Advertising Text on the Internet - Conjugated Linoleic Acid - Essay Example

A Discourse Analysis of Media Advertising Text on the Internet: c9,t11 Conjugated Linoleic Acid Abstract Over the last ten years the Internet has replaced television and radio as a major source of consumer marketing. Old methods of advertising have been swept away to make room for the new, and these new methods have left advertisers struggling to catch up. The Internet has replaced traditional media text with the sales letter, opening the door for an informal discourse between seller and customer before the sale even takes place. A content discourse analysis of the sales letter advertising the latest weight loss miracle on the market, c9, t11 Conjugated Linoleic Acid, provides a perfect example of how the Internet is changing the face of advertising on a global scale. Through the analysis I will prove that the Internet has encouraged marketers to replace dull facts, numbers and fine print with a smooth, comfortable discourse between their consumers and themselves. Image analysis compared with the text will also show in spite of its gender neutral text the advertisement uses the males and female ideal of the perfect body as a gender bias to entice customers to buy. Introduction c9,t11 Conjugated Linoleic Acid (referred to for the rest of the analysis as CLA) represents many societal ideals and historical representations of the human body that would drive a person to purchase the product. Its sales letter is ideal for an in-depth discourse analysis of the conversational style that dominates the Internet. The Internet has provided marketers with a whole new venue of advertising, and with this venue have come new methods of mass marketing. “Companies are moving their advertising dollars away from printed publications and using them more effectively on the web.” (Malcolm, 2007) Sales letters have replaced traditional mottos and slogans accompanying colorful images, opening the door for more personal interaction and open discourse between buyer and seller long before the transaction is complete. Academic Rationale This particular advertisement was chosen because it represents one of the major characteristics of both Internet advertising and open discourse media text: an informal, casual discourse to make the customer comfortable with a controversial product. This advertising campaign also represents the role of social norms in advertising. The need of men and women all over the world to meet the physical standards set for them by society rather than being comfortable with who and what they are opens the doors for an analysis of the roles that this norm plays in the effectiveness of this advertising campaign. A discourse analysis focusing on the development of personal relations was important when analyzing an Internet media text because the Internet allows advertisers to meet millions of customers a day, most of whom have no interest in taking the time to read facts, figures and dry text. A personal approach is necessary to capture and keep their attention, and sales letters are usually void of the facts and figures that would make an ordinary content analysis with quantifiable material productive. Discourse analysis, on the other hand, focuses primarily on the presentation of the material and how the product is going to affect the lifestyle of the consumer, which is the principle behind all effective Internet advertising. To support the analysis of the roles this advertisement fills in a discourse analysis I have pulled material from a wide range of both informal and academic media concerning advertising, popular culture, the impact the media has on self esteem and self image and multiple sources on the role that discourse plays in the media. Analysis Although discourse analysis focuses primarily on the use of text in the media, the first thing to catch the eye of the reader is the series of images displayed at the top of the pages. The first image shows a young woman laying on a bed in her undergarments, the hem of her shirt playing peek-a-boo with a perfectly flat abdomen. This is significant in that it represents the female ideal of the “perfect body”, with trim, toned arms and an abdominal area free of cellulite. Maria Palmira Massi of the Universidad Nacional del Comahue in Patagonia, Argentina, states that with relation to discourse’s role in language “discourse is used…with the consideration of both the production and reception processes that arise in a particular social setting.” (Massi, 2001) This ideal represents a social norm that most people want but never have. Most women today, particularly women in their late teens and early twenties, have a distorted view of exactly what their body looks like. This distorted view is encouraged by the media, with commercials featuring women without an extra ounce of fat on their bodies and natural, healthy young women being encouraged to lose ten pounds in order to compensate for extra weight on the camera. “Women-and their body parts-sell everything from food to cars. Popular film and television actresses are becoming…thinner.” (Media Awareness Network, 2008) “They look too thin and unhealthy,” said director of Harvard University’s eating-disorders center Dr. David Herzog in a recent article for People Magazine. In this same article actress Jennifer Aniston, well known for her small build, stated that at a recent party for Hollywood’s finest she told a friend “My God, these girls make me look fat!” (People, 2007) This “super skinnyness” at any age, but particularly among women in their childbearing years, has driven women to take drastic measures to lose weight in order to fit that image of themselves. The text plays on that fact by comparing the product, c9, t11 Conjugated Linoleic Acid, with other crash diets that promise results but are “too good to be true.” (ANR, 2008) The image conveyed through the use of that phrase and the emphasis on additional research done by scientific professionals around the world lends the product an aura of legitimacy it would not have otherwise had. Argumentative discourse strategies feature strongly throughout the text. The use of facts and figures, and words such as “proven” and “support” as in the headline of the sales letter, “Proven to melt away 20.2% of your belly fat in 12 weeks!”, convinces consumers that the product is not a false attempt to take their money without delivering any results. Many of the diet products on the market today do not lead to guaranteed weight loss without being coupled with sensible diet and exercise (which more than likely explains why they work). The sellers of c9, t11 Conjugated Linoleic Acid use phrases such as “Research shows..the bulges which have been embarrassing and depressing you for all these years…melt away” to convince consumers that their product is both unique and effective. (ANR, 2008) The secondary image, a man with a set of six pack abdominals and well defined, muscular arms, caters to the male ideal of the body. The difference between the male and female forms used to illustrate the products effectiveness is notable in that although the young woman has well toned arms and legs, she is not extremely muscular. The man, on the other hand, is very muscular, well past the point of what could be achieved with only the use of a dietary supplement, catering to the belief that using c9, t11 Conjugated Linoleic Acid will help men to get the strong, muscular body that they believe to be most socially acceptable. “There’s a new syndrome emerging from behind gym doors. It’s called muscle dysmorphia,” says Nancy Clark, MS, RD. With regard to a recent study done on male college students to evaluate the effect of the media on male body image Clark states, “…men exposed to muscular images showed a significantly greater discrepancy between the body they ideally would want to have and their current body size.” (Clark, 2008) The use of body ideals in the pictures, and the subtle suggestion of sex in the woman’s provocative pose and the man’s deliberate flexing which plants the idea in consumer’s heads that the use of c9, t11 Conjugated Linoleic Acid will immediately make them more sexually attractive to the opposite sex, contrasts sharply with the clinical and gender neutral tone of the text in the sales letter. This suggests the use of multiple types of discourse strategies in a single advertisement; promoting the selling effectiveness of sex while at the same time attempting to stretch their message out to a mass market. The desire of the seller to market to both sexes is notable in the use of phrases such as “…thousands of men and women suffering from excess weight have a safe and natural weight-loss solution.” (ANR, 2008) There is a slightly greater bias toward women through the emphasis on the effects that c9, t11 Conjugated Linoleic Acid can have on cellulite around the abdomen, buttocks and thighs, since science have shown women tend to store fat in these areas more often than men in an attempt to protect the reproductive organs. (Collins, 2007) Because of this, it is women who have a harder time losing weight in these areas. Men tend to conserve body fat primarily around the abdomen, with their thighs and buttocks often remaining unaffected. Also noteworthy in the sales letter is the use of comfortable, one on one language rather than formal discourse. Weight loss is a personal subject, and many consumers would have a difficult time accepting a sales pitch from an individual they cannot relate to. The sellers who produced this sales letter were well aware of the fact. The discourse throughout the letter included such phrases as, “Here’s the deal…” and “every single week, you can burn off 1 full inch of ugly belly flab without dieting or doing hundreds of tedious sit-ups.” (ANR, 2008) The purpose of these phrases is to let the consumer know that the company understands what they want (extreme weight loss with a minimum of effort as quickly as possible) and they are prepared to give it to them. This personal approach is coupled with continuous use of the word “you”, making their conversation personal rather than formal. A formal discourse would have approached the effectiveness of the product from the angle of mass weight and fat burning ability, using anonymous subjects such as “they” or “test subjects surveyed.” (ANR, 2008) This personal interrelation and informal discourse strongly separates this sales letter from an academic reporting of the same product, since the formal academic approach would look at the market as a whole rather than the individual. Studies have shown that the new wave of advertising media will be through social media on the Internet with targeted microcontent, which makes presentation of sales material through the use of comfortable, informal discourse ideal. (Furrier, 2007) Conclusion The conclusion I reached through this analysis is that Internet advertising does in fact support informal marketing to the consumer, with a focus on interpersonal relations and developing the feeling that the advertiser “understands” the consumer and is working with them personally to help them achieve their goals even though they have never met. From this point of view I would have to say that the study has been a success, as the discourse analysis of the media text clearly supports the hypothesis without leaving the reader to wonder who the intended market is or what the advertiser is trying to accomplish. Through discourse analysis I learned that when advertising on the Internet it is more important to focus on the concepts and ideas behind a product, then support them with fact, rather than to focus on the facts of a product and attempt to sell them with concept. This allows you to create a comfortable discourse with the reader that makes them feel as though you are personally interested in them and their problems although the two of you have never met. This research method could have been improved, however, with a look at how different ideals affect not only the immediate intended area but how they would relate to changes in the future. I also learned that the most effective advertising takes place within a current social perspective of the product and its purpose, appealing to a specific demographic group (in this case, individuals that felt they needed to lose weight), rather than in a mass marketing, “hit or miss environment”. Read More