CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
The aim or purpose of this study was to analyse skin-care products
advertisements in local women’s magazines using a genre analysis approach. The
researcher analysed the rhetorical structure of skin-care products advertisements using
the move analysis. The researcher also aimed at seeking the reason why there is such a
structure in these products advertisements. In this first chapter, the background of the
study and a description of the magazines and in particular the women’s magazines
which are the source of data of this study are described. This chapter also covers the
rationale and aims of the study, where the research questions are drawn, and finally the
significance and limitations of the study.
1.2 Background to the Study
Advertisements are so pervasive nowadays that they are found everywhere. The
messages of these advertisements are conveyed to the receivers from the producer,
manufacturer or advertiser through various types of media such as television, radio,
internet, magazines and newspapers. According to Williamson (1978), “Advertisements
are an inevitable part of everyone’s lives; even if one does not read a newspaper or
watch television, the images posted over our urban surroundings are inescapable” (1978,
p.11). It seems that we are not able to run away from them. When one travels from one
place to another in a town area, it is very possible for one to see advertisements on giant
billboards on the sides of the road and banners hanging down from the lamp-posts.
Besides these, eye-catching painted advertisements can also be seen on the rears or sides
of transport such as buses, taxis, light-rail transit and even aeroplanes. Even one does
not leave the house, one still cannot escape from advertisements as advertisements in
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the forms of pamphlets, brochures and leaflets are also distributed to one’s doorstep in
one’s mailbox.
Although advertisements are important and can be seen everywhere, not much
has been done to investigate this genre so far. This may be due to the reason that
advertisements evoke different perceptions, as Cook (2001: pp. 1-2) says, “advertising
is controversial, partly because it is relatively new compared to other contemporary
genres. On the other hand, with the increasing competitiveness in the global market,
advertising is becoming more instrumental in retaining existing customers and gaining
new customers. Although a number of studies on genre analysis have been done, not
many are on advertisements. Sze (2003) has done genre analysis on introductory
sections of articles in international and Malaysian engineering journals, Yang (2001) on
research articles in Applied Linguistics, Tan (1999) on the Cambridge ‘O’ level
Mathematics examination, Gurcharan (1998) on medical reports and Wong (1991) on
engineering journal abstracts. In Singapore and Malaysia, only a few studies using genre
analysis approach have been carried out on advertisements. For example, in Singapore,
Howe (1995) did a study on car advertisements while in Malaysia, Choo (1999) did a
study on property advertisements, Teh (1999) on home advertisements and Yong (2001)
on advertisements of private institutions of higher learning. Jaya Ranee (2002) did an
advertisement on beauty product advertisements. However, she did not use genre
analysis approach to analyse her data.
Since not many studies have been done on advertisements particularly skin-care
products advertisements, the researcher decided to study these advertisements to see
how advertisers appeal to and persuade their readers to try or buy their products. It is
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hoped that this in turn will provide an insight to those who are interested in advertising
and are in the advertising field.
1.3 Magazines
Magazines have long been an advertising medium. They are published at
intervals: weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, semi-annually and even
annually in certain specialized cases. Magazines become an extremely important group
of media when special interest groups are to be reached.
Circulations of magazines may range from a few hundred to millions. Unlike
newspapers which have their readers from all walks of life, magazines select their target
audiences mainly by demographic criteria and by specific interests. If an advertiser
wishes to reach a specific market segment, there is usually a magazine which caters to
the interests of people in this segment. Belch (2004) states that consumer magazines,
being the major portion of the magazine industry, are the most suitable to marketers
who are interested in reaching general consumers of products and services as well as to
companies which try to reach a specific target market. Cosmetics are one of the most
frequently advertised categories. Therefore, the researcher has decided to choose skincare products advertisements in consumer magazines, with women’s magazines as the
focus of this study.
Besides, magazines are usually kept longer than other printed media such as
newspapers and leaflets. They are used for reference purposes by potential buyers and
more preferred by the advertiser. Readers normally don’t throw away magazines as
immediately as they used to with other printed media. A magazine issue is often kept
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until the next one arrives. As a result, magazines are browsed and read over and over
again.
The first-rate paper quality and richness in colours of magazines are unbeatable
by other media. The image produced is more attractive and appealing, and is therefore,
favourable and preferred in certain types of advertisements, such as food, fashion and
skin-care products. The advertiser is willing to pay a relatively high cost for each unit of
space and wait to get his advertisement published. As Burke (1973, p.129) finds out:
Magazines offer generally excellent reproduction facilities for advertisements.
The paper stock is of finer quality than newspaper stock and permits clear, crisp, black-andwhite reproduction and excellent color reproduction, a quality much prized by food and
fashion advertisers.
1.3.1 Women’s Magazines
Women’s magazines are a large group of magazines published for a basically
female audience. In Malaysia, within this group are a number of titles such as CLEO,
Female, The Malaysian Women’s Weekly and Her World. These magazines have their
target audience from average to higher income groups, which consist mostly of
professionals who are more concerned about life qualities and are usually more brandconscious. Therefore, women’s magazines generate great revenue in the advertising
field. Besides, women’s magazines contain a lot of skin-care products advertisements,
especially those of western countries, which most people believe are better, perhaps
because of their advancement in science and technology. As a result, the researcher
decided to focus on local women’s magazines rather than on other media of advertising.
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1.3.2 Rationale for Investigating Skin-Care Products Advertisements in Local
Female Magazines
One’s appearance is always the first sight to be seen and evaluated in daily faceto-face communication. Though there goes the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover”,
one’s appearance does count in one’s face-to-face communication with other people.
The face, being the most frequently exposed part of the body, plays an important role in
attracting other people’s attention to get to know one better. Nowadays, more and more
people are concerned about their facial skin health. Even men have started to show
concern about their face. Therefore, a healthy and flawless face, along with other factors,
helps to build one’s confidence.
Skin-care products advertisements appear in many sections in local female
magazines. Among them are the editorial, fashion and beauty, living, and regulars
sections. These advertisements attempt to attract the attention of their magazine readers
so as to make their products known and to promote their products. These advertisements,
therefore, hold a special place in local female magazines.
Generally, Western products are believed to be more effective and reliable,
perhaps due to the advancement in science and technology in Western countries.
Advertisements of these products have their target audience from the up-market who
generates high revenue to the producers and the advertisers. Therefore, how these
advertisements appeal to their target audience becomes the basis for this study.
1.4 Purpose of the Study
This study investigated the rhetorical structure of skin-care products
advertisements which is one of the most important parts in women’s magazines. It
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aimed at identifying the most specific and representative move structure for the skincare products chosen for this study. Skin-care which comes under cosmetics generates
big revenue every year. In the cosmetics industry, advertisements play a major role.
Advertisers use advertisements as a way to advertise their products.
Mintel International Group Ltd, an international marketing company which
provides unbiased market research reports, industry analysis, company profiles and
country reports for strategic plannings, competitive intelligence, and marketing and
business research, defines facial skin-care as including moisturizers and skin treatments,
cleansing creams, lotions and wipes, astringents, toners and fresheners, facial scrubs,
packs and masks, and pore strips. According to Mintel International Group Ltd, facial
skin-care is the most mature market within the skin-care industry totaling some $6.7
billion in 2004, posting growth of 23% from 1999-2004 at constant 2004 prices. It is
with this interest that the researcher decided to look into these advertisements.
This study also aimed to provide information to language teachers especially
teachers in media as the researcher looked at the language structure. It was hoped that
the study would provide insights into the way the advertisers utilize their knowledge to
accomplish their advertisements and to reach their intended audience.
Advertising in magazines is costlier than in other printed media. Despite that,
many advertisers choose to pay for the cost of its high quality paper and colourful
visuals in order to get their products or services advertised. In view of this, this study
investigated the purpose of the colourful visuals posed in the advertisements.
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1.5 Research Questions
To achieve the aims of the study, the following research questions are drawn.
i.
What is/are the communicative purpose(s) of skin-care products advertisements?
ii.
What is the rhetorical structure of skin-care products advertisements?
iii.
Which move(s) is/are the most prevalent in branded skin-care products
advertisements in local women’s magazines and which move(s) the least?
iv.
What are the common linguistic features of skin-care products advertisements?
v.
What is the role of visuals in skin-care products advertisements?
1.6 Theoretical Framework and Research Methodology
This study adopts a genre approach using the move analysis. Genre analysis was
first introduced by Swales (1990) in his analysis of research introductions and later
refined by Kathpalia (1992) and Bhatia (1993).
Swales (1990) presented a ‘4-move’ model to account for the rhetorical
movement in article introductions. It was then revised as Create a Research Space
(CARS) model in which move consisted a series of steps to realize the move. The
Move-Steps structure framework for research introductions was refined and more works
were done to search for recurring patterns in the framework (Swales, 1990).
McKinlay (in Azirah, 1996) defines ‘move’ as a language unit which contains
the writer’s purpose. ‘Move’ is one of the identifying features of genre (Swales, 1990).
A ‘move’ is identified mainly based on semantic criteria and may be realized by one
sentence of more or by a unit of analysis below the sentence.
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Move analysis was then applied by Kathpalia (1992) in her research of straightsell advertisements and Bhatia (1993) in his research of sales promotion letters. Both
Kathpalia (1992) and Bhatia (1993) have come out with a framework of move structure
for their respective research. This study, however, adopts Kathpalia’s (1992) nine-move
structure as it is the most suitable framework to look at advertisements.
Sample advertisements are collected from local women’s magazines, namely
Female, The Malaysian Women’s Weekly, Her World and CLEO. The moves found in
the advertisements are identified. The number of advertisements which contain each
move is recorded and the frequency of occurrence of each move is calculated and
recorded. The strength of each move is decided by using the ratio scale. Those moves
which have a frequency of occurrence of 50% and above are considered as prominent
moves.
The language used in the advertisements is also studied. Similarly, the frequency
of occurrence of each linguistic feature is calculated and recorded.
Finally, this study also looks at the visuals of the advertisements from different
aspects such as the models, sets and props, colours and lighting. The research attempts
to find out the relation between the visuals and the moves in the realization of the
communicative purposes of this genre.
1.7 Significance of the Study
Communication plays a very important part in any life, especially in the marketoriented world nowadays. However, how to achieve its purpose, which is to get its
message conveyed, has become a skill which needs to be learnt. This study hopes to
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contribute to academic researchers who are interested in the area of advertising,
especially in the linguistic moves in skincare products advertisements. It also hopes to
show how advertising language, together with visuals, is used so as to achieve its
communicative purpose(s). Understanding of the language and linguistic moves of
advertising, along with visuals, may be useful to those who are new in the advertising
field and when advertisements are used as teaching aids in the teaching and learning of
the English language.
1.8 Limitations of the Study
Advertising has become an activity which is too broad for any study to be
comprehensive. Since skincare products advertisements may include products which are
sold in beauty salons through direct sale by agents and by retail in the market, it is
impractical to cover all these types of products in this study. Therefore, this study only
looks at straight-sell advertisements. This study is basically concerned with branded
skincare products advertisements found in the local women’s magazines. In order to
reduce the scale of the study to a manageable size, the data for this study includes only
branded skincare products advertisements which are manufactured or produced in
Western countries and have special counters set up in big shopping malls in Malaysia.
Also, this study focuses on products which are applied externally to the skin.
Therefore, this study will look at whitening, anti-aging and facial cleansing products.
Orally-administered skincare products, which help to boost healthy skin, are not going
to be discussed in this study. Nor are advertisements of cosmetics such as eye shadow,
foundation, compact powder, lipsticks and blushes, going to be examined in this study.
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Besides, advertisements of men’s skin care products which are contained in the
selected magazines are also not going to be discussed in this study as this study aims at
investigating advertisements which appeal to women readers only. Therefore, this study
will only look into advertisements which are designated to women or not specified to
men.
Finally, this study will only focus on straight-sale advertisements. It is not going
to study advertisements of beauty-care institutions. Neither is it going to look into
promotional advertisements nor special articles of the selected brands such as those
found in the sections of “BEAUTY”, “FEATURES”, “ADVERTORIAL” and
“SPECIAL”.
1.9 Conclusion
This chapter has introduced the background to the study and given a short
description of magazines and women’s magazines. The rationale and purpose of the
study have been discussed and the research questions are drawn. It has also touched on
the theoretical framework and methodology used in the study, which will be discussed
in detail in Chapter 2.
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