MARIYA DOLAPCHIEVA
Social advertising against
binge drinking in Australia
A multimodal approach for analysing how a social
campaign is trying to raise awareness to the issue
and motivate change in behaviour
Supervisor : Carmen Daniela Maier
5/1/2012
BA in Marketing and Management Communication, Aarhus school of business, 2012
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
Abstract
There is no doubt that modern Western society faces some challenges in its strive to improve health
issues and limit hazardous practices as smoking, drinking, illegal use of other drugs, overeating etc.
However, it is not a secret that these problems have been waiting for a solution for quite a long time
and they are still issued as topics requiring a great effort by both authorities on the one hand and
every single individual on the other. Having said that and acknowledging my personal interest in
social marketing campaigns, I have chosen to present and analyse an Australian anti binge drinking
campaign named ´What are you doing to yourself?´ and
issued by the New South Wales
Government. The focus of the analysis is on the realization of the communicative attempt whose
intention is to raise awareness of the negative consequences of binge drinking among young people.
Therefore, my problem statement consists of the following questions:
How is the New South Wales Government of Australia trying to raise awareness of the negative
consequences of binge drinking among young people in its `What are you doing to yourself? `
campaign? What visual and textual strategies have been applied in the campaign posters and guide
for communicating to and involving the Australian youth?
In order to conduct an in depth analysis the visual and textual strategies embedded in the campaign
are examined by applying an interdisciplinary theoretical framework, including social semiotics and
persuasion theories. Additionally, the social marketing health belief model has also been
implemented in attempt to provide a greater understanding of the marketing context in which the
campaign has been released.
The analysis is based on the hermeneutics method in a search for correct interpretation of the
campaign message and embraces a multimodal analysis, based on Halliday´s ideational,
interpersonal and textual metafunction. Initially, the analysis examines the six print ads of the
campaign, based on Kress and van Leeuwen´s notion of the same metafunctions. Afterwards, the
focus turns to the campaign´s guide and its text is interpreted and compared to the visual material in
a search for connection between textual and visual representation. Thereafter, attention is paid to the
persuasive strategies in the analysed material, examined according to Halmari and Virtanen, Gass
and Seiter and Stӧckl´s theoretical frameworks on persuasion. Finally, the results of the campaign
Page 1 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
analysis are interpreted according to the social marketing health belief model, which takes into
consideration some social issues as key factors for the success or failure of the campaign.
Summarizing the findings of the campaign it can be deducted that the focus of the message is on the
viewer itself, approached as `you` in both the visual and textual material and
represented
simultaneously as offer and active participant. This illustration of contrasting participants and roles,
of two contradicting worlds, finds place in both the visuals and the guide, constructing logical
connection between them. Moreover, the lack of exclamation mark at the end of the interrogative
sentences in the guide shows an attempt for covered imposing of the author´s power on the reader.
Visually this is executed by the lack of direct gaze at the viewer of the images. The campaign
evokes emotional feelings as pity, compassion and helplessness, striving to engage further with the
viewer. However, the fact that alcohol products are still widely advertised by the alcohol industry
can be considered as a big obstacle for the successful communication of the campaign.
Page 2 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
Table of content:
1. Introduction………………………………………….……………………………………………….5
1.1.
Purpose and problem statement…………………………………………………....5
1.1.1. Purpose……………………………………………………………………………………5
1.1.2. Problem statement……………………………………………………………….......6
1.2.
Delimitations………………………………………………………………………………...6
1.3.
Structure of the BA thesis………………………………………………………………7
2. Background information………………………………………………………………………...7
3. Theory…………………………………………………………………………………………………..9
3.1.
Traditional semiotics, social semiotics and multimodality………………9
3.2.
Persuasion in multimodal texts……………………………………………………14
3.3.
Social marketing theories…………………………………………………………….16
4. Method…………………………………………………………………………………………………17
4.1.
Strengths and weaknesses of theoretical framework…………………...18
5. Analysis……………………………………………………………………………………………….19
5.1.
Print ads……………………………………………………………………………………..19
5.1.1. Ideational metafunction………………………………………………………….19
5.1.2. Interpersonal metafunction…………………………………………………….20
5.1.3. Textual metafunction………………………………………………………………22
5.2.
Guide…………………………………………………………………………………………..22
5.2.1. Ideational metafunction…………………………………………………………..23
5.2.2. Interpersonal metafunction……………………………………………………..25
5.2.3. Textual metafunction………………………………………………………………26
5.3.
Persuasive strategies……………………………………………………………………27
5.4.
Marketing strategies…………………………………………………………………….28
Page 3 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
6. Conclusions……………………………………………………………………………………….30
7. References…………………………………………………………………………………………32
8. Appendix…………………………………………………………………………………………...34
Characters 53729
Page 4 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
1. Introduction
In the intensively developing world nowadays, authority instances and business companies often
strive to reach their target audience through deliberately structured communicative attempts. One
widely applied way of such communication is a campaign. Considered mainly as a tool for
successive marketing communication in the business world, a campaign is also used as an approach
for dealing with social issues and problems aiming to change or reinforce target group behaviour
(Kotler & Lee, 2008). Such a campaign is executed and analysed in the context of social marketing
because of the aspects it focuses on, namely to achieve change in behaviour and social practices.
Moreover, taking into account the fact that convincing people to change their already existing
behaviour with a new one hardly relies on a well-executed persuasive communicative effort, a
turning point for the success of the campaign becomes its message. For that reason, this paper turns
focus to the way in which one Australian social campaign against binge drinking has constructed
and executed its message, with focus on textual, visual, persuasive and marketing strategies applied
in it. The social campaign was named `What are you doing to yourself?` and was launched by the
State Government of the most populated area in Australia.
1.1
Purpose and problem statement
1.1.1. Purpose
Taking into consideration certain characteristics of the Australian young population, the
Government needed to adapt its highly informational and educational message into gripping, easy to
understand and apply appeal. As a result, an official anti-binge drinking campaign named `What are
you doing to yourself?´ including six print ads, interactional web site and a guide was launched in
the state of New South Wales, the most populous state in the country, encompassing the whole of
the Australian capital territory. Responsible for the initiative was the State Government itself
(abbreviated as NSW Government). Main goal of the campaign was to raise awareness about the
negative consequences of binge-drinking and the problems young people were facing while and
after excessive drinking. Hence, the purpose was to make the Australian youth take action. How
exactly the NSW Government tried to address and communicate to the Australian youngsters by
Page 5 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
visual print ads and textual messages is going to be explored in the main body of the paper. In an
attempt to examine to what extent the promoted images and textual representations were
communicating this issue, the focus of this thesis pays considerable attention to different aspects in
the multimodal representation, discussing what visual and textual strategies have been applied and
how they have been adapted to the target group.
1.1.2 Problem statement
How is the New South Wales Government of Australia trying to raise awareness of the
negative consequences of binge drinking among young people in its `What are you doing to
yourself? ` campaign? What visual and textual strategies have been applied in the campaign
posters and guide for communicating to and involving the Australian youth?
In order to answer these questions I employ an interdisciplinary theoretical framework including
traditional and social semiotics theory, multimodality, discourses, social marketing and persuasion
theories.
1.2. Delimitations
The paper focuses on the six print ads of the campaign and the guide. However, the interactive web
site that was also part of the campaign is not included in this analysis. Characterised as highly
interactive, it needs to be distinguished from the rather traditional printed ads and guide, which
impose one-direction communication from sender to receiver and do not allow such interplay
between authorities and young people. Moreover, with its focus on the specific campaign, the thesis
does not include similar anti- drinking campaigns which have been released in Australia prior and
after this specific one that are only mentioned as background information for the scope of the
research. My choices have been motivated by the fact that I intend to perform a detailed analysis of
both text and images.
Page 6 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
1.3
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
Structure of the BA Thesis
The thesis is divided into six main chapters. It starts with an Introduction, which presents the
purpose, the problem statement and the delimitations of the chosen in the thesis method.
Background information for the campaign and the context in which it was released are main topic of
chapter two. The paper continues with chapter three, Theory, accounting for the main theoretical
framework of social semiotics, persuasion and social marketing and explains in details theories and
a model lately applied in the analytical part. Method, chapter four, presents in more structured way
the method in which the campaign is analysed, embracing the described in chapter three theories
from different fields. Furthermore, it inspects the strengths and weaknesses of the preferred
theoretical framework. Chapter five is named Analysis and includes an in depth analysis of the
campaign where the ideational, interpersonal and textual metafunctions are applied for analysing
the campaign material. In the last chapter, Conclusions, the paper strives to summarize the findings
of the analysis and make conclusions about the effectiveness of the campaign.
2. Background information
Looking at statistical information from previous years, Australia needed to admit threating changes
in binge drinking practices:
1) the population was starting to drink at an earlier age with 90 percent stating that they have tried
their first drink at the age of 14 (NHMRC,2007, p.33).
2)
Teenagers and young people aged 20-29 were more likely to consume alcohol at levels
associated with short-term harm and long-term risk (AIHW, 2008, p.23).
Page 7 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
3)
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
NSW´s minister for Health stated that “According to NSW Health, the biggest increase in
alcohol-related Emergency Department admissions since 2000, is among 18-24 year-olds – up to
130 per cent – while female admissions within that group rose an alarming 200 per cent”1.
The Australian Government replayed to these social tendencies with its official position to address
the high levels of binge drinking among young people by a national binge drinking campaign
`Don´t turn a night out into a nightmare`, launched on 21 November, 2008 and ran until 30 June
20102. Moreover, the Government defined binge drinking as a community large problem and
encouraged state communities to join the process: `Binge drinking among young people is a
community wide problem that demands a community wide response, including an emphasis on
young people taking greater personal responsibility for their behaviour` (Ibid.). In this context and
while the national campaign ` Don´t turn a night out into a nightmare `was still running, the NSW
State Government decided to join the process as well.
The official campaign ´What are you doing to yourself?´ was launched in early January 2010. It
included six print ads, a guide named `Your guide to dealing with alcohol´ and an interactive site for
youngsters. The guide and the ads were distributed in different areas of Sidney- the Rocks, Kings
Cross and Surry Hills, all of them rich with clubs, cafes and restaurants. Considered some of the
most visited parts of Sidney these areas were also associated with high levels of alcohol related nondomestic violence3.
The campaign was targeting at young people between 16 and 29 years old, aiming to reach the
audience during alcohol consumption. It was advertised through posters on concourses at selected
train stations and bus shelters, free on the street, through sponsorship of the Surry Hills festival,
community press advertising and washroom/in-venue advertising. `What are you doing to yourself `
ran from early January to the end of April, 2010 in a period including some of the biggest social
events for young people – return to university after summer break, music festivals, summer festival
and parties, including the gay and lesbian festival the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (Ibid.).
The homosexual discourse can be found in one of the campaign ads, addressing alcohol related
harm on guy relationships.
1
http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/news/2009/20090119_00.html
http://www.drinkingnightmare.gov.au/internet/drinkingnightmare/publishing.nsf/Content/about-the-campaign
3
http://advertising.nsw.gov.au/campaigns/what-are-you-doing-yourself
2
Page 8 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
Some of the main points in the campaign were to increase awareness to road accidents, alcohol
related violence, unsafe sex and personal consequences. According to NSW (Ibid.) `What are you
doing to yourself`?` was executed with the idea of communicating intoxication and other serious
binge drinking outcomes as personal experiencing for the consumer of alcohol rather than negative
outcomes for others- friends, boy/girlfriend etc. How exactly this appeal was implemented in the
campaign ads and supplementing guide through visual and textual representations is examined in
details in the analysis part of the paper, right after the description of the theoretical framework.
3. Theory
The theoretical part of the research accounts for different theories in the field of semiotics and
persuasion and one social marketing model discussed and applied in attempt to provide basic
understanding of their scientific framework nowadays. Furthermore, the purpose of this part is to
provide critical understanding of the theories that have influenced social semiotics to develop from
a rooted in the frame of linguistic discipline into a separate complex multimodal approach.
Acknowledging the strong impact of persuasive techniques embedded in texts and visuals requires
some persuasive theories to be analysed as well. Moreover, one social marketing model provides a
tool for better understanding of the campaign.
3.1. Traditional semiotics, social semiotics and multimodality
The notion of what nowadays have been referred to as semiotics derived from Ferdinand de
Saussure´s (1857-19139) ideas of `semiology` and initially described one branch of linguistics.
Saussure´s ideas were strongly influenced by its philosophical understanding of the world, known in
the literature as `structuralism`, which also formed his interpretation of the overall organization of
sign systems in a search for `deep structures` of phenomena (Chandler, 2012, p.7). With his broad
knowledge in the field of linguistics, he turned focus on linguistic signs, explaining that oral and
Page 9 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
written texts were based on individual choices rather than social context of the communication
process (Fairclough, 1989, p.20).
In the late 1960s and the following two decades the interest to semiotics increased. Roland Barthes
(1915-1980), influenced at that time of the cultural approach and studies, developed further
Saussure´s ideas of a sign. He agreed on Saussure´s definition of signifier, but depicted the relation
between signifier and signified as much more complex structure, in which meaning of signified was
not embedded in the sign itself, but rather evoked as an idea for the interpreter. Therefore, a sign
was not necessarily having the same meaning for everyone, but was offering different
interpretations depending on the viewer. Moreover, Barthes elaborated on a broader than Saussure´s
definition of semiotics (still referred as semiology in Saussure and Barthes´ works) declaring that
`semiology aims to take in any system of signs, whatever their substance and limits; images,
gestures, musical signs, objects, and the complex associations of all of these, which form the
content of ritual, convention or public entertainment […]´ (Chandler, 2012, p.8).
Another branch of semiotics, namely social semiotics, is represented by the work of Halliday. He
constructed a theory for analysing texts with focus on the need for look into the context in which a
text was produced. The notion of context included both social and cultural element, where the
combination of these two had an impact on the words and structures chosen by the author. What he
considered a crucial factor in the analysis or interpretation of written messages was that a text was
represented by choices ` selected from the total set of options that constitute what can be meant`
(Stillar, 1998, p.15), hence considering a direct relation between situation and choose of linguistic
strategies. While context of culture was analysed in details by Halliday and referred to in his work
as a genre, the context of situation, embracing the techniques used by the creator of the text, was
analysed according to three register variables- tenor, field and mode. Furthermore, Halliday´s
register variables were referred to and realized through specific language metafunctions- the
ideational, the interpersonal and the textual one. These three metafunctions are applied as basic tool
in the analysis and therefore require a more profound explanation.
The ideational function concerns those language resources which construct the main topic of a
text, described by Halliday as `types of processes, events and actions, classes of objects, people and
institution, and the like` (Stillar, 1998, p.22). The ideational function is constructed by four sub
Page 10 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
functions accounting for: 1) Process types and participant roles; 2) Circumstantial roles; 3)
Time frame and perspective and 4) Concept taxonomies.
Process type and participant roles is expressed through action, mental and relational processes,
`accompanied by different classes of participants`(Stillar, 1998, p.22) involved in the events.
Action processes `contain a central participant- ´the agent´- who performs the action´ (Stillar,
1998, p.23) to a goal, or another participant in the position of acted upon. Depending on the act and
the goal this process can be performed as `affective, motion, transfer, resultative, or designative`
(Ibid.). The mental processes have two participants- a processor, the active doer of the mental act,
and a phenomenon, the object of the act. The mental event is realized through five subclasses of
verbs- perceptive, reactive, cognitive, verbal and creative, while the relational processes are
demonstrated by identificational, attributional, classificational, possession, location, existential or
ambient linking verbs (Ibid.).
The processes of circumstantial roles structure perspective on events and relations pointing to
`time, place, manner, and so on` (Stillar, 1998, p.26). Time and perspective account for the linking
of circumstantial elements to grammatical tense with a purpose to construct a time frame of `beforenow, now, or after-now` (Stillar, 1998, p.27), defining the process as ongoing or completed.
Concept taxonomies process `concerns the clustering and arrangement of lexical items´(Stillar,
1998, p.27) and contributes to the text´s cohesion and ideational content referring to repetition,
synonymy, meronymy etc.
The interpersonal resources, according to Halliday, refer to `our participation, as speakers, in the
speech situation; the role we take on ourselves and impose on others` (Stillar, 1998, p.32). With
focus on the role of interaction, interpersonal resources can be positional (used to construct
speaker´s orientation to reality) and relational (accounting for relations between writer and reader),
where speech function, modality of text, attitudinal lexis and sentence adjuncts provide deeper
understanding of these interpersonal relations (Stillar, 1998, p.33). The speech function refers to
the dialogue role assigned to the participants, identified by `four categories of speech function:
statement, question, command, and exclamation` (Stilar, 1998, p.34). Modality depicts `writer´s
attitude toward the ideational content […] of the text` (Stillar, 1998, p.35) and accounts for
Page 11 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
possibility, permission, obligation etc. expressed by modal verbs and modal adverbials. Attitudinal
lexis points to writer´s attitude expressed in the text by adjectives and adverbs (Ibid.).
`The resources of the textual function are used to structure the flow of information, link different
parts of the text with one another, and relate the text with its context` (Stillar, 1998, p.45).
Moreover, the notion of theme and cohesion has central point in the textual metafunction,
according to which a text is analysed for its thematic progression through unmarked, marked and
multiple themes. The theme describes `what the sentence is concerned with` (Stillar, 1998, p.46) in
terms of ordering and position of its elements. A theme becomes marked when `other sentence
elements can occur in first position´ (Stillar, 1998, p.47).
Halliday´s three metafunctions were initially meant to be only applied to text in its oral and written
form, but later the notion of this model for analysis was further extended to other modes than
language (Kress, 2001, Stӧckl, 2004, Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006). In their book `Reading
images. The grammar of visual design` (2006) Kress and van Leeuwen bring into play Halliday´s
metafunctions in a search for meaning in visuals.
In the visual analysis of the ideational metafunction, however, the two authors prefer to apply the
term `participants` for those included in the act of participating `in something` (Kress & van
Leeuwen, 2006, p. 47). Furthermore, they define the ideational metafunction as `an array of
choices, of different ways in which objects, and their relations to other objects and to processes,
can be represented` (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006, p.42). The ideational metafunction is divided
into two processes- narrative and conceptual one. The narrative process represents actions and
events, in which participants `are connected by a vector, they are represented as doing something to
or for each other` (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006, p.59). The action in the narrative process is
distinguished on a basis of this vector, e.g a line or an arm. A transactional action is defined when
the vector connects two participants (unitransactional process) or two interactors (bitransactional
action process); interactors are the participants, playing the actor and goal function at the same
time (Kress & van Leeuwen ,2006). If the vector, formed by the Actor does not point at any other
participant, then the action process is non- transactional. A reaction is constructed by an eyeline
vector, which can connect two participants accounting for a transactional process or emanates from
a participant without pointing at another one, creating a non- transactional reaction process
(Kress & Leeuwen, 2006).
Page 12 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
The conceptual process of the ideational metafunction constructs `participants in term of their
class, structure or meaning` (Kress & Leeuwen , 2006, p.59). A conceptual process is not identified
in the analysed material and will not be discussed further.
Another type of relations, namely those between participants and the viewer are analysed by the
interpersonal function (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006) and expressed through the gaze. A direct
gaze counts for a demand picture as the participant establishes eye vector contact with the viewer
in a demand for something; on the other side, absence of a gaze at the viewer refers to lack of
contact between them and constructs an offer picture (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006).
Social distance in a picture is `a second dimension to the interactive meanings of images, related to
the `size of frame`, to the choice between close-up , medium shot and long shot` (Kress & van
Leeuwen, 2006, p.124). The third dimension of the interpersonal function, the attitude, refers to the
participant- viewer relation through subjectivity or objectivity. As far as only the subjective
attitude is relevant for this paper, it will be the one explained. Subjectivity, which presumes that the
point of view has been imposed and selected to the viewer, comprises a horizontal and vertical
angle. While the horizontal angle refers to a `relation between the frontal plane of the imageproducer and the frontal plane of the represented participants´ (Kress & van Leeuwen , 2006,
p.134), the vertical one shows the represented participants `from the point of view of power` (Kress
& van Leuwen, 2006, p.140).
Modality markers, which also constitute the interpersonal function, are range of signs used to
express `meanings of truth and falsehood, fact and fiction, certainty and doubt, credibility and
unreliability` (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006, p.154), expressed by colour saturation, colour
differentiation, colour modulation, depth and brightness (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006, p. 160-163).
The last metafunction presented by Kress and van Leeuwen is the textual one, which examines the
composition of an image and accounts for information value, salience and framing (Kress and van
Leeuwen, 2006, p.177). Information value characterizes a picture as centred or polarized,
depending on if there is an element in the centre or not. Moreover, the information value illustrates
different ´zones of the image: left and right, top and bottom, centre and margin` (Kress & van
Leeuwen, 2006, p.177) and attaches a meaning to the composition of the elements depicting them as
given, new, ideal and real (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006, p.179- 193). Elements, situated on the left
Page 13 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
side in an image are described as given, `something the viewer already knows` (Kress and van
Leeuwen, 2006, p.181), those on the right side are perceived as new, `something which is not yet
known, or perhaps not yet agreed upon by the viewer, hence as something to which the viewer must
pay special attention` (Kress & van leeuwen, 2006, p.181); those at the top are conceived as ideal,
while those in the lower section provide factual information. `The upper section tends to make some
kind of emotive appeal and to show us `what might be`; the lower section tends to be more
informative and practical, showing us `what is` (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006, p.186). In addition,
the degree to which an element attracts the viewer´s attention to itself through its size, colour,
sharpness etc., accounts for salience of this same element (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006, p.177),
whereas framing is used to connect or disconnect elements.
In their analysis of visually expressed meanings, Kress and van Leeuwen (1998) focus on the
interplay between visual and textual and claim that certain choices of representation influence the
meaning of the image. These choices they describe as modes and argue that every text, oral or
written, is realized through semiotic modes. For instance, in an image its view angle, composition,
perspective, colours etc. will be described as modes for visual representation.
However, the semiotic modes can interrelate in different ways, where in some cases the textual and
visual may ´complement and extend each other, or even clash and contradict´ (Kress and van
Leeuwen, 1998, p. 187). It is therefore important to analyse how in the printed ads the text relates to
the visuals and how these visuals further link to the guide. Before proceeding to this part, however,
another important strategy implemented in the campaign material needs to be considered- the
persuasive strategies implemented in the message.
3.2. Persuasion in multimodal texts
In this chapter, the focus turns on the persuasiveness of a message as another powerful tool
embedded in the communicative process and applied with the scope of directing the viewer/reader
to reach certain idea and opinion on the topic in question. Therefore, in attempt to examine some of
the theories in the field of persuasion, two groups of authors are discussed and their definitions of
Page 14 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
the term are provided. Furthermore, Stӧckl´s (1997) distinguishing of seven persuasive functions in
a text is included as important for the analysis, because it provides a more detailed way to evaluate
and discuss a text.
The work of Virtanen and Halmari (2004) and Gass & Seiter´s book ´Persuasion, social influence
and compliance gaining´ (2007) are applied as theoretical basis for investigating the interactive
process of persuasion with focus on its linguistic and visual manifestation.
According to Virtanen and Halmari (2004, p.3) persuasion is `all linguistic behaviour that attempts
to either change the thinking or behaviour of an audience, or to strengthen its beliefs, should the
audience already agree`. This definition is close to the one given by Gass and Seiter (2007, p. 33 )
who approach persuasion as an active process, involving `one or more persons who are engaged in
the activity of creating, reinforcing, modifying, or extinguishing beliefs, attitudes, intentions,
motivations and/or behaviours within the constraints of a given communication context`. For them
persuasion can involve attempts to extinguish or eliminate beliefs and attitudes creating new or
reinforcing old ones.
The persuader, with the intention to cause an effect, can prefer to enforce its message through two
different persuasive strategies- implicit or explicit one (Virtanen & Halmari, 2004, Gass & Seiter,
2007). The difference between these two is seen in the fact that while explicit persuasion is easy to
be detected by the receiver of the message, the implicit persuasion is `less transparent` (Virtanen
and Halmari, 2004, p.21). Even though Virtanen and Halmari (2004) admit that the preferred
linguistic choices vary according to the genre, they conclude that `the best kind of persuasion is
often implicit persuasion` (Virtanen & Halmari, 2004, p.229).
In contrast,
Gass and Seiter (2007, p.188) relying on different studies both for and against
explicitness of messages, conclude that `when trying to decide whether to draw conclusions for an
audience (explicit persuasion- auth.) it is most important to know what type of person is in the
audience´. Hence, they find both persuasive techniques applicable, emphasizing two factors- how
important and personally relevant the message is and the receiver´s previous knowledge about the
topic.
The same authors also point to the emotional nature of a message as an external inducement aiming
to provoke different emotions and to increase the individual´s drive to undertake an action. They
refer to it as motivational appeals (Gass & Seiter, 2007, p.271) e.g fear appeal, guilt appeal and
pity appeal are few of the persuasive choices that can be found in a text. By contrast, Stӧckl (1997,
Page 15 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
in Garzone, Poncini & Catenaccio, 2007, p.36) concentrates on seven persuasive functions that
can be identified in a text- attention, comprehend, yield, memorise, imagine, distract and
please, of which only attention and comprehend are referred to as important for the analysis.
Attention points to the attractiveness of a message as perceived by the reader, whereas the
comprehend function relates to the level of easiness of the communicative attempt to be understood.
The understanding of implicit and explicit persuasion, motivational appeals and the seven
persuasive functions described above are all examined later in the analysis with the purpose to
distinguish the persuasive choices implemented in the visual and textual communicative practise of
the campaign.
3.3. Social marketing theories
Since every campaign is considered a result of specific marketing strategy, the analysis of the
chosen social campaign needs to provide an understanding of the issue from a social marketing
point of view. However, as far as the focus in the thesis is on the visual and textual representation,
the chosen marketing model is considered rather as an additional tool, which provides a deeper
understanding of the material analysed in a wider marketing context.
In a contrast to commercial marketing, social marketing focuses on behaviour and its purpose is to
achieve particular social or public good (Kotler & Lee, 2008). Hence, the purpose is to
communicate a message, which will result in change in unhealthy behaviour practices.
The Health belief model chosen for the purpose of the analysis is described in Donovan and
Henley´s book on social marketing (2003). It is adapted from Sheeran and Abraham (1996) and is
considered the first behavioural model in health education which focuses on factors, ´presumed to
influence behaviour change in response to a potential health treat´ (Donovan & Henley, 2003,
p.92). Those factors include demographic and psychological characteristics of target audience,
but also pay considerable attention to: 1) the individual´s perceived susceptibility to the disease; 2)
perceived severity of the disease; 3) perception that the recommended behaviour will
successfully prevent the threat; 4) costs and barriers for adopting the recommended behaviour
and 5) internal and external cues for action (Donovan & Henley, 2003, p.92)
Page 16 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
Donovan and Henley´s Health belief model (2003)
In other words, the model argues that individuals will be willing to change unhealthy behaviour if
they perceive themselves as susceptible to the problem, realize its seriousness, account for
affordability and effectiveness of benefits and there is an event, which prompts people into action
(Donovan & Henley, 2003). This model is chosen to demonstrate how the specific issue of binge
drinking has been addressed to young people, accounting for the above mentioned factors and
demonstrating possible advantages and drawbacks of the campaign.
4. Method
The method used as basic point in the research of the campaign is the hermeneutics approach of
looking at the world as a construct of meaning. To better understand the milestone of the
hermeneutics methodology, it becomes necessary to refer to one of the co- founders of modern
hermeneutics-
Schleiermacher, whose main concern is how to gain insight into the understanding
of other people´s expression in search for the real meaning of a text (Sheratt, 2005). Hence,
Page 17 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
according to the hermeneutical idea, in attempt to understand the meaning, an individual needs to
interpret how the author has constructed it. Therefore, the communicative intentions of NSW
Government can be only revealed through interpretation of the social context in which the campaign
was released and in depth analysis of the campaign itself. For that purpose, the campaign has been
analysed by theories from the field of social semiotics, persuasion and social marketing in a search
for deeper understanding of the topic in question.
First and foremost, the campaign images are analysed upon Kress and van Leeuwen´s three
metafunctions- ideational, interpersonal and textual. In order to do this, the six images are
emphasized and discussed in their entity as one visual communicative attempt, where some
similarities and differences between them are taken into consideration as well. This is made in an
attempt to discover if they all try to convey the same message according to the aim of the campaign
and to turn focus on specific for each of them representations.
Secondly, Halliday´s model of examining texts with focus on the same metafunctions is applied to
the textual content of the guide. Thereafter, the analysis continues with few persuasive theories by
Halmari and Virtanen, Gas and Seiter and Stӧckl. The persuasive strategies are applied for both the
print ads and the guide and they actually reflects on the findings from the visual and textual
analysis, supplementing them with persuasive elements of communication as implicit and explicit
persuasion, emotional appeals and Stӧckl´s seven persuasive functions. The social marketing´s
health belief model is examined at the end of the analytical part and tries to embrace the findings
of the analysis with some social factors, influencing the communication between the sender and the
receiver of the campaign.
4.1. Strengths and weaknesses of theoretical framework
The modern understanding of social semiotics with its focus on multimodal representation is chosen
as main theoretical framework for the analysis as it provides theory specifically related to analysing
and interpreting complex communicative attempts. It should be recognized, however, that every
interpretation of a message, either visual or textual, is a subjective process, even when it strives to
Page 18 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
decode precisely the sender´s intentions. Moreover, Kress and van Leeuwen do not employ a
concept framework for analysing persuasion, which explains why persuasion theories have been
examined and applied supplementary.
5. Analysis
The analytical part of this paper examines first the visual part of the campaign-the print ads
discussed according to the ideational, interpersonal and textual metafunction. Furthermore, it
continues with discussion of the textual part- the Guide accompanying the six images. At the end of
this chapter few persuasive theories and one marketing model are employed with the aim to further
integrate and complement the visual and textual analysis.
5.1. Print ads
Since this part of the analysis considers the six images of the campaign, the visual material is named
according to the main storyline in the ads and in the same order as they can be found on the official
campaign page. The first picture, showing a girl undressing herself is called Bed; the second one,
representing a girl -boy couple is described as Boyfriend; the third picture with a driving woman is
named Driving, while the next one highlights a Gay couple. Image number five refers to a violent
accident and it is therefore named Violence, whereas the last picture, introducing a boy talking to a
security guard is referred to as the Bouncer ad.
5.1.1 Ideational metafunction
An interesting strategy of introducing the main participants has been applied in the majority of the
printed ads- one person has been constructed simultaneously in the role of an actor and goal of the
unitransactional process. The similarities in hair, clothes, sex and size induce this idea of
double/mirror image. Furthermore, the unitransactional narrative process illustrates the
inebriated actor as the one responsible for the on-going processes depicted in the image, the one in
Page 19 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
control of the events. This is very clearly illustrated in Bed, where the sober girl (the goal) is put in
a position of offer to the drunken girl (actor) and looks at her terrified.
However, in Boyfriend, Gay couple, Violence and Bouncer a third participant also plays the role of
a goal. In Boyfriend a goal becomes the girl sitting on the bar, in Gay couple it is the boy, who is
hugged and touched, in Violence it is the beaten young man and in Bouncer that role is given to the
guard. Hence, the acts of the drunken individual are visualized as bearing consequences not only to
him/herself, but also to others.
The sober version of the main participant is always illustrated by a transactional reaction process
and therefore emphasized as a reacter looking at a phenomenon (the intoxicated participant).
Hence, the eye line vector connecting the sober participant to the drunken one constructs the idea
of reaction to the above described transactional act of the doer. Only in Driving, a transactional
reaction does not take place, but there is a reacter in a non-transactional narrative process. This is
done because the sober participant is unable to keep her eyes open and see what is going on, being
forced to drive blinded. Similar idea of helplessness is very clearly illustrated in Bed, where the
sober girl (the goal and reacter) is seen as an offer of the drunken one (actor and phenomenon)
and looks at her terrified and helpless. The effect is further emphasized by another reacter (the man
in the background) looking at the sober girl, who now also takes the role of a phenomenon.
In Bed and Bouncer additional reaction transactional processes illustrate how the inebriated
person is seen by others around (Bouncer) and approached to (Bed), where in both cases the
transactional participants, the viewers of the episode- the four witnesses in Bouncer and the man
in Bed are used to dramatize the perceived helplessness of the sober youngster.
Moreover, in the narrative structure of the ideational metafunction inspecting secondary
participants presumes additional circumstantial information. In Boyfriend and Gay couple the
locative circumstances illustrate a traditional atmosphere in a bar and disco, together with the other
circumstances of tools e.g. bartender and a bar full with bottles, or dancing people, enjoying the
disco lights. These secondary participants construct a typical drinking friendly context, where
young people practise excessive drinking.
5.1.2 Interpersonal metafunction
Page 20 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
The interpersonal function, which turns focus on interactions between represented participants and
the viewer, demonstrates the importance of different choices in achieving the desired
communicative message. The absence of direct gaze of the participants towards the viewer designs
a cluster of offer pictures, in which participants remain not aware of the viewer. This way of
representation illustrates them as objects, which are looked at and therefore addressing the viewer
indirectly. This fact has a great importance if we consider that the message of the campaign would
probably be unacceptable to many young people who hardly listen to advices from others, including
authorities. The distance with the viewer is further emphasized by the long shot of the pictures.
Furthermore, the images are represented subjectively, and the majority of them apply a high
angled viewer point- this is the case in Bed, Driving, Gay couple and Bouncer. The preferred way
of representation emphasizes how small and insignificant participants are. The power to act is given
to the viewer who is faced with the embarrassing situations in which drunken people often find
themselves. However, the opposite perspective in which the viewer takes the low angle of
representation also finds place in Boyfriend and Violence. In these two images depicting the
subjects as imposing and powerful, there is a clear contradiction with the idea of helplessness and
pity illustrated in the other ones. Still, it can be argued that Boyfriend and Violence, both including
important for the drunken person participants, are presented by a low angle in attempt to challenge
the viewer´s perception of the participants´ awesomeness.
Turning focus to some other visual modality markers, few of them can be touched upon as having
impact on the way the pictures are constructed. First of all, the images are presented through
moderately saturated colours producing high modality image representation. Apart from Driving,
all the images are constructed with relatively detailed background and deep perspective
composition. The background of the visuals differentiates many elements and details, but at the
same time it is communicated with different nuances of the dark colour spectrum, especially
applying bluish and fuzzy black colours, leading the viewer to the idea that these scenes happen at
night time. The colour saturation, differentiation, modulation and brightness in the ads
categorise high modality markers creating a realistic image of the event. Meanwhile, one element
attracts viewer´s attention with its garish red colours- the name of the campaign situated on the top
of the pictures further examined in the textual metafunction.
Page 21 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
5.1.3 Textual metafunction
The textual metafunction turns focus on the composition of an image, which is triptych in all ads,
with elements placed either to left or right and above or below the centre of the composition. The
young girls and boys, main participants in the images, are always situated bellow the centre of the
composition, representing the real, factual statement of the things in accordance to Kress and van
Leeuwen´s ideas. By contrast, on the top left or right zone (in five of the six images it is the top
right side) there is to be found the main message of the visual, colourfully executed and formed as
a label of an alcoholic drink. This new element `screams` for the viewer´s attention as something
problematic that needs to be paid attention to. With its inserted text, the label also tries to make an
emotive appeal to the choices young people do, revealing an idea of possible future.
As print advertising almost always relies on language- image combination and inter- modal links,
the focus in these visuals is turned into the viewer´s perception and one question searching for an
answer- `Binge drinking. What are you doing to yourself?. Visually separated from the other
elements in the picture through a frameline, vivid colours, shape and big, capital letters, the label
differentiates as framed through a disconnection to the rest of the elements. With a message written
on an alcohol label resembling element the communicated text is expected to attract young people´s
attention, but on the other side this very same resemblance to a beer label and position on the top of
the image may insert undesirable association to the real alcohol drink. To summarise this point it
can be said that the label element guides the viewer to the topic of the campaign, namely alcohol
consumption, but can also be interpreted differently by viewers.
Another fact that attracts attention in the images is the degree to which the main figures, the two
versions of the main participant, are the most eye-catching element in the pictures. The most salient
element is either the drunken or the sober person, who is placed in the foreground as the largest
element in focus. Greatest amount of light covers the main participants in sharp contrast to the dark
night surroundings, emphasizing their importance in the composition.
5.2.
The guide
Page 22 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
In social campaigns, including the one analysed, the message to the viewer may be too long or
complex to be communicated only through visual representations whose first goal is to attract the
attention of the receiver. In such cases the images are considered rather as an advertisement and key
to the real source of the message. Having already analysed the images of the campaign, the focus
now turns into the guide and the text included in it as a co-occurring multimodal element.
`Your guide to dealing with alcohol` was available in two versions- printed one and on-line version
and was aimed to touch upon the same problem of binge drinking, but released through textual
modes of representation. Its genre can be easily defined as it is already stated in the headline- this
book is a guide for something- `Your guide to dealing with alcohol`. There is a sender – NSW
Government, whose aim is to decrease binge drinking among young Australians and provide them
with useful information on how to act if already intoxicated. The receiver of the online guide´s
message was those who had seen the print ads and had searched for additional information on the
topic, people interested in health issues and NSW Government health rubrics, and parents of
youngsters who drink. Meanwhile, the printed version was deliberately aimed to address teens,
students and probably working individuals, all in the group age 16-29 years old. The guide in its
printed version was distributed through the commune and institutions collaborating with the official
authorities in and around Sidney.
5.2.1 Ideational metafunction
Paying attention to the verbs in the text it becomes clear that few of those related to alcohol
practices are repeated again and again in different parts of the guide. For instance `drink` is one of
the most often used words through the whole body of the text, clearly emphasising its main topic the act of drinking and related to this activity situations. The action process types function in the
guide also demonstrates narrative parts of the text with a doer- referred to with the personal
pronominal `YOU` (you, the reader of this guide) and `your` actions. Furthermore, this form of
addressing not only empowers the reader to feel his/her importance as an active participant, but also
Page 23 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
invites the receiver to a more confident dialogue, almost perceived as `face-to-face` communication
between sender and receiver.
However, some effective action processes, e.g. the subheading on p.2 ´one or two drinks can make
you feel relaxed and confident` or the text box on p.4 `when you drink you: lose ability to handle
complex problems…` and the sentence in red on page 6 `Mixing alcohol with other depressant
drugs (e.g. cannabis, methadone, heroin or minor tranquillisers) can cause your body´s reactions to
slow down and increase the likelihood of coma or death` reveals another hidden powerful agent in
the message- the alcohol. The reader is seen as the active participant, but simultaneously another
agent strives to take the control of the situation, fighting against the power of the actor. This
interplay of actors in the text aims to encourage the receiver to actively participate in the decision
making process and regain control over the situation.
In the narrative structure of the guide, some circumstantial adverbials for place and time depict
the typical drinking activity; `in pubs or clubs`(p.2), `in a public place`(p.3), `on Saturday night`
(p.4). These circumstantial adverbials portrait a certain background, presumed as risky for young
Australians and their drinking habits. Furthermore, with its idea to guide the reader to undertake
certain behaviour, the text is based upon narrative informative sentences and many clearly
communicated short instructions. Therefore, it is not surprising that the main frame of the guide is
the present and future time. Few short sentences illustrate the usage of past tenses and they can be
found in the quotes of these youngsters, having decided to share their drinking experience with the
reader (p.2, p.4 and p.7). The perspective of the message is ongoing, still active and therefore more
engaging for the reader, who is invited to participate in the story. This can also be found on the third
page where the text is divided in columns regarding what to do before, during and after drinking
and still, the language is imperative and executed by present tense in all text boxes. These clear,
short instructions predispose an overt taxonomy type of approaching the reader and an attempt to
keep attention and directly approach the topic.
Meanwhile, the embedded in the guide language
relations reveal that the reader takes the role of `you, as part of many young people`. This also
accounts for the meronymy taxonomies in the text, illustrating the reader as a submember of all
young people in the society `Many young people choose not to drink. They know you don´t have to
drink to have a good night out, …(p.2), and moreover as part of the reader´s friend group
belonging- `… and put yourself or your mates in danger` (p.6). This responsibility, engagement and
Page 24 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
care to friends is further emphasised on p. 7 `By being there for your mates you can help make the
night a good one for everyone`. The purpose of this approach is not only to take into consideration
the fact that young people are very dependent on their friends, but also to focus on their individual
contribution to the wellbeing of the group.
5.2.2 Interpersonal metafunction
As it was already stated above, the guide basically relies on a variety of imperative and declarative
sentences, whereas interrogative structures are used as headings and subheadings, searching for
answer in the text bellow them. Therefore, the interrogative sentences often emphasized by
differentiation, including different colours, typography style and capitalized letters attract the
attention of the reader.
Moreover, the sentence structures assign specific speech roles to the sender and receiver of the
communicative message. While the writer is the one asking questions and providing answers, or
even directly guiding the reader by giving commands and instructions, the reader is presumed the
role of a listener and executer of the guidelines. Nevertheless, it is interesting to point out how the
imperative sentences in the guide do not follow the grammatical rule for exclamation mark but only
end with a full stop (p.3- all the instructions in the text boxes, p.7- `Never force yourself onto
anyone.` etc.). The NSW´s authority, expressed through overt taxonomies and persuasive
imperative sentences is combined with the less demanding impact of full stops as ending points of
the imperatives. The language preferences sketched by words typical for young people- e.g.
`maggotted`(p.2), `shitfaced`(p.4), and the exclamation `shit` on p.6. also assume that NSW is
aware of young Australians dictionary and is trying to approach them in their preferred, street
language way of communication.
The sender´s orientation to reality is assumed based on the modality markers in the text. Modal
verbs as `can`, `could`, ` will` and ´ may` can be found through the whole text of the guide (from p.
2 to p. 8) where they assign an obligation masked by advisable way of acting for the youngsters. At
the same time, the strongest imperative modal verb ´must´ is not applied, providing a relative sense
of respect to the reader and covering the power of the author as indirectly imposed. Modal
Page 25 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
adverbials are not implied in the text, presumably because their absence provides a stronger
emphasis on the relation between the action of drinking and its unavailable consequences.
The attitudinal lexis of the text also shows the way in which the author approaches the reader´s
behaviour when being intoxicated. Qualitative adjectives as `better` in `much better time` (p.2) or
´good` in `a good night out` (p.2) are related to the choice of rejecting drinking practices as they
apply to a sober or alcohol controlled
attitude of the youngster. Similarly, other negatively
associated qualitative adverbials show how the world of the reader will look like if he/she decides
to drink excessively- `slumped on the floor` , `miserable`, `boring` (all in p.2), `shitfaced`(p.4), etc.
The text creates two words for the reader to choose from, opposing the first word of a
`miserable`(p.2) and `boring`(p.2) person to the controlled universe of the sober person. Moreover,
in attempt to influence the reader, the author refers to the widely diffused among youngsters idea
that drinking is a predisposition for having a good time `Many young people choose not to drink.
They know you don´t have to drink to have a good night out, even though it may seem like that´s
what everyone does`(p.2). The writer tries to disprove one of the most important arguments for
drinking- to have a good time, to have fun. Linking verbs are used to depict what a person will turn
into if he/she drinks over the limit- `looking like an idiot in front of the girl you´re trying to
impress´(p.2), `you are more likely to make bad decisions` (p.4) etc. There is also an appeal
expressed by the sender `know your limits and you´ll have a much better time´ (p.2) inviting the
reader not to conform blindly to the guide, but to scrutinise the message, to think and act
responsibly.
5.2.3 Textual metafunction
The structure of some clauses in the text presents the focus points expressed by the writer. In the
heading of the text, `Your guide to dealing with alcohol` (p.1), the marked element `your` could be
skipped without really changing the meaning of the sentence. However, the possessive personal
pronoun points to a more personal approach, inviting to take the guide with you or to continue
reading it as it is for you, it is `yours`. Page 3 accounts for an atypical heading structure, where
two headings, namely `If you drink alcohol` and `Tips for having a good time` come one after
Page 26 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
another, assuming that drinking alcohol is somehow an antidote of the act of having a good time,
again relying on the idea of relation between alcohol use and fun.
The typical `If` structure of a subordinate sentence can be found in almost every page of the guide:
`But if you drink too much…`(p.1), `If you are under 18…`(p.1), `If you drink alcohol`(p.2), etc.
representing the use of alcohol as an optional act, rather as an expected attitude. Similar marked
theme is used to address the legal issues connected to underage people drinking - `If you are under
18 it is illegal to drink…`(p. 2), or bans practises relating alcohol to driving `Never drive if you ´ve
been drinking.` (p.3). All these marked themes break the normal structure of the sentence in strive
to emphasize the element and make a bigger impact on the reader and what he/she should take into
consideration.
5.3. Persuasive strategies
In persuasion terms the absence of directly addressed viewer through the gaze of the image
participant is described as cover/ indirect persuasion. In contrast to the visual, however, the
viewer becomes personally addressed through the written message on the images `What are you
doing to yourself?` and a text, including a personal reference in all the six ads. `Your choice to get
drunk. Your choice to go home with him. Your regret tomorrow`(Bed ); `Your night with your
mates. Your sixth drink. Your temper. Your criminal record` (Violence) etc. that all turn focus to the
personal responsibility of the act of drinking and its possible consequences. Similar approach of
direct addressing is applied in the guide as well. What becomes referred indirectly is actually the
simple essence of the campaign message `do not drink` or `do not drink more than 5 drinks` (which
is the definition of binge drinking). According to Halmari and Virtanen (2004) this strategy of
indirect communication makes the viewer become more willing to respond to the message of the
campaign and therefore drink responsively.
Furthermore, the persuasive element of the message can be found in the emotional appeals
described by Gass and Seiter (2007). Regret appeal is presented in almost all images, revealing
scenarios in which a boyfriend becomes an `ex-boyfriend`, a night with friends becomes `a criminal
record ` or a wrong decision to drive after drinking becomes `a crash`. The world `regret` itself, is
mentioned in Bed, illustrating a girl, who will realise what she has done when it is already late
Page 27 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
`Your regret tomorrow.` says the text on top. Apart from the regret appeal communicated by all the
pictures, other appeals can also be found. With an actor put in an offer position, silently witnessing
what alcohol can make people do, many of the pictures indeed provoke the viewer´s empathy, pity
and compassion. Furthermore, the images play on the greatest for young people fear- the lack of
coolness of someone´s attitude. Hence, a fear appeal is used to change the widely accepted by
youngsters view of drunk people having fun to another perspective in which the intoxicated person
becomes uncontrolled, boring performers of an unaccepted attitude. Hence, excessive alcohol
drinking is presented as a way to loose coolness and become an outsider in the eyes of the friends.
Accounting for the persuasive functions as described by Stӧckl ( in Garzone, Poncini & Catenaccio,
2007, p.36) the focus now turns on elements for persuasion as attention and comprehend which
can be discovered in both the textual and visual material. In the ads attention is constructed by an
interesting double image representation of participants and positioning of the campaign message in
an alcohol label, which with its colours and shape attracts the attention. Furthermore, the campaign
relies on the idea that the main participants- young boys and girls will be more appealing to the
target group, inviting the viewer to identify with them. In the guide the attention function is
achieved by interplay of screaming colours as red and yellow, mix of typographic type styles and
pictures of partying people and empty alcohol bottles. The short and clear sentences, written in a
simple language that young people can recognise are constructed in the ads and the guide with the
intention to make the message easy to comprehend. That is important as an easy to comprehend
message assures a bigger chance for elaborating on it and implementation into a new behaviour- a
key factor for the success of the campaign.
5.4. Marketing strategies
In this part of the analysis the campaign is examined according to its positioning in the marketing
context. Applying the Health belief model (Donovan & Henley, 2003) described in chapter three,
the first two factors that need to be taken into consideration are the demographic and
psychological variables of the target group. Demographically the ads were launched in some of
Australia´s most visited areas, assuring high visibility of the campaign. Furthermore, by
representing both genders as main participants, the message aimed to address a larger group of
Page 28 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
youngsters. Turning focus to the psychological characteristics accounting for young people´s
values, attitudes and interests, some viewers may choose to react based upon the fun experience
expected from alcohol to provide them. Therefore, this group of people is expected to sceptically
ignore the campaign message. Meanwhile, those youngsters who focus on the consequences of
excessive drinking and their impact on personal interests and attitudes are expected to pay attention
to the campaign.
The susceptibility factor evaluates the recognition of excessive drinking as existing problem.
Hence, viewers who practise binge drinking or know others who do it will be motivated to proceed
through the model going to the next step called perceived severity. Perceived severity will only
apply to those who see binge drinking consequences as a serious threat for themselves or others. In
attempt to reinforce this impact the visuals play upon the loss of a mate or girl-/boyfriend
(Boyfriend, Gay couple, Violence) and self-destructive behaviour (Bed, Driving, Bouncer).
Moreover, legal consequences of binge drinking are represented in Violence and the guide- `If you
are under 18 and drink alcohol in a public place without your parent or guardian you are breaking
the rule` (p.3) and ` When a person secretly puts alcohol or other stuff into another person´s drinkit´s not only dangerous, it´s illegal` (p.7). The risk of speeding and road accidents is constructed in
Driving and touched upon in the red text box on p.3 of the guide. The issue of unsafe sex is
highlighted in Bed and on p. 7 mentioning the consequences of forcing yourself onto another
person. All this elements are used to convince the viewer in the seriousness of the problem and
prompt desire for action.
On the other hand, according to the cost- benefit appraisal factor, avoiding binge drinking must
be perceived as effective to reduce all the above described risks and as a bringing rewards act.
However, that could be hardly achieved if youngsters look at binge drinking as a way of
socialization and premise for having fun. This issue is also taken into consideration in the guide,
which says ` Many young people choose not to drink. They know you don´t have to drink to have a
good night out….` (p.2) trying to argument against this viewpoint. Additional benefits of choosing
not to binge drink may be the lack of headache on the next morning, saving money and what the
campaign is trying to communicate- saving face and coolness. Cues to action, the last factor before
taking final decision to change, argues that internal cues e.g. bad experience with binge drinking or
external factors e.g. an advertising campaign against excessive drinking practices will reinforce the
Page 29 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
decision not to drink or to make it wisely. However, an important reason for failure of the campaign
could be the market context in which alcohol companies are allowed to advertise and sell their
products in the same area targeted by the binge drinking campaign.
6. Conclusions
The interdisciplinary approach implemented in the thesis has provided a broader perspective of the
topic in question, allowing an in depth analysis and understanding of the campaign based on
theories from different fields. Thus, in a search for answer to the main question defined in the
problem statement, the analysis of the campaign has shown the following findings:
First of all, in its attempt to raise awareness among young Australians and according to the idea
that visuals appear to be more memorable than statistical information because of their greater
persuasive power (Hoffe, 2008, p.89) NSW has chosen to complement the official campaign guide
with visual representation of the message. The vivid quality of the six images that represent typical
hazardous situations related to excessive alcohol consumption invites the viewer to take part in the
presented scene and identify with one of the participants. This process of identification is
additionally reinforced by bringing the viewer into a state of emotion.
Secondly, accounting for the visual and textual strategies that have been applied by NSW, it can be
concluded that the viewer becomes the focus of the campaign, approached as `you` in both the
visual and textual material. To the reader of the guide is given a power to choose between two
imaginary worlds- those of the sober and the other of the intoxicated person. Meanwhile, the author
guides and imposes its opinion by deliberately selected negative adjectives when describing the first
option (to become drunk) and positive adjectives when illustrating the choice to drink responsively.
However, an interesting fact is the lack of exclamation marks at the end of the imperative sentences,
which presumes the idea of giving advices and guiding rather than strongly imposing the power of
the author.
The very same idea of two contradicting worlds is visually illustrated by the double/twin
presentation of the participant, simultaneously depicted both as an actor and a goal, active and
passive partaker. The role of the offer is always given to the sober participant, put in a position of
Page 30 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
viewer of an unpleasant situation, whose main actor is him-/herself. Hence, once again the viewer is
faced with the necessity to make a choice of identification and act according to the taken position.
Third, by the applied persuasive strategies the visual material appears to be emotionally engaging as
it strives to evoke pity, helplessness and discomfort, appeals communicated mainly through indirect
persuasion (e.g. the lack of direct gaze at the viewer in the visuals).
Fourth, in terms of marketing strategies the task of the campaign can be perceived as hard to
achieve in context where viewers are often exposed to two opposite marketing messages- for and
against drinking. In such a fight for dominance, the most persuasive message will be the one that
gains more followers. Therefore, a big drawback of the campaign is that it addresses an issue of
drug misuse (excessive drinking), in a society which tolerates alcohol consumption and even link
social gathering events with alcohol practices.
Last considerable disadvantage of the campaign is that young people often consider risky
behaviour as adventurous and desired attitude, which can provoke wrong interpretation of images as
Driving and Bouncer, where rules are deliberately broken. Thus, the above mentioned drawbacks
together with the need for more legal support and restrictions for binge drinkers limit the
campaigns´ chance for success.
Last but not least, it is not a secret that the problem of binge drinking, even though examined here
in the Australian context, is expanding globally, becoming a challenge for many countries and an
issue that requires adequate actions as soon as possible. Thus, one question arises – is this result of
misunderstanding of the essence of the problem and lack of applicable methods for dealing with it,
is it due to inadequate implementation of such methods and strategies, or is it based on conflict of
interests between multimillion dollars alcohol industry and health experts? Whatever the answer is,
more independent researches in the field become crucial factor for overcoming this social problem.
Page 31 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
References:
Donovan. R. & Henley, N. (2003). Models of attitude and behaviour change. Social marketing
principles & practise. Chapter 5, 91-120.
Fairclough, N. (1989). Discourse as social practise, language and power. Chapter 2. Longman.
Garzone G., Poncini, G. & Catenaccio, P. (2007). Multimodality in corporate communication. Web
genres and discursive identity. Milano: Franco Angeli, 31-54
Gass, Robert H. & Seiter, John S. (2007), Persuasion, Social Influence, and Compliance Gaining.
Third Edition. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Halmari, H. & Virtanen, T.(2004). Persuasion across genres. A linguistic approach. Philadelphia, PA,
USA: John Benjamins Publishing Company, p.229- 244.
Joffe, H. (2008). The power of visual material: Persuasion, emotion and identification. Sage
publications.
Kotler, P., & Lee, N.R. (2008). Social marketing. Influencing behaviour for good. California: Sage
Publications, Third edition.
Kress, G. & van Leeuwen, T. (1998). Front pages: (the critical) analysis of newspaper layout.
Chapter 7, 186-219.
Kress, G. (2001). Multimodal teaching and learning: The rhetorics of the science classroom. New
York: Continuum.
Kress, G. & van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading images. The grammar of visual design. London and
New York: Routledge, Taylor& Francis Group.
Sherratt, Y. (2005). The tradition of hermeneutics. Cambridge University Press.
Stillar, G., F. (1998). Analyzing everyday texts. Discourse, rhetoric, and social perspectives. Rhetoric
& Society, volume 3,14-57.
Page 32 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
Links:
AIHW (2008)- Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2007 National Drug Strategy
Household Survey, Drug Statistics Series No.20, Cat.No.PHE 98, AIHW, Canberra.
http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=6442459877
Chandler, D. Semiotics for beginners, online book, retrieved 03-03-2012
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/semiotic.html
NHMRC (2007)- National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) 2007, Australian alcohol
guidelines for low-risk drinking: draft for public consultation, October, p.33,
https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.alcoholinfo.nsw.gov.au%2F__data
%2Fpage%2F1449%2Fdraft_australian_alcohol_guidelines1_1.pdf
Campaign material:
`Don´t turn a night out into a nightmare`, About the campaign:
http://www.drinkingnightmare.gov.au/internet/drinkingnightmare/publishing.nsf/Content/abo
ut-the-campaign
´What are you doing to yourself?´, official page: http://advertising.nsw.gov.au/campaigns/whatare-you-doing-yourself
The campaign guide `Your guide to dealing with alcohol`:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.whatareyoudoingtoyourself.com%
2Fyourguidetodealingwithalcohol.pdf
Page 33 of 49
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Appendix:
1.What are you doing to yourself? Visuals:
1) Bed;
2) Boyfriend;
3) Driving;
4) Gay couple;
5) Violence;
6) Bouncer;
2.Your guide to dealing with alcohol
Page 34 of 49
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
BED
Page 35 of 49
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
BOYFRIEND
Page 36 of 49
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
DRIVING
Page 37 of 49
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
GAY BOYFRIEND
Page 38 of 49
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
VIOLENCE
Page 39 of 49
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
BOUNCER
Page 40 of 49
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Page 1
Page 41 of 49
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Page 2
Page 42 of 49
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Page 3
Page 43 of 49
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Page 4
Page 44 of 49
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Page 5
Page 45 of 49
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Page 6
Page 46 of 49
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Page 7
Page 47 of 49
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Page 8
Page 48 of 49
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012
BA Thesis in Marketing and Management Communication
Page 9
Page 49 of 49
Mariya Dolapchieva, 2012