Chapter 5 Qualitative Analyses of the Interviews
5.3 Subjects’ Attitude toward the Persuasiveness of CP Maxims
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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 provided in the advertisements; thus, they take a more positive attitude. In skin-care ads, because the nature of this kind of advertisements is more concrete and definite, the younger group gives better evaluation to Manner Maxim, Relevancy Maxim, and Quantity Maxim than the older group does. However, for Quality Maxim, it is the older subjects that take a more positive attitude because their expectation and demand
for the truthfulness of the contents of the advertisements are weaker than the younger subjects’.
5.4 Subjects’ Attitude toward the Persuasiveness of PP Maxims in Advertisements