Chapter 5 Qualitative Analyses of the Interviews
5.1 Advertising Approaches
5.1.4 Attitudes toward advertising approaches and types of beauty products
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large. On the other hand, in soft-sell approach, the higher education group’s evaluation of cosmetic ads is 2.33, and that of the lower education group is 2.50. To conclude, despite the selling approaches, both of the two education groups disfavor the cosmetic ads, and favor skin-care ads. According to some of the subjects, cosmetic advertisements are too abstract for them to understand; therefore, the advertisements are not persuasive to them. However, both higher and the lower education groups give positive evaluations to skin-care advertisements, with both groups giving a mean of 3.66 to hard-sell approach, and with the higher education group scoring 3.33 and the lower education group scoring 4.33 for soft-sell approach. It is noticed that the subjects of lower education level hold a conspicuously higher evaluation toward the use of soft-sell approach for skin-care ads. It seems that the subjects of lower education level, again, are found to be much easier to be persuaded to accept what the advertisements try to sell.
5.1.4 Attitudes toward advertising approaches and types of beauty products by subjects’ age
According to Table 23, both the older subjects and the younger subjects give a mildly favorable evaluation toward advertising approach in general, 3.24 and 3.28, respectively, without conspicuous age difference.
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When individual advertising approaches are taken into consideration, for hard-sell approach, both age groups score 3.41. However, for soft-sell approach, the mean of the older group score 3.08, which is slightly lower than that of the younger group, 3.16. Again, no significant age difference is located.
When the two types of beauty products are taken into consideration, in hard-sell approach, the older group and the younger group both score 3.16 for cosmetic ads, and 3.66 for skin-care ads. These results indicate that both age groups prefer skin-care ads to cosmetic ads, although the difference is not large. On the other hand, in soft-sell approach, the older group’s evaluation of the cosmetic ads is 2.50, and that of the younger group is 2.33, with both age groups giving negative attitudes toward using soft-sell approach to advertise cosmetic ads. However, both groups give positive evaluations to skin-care ads with soft-sell approach, 3.66 by the old and 4.00 by the young. In conclusion, the two age groups resemble each other, first, in giving positive attitudes toward hard-sell approach, despite the types of the commodities advertised;
next, in giving negative attitudes toward using soft-sell approach for cosmetic ads, but positive attitudes toward advertising skin-care products with soft-sell approach.
According to the subjects, women in Taiwan, old or young, tend to be attracted by skin-care ads because, culturally, Chinese women are expected and encouraged to pursue natural beauty, at which skin-care products aim, rather than to seek artificial
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beauty, the primary goal of cosmetics.
5.2 Subjects’ Attitude toward the Persuasiveness of Felicity Conditions in Advertisements
Since every piece of advertisement is with referential content, only the other three of the felicity conditions—preparatory condition, sincerity condition, and essential condition—are examined here. This section describes the subjects’ attitudes toward the application of these three felicity conditions on cosmetic ads and skin-care ads, first, with the subjects as a whole, and then with subgroupings of the subjects by their educational level and age. Table 24 presents the means of these attitudes.
Table 24. Subjects’ attitudes toward the persuasiveness of the felicity conditions by two types of beauty products (A=felicity conditions, B=beauty products, C=subjects)
C A B
Whole Education level Age
High Low Old Young
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5.2.1 General attitudes toward felicity conditions by subjects as a whole
According to Table 24, when the subjects are taken as a whole, their general attitude toward the felicity conditions on the whole is 3.15, meaning that the subjects are not strongly persuaded to believe that the advertisements can do what they claim to be capable of doing. The reason may be that the advertisements are too exaggerative to be true. For example, the advertisements promise that once the consumer use the product, it will serve multiple functions and solve all the skin problems, and she will be as beautiful as a superstar. Obviously, this kind of
advertisement is exaggerating. Thus, the subjects are not persuaded.
In terms of the persuasiveness of the individual felicity conditions, the subjects’
evaluation toward preparatory condition is 3.02, that toward sincerity condition is 3.27, and that toward essential condition is 3.05. These results indicate that among the three felicity conditions, the subjects take more positive attitude toward sincerity condition than toward the other two conditions. A possible explanation is that once the advertiser shows a little sincerity, the subjects tend to feel sincere and, thus, reliable.
On the other hand, preparatory condition and essential condition are not satisfied so easily as sincerity condition is. That is, the advertiser has to bring forward apparent evidence to prove that the advertisement is true, which needs great efforts. Therefore, both of the evaluations are less positive.
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5.2.2 Attitudes toward types of beauty products advertisements by subjects as a whole According to Table 24, in terms of the two types of beauty product ads, in
cosmetic ads, sincerity condition (Mean=2.99) is preferred to preparatory condition (Mean=2.72) and essential condition (Mean=2.83). That is, all of the subjects’
evaluations to these three felicity conditions are negative.
In skin-care ads, sincerity condition (Mean=3.55) is more favored than preparatory condition (Mean=3.31) and essential condition (Mean=3.21). Although the mean is above 3.00, the strength of persuasiveness is still not high (not over 4.00).
Moreover, the pattern is the same as that in cosmetic ads, which shows that the types of commodities make no difference. Again, a possible explanation is that only in sincerity do the subjects believe it to be true because the social norm of sincerity is easier to reach.
The gap between cosmetic ads and skin-care ads is apparently smaller in essential condition (with a difference of 0.38) than in preparatory condition (with a discrepancy of 0.59) and in sincerity condition (with a distinction of 0.56). A possible reason is that the promise in the advertisement cannot be verified so far; thus it is not reliable and persuasive.
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5.2.3 Attitudes toward felicity conditions and types of beauty products by subjects’ education level
According to Table 24, in terms of education level, the general attitude toward felicity conditions by the subjects of higher education level and that by the lower education subjects are 3.28 and 2.87, respectively, with a gap of 0.41. In other words, higher education subjects hold a positive attitude toward beauty product advertisements, but the lower education subjects a negative attitude. According to the subjects, it is likely that the lower education subjects have difficulty in understanding clearly the wording of the advertisements; therefore, they tend to reflect such insufficiency and insecurity of comprehension by holding a negative evaluation.
Next, when individual felicity conditions are taken into consideration, in preparatory condition, the mean offered by the higher education subjects is 3.20, and that by the lower education subjects is 2.70; in sincerity condition, it is 3.37 and 3.17, respectively; in essential condition, 3.28, and 2.76, respectively. These results indicate that it is only in evaluating sincerity condition do both of the two education groups offer positive attitudes, with the gap between the two groups being small. In evaluating the persuasiveness of the other two felicity conditions, the higher education group consistently gives positive evaluations, while the lower education group systematically offers negative attitudes. These results seem to imply that the lower
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education group, lacking the ability to understand the advertisements clearly or completely, unable to judge whether the felicity conditions are met, is faced to give a negative evaluation.
When the types of beauty products are taken into consideration, whatever the felicity conditions may be, the two education groups always give better evaluation to skin-care ads than to cosmetic ads. The subjects seem to think that skin-care ads are more persuasive than cosmetic ads. A possible reason from the subjects is that skin-care ads give concrete sense of the products to the consumer, and the consequence of using the skin-care products can be verified. However, cosmetic ads give abstract sense of the products, and the effects of using cosmetics cannot be verified clearly or directly. That is, whether the effects are good or not depends on individual preferences. For example, some females think that heavy make-up is good-looking, while others do not think so. As a result, the felicity conditions of skin-care ads are considered more persuasive than those of cosmetic ads.
5.2.4 Attitudes toward felicity conditions and types of beauty products by subjects’ age
The older group’s and the younger group’s general attitudes toward felicity conditions are 2.82 and 3.43, respectively, with a difference of 0.61. It is noticed that the older group holds a negative attitude, whereas the younger group holds a positive
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attitude. According to the subjects, the older group is against advertisements because they think the advertisements, which are primarily intended to earn money from the potential consumer, are exaggerative and untrue; while the younger group tends to consider advertisements as a tool to supply information, and thus tends to accept what the advertisements say and believe that they are true.
When the three individual felicity conditions are taken into consideration, the older group’s and the younger group’s evaluations of preparatory condition are 2.71
and 3.31, respectively; for sincerity condition, 2.88 and 3.65; for essential condition, 2.82 and 3.43. Based on these findings, a pattern similar to that mentioned in the previous paragraph is located: with the older group consistently scoring negatively lower than the younger group.
When the types of beauty products are taken into consideration, whatever the felicity conditions may be, the two age groups consistently give higher evaluations to skin-care ads than to cosmetic ads. It seems that the subjects, despite their age, think that the perspective of felicity conditions of skin-care ads are more persuasive than those of cosmetic ads. A possible explanation is that skin-care ads provide evidence for the consumer of the products because once they use the products, they themselves can verify whether the products are effective or not. On this basis, skin-care ads are more persuasive than cosmetic ads. On the other hand, the advertiser cannot promise
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that after using the cosmetics, the consumer will definitely look good as the advertisements describe or be comfortable with the way they look because the ways of using cosmetics may vary according to individual differences in skills of using cosmetics and individual preferences in delivering different self-images and ideologies through using cosmetics. Therefore, they hold more positive attitudes toward skin-care ads than toward cosmetic ads.
5.3 Subjects’ Attitude toward the Persuasiveness of CP Maxims in Advertisements In this section, the subjects’ attitudes toward the Cooperative Principle in
general and the four individual maxims are presented and analyzed, first, with the subjects as a whole, and then with subgroupings of the subjects by their educational level and age. Table 25 depicts the means of these attitudes related.
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Table 25. Subjects’ attitudes toward the persuasiveness of CP by two types of beauty products (A=CP, B=beauty products, C=subjects) C
5.3.1 General attitudes toward CP by subjects as a whole
According to Table 25, when all subjects are taken as a whole, the mean of their
general attitude toward the Cooperative Principle (CP, hereafter) is 3.41, which shows that the subjects’ attitude is positive, although not very strong.
In terms of the individual maxims of CP, the mean of the subjects’ attitude toward Quality Maxim is 3.11, that of Quantity Maxim is 3.46, that of Relevancy Maxim is 3.38, and that of Manner Maxim is 3.70. That is, Manner Maxim scores the highest, followed by Quantity Maxim, Relevancy Maxim, and Quality Maxim, in this order. According to the subjects, the testing advertisements are clear and the quantity
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of the information contained in them is sufficient.
5.3.2 Attitudes toward types of beauty products advertisements by subjects as a whole According to Table 25, in terms of two types of beauty product ads, in cosmetic ads, Manner Maxim (Mean=3.66) is preferred to Relevancy Maxim (Mean = 3.25), Quantity Maxim (Mean=3.16), and Quality Maxim (Mean=2.80). These results reveal that the subjects take a more positive attitude toward Manner Maxim. According to the subjects, it is very likely that in order to sell cosmetics successfully, which are associated with abstract image and ideology, the advertiser needs to give clear and understandable expressions to depict the cosmetic products.
In skin-care ads, Quantity Maxim (Mean=3.77) and Manner Maxim (Mean=3.72) are more favored than Relevancy Maxim (Mean=3.51) and Quality Maxim (Mean=3.42). Skin-care ads appeal to skin condition which is concrete by nature. As a result, the clarity of the advertisements has to be held, which is achieved by Manner Maxim. Besides, the quantity of information given is sufficient and clear enough for the subjects to understand the effects of the skin-care products.
Moreover, the gaps between the evaluations of the cosmetic ads and the skin-care ads are apparently larger in Quality Maxim (with a discrepancy of 0.62) and in Quantity Maxim (with a discrepancy of 0.61) than in Relevancy Maxim (with a difference of 0.26) and in Manner Maxim (with a difference of 0.06). These results
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suggest that in Quality Maxim and Quantity Maxim, the subjects’ attitudes are
influenced by the two types of commodities, while in Relevancy Maxim and Manner Maxim, the difference is inconspicuous. It is likely that the measurement of Relevancy Maxim and Manner Maxim are more objective by nature; that is, they can verify clearly; hence, the individual difference is not large. However, the Quality and Quantity aspects of advertisements depend more on the consumer’s personal judgments, and the individual difference is large. Thus, the subjects’ attitudes are influenced by the two types of commodities in Quality Maxim and Quantity Maxim, but there is no difference in the other two maxims.
5.3.3 Attitudes toward CP and types of beauty products by subjects’ education level
According to Table 25, in terms of the subjects’ education level, the means of the higher education group’s and the lower education group’s general attitudes toward
CP are 3.17 and 3.60, respectively, with a difference of 0.43. This result shows that from the perspective of cooperative maxims embedded in the advertisements, the lower education group is more positive toward beauty product advertisements. The reason may be that people of lower education level have more trust in advertisements, and are easier to believe what they are told; on the contrary, people of higher education level are skeptical of whatever they are told.
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When the individual maxims of CP are taken into consideration, it is found that to Quality Maxim, the higher education group’s evaluation is 2.95, and that of the
lower education group is 3.27; to Quantity Maxim, it is 2.87 and 4.06, respectively; to Relevancy Maxim, 3.26 and 3.47, respectively; to Manner Maxim, 3.60 and 3.69, respectively. These results indicate that the subjects of lower education level consistently take positive attitudes toward all of the four CP maxims applied in the advertisements, especially Quantity Maxim; however, the subjects of higher education level take positive attitudes only toward Manner Maxim and Relevancy Maxim, but negative attitudes toward Quality Maxim and Quantity Maxim of the advertisements.
It is likely that the subjects of higher education level are educated to put an emphasis on precision; hence, once they are faced with conditions unable to be evaluated clearly, they become skeptical. Also, although the lower education group systematically scores higher than the higher education group does, it is in their evaluations of Quantity Maxim of the advertisement that a conspicuous gap (with a difference of 1.09) is located. A possible reason is that people of lower education level, unlike people of higher education level, do not require so much information about the commodities they are to buy because they simply care about approximation.
When the types of the commodities are taken into consideration, whatever the maxims of CP maybe, the lower education group’s attitude is systematically more
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positive than the higher education group’s. Moreover, the lower education group’s evaluations of both types of commodities are consistently above 3.00, with skin-care ads scoring higher than cosmetic ads, especially in Quantity Maxim (4.35). Unlike the lower education group, the higher education group consistently scores below 3.00 in
cosmetic ads, except when evaluating Manner Maxim, for which the higher education group’s evaluation is above 3.00. In skin-care ads, the evaluations are systematically
above 3.00. These results imply that the lower education group is less demanding in advertisements and takes a more positive attitude; whereas the higher education group is more demanding in advertisements, and is educated to be practical, realistic, and to have the capability of independent thinking, which make them take a negative attitude toward the advertisements, especially those which cannot be verified. In conclusion, in those advertisements, the lower education group always scores higher than the higher education group, for the persuasiveness of every CP maxim.
5.3.4 Attitudes toward CP and Types of beauty products by subjects’ age
The older group’s general attitudes toward CP and the younger group’s are 3.53 and 3.33, respectively, with a difference of 0.20. It is noticed that both groups take a positive attitude toward CP, with the older group scoring slightly higher than the younger group. In other words, age is not an influential factor in this case.
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When the individual maxims of CP are taken into consideration, it is found that to Quality Maxim, the older group’s evaluation is 3.51, and that of the younger group
is 2.71; to Quantity Maxim, it is 3.54 and 3.39, respectively; to Relevancy Maxim, 3.44 and 3.41, respectively; to Manner Maxim, 3.63 and 3.84, respectively. According to these results, it is noticed that only in Manner Maxim does the younger group score higher than the older group. In evaluating the other three maxims, it is always the older group that scores higher. According to the subjects, older people, since they are not familiar with beauty products, they are less demanding with the advertisements in the aspect of Quality, Relevancy, and Quantity. Nevertheless, the younger group, who knows well about beauty products, makes stricter demands on advertisements, challenging the advertiser for the advertisements not being satisfactory in the perspectives of the truthfulness, the number, and the clarity of the advertisements.
When the types of beauty products are taken into consideration, the older group gives better evaluation to cosmetic ads in the aspects of Quality, Quantity, and Relevancy of the advertisements. The younger group surpasses the older group only
in the perspective of Manner how the beauty products are advertised. What’s more, younger group’s evaluation of Quality Maxim and Quantity Maxim of the
advertisements are both below 3.00, which indicates that the younger group does not quite believe in cosmetic ads. These results imply that the younger group is more
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familiar with the cosmetics; hence, they know well in the manners of cosmetic ads, and thus are more demanding in Quality Maxim and Quantity Maxim. As for the older subjects, they do not care too much about the content and quantity of the information
familiar with the cosmetics; hence, they know well in the manners of cosmetic ads, and thus are more demanding in Quality Maxim and Quantity Maxim. As for the older subjects, they do not care too much about the content and quantity of the information