Chapter 5 Qualitative Analyses of the Interviews
5.4 Subjects’ Attitude toward the Persuasiveness of PP Maxims
5.4.3 Attitudes toward PP and types of beauty products
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mention those beauty problems which can easily be resolved by using cosmetics because such mentioning may imply that the potential consumer did not do what can be done easily; for example, simply by applying lipstick, boredom is covered, and elegance or sensuality is divulged.
In skin-care ads, Tact Maxim (Mean=3.35) and Sympathy Maxim (Mean=3.33) are more favored than Modesty Maxim (Mean=3.25) and Approbation Maxim (Mean=3.20). The subjects think skin-care ads show more sympathy for them compared with cosmetic ads.
Moreover, the gap between cosmetic ads and skin-care ads is larger in Sympathy Maxim (with a difference of 0.27) and in Tact Maxim (with a difference of 0.18) than in Modesty Maxim (with a difference of 0.12) and in Approbation Maxim (with a difference of 0.06). This result suggests that cross maxim differences are small in PP, because in Taiwan, due to the pursuit of natural beauty, the consumer focuses more on the effectiveness of skin-care products than on that of cosmetics. As a result, the advertiser tends to sell cosmetics in a way similar to that in selling skin-care products.
5.4.3 Attitudes toward PP and types of beauty products by subjects’ education level According to Table 26, in terms of education level, the means of the higher education group’s and the lower education group’s general attitudes toward PP are
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2.97 and 2.87, respectively, with a difference of 0.10. This result shows that from the perspective of politeness, both groups hold a negative attitude toward beauty product advertisements. It is likely that both groups are not truly convinced that the beauty products advertised can really benefit them; nor do they believe that the advertiser’s sympathy and concern are true.
When the individual maxims of PP are taken into consideration, it is found that to Tact Maxim, the higher education group’s evaluation is 2.89, and that of lower
education group is 3.43; to Approbation Maxim, it is 2.48 and 1.81, respectively; to Modesty Maxim, 3.54 and 2.81, respectively; to Sympathy Maxim, 2.99 and 3.43, respectively. The results indicate that the subjects of lower education level take a positive attitude toward Tact Maxim and Sympathy Maxim, while the subjects of higher education level take a positive attitude toward Approbation Maxim and Modesty Maxim, which means that they believe the advertisements mentioning their skin flaws are exaggerative, in order to enlarge the effectiveness of the product advertised. Comparatively, the subjects of lower education level do not think that the skin defects mentioned in the advertisements are flaws at all, but the higher education group, which is more sensitive to others’ criticism, is more aware of the skin problems being mentioned.
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When the types of the commodities are taken into consideration, whatever the maxims of PP may be, the higher education group consistently gives higher evaluations to skin-care ads than to cosmetic ads. It seems that the higher education group thinks, from the perspective of politeness, that skin-care ads are more persuasive than cosmetic ads. A possible reason is that the effectiveness of skin-care products can be verified after the products are used, while the effectiveness of cosmetics cannot be examined accurately because it involves the consumer’s subjective judgments and individual differences. Hence, cosmetic ads are less persuasive than skin-care ads. To the subjects of lower education level, their evaluations of skin-care ads are higher for Tact Maxim and Sympathy Maxim than for Approbation Maxim and Modesty Maxim. The result indicates that the subjects of lower education level are likely to be aware of the benefits and concern shown in the skin-care ads because their demand and expectation of everything in every aspect are always lower than the higher education group’s; therefore, it is easier for them to be satisfied with the skin-care advertisements.
However, the evaluations of cosmetic ads are higher for Approbation Maxim and Modesty Maxim than for Tact Maxim and Sympathy Maxim, though the evaluations are both negative. These results indicate that the subjects of lower education level do not notice that the advertisements mention their skin problems and
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boosting the efficacy of the products because they do not think as independently as the subjects of higher education level.
5.4.4 Attitudes toward PP and types of beauty products by subjects’ age
According to Table 26, the older group’s general attitude toward the application of PP in the advertisements and the younger group’s are 3.31 and 2.67, respectively, with a difference of 0.64. It is noticed that the older group holds a positive attitude,
whereas the younger group holds a negative attitude. According to the subjects, since the older group’s familiarity with and necessity of beauty products are lower than
those of the younger group, the former is not so demanding or rigid with the content in the advertisements as the younger group.
When the individual maxims of PP are taken into consideration, it is found that to Tact Maxim, the older group’s evaluation is 3.63, and that of younger group is 3.02;
to Approbation Maxim, it is 2.56 and 2.08, respectively; to Modesty Maxim, 3.47 and
2.79, respectively; to Sympathy Maxim, 3.60 and 2.82, respectively. These results suggest that whatever the maxims of PP may be, the older group’s evaluations are
consistently higher than those of the younger group. Also, the older group gives positive evaluations to many of the maxims, except for Approbation Maxim; however, most of the younger group’s evaluations are below 3.00, except for Tact Maxim, which is barely above 3.00. These patterns seem to indicate that the younger group
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does not think the advertisements are exaggerative in the effectiveness of the products, and they think that the advertisements’ mentioning of their skin problems actually
shows the advertiser’s sympathy for the potential consumer. To the older subjects, they do not notice that the advertisements are talking about their skin flaws, either.
This result indicates that the advertisements are likely to offer ideal look to the consumer rather than mention the skin problems lest the consumer should be irritated.
When the types of beauty products are taken into consideration, whatever the maxims of PP may be, the younger group consistently gives higher evaluations to skin-care ads than to cosmetic ads. However, the older group behaves the opposite.
Since they know little about cosmetics, usually they can not and will not question the content of the cosmetic advertisements, and they tend to give positive evaluations toward every aspect of the cosmetic advertisements. On the contrary, the younger subjects are more familiar with cosmetics, and they have strong capability of independent thinking, they are more skeptical about the cosmetic ads, and thus more incline toward rating the cosmetic advertisements negative. Skin-care ads, on the other hand, sound more convincing to the younger subjects because the effectiveness of the skin-care products can be examined. To things that can be tested, they are more likely to believe in them and to take a positive attitude toward skin-care ads.
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Chapter 6 Conclusion
This chapter concludes the thesis based on the general findings of the previous chapters, and offers the limitations of this thesis and suggestions for future studies.
6.1 Summary of the Major Findings
This section depicts the findings of this thesis. Section 6.1.1 summarizes the general findings identified in quantitative analyses of the written data, and Section 6.1.2 the major findings from the interviews.
6.1.1 Quantitative analyses of the written data 1. Advertising approaches
It was hypothesized that skin-care ads prefer hard-sell approach and cosmetic ads prefer soft-sell approach. The results of investigation show
(1) that hard-sell approach is used more frequently in skin-care advertisements than in cosmetic advertisements,
(2) that soft-sell approach is adapted more often in cosmetic advertisements than in skin-care advertisements, and
(3) that both cosmetic ads and skin-care ads depend more on hard-sell approach than
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on soft-sell approach.
2. Felicity conditions
It was hypothesized that felicity conditions would give different influences to cosmetic ads and skin-care ads. The results of investigation show that despite the types of the beauty products advertised , preparatory condition, sincerity condition, and essential condition are implemented in almost the same way, which indicates that from the advertiser’s viewpoint, the three felicity conditions are equally significant in beauty product advertisements. A possible explanation is that the advertiser fulfills the three felicity conditions in the advertisements in order to achieve successful persuasion.
3. Cooperative Principle
It was hypothesized that the different maxims of CP would give different influences to cosmetic ads and skin-care ads. The results of the data analyses show (1) that the discrepancies between cosmetic ads and skin-care ads by the four maxims,
obeyed or violated, are small;
(2) that despite the types of beauty products, Quality Maxim and Manner Maxim are obeyed most frequently, but it is Quantity Maxim that is violated most often. A possible explanation is that the advertiser has to provide true and clear information for the consumer; otherwise, the consumer will not understand the advertisement
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and thus will not buy the product. As for the quantity of information in the advertisement, it is considered as less important.
4. Politeness Principle
It was anticipated that the different maxims and submaxims of PP would give different influences to cosmetic ads and skin-care ads. The results of data analyses demonstrate
(1) that for each maxim of PP, the difference between the two types of ads is small.
(2) Moreover, cosmetic ads and skin-care ads share the same patterns in applying the maxims of PP, with Tact Maxim and Modesty Maxim being used most frequently.
That is, the advertiser uses the same methods to sell different beauty products.
A possible explanation may be that since women in Taiwan emphasize the use of skin-care products, and since the skin-care ads are effective basically, the advertiser may think that the same way of advertising can be applied to advertise cosmetic products analogically.
5. Ideology of women
It was expected that there are differences between cosmetic ads and skin-care ads by woman ideology. The results show
(1) that skin-care ads focus on physical appearance, while cosmetic ads aim at social recognition which includes role, uniqueness, identity, and beauty;
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(2) that cosmetic ads focus on psychological status more frequently than skin-care ads do because the use of cosmetics can bring instant change of psychological status.
6. Linguistic devices
It was anticipated that different linguistic devices are used to advertise the two different types of beauty products. The results of the data analyses indicate
(1) that in referential contents, there is little difference between the two types of advertisements. Scope and time are encoded most frequently in beauty products advertisements because the former is about effectiveness, and the latter is about efficiency, which are the keys to establish the persuasiveness of the beauty products;
(2) that hedgers are used more frequently in cosmetic ads, whereas boosters are used more frequently in skin-care ads; and
(3) that most beauty product advertisements use very few hedgers and boosters. The advertisements are more inclined to use cores rather than modifiers to promote the products.
6.1.2 Qualitative analyses of the interviews 1. Advertising approaches
According to the subjects,
(1) in general, hard-sell approach is preferred to soft-sell approach;
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(2) hard-sell approach is persuasive both in cosmetic ads and skin-care ads, while soft-sell approach is favorable only in skin-care ads;
(3) as for the influence of the subjects’ social backgrounds, education level and age are not influential factors in hard-sell approach, but not in soft-sell approach;
(4) it is the lower education group and the younger subjects that favor soft-sell approach, especially in skin-care ads.
To the consumer, it seems that the commercial appeal of skin-care is concrete by nature and thus easy to comprehend, and that soft-sell approach even gives the consumer an extra image when they read the advertisements. Therefore, in skin-care ads, soft-sell approach overrides hard-sell approach.
2. Felicity conditions
According to the subjects,
(1) sincerity condition is evaluated higher than preparatory condition and essential condition regardless of the subjects’ education level and age,
(2) for the types of beauty products, cosmetic ads consistently score lower than skin-care ads in all of the three felicity conditions despite the subjects’ education level and age as well.
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3. Cooperative Principle
According to the subjects,
(1) the hierarchy of the persuasiveness of the four maxims is Manner Maxim, followed by Quantity Maxim, Relevancy Maxim, and Quality Maxim, in this order;
(2) When the subjects’ social backgrounds are taken into consideration, it is the higher education group and the younger subjects that are less favorable for the four maxims. The reason may be that the subjects of higher education level are always educated to put an emphasis on precision; hence, once they are faced with conditions unable to be evaluated clearly, they become skeptical. As for the age, the younger group is more familiar with the cosmetics; hence, they know well in the skills of cosmetic ads, and thus are more demanding.
4. Politeness Principle
According to the subjects,
(1) Tact Maxim receives better evaluation than Modesty Maxim, Sympathy Maxim, and Approbation Maxim, in this order;
(2) when the subjects’ social backgrounds are taken into consideration, the higher education group yields less favorable evaluation than the lower education group doesbecause the higher education group thinks the advertisements are
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exaggerative, while the lower education group thinks the advertisements bring benefits; and
(3) as for age difference, the younger subjects give less favorable evaluation than old subjects for the four maxims because the younger subjects know the beauty products better than the older subjects, and thus become more demanding.
6.2 Concluding Remarks
Based on the analyses and discussion of Chapter Four and Chapter Five, it is found that the consumer’s perception of persuasiveness does not match with the advertiser’s. To be specific, the consumer doesn’t think that those target advertisements are persuasive, which indicates that the advertisements fail to satisfy the consumer’s demand. Therefore, the advertiser should remedy this problem by taking into consideration the potential consumer’s attitudes toward the approaches of advertising, the pragmatic strategies applied, and the linguistic devices used. After all, in business transaction, it is the consumer, not the advertiser, that is the powerful party;
and it is a social rule that the advertiser (i.e. the powerless one) complies to the powerful one (i.e. the consumer), not the other way around.
6.3 Limitations of This Study and Suggestions for Future Researches
This study aims to explore the sociopragmatic strategies and the linguistic devices employed in the beauty product advertisements in women’s fashion
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magazines. However,
(1) due to the limitation of time, only two hundred pieces of advertisements were analyzed. For a better generalization and prediction, the quantity of data should be enlarged.
(2) Next, in this thesis, the data sources for quantitative analyses derive from two women’s fashion magazines only. In future studies, data from TV commercials, online advertisements, and descriptions of the effectiveness printed on the products should also be included.
(3) Also, advertisements of other beauty products should also be examined to see if the same patterns of advertising are repeated.
(4) Moreover, in this thesis, the quantity of the interviewees is small. In order to secure accurate explanations to the patterns found, the number of interviewees should be increased in future studies.
(5) In this study, only persuasiveness of the advertisements was examined in the interviews. In future studies, the consumer’s acceptance of the products targeted and willingness to purchase the products should also be examined.
(6) Because the interviewees refused to be recorded, the relationship between persuasiveness of the advertisements and whether the interviewees buy the beauty product is unknown. In future studies, it should be examined as well.
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