The implicit meaning in cosmetics advertisements and its negative implications a relevance theory approach

Abstract

The study seeks to analyze cosmetics advertisements with the bid to verity if the meaning in cosmetics advertisements is suggested or implied. The study also seeks to find out whether the language used in cosmetics advertisements play a negative role of the readers of the advertisements. The study will be within the framework of pragmatics and will seek to analyze the most relevant interpretation of the advertisements collected. Chapter one gives a general introduction to advertising and gives definitions of the terms to be used in the study. The characteristics of advertising will be discussed generally as an introduction to the study.

The study is not inclined to the effectiveness of advertising. The analysis of the cosmetic advertisements collected will be done using relevance theory. Chapter two is a general introduction to advertisements, the classification of advertising, the structure of print advertisements, the functions of advertisements, advertising as communication, the linguistic features of cosmetic advertisements, the placement of cosmetic advertisements in magazines and the application of relevance theory to the interpretation of cosmetic advertisements. I felt that this introduction is necessary because I cannot discuss the implicit meaning in cosmetic advertisements without first looking at general advertising.

Chapter three and four deal with the analysis of the data collected. Chapter three will analyze 100 textual adverts with the bid to verify whether cosmetics advertisements have meaning which is suggested or implied. In this chapter the language used in cosmetics advertisements will be analyzed to verify whether it has any negative effects on those who read them.

The reasons as to why cosmetic advertisers use implied claims will also be discussed in the chapter. Chapter four deals with an analysis based on a questionnaire issued to women in Thika town and Kandara district. The questionnaire seeks to analyze the language used in cosmetics advertisements and to find out what effect that language has on the readers of the advertisements. Chapter five gives a summary and conclusion of the study. It also gives recommendations to future studies.