5.1.1.2 Presupposition of roles in the male advertisements
After observation, the author finds that male roles constructed in the collected
advertisements can be divided into several different kinds, i.e. son, son-in-law, father,
boyfriend, and husband. For example:
(5) “老爸，来一局游戏。” (“Dad, let’s play computer games.”)
“亲爱的，陪我看电影。” (“Honey, watch the movie with me.”)
“今晚决赛，上网看。” (“Go to watch the final on the internet tonight.”)
——你要的家庭欢乐时刻，就在戴尔。(The domestic joys you want
reside with Dell!)
In this advertisement, the man acts different roles at the same time, as can be
inferred from the presupposition used. In the first sentence, the son asks his father to
play computer game with him, and then the role of a good father is constructed; in the
second conversation, the same man plays the role as a husband. We can imagine that
one night his wife wants to watch the latest film with him to enjoy the romantic time; in
the third sentence, the man portrayed as a sports fan may intend to watch his favorite
football match to enjoy himself.
The theme of the advertisement comes from the last sentence, which uses
presupposition as well. The advertiser presupposes that you want all kinds of happiness
in your family, not only from yourself, but also from your son, and from your wife. It
seems to tell the male readers to be a good husband or a good father to have the
domestic joys, but actually they want to promote their famous brand of computer Dell
in this subtle way.
Here is another example constructing male’s identity in this way.
33
(6) “一台诺亚舟，万千父母情。” (“A set of Nuo Yazhou is equal to the love
from thousands of parents.”)
——诺亚舟学习机 (Nuo Yazhou study machine)
First of all, the advertiser uses a fact presupposition (Chen, 1999) that there are
thousands of fathers and mothers who love their children. At the same time, the
advertiser also gives us an implicit belief presupposition that all the parents want their
children to study well. Yet, as the advertisement uses a male in the picture, it might be
said that the identity of males is highlighted here as fathers.
5.1.1.3 Presupposition of needs in the male advertisements
As the samples showed above, we could also find that the presupposition of needs
is most frequently used, usually in combination with other kinds of presupposition.
Because the advertisers usually take males’ ambition to be successful as the hook to
promote their products or service, the needs of power, energy, and cool appearance are
usually presupposed. Let’s look at some examples to see how presupposition is used to
adapt to men’s needs.
(7) “Be the wild.”
“越野是你的天性，风格是你的造型.”（“Running across open country is
your natural instinct, while style is your modeling.”）
—— YAMAHA motorcycle
In the advertisement, a definite description is used to make seemingly factual
claims favorable for the advertisers. The expression “the wild” indicates that the
motorcycle allows one to cross the country and “wild” is the cycler’s quality.
Apparently, the advertisement illustrates the function of the motorcycle, but actually it
symbolizes the rider. In the Chinese part, wild spirit and cool style of the riders’ needs
are presupposed.
Advertisers take care of man’s needs to shorten the distance from the potential
customers to attract them to buy their products. It is known that most men pursue
34
success and chances, because they like making everything in their control. For example:
(8) “機會，稍縱即逝。”（“Chances will disappear soon.”）
——BMW automobile
In this advertisement, the body part conveys an actual presupposition that although
there are chances existing, males need to try their best to catch them, because the
chances will disappear soon. To catch every important chance is the basic requirement
for a man to step towards success. The advertisers have grasped the relationship
between the consumers’ needs and the quality of the automobile, and thus they promote
their automobile for the ambitious men to save time in order to catch more chances.
5.1.2 Female construction in the Chinese advertisements
Anthropologists consider that female is the first sex in the 21st century. With the
development of the status of women in the new century, females’ images, roles and
needs are also constructed in social life. The relationship between women and
advertisements is closer to each other. So the author will analyze female construction
from the perspective of images, roles and needs, as we did for males.
5.1.2.1 Presupposition of images in the female advertisements
Among all the advertisements the author collected, more than 2/3 are female
advertisements. That is to say, advertisers are more willing to invite women to be their
promoters than men. After observing the samples carefully, the author considers that in
the new century, women’s wisdom and self-awareness have been promoted. Most
women try their best to perfect their outside and inner side. Here are some examples.
(9) 卡佳拉 —— 智慧女人的选择 (Ka Jiala —— the choice of wisdom
women)
35
——卡佳拉服饰 (the clothing of Ka Jiala)
This advertisement is to promote clothing for women. We all know that there are a
lot of clothing companies in China. How to attract women’s eyeballs is a tough task for
every company. In this competition, different methods are used to satisfy female
customers’ needs. With the development of economy, more and more women are
projected to be successful like men. The clothing company mentioned above uses
presupposition as their strategy to draw women’s attention. Here, the presupposition of
wisdom image may be appealing to some ambitious and hard-working women’s needs.
Although more and more women are predisposed to perfect their inner side, the
topic of “beauty” is always kept in the limelight. In all the samples, nearly all the
actresses are young women. The discourse shows that advertisers like creating an image
of a fair lady. For example:
(10) “四行程淑女型 速克達綜合評比。”(“The comprehensive competition
among several kinds of fair lady style motorcycles.”)
—— SYM，KYMCO，YAMAHA motorcycle
This advertisement from Taiwan aims at promoting three new kinds of female
motorcycles. The image of a fair lady is presupposed in the body part of the ad. This
shows that nowadays advertisers not only pay attention to the appearance of their
products, but also construct the images which customers like to persuade them join in
the buying action.
5.1.2.2 Presupposition of roles in the female advertisements
In terms of social relationship, women’s roles can be classified into girlfriend,
mother, daughter, wife, mother-in-law, daughter-in-law, and so on, which might be
presupposed in advertisements. Here is an example:
(11) “今天有更弹的。” (“Today, we have a much springier one.”)
36
“女人美，要经得起男人的眼光。”(“Women’s beauty should live up to
the critical eye of men.”)
——尹媚银蓝弹力紧致精华露(Yin Mei civil blue resilience lifting
complex)
This advertisement seeks to promote a skin care product called Yin Mei. In the
body part, the role of a girlfriend is constructed. In the advertisement, the boy takes a
glimpse at the girl’s face and smiles to show his satisfaction, while the girl is also joyful
because she has found a more effective skin care product.
From the perspective of language use, the advertisement is very persuasive to use
comparison as the means of presupposition here. The two sentences created by the
advertiser above show us the mental activity of the girl. The first sentence presupposes
that there has been a lot of skin care products used to provide prompt relief for seriously
dry and rough skin in the market. To emphasize the function of moisturization and
softness of the products called Yin Mei, the advertiser uses “more” to show its
superiority. The word “more” here illustrates a better condition, compared with an
indicated former state. Here, the advertiser uses this word for the purpose of giving a
promise of improvement to his target consumers so as to appeal to them.
In the second sentence, the girl expects her boyfriend to appreciate her change on
her skin after using Yin Mei. The declarative utterance gives the reader an idea that
men’s judgment towards women’s beauty is very important, although we cannot make
sure whether the concept is right or not. It shows that in our society, men are more and
more welcomed to be invited to join in the female products like cosmetics, accessories
and so on. Women are accustomed to living under the influence of men’s desires and
expectations.
5.1.2.3 Presupposition of needs in the female advertisements
Through observation and analysis, the author finds out that women’s needs are
mainly focused on skin care, losing weight and protecting family members’ health. In
all the samples the author collected, nearly 1/3 of them are advertisements for cosmetics
37
presented by young women. Some examples are showed below.
(12) “美丽不止一面，心动不止一刻。” （“Beauty does not come from one
side, and heart is not beating for just a moment.”）
“有爱，有生活，有美丽。如果你了解我的内在，你会发现你所见只
是我的一小部分。”(“I have love, wonderful life and beauty. In you
know my inner side, you will find what I already have is just a little part
of mine.”)
——玫琳凯化妆品(Mary Kay) (Mary Kay cosmetics)
In this advertisement, women’s needs for love, happy life and beauty are
presupposed. In our society, women play different roles in different settings. In their
own apartment, they need to cook food for their child as a mother. Also, they make up
to prepare for a party, while their husband is waiting. In addition, they are also beautiful
female workers in the work place. The content of presupposition in this advertisement is
like a mirror for most women. The advertiser wants them to know that if they need to
act various roles and show the best side any time, Mary Kay can help them.
The advertiser wants the customers to have a feeling that their brand of cosmetics
could bring a lot to them, not only what they have seen from the outside part. It seems
that such kind of claims is more believable and acceptable and is likely to lure more
potential consumers into the buying action. Consider another example:
(13) “还有比它更关爱我肌肤的吗？”
（“Is there any product that pays more
attention to my skin care?”）
“你值得拥有。”( “You deserve it.”)
—— L’OREAL Paris
Skin care is an eternal topic among women and their need for beauty is never
satisfied. This advertisement uses a question as the presuppositional trigger to arouse
the readers’ curiosity. Using questions properly, the advertiser may well compel the
female readers to find out the point of their advertisements. From the perspective of the
recipient, female readers will focus on what the advertiser says next. Which brand of
cosmetics would bring them beauty and care? The advertiser answers that L’Oreal has
38
all the functions they need and they do deserve it. Here is another example:
(14) “帮助减少发尾分叉，越多人尝试，越多人信赖。”
（“It aims to prevent
you hair from splaying apart. The more people try using it, the more they
rely on it.”）
万千女性 & 周迅 (Thousands of women & Zhou Xun)
——PANTENE PRO-V 潘婷
The first sentence introduces the function of the hair shampoo. The advertiser
wants to presuppose a fact presupposition that more and more people try their product
and most of them rely on it. The definite claim seems to tell a truth, but we cannot
decide whether we should believe it or not. Following this utterance, “thousands of
women and Zhou Xun” are presupposed. This sentence intends to impose the readers
that there have been thousands women who want to buy Pantene. It is worthwhile to
mention that Zhou Xun is also one of them. As a popular star, she must pay more
attention to her hair health. So her choice may persuade her movie fans to do the same
thing as she does.
It is not surprising to find out that in most cosmetic advertisements, models,
popular stars or famous TV show anchors are chosen as the agents. The presupposition
of roles and needs usually appear in the same advertisement at the same time, which
shows that these two kinds of presupposition are not in conflict with each other, but
rather, both of them could help the advertisers to promote their products.
5.1.3 The
comparison
between
male
and
female
construction in the Chinese advertisements
5.1.3.1 The classification of products
The author classifies the advertisements into three groups according to different
genders, i.e. whether they are advertisements of male portrayal or of female portrayal or
containing both genders. In the table below, for the first group, the author hereafter
names it male advertisements; for the second group, female advertisements; for the
39
third group, gender-neutral advertisements. In the left column of the table, the
advertisements are also coded according to eleven product categories: cosmetics and
skin care, clothing, health product, electronics, food and drinks, home appliance,
entertainment, automobile and motorcycle, jewelry or accessory, trade service and
education. Detailed information about the product categories of advertisements is
shown in Table 5.1.
All the advertisements the author collected are labeled with an appropriate product
category, brand name and the brief description of the theme of the advertisements as
well. From the table above, we can get the general idea about the gender preference of
the advertisers. The detailed analysis about the relationship between gender preference
and product category and the comparison between two gender advertisements will be
presented in the next part of this section.
Table 5.1: Product categories of advertisements
Male
Female
advertisements
advertisements
Gender-neutral
advertisements
Category
n
%
n
%
n
%
Cosmetics and skin care
0
0
127
51.63%
2
7.14%
Clothing
5
7.14%
47
19.11%
8
28.57%
Health product
2
2.86%
27
10.98%
7
25%
Electronics
15
21.43%
20
8.13%
6
21.43%
Food and drinks
3
4.28%
2
0.81%
1
3.57%
Home appliance
0
0
1
0.41%
0
0
Entertainment
1
1.43%
3
1.22%
1
3.57%
40
57.14%
6
2.44%
3
10.72%
Trade service
1
1.43%
0
0
0
0
Education
1
1.43%
0
0
0
0
Jewelry/accessory
2
2.86%
13
5.27%
0
0
Total
70
100%
246
100%
28
100%
Automobile and
motorcycle
40
5.1.3.2 Differences between male and female construction in the Chinese
advertisements
As shown in Table 5.1, of all the 344 advertisements, about 70 are male
advertisements, accounting for nearly 1/5 of all. Another 28 advertisements contain
both male and female images. Put together, the male advertisements are far below half
of the whole. For this reason, the author considers that Chinese culture in
advertisements is more of a “feminine culture.” An old saying goes like “nan zhu wai, n
ǚ zhu nei”, which roughly means:
Men usually interact with people outside of the family and women deal with
the affairs within the family and are in charge of details of housework, the
daughters-in-law, therefore, play the second important role in care giving for
the elderly (Zhou, 2003).
According to Hofstede (1984), nowadays, there is a common trend that men are more
related to economic advertisements, while women are more related to advertisements of
taking care of people in general with children in particular.
Thus, we can see advertisers’ preference clearly. In the left column are eleven
kinds of products. The first line is advertisements of cosmetics and skin care. In all the
samples, there are 129 advertisements of this kind. Through calculation, no man plays
as the actor of advertisements to promote cosmetic products. Quite to the contrary, all
the advertisements of skin care and cosmetics contain women, ranking the highest of all
the female advertisements. That is to say, women are the target customers of advertisers
and cosmetics occupy the largest market proportion in print advertisements.
It is interesting to see that the second row, the third row, the sixth row and the last
row have the similar situation. More women are depicted in the advertisements of
clothing, health-keeping, home appliance and jewelry. Women still occupy the largest
part. In addition, women are portrayed as young more often than men. The author
considers that in people’s mental world, beauty, love and health of the whole family are
the responsibilities of women. So the advertisers highlight female customers’
41
unconscious needs to attract them.
The table also shows us some different situations. The advertisements of
automobile and motorcycle, trade service and education are mostly presented for males.
This is probably good evidence for the fact that these kinds of products need more skills,
power and energy to control. Men symbolize these elements, and their values are more
targeted at assertiveness, accomplishments and success. In the previous parts of this
chapter, the author analyzed the detailed ways of male construction in advertisements. It
testified that although the female is the first sex in our society, the male still gets the
most important position to support the family and speed up the development of society.
In some other kinds of products or service like food and drinks, electronics and
entertainment, the preference of men or women are almost in balance. Through analysis,
we can see that all these three kinds of products can be enjoyed by everyone in the
world, whatever their gender or age. So advertisers choose actors or actresses and make
advertising discourse just according to the characteristics of the products itself. If the
appearance of the product is cute, they will choose actresses, and vice versa.
Among the gender-neutral advertisements, most of them are presented in terms of
wife and husband, lovers, and the whole family. And the product categories are mainly
related to daily use products like clothing, health products, and electronic products. The
author considers that the advertisers may want to use the harmonious atmosphere to
recall love among people and build up their social roles to take responsibility for friends
or family members. Of course, their ultimate purpose is to sell their products or
services.
5.2 Strategies of Gender Construction in the
Chinese advertisements
In advertisements, the advertisers like using many strategies to arouse people’s
interest. In this thesis, the author only focuses on pragmatic presupposition and
42
adaptation. Presupposition can be used as an important strategy by the advertisers to
bear some special purposes and intentions in mind and convey the presupposed
information to the potential customers. By supplying the shared background knowledge,
the presupposition can make the communication more effective and economical.
Through observation and analysis, the author finds that there are two common
strategies used in the advertisements collected. They are as follows.
5.2.1 Presupposition by asking questions
When analyzing male and female construction in advertisements in the previous
parts, the author has found that many advertisers like to ask questions in their
advertisements. It is obvious that the information conveyed through presupposition
cannot be directly asserted. In asking questions, the advertiser needs to provide an
answer. This answer or explanation is usually skillfully used by the advertisers to
promote their products.
(4) 一般的決策者問：我要什麽？（“Ordinary decision-makers ask themselves
“what do I want?”）
成 功 的 決 策 者 問 ： 我 如 何 才 能 全 部 都 要 ？ （ “Successful
decision-makers ask themselves “how could I get all?”）
——大眾汽車 (The car of Volkswagen)
In asking this question, the advertisers have presumed that “a successful man
wants all, while a normal man only focuses on some of them” as a fact. It seems that the
advertisers want the recipients to answer the question, but actually they dig a hole to
push them down. If the recipients answer that they want some qualities of them, it
amounts to saying that they are not successful. This fact is a roundabout way of
asserting that “our car can afford all the things you want and make you become a
successful decision-maker.” In this way, the advertiser constructs an image of a
successful business man first, and then eulogizes the products in a more acceptable way
to realize the selling purpose.
43
5.2.2 Presupposition by comparison
In the face of a fierce competition in advertising field, in order to get attention
from the customers and make the products different from others, advertisers try their
best to eulogize the merits of their products. From the previous samples, we can see that
advertisers like using “more”, “most” and some other words to show the highest quality
among the same kind of products. Comparison is the commonest way to achieve their
purposes. For example,
（11）“今天有更弹的。”(“Today, we have a much springier one.”)
“女人美，要经得起男人的眼光。”(“Women’s beauty should live up to
the critical eye of men.”)
——尹媚银蓝弹力紧致精华露 (Yin Mei civil blue resilience lifting
complex)
From the perspective of language use, advertisers are not supposed to openly
underestimate their competitors’ products in the same field. So in advertisements, they
use such sentences like “You are the most beautiful one” to satisfy their customers or
“this product is much better than those of the same field” to praise their product in order
to meet the customers’ needs. In this advertisement, the comparative degree conveys to
readers the information that “compared with other products, our product is better” by
means of presupposition. The readers do not have enough evidence to prove whether
the presupposition is true, because the advertisers do not offer detailed information as
well. By using presupposition, the advertisers can avoid making their claims too
protruding in that their claims might be proved wrong in the long run.
Through comparison, the advertisers can make their advertisements more decent
and truthful and underestimate the other products in an implicit way. From the
perspective of identity construction, this kind of advertisements aims at constructing a
better image to attract people to buy their products.
44
5.3 Effects of Gender Construction in the Chinese
advertisements
As we mentioned in Chapter Three, adaptability of language is a process of
choice-making. These choices involve communicative or pragmatic strategies. In the
process of communication, speakers make linguistic choices adapt to the hearers, while
hearers also choose how to interpret the utterance produced to them at the same time.
Frequently, these choices are made consciously.
In our daily lives, people talk and use language expressively or communicatively
by making choice consciously or unconsciously for linguistic or some other reasons. In
advertisements, advertisers make choice of both language and male and female images
to adapt to the readers’ needs. The question then is what are the effects in customers’
eyes?
In this part, the author interviewed six people randomly in an open environment,
aiming at finding the answers to the third research question. During the process, the
author always encouraged them to say more. They came from different corners of
society and of different ages. The interview questions are showed in Appendix.
There are six questions in all. The last two questions are aimed at finding out the
effects of Chinese magazine advertisements nowadays and the most serious things the
readers care about. The author will present some parts of what they said and analyze all
of their utterance in detail to supplement the presented part, and then give a summary at
the end. For example, Subject 1 says,
I usually read various kinds of magazines, but those for cars and films are my
favorite ones. Advertisements in these two kinds of magazines mainly focus on
cars and films, but the other comprehensive magazines advertise cosmetics and
health products mostly……The actors and actresses are fair ladies and
handsome boys, except those advertisements for health care of old people. I
think their language is direct, because most of them usually say their products
are very good. I think the effects of the advertisements are just so so, because
most customers will buy things reasonably according to their own needs…
（我平时什么杂志都会读一读，公司的休息室里都有的。但就我个人爱好
45
而言我喜欢看电影类杂志和汽车类的较多，这两种专门类别的杂志肯定是
电影和汽车广告居多啊，但是我觉得现在其他的杂志翻开，铺天盖地的都
是化妆品和医药广告……并且男女主角都是俊男美女，除非是老年人的保
健品才会选中年人做广告。语言使用比较直白，说自己的产品怎么怎么好。
至于宣传效果我觉得一般吧，我们消费还是会根据自己的实际需要去选，
有自己的判断，不会完全相信的……）
The first interviewee is an IT engineer of 32 years old. In his daily life, he likes
reading all kinds of magazines, especially those for films and cars. In his mind, the
advertisements about cosmetics, medicine, cars, electronic products and wine rank from
the highest degree to the lowest in sequence. In his opinion, the advertisers choose
actors or actresses who are qualified to represent the products. For example, those
advertisements for cosmetics need using actresses who have soft and smooth skin.
Those advertisements for cars need a business man or a mature man to present its power
and speed. In addition, he also says that he thought the advertisers usually invite young
and sunny boys or girls to make the electronic advertisements. For the characteristics of
advertising language, he says most advertisers are too direct to praise their products,
because the word “most” can be seen everywhere in different kinds of advertisements.
He does not believe them at all. When he chooses products, he cares about the products’
quality most instead of paying attention to the actors or some other elements.
The second and the fifth interviewees are workers, one male and the other female,
and their working environments are almost the same. For example, Subject 5 says that,
Sometimes, I read magazines on the topic of daily life like Family. I pay more
attention to advertisements for the whole family’s health, especially for
children’s. Like Nutritious… I think the advertisements for keeping health and
losing weight occupy the first and second place in the market. The actors must
be qualified for the advertisements, for example, advertisers need to find a slim
actress to present the advertisement of losing weight so as to persuade the
customers to imitate… For the language, I think most of them are overstated,
but the effect is not so bad. For people of our age, we do not know many
popular stars. If the advertisers choose actors like Pu Cunxin, maybe I will
consider buying it, because we all know him…（我有时会看一些生活方面的
杂志，比如《家庭》，关注的广告多为吃的东西，我是指那些对家人健康
有保护作用的产品，比如孩子高考吃的纽崔莱这些……我觉得所有杂志里
保健品最多吧，还有减肥的产品也比较多。减肥广告的演员当然要找瘦的
46
啦…感觉语言都比较夸张的，宣传效果我感觉一般，不过我们这个年龄的
人都不认识什么明星，如果是我们熟悉的明星像濮存昕做的广告，我可能
会相信些，东西真的好用，会考虑购买的……）
The author has found some similarities between the two workers, so she analyzes
their report at the same time. Both of them watch magazines occasionally, not too often.
They usually prefer magazines about health and family life. They mainly focus on the
validity and functions of the products. The female interviewee says that she pays more
attention to the products of food and health products; if the products are multifunctional,
she will consider buying them for her family. Both of them say that the advertising
language is usually exaggerating and the effects are not so bad. For the question of
whether to buy the products or not, they have slightly different opinions. The male
interviewee says that he only considers whether he needs it or not, while the female
interviewee says that if the actor or actress she has known before acts as a good mother
or father, she will consider buying it. For example, she likes Jiang Wenli and Pu Cunxin.
In the ad of Ou’pai kitchen appliance, Jiang acts like a good mother. The emotional
element and the validity of the products make her buy the kitchen appliance in the end.
The third interviewee is a student of 26 on campus who is preparing for her
master’s degree. She likes watching entertainment magazines and pays more attention
to cosmetic advertisements. She considers that the actors and actresses need to
symbolize the essence of the products, and their roles must be suitable to the products.
In her opinion, the model effect is the most important thing for advertisers. If the image
of model has enough power of persuasion, it is easier to promote the products. She does
not pay much attention to advertising language, because she says most of the advertisers
use the same strategies without imagination and creativity. When she answeres the last
question, she says that she is 26 and she has enough experience to pick out the best
products instead of just believing in what the advertisers eulogize.
The fourth interviewee is a girl of 20. She also likes reading clothing and cosmetic
advertisements like others of her age. She has not paid attention to the advertising
language before. However, she likes popular stars very much, e.g., the Korean actor
Rain. When she finds Rain promotes a new style of mobile phone, she would buy the
47
product immediately instead of researching its functions. For her, advertisers could
shorten the distance between her and her idol through using the same product.
The fifth interviewee is a staff of ICBC bank. He says,
Usually, I paid more attention on media advertisements. I found that in
magazine advertisements, most of them are for cars and cosmetics. I think
advertisers choose actors or actresses according to the products’ quality and
characteristics. For example, they like choosing pretty and coquettish girl to
present lip balm advertisement, while choosing girls who have wonderful skin
to present cosmetics for basic care. The advertisements which give me deepest
impressions are those who have amazingly persuasive power in adverting
discourse. In think the effects of them are OK. I have several standards before
buying products: firstly, I really like it; secondly, I do need it; thirdly, some tiny
functions just satisfy me...（我平时关注媒体广告比较多，但是杂志广告也
会看。感觉杂志里面一般汽车广告比较多，其次是化妆品。我觉得广告都
是按照产品的特性去选择演员的，比如唇膏通常会选妖艳的女明星，基础
护理化妆品会找皮肤好的女生。给我印象比较深的多半是语言上比较霸气
的广告，觉得比较能突出产品的亮点。我觉得宣传效果都还不错吧，如果
是我买东西的话会从几个方面衡量，一是要自己喜欢，二是确实需要，三
是广告做的正好符合我的需求，比如说要买手机的话，如果广告宣传的某
一小的功能恰好契合我的需要，我就会买……）
He watches media advertisements more than magazine advertisements. From his
point of view, the advertisements for cars are the most ones, while cosmetic
advertisements stand in the second place. He considers that advertisers choose actors
and language according to the certain quality and characteristics of the products
advertised. For example, home appliances and medicine are related to a beautiful and
kind mother, because our culture gives women the responsibility to take care of all the
family members. He likes cars and electronic products, and chooses those
advertisements whose language is impressive and creative. In addition, he says the
effects of all the advertisements he has watched before are good. He pays more
attention to the detailed and tiny functions of products in advertisements. The functions
which are easily ignored by other people are more likely to become the strong points to
arouse his interest.
To sum up, we can get some useful information from the interviewees’ report.
48
From the perspective of customers, the effects of advertisements are related to three
elements, namely age, career, gender and marital status. Young people and those who
are available are willing to fulfill their needs and follow what their idols do. Adults and
those who have been married pay more attention to the roles actors act and focus on the
quality and functions of the product. Secondly, different social background will urge
people to make different decisions. People who have jobs are more realistic and
reasonable than those students when they decide to buy something. Thirdly, because of
different genders, male and female pay attention to different kinds of things. It is
interesting to find that most female readers consider that the cosmetic advertisements
are the most frequent ones in all the advertisements, while most male readers consider
that the car advertisements are the most advertised ones, which means that the buying
action is influenced by the customers’ gender.
From the perspective of advertisers, we can see that the choice of actors and
actresses is very important. The construction of male and female’s image is closely
related to the success of promotion. In addition, using popular stars is a good way to
persuade people to join in the queue of buyers. Yet, some interviewees say the
advertisements in Chinese magazines are lacking in creativity and imagination, and the
style is too simple. Finally, although most advertisers use comparison and other
methods to praise the merits of their products, few customers believe in them. The
functions and quality of products is still the basic requirement of a promotional activity.
5.4 Summary
This chapter mainly addresses three research questions. The first one is about the
gender preference in advertisements; the second one is about the strategies in
advertisements, and the third one about the effects of the advertisements.
Through analysis, the author finds that there are gender preferences in
advertisements according to different product categories in terms of gender images,
49
gender roles and their needs. Some special products like cosmetics, clothing, health
products and jewelry are mostly presented for women, while some other products like
cars and motorcycles are mostly presented for men. In addition, things like electronic
products can be presented for both women and men.
The author finds out that pragmatic presupposition can contribute to the
development of advertising discourse. In order to appeal to and motivate the potential
customers, the advertisers try their best to express as much information as possible
about the product or service. In the samples, the advertisers usually use questions and
make comparisons as their strategies to arouse recipients’ interest and shorten the
distance from them to establish a good relationship.
The interview supports the analysis about the effects of identity construction in the
advertisements within the theoretical framework of Adaptation Theory. The advertisers
make efforts to promote their products from the perspective of the customers’ needs.
Idol performance has obvious effect for young people, but useless for adults. The latter
pay more attention to the quality and functions of the product. Advertisers’ intentions
cannot be totally accomplished. What they should do, then, is to constitute some new
appropriate gender images and focus on the quality and functions of the product itself.
50
CHAPTER SIX
CONCLUSION
This chapter serves to wind up the whole study. It starts with the major findings of
the present study. Some limitations of the study are pointed out, followed by a
discussion of the theoretical and experimental implications. Recommendations for
future research are made in the last section.
6.1 Major Findings of this Study
The present study turned out the following major findings:
(1) There are some gender preferences in advertisements according to different
product categories. Some special products like cosmetics, clothing, health products and
jewelry are mostly presented for women, while some other products like cars and
motorcycles are mostly presented for men. In addition, things like electronic products
can be presented for both women or men and the whole family. All these preferences
are presented in terms of images, roles and needs.
(2) Pragmatic presupposition may contribute to the construction of gender in
advertising discourse. In order to adapt to the customers’ needs, the advertisers try their
best to express as much information as possible about the product or service to appeal
to and motivate the potential customers. In Chinese magazine advertisements, the
advertisers usually use questions and comparison as their strategies to arouse recipients’
51
interest and shorten the distance between them.
(3) The advertisers make efforts to adapt to the customers’ needs, although their
intentions cannot be totally accomplished. The effects of advertisements are not as good
as the advertisers think. Idol effect is obvious for young people, but adults may pay
more attention to the quality and functions of the product itself and be loyal to their own
needs.
In summary, this thesis presents the general situation of gender portrayal in
Chinese magazine advertisements. The strategies of advertisers and the effects of
advertisements for customers are presented to each other, thus help the advertisers to
improve their advertisements and help the customers to buy products reasonably.
6.2 Implications of this Study
Theoretically speaking, the study sheds some light on our understanding of identity
and its construction in discourse. In addition, it offers us a new research perspective to
analyze advertising discourse. Finally it is manifested that as the strategic act of
presupposition and effects of adverting language related to gender construction are
examined in this study, the results can benefit the style of advertising discourse itself.
Practically speaking, this study will help the advertisers to make more attractive
advertisements and know more about customers’ needs on one side, and help the
customers to recognize the strategies in advertisements and buy products reasonably on
the other hand. It tries to analyze the gender construction in Chinese magazine
advertisements by classifying genders advertisements and analyzing advertisers’
preferences to find out the current gender situation in China. Today, in the global
business context, where advertising becomes a challenge for all the international
advertising practitioners, the study can help current and potential advertisers compose
better advertisements and present them in a more favorable way. After analysis, what
advertisers should do is, then, to constitute more reasonable and appropriate male and
52
female images. We may present in advertisements more males doing housework and
some other daily work in the hope that people will change their minds that housework
and family happiness is the duty of women only. With the joint effort of linguists and
advertisers, our advertisers could become more and more creative and imaginative. In
addition, for the customers, this study may help them realize the intentions and
strategies of the advertisers while reading print advertisements.
6.3 Limitations of the Study
Like any other types of research, this study suffers from several limitations in
conceptual, methodological and other aspects owing to the inadequacy of the author’s
understanding as well as the pressure of research time.
A major weakness is that the study of identity construction is theoretically weak
because it is a new and underdeveloped research topic in the pragmatic field. When the
author collected the literature, it was a little hard to find the direct suitable paper to
support this thesis.
Another limitation concerns the source and amount of the samples. Because of the
limitation of resources, the author only found thirteen kinds of magazines available.
Four kinds of the magazines are mainly for females, while only three are for males. 344
advertisements were selected from the magazines, and the gap in the kind and amount
of female and male advertisements may affect the results of the study.
The third limitation has to do with the choice of the interviewees. Six people may
not be enough to reveal their knowledge of and attitude towards advertisements. In
addition, their age and positions are out of the author’s control, which also may affect
the validity of the study.
53
6.4 Recommendations for Future Research
With its various drawbacks, the present study can still shed some light on the
follow-up studies from both the theoretical aspect and experimental aspect.
Firstly, the author’s attempt could offer a reference to the follow-up studies on the
field of advertising and linguistics, because no researchers have done research about the
gender construction in advertising discourse from the perspective of pragmatics. The
follow-up studies could find more new angles and methodologies to analyzing
advertising discourse based on this study.
Secondly, it is an experimental qualitative study complemented with some
necessary quantitative computation. It gives some references on the analysis of
advertising discourse from the perspective of qualitative approach. For further studies,
researchers could do the similar research from different angles in different approach so
as to know the adverting discourse more comprehensively.
54
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Appendix
Interview Questions:
1. 请问您的年龄，从事职业及婚姻状况如何？
2. 请问您平时看杂志广告么？哪一类较多？
3. 您觉得杂志上什么类型的广告较多？
4. 您对广告中选男还是女主角演绎广告有什么想法？
5. 您觉得广告中的性别角色信息有何宣传效果？
6. 广告会对您的消费产生什么样的影响？
谢谢合作！
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