ARAB OPEN UNIVERSITY – LEBANON

You B Lovin' it: Language Analysis of Mc Donald’s advertisement

RESEARCH SUBMITTED TO

DR HAYAT AL-KHATIB

ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE PROGRAMME COORDINATOR

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF

UNITED KINGDOM OPEN UNIVERSITY/ARAB OPEN UNIVERSITY

BACHELOR DEGREE

ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

Alissar Wajdi Salha

May 2010

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1: Introduction ----------------------------------------- p. 4

Chapter 2: Literature review ------------------------------------ p. 6

Chapter 3: Data collection -------------------------------------- p. 10

Chapter 4: Methodology ---------------------------------------- p. 11

4.1 Data Presentation

4.2 Ethical issues

4.3 Data Analysis

Chapter 5: Findings and Interpretation ------------------------------------ p.13

Chapter 6: Conclusion ----------------------------------------- p.26

References ---------------------------------------------------------- p. 27

Appendix

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Acknowledgments

Sincere thanks go to Dr. Hayat Al-Khatib for her insightful guidance and earnest help

through the searching, analysis and paper-writing stages.

Special thanks to my parent for love and support.

I would like to thank my friends Rami and Maya for their help and for encouraging me

and giving useful advice.

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Introduction

Advertisement is mostly done in English. Advertisement has unique features; simple

language and immense attraction. The success of advertisement can be identified by

assessing the effectiveness of these components in transmitting the messages.

Advertising has different functions. First, to provide information;

Second to attract consumers; third to exploit the market; finally to guarantee the

quality in the product. Hence, advertisement must pay attention to its

language.

Advertising language is different from common language .It has its

own features in morphology, syntax, and rhetorical devices .There are

different types of advertisements , they vary according to their target audience , the

product or other aspects.

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Aim of investigation

The aim is to analyze the features of different kinds of advertisements, to

find out the characteristics that make advertisements successful:

*The types of language the advertisers use to promote their product.

*What is the effect of language forms and language structures in specific advertisements.

*How do advertisers in Mc Donald’s use language structures and features to convince

consumers to buy their product?

*Analysis and explanation of language forms and structures and features and their

relationship to textual purpose.

*Understanding advertisement analysis of the features ad compositional structures of

visual images.

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Literature Review

Advertisement can be approached through semiotic. In semiotics, the

basic unit of communication is the sign, which is made up of a signifier (for

our purposes here, the linguistic or visual representation) and a signified (the

concept it represents).

Signs are culturally situated – they mean different things to members of a language

community or wider society. For Peirce, the sign also comprises signifier and signified,

but he divides signs themselves into three types. Symbolic signs are those where the

signifier does not resemble the signified – meaning is arbitrary and culturally learnt and

understood (such as the use of the color red for a Stop sign, or a linguistic sign – the word

‘cat’ for the animal). Iconic signs are those where a resemblance can be perceived, such

as a portrait of someone. Indexical signs often have some kind of causal relationship

between signifier and signified: smoke is an index of fire.

The semiotics analysis of images and other nonverbal signs is made much more

effective by some of Peirce’s distinctions. Although language is the most striking form of

human sign production, the whole of our social world is pervaded by messages which

contain visual as well as linguistic signs, or which are exclusively visual. There is a

material signifier expressing sign, and a mental concept, a signified, which immediately

accompanies it. Visual signs also belong to coder, are arranged in syntagms, and selected

from paradigms.

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Such words can stimulate envy, dreams and desires by evoking looks, touch, taste,

smell, and sounds without actually misrepresenting a product. Among the adjectives,

“new” is probably the favorite one. According to the research of choice of words in

advertising by linguist G. N. Leech, the most frequently used 20 words are:

1. New 2.good/best 3.free 4.fresh 5.delicious 6.full 7.sure 8.clean 9.wonderful

10.special 11.crisp 12.fine 13.big 14.great 15.real 16.easy 17.bright 18.extra

19.safe 20.rich

The interrogative sentence is very favorable in advertising copy writing. According to

statistics, there is an interrogative sentence among every 30 sentences. In the explanation

of the high frequency of the use of interrogative sentences, Linguist G.N. Leech , (1997)

discusses two main functions of interrogative sentences.

From Critical Discourse Analysis perspective , Fairclough (1992)regards “discourse”

as language use ,a form of social practice rather than an individual activity or a reflex of

situational variables. This implies that discourse is a mode of social action and

representation, and relates to social structure dialectically” (Fairclough 1992:63-64).From

this view, discourse isn’t only shaped by social structure , but also socially constitutive of

“social identities”, “social relationships” and “system of knowledge and belief”

.According to Fairclough (1992:64-65), this conception social construction in discourse

can be realized in Halliday’s systemic functional linguistics ,in which “social identities”

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and “system of knowledge and belief ”correspond to “ideational” function and “social

relation” to interpersonal “function”.

Halliday (1994) agrees with the social aspects of discourse in Faircloughs CDA

mentioning that a text is created by its context , the semiotic environment of people and

their activities that we have construed via the concepts of field ,tenor and mode ;it also

creates that context .In more detail ,Halliday sees language as” a complex semiotic

system , having various levels, or strata” ,particularly , broadly three levels: Semantics

lexico grammar. In particular, in relation take content level, language helps us make

sense of our experience and carry out our interactions with other people: the experience

and interpersonal relationships are transformed into meaning, then the meaning is

transformed into wording- these could be the way around from the point of view of a

speaker (writer) or listener (reader). In this regard, a text is modeled as the simultaneous

exchange of 3 types of meaning or metafunction _ ideational meaning about construction

and representation of the experience in the worlds ,interpersonal meanings(meaning

about the enactment of social relations and the construction of social identities )and

textual meanings (meaning about the message, the specifically semiotic-textual form of

productive practice). The meanings are realized by clauses(or rather clauses as part of

clause complexes )and every clause is displayed as constitution of grammatical systems,

such as transitivity, mood and modality, and theme, corresponding to the 3 Meta

functions above respectively. As a consequence, according to fairclaugh “the social is

built into the grammatical tissue of language so that the semiotic constitution by the

social and the social is constantly at issue in language analysis”.

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Among these 3 Meta functions, transitivity and appraisal which correspond to

ideational and interpersonal Meta functions respectively will be used for analysis through

the study. Transitivity is represented a configuration of a process, participants and

circumstances (Halliday 1994). In particular, this is ‘the grammar of processes’

(Halliday) the process types, which correspond to verbal groups in clauses, determines

the experiential configuration in the system of transitivity. Appraisal analysis examines

attitudinal meanings, encoding feelings, attitudes and judgments through the lexical

choices such as verbal groups, nominal groups, adjectival and adverbial groups.

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The collected data:

My data based on pictures I found to show how the picture interacts with verbal data

to transmit the message. The data of my project are advertisements of MC Donald’s.

Each advertisement represents a specific ideology through the language used as the text

in association to the visual element as the picture.

Since in working with printed material that is intended for public display there will be

no need for privacy and approval from the advertising department of MAC Donald’s. The

participant names in the questionnaire will not be acknowledged in order to keep their

views anonymous.

Ethical issue

Our analysis the text both visually and grammatically .Visually by analyzing the

themes behind pictures and what message they are trying to convey. From the

Grammatical perspective I will analysis the syntax of the advertisements. How the

message works with the picture to unify the theme of the advertisement.

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Methodology

Every approach to studying language is coupled with a different methodology that is

appropriate for its aims and purpose. first ,Ferdinand De Sessuare model of

communication in order to convey the messages that are put in the advertisement. Second

through Micheal Halliday model and finally, Fairclough model.

A first research strategy is Semiotics relies on an understanding of social and cultural

connotations to find the meaning of the linguistic or visual sign in the text.

De Saussure organized signs into codes: paradigms and syntagms. The dimensions of

paradigms and syntagms are often presented as axes, where the vertical axis is

paradigmatic and the horizontal axis syntagmatic. Advertising discourse can also be

presented on two axes: that of text and of context.

We equate context with a paradigm, and text with a syntagm.

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Fairclough (1992:87) insists that ideologies are “signification / constructions of

reality (the physical world, social relations ,social identities ) ,which are built into

various dimensions of the form/meanings of discursive practices , which contributes to

the production , reproduction or transformation of relations of domination”. As a

consequence, meanings and linguistically formal features of text s maybe ideologically

invested.

The change in Mac Donald’s discourse will be discussed in relation to ideological

aspects , since ideology may influence in building formal linguistic features and meaning

in discourse.

There are two major methodologies which are the quantitative and qualitative

methodologies. Quantitative research, draw conclusions that are based on evidence taken

from data .While, the corpus linguistic is quantitative methodology its depends on

linguistic statistical data. A researcher use of the findings to conjure up reasons why we

use the language in the way we do.

Functional grammar is qualitative strategy it focuses how language works. In

structural grammar, there are basic structural labels for parts of speech such as a noun,

verb, adjective…

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Findings and Interpretation

The first step is to use popular and oral language to make it easy to memorize and

understand. Advertising English must be compact, vivid , visual ,emotional and

attractive. Therefore, morphology in advertising is quite different from common English.

Where people prefer to eat at?

Mc Donald’s 31 50.00%

KFC 17 27.42%

Pizza Hut 10 16.13%

These are bad for you! Health foods all the way!!! 4 6.45%

Does people like logo”M"?

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Questionnaire shows that Mc Donald’s they use language to sell their product, words

used in ads of Mc Donald’s should be clear, and true. Language could be used to affect

people and make advertisement more attractive .In addition to that, advertisements in

should use the right and the right act. Finally, the language is affecting our cultural

believes so, it should be more studied

A study of vocabulary used in advertising listed the most common adjectives and verbs in order of frequency. They are:

Adjectives Verbs

1. new 1. make 2. good/better/best 2. get 3. free 3. give 4. fresh 4. have 5. delicious 5. see 6. full 6. buy

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7. sure 7. come 8. clean 8. go 9. wonderful 9. know 10. special 10. keep 11. crisp 11. look 12. fine 12. need 13. big 13. love 14. great 14. use 15. real 15. feel 16. easy 16. like 17. bright 17. choose 18. extra 18. take 19. safe 19. start 20. rich 20. taste Good and new were over twice as popular as any other adjective.

-Lexical feature of Mc Donald’s advertising Language

Use of First and Second Personal Pronouns

Pronouns of the first and second person: “we”, “I” and “you” outnumber the other

pronouns in advertisements. It is because that “you”, “we” and “I” help create a friend-

like intimate atmosphere to move and persuade the audience. Advertisements with lots of

pronouns of the first and second person are called gossip advertisements .The use of

second person addressee “you” tends to shorten the distance between the product or the

producer and consumers, as if the producer or the advertiser is speaking to you face to

face, making sincere promises, honest recommendations. In addition to that, the

advertising slogans stand a better chance to move the receiver or customers to action,

because the receiver feels that he is being thought of and taken care of and he is the

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center point of the producers.

Use of Emotive or Evaluative Adjectives

As an example: New Big Meal…..

Among these words, “new” is the most common one, which shows people’s desire for

original idea and fresh concept. An American advertising expert once said, “The most

powerful words you can use in a headline are free and new.”

Use of Compound Words

A compound word can be composed of all parts of speech and the arranging of words is

very flexible, therefore admen can fully take the advantage of it and make the

advertisement copy more creative. A compound word in ad can be a. + n.; adv. + n.; v +

ing + a; n + v + ed; adv + v. + ing.

Use of Coined Words

Coined words are both new and memorable. Coined words are kind of smart words

that have special meaning in the specified context. They can raise the interests of the

advertisement headline receivers, make them ponder upon the meaning and marvel at the

smart idea of the admen. They recognize the brand.

For example: Food: What could be dilisher than fisher?

Frequent Use of Simple Sentences

Advertisers often use simple sentences to make a message more striking. The

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advertising readers would not give too much time on advertisement reading and they are

often impatient to read long and complex sentences. In addition, short and simple

sentences can bring succinct and confident feeling to the reader.

All the sentences in advertisement of Mc Donald’s are very simple and oral. And the

longest sentence in it has no more than 27 words while on average there are only 8 words

in one sentence. Moreover, the sentences are easy to understand and read natural and

friendly.

As an example: I’m love in it

Interrogative Sentences

Interrogative sentences decrease the grammatical difficulty, because they are usually

short in advertisements.

Imperative Sentences

Imperative sentences give a command or make a request. And they are usually short

and powerful sentences. Although it’s just a few words, the admen don’t let it go at that.

They use every opportunity to exhort the potential customers to act, to buy and to

consume. It is the most direct way to achieve the ideal effect. So come into McDonald's

and enjoy a Big Mac Sandwich (-Mac Sandwich)Imperative sentence.

Use of the Active Voice

Admen are fond of the active voice instead of the passive voice. Passive voice is

usually avoided because it gives the audience an indirect and unnatural feeling. In daily

communication, passive voice is seldom used; so is in advertisements.

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There are two problems with the passive voice. Sentences often become dense and

clumsy when they’re filled with passive constructions. The more serious danger of the

passive voice, though, is that it lets the writer shirk the responsibility of providing a

subject for the verb.

Use of the Present Tense

The present tense prevails in most advertisements because it implies a universal

timelessness. On the occasions where the present tense or the present perfect tense is

used, it stresses the long traditions associated with a product

A rhetorical approach to advertising language will rest on three premises:

1) that variations in the style of advertising language, in particular the presence of

rhetorical figures, can be expected to have important consequences for how the ad is

processed.

2) that these consequences can in turn be derived from the formal properties of the

rhetorical figures them-selves.

3) that these formal properties are systematically interrelated.

Let discuss the example below:

1. Well make hotter, fresher food that’s better tasting.

2. Well serve customers faster, make sure they get what they ordered and be

friendlier while doing it.

3. This has many facets an important one is food tastes.

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4. So, were looking a tour menu to make sure it has the taste you want at a price you

want to pay.

5. Make customers happy with everyday low prices and outstanding restaurant

operation.

Example one food is evaluate as “hotter”, “fresher”and better tasting ,example 5

describes emotions of (customers) as “happy” by the means of appreciated( food).In the

lexical items “the taste u want at a price you want to pay”(attribute)in example 4,interm

of transitivity ,”the taste” is qualified by “you want at a price you want to pay” as an

embedded clause, and again “a price” is also qualified by “u want to pay”. Here, the taste

and the price of food are depending on the happiness from (customers).In example 5”with

every low price” circumstances: manner means is represented as food, to be used to cause

happiness of customers. As a consequence , Mc Donald’s as attributor makes food and

customers very closely connected by the embedding or the circum stances .Furthermore

,particularly ,in relation to taste. In example 3interm of transitivity Mc Donald’s

identifies “food tastes” token as” important one “(value) with thematizing “important

one”. It doesn’t simply mean the “food tastes” is important , but mean that food tastes is

the key element to make the value gap which is the second priority in Mc Donald’s

business .Also importantly ,Mc Donald’s its self senses food and consumers wants and

likes, realized by high probability of modality in 2 clauses complexes(example 2,3).

In example 1 and 2 workers is represented as a plural pronoun ‘we’. This inevitably

collapses the massive differences between employer and employee or between boss and

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workers and in doing so creates an ideological relation between customers and workers

and also food and workers.

Mc Donald’s focuses on its ‘taste’ to attract more customers into the restaurant. In this

relation, a customer is construed as a key factor to make decision on food to increase

McDonald’s market share.

1. Keep your eye on the fries when we refer to the first challenge.

2. Clearly, we are keeping our eyes on our fries.

In example 1, the clausal expression “Keep your eye on the fries” leads the readers

to implicitly evaluate food with is the core business of Mc Donald’s as in moral aspects

(judgment, propriety). In eg.2, the moral evaluation on food is more focused and

convinced by the lexical item ‘Clearly’ graduation (focus) which means that Mc Donald’s

keeps, focusing on its care business to ensure that it makes more profits.

In constructing the relationships, it has used different ideological strategies with

turning its attention from mainly its products and customers into new social and cultural

matter and issues.

The choice of vocabulary in a persuasive advertisement would give the people certain

information when having to know the advertisement into another language and culture.

Semiotics is a well-established approach to the study of language and other forms of

communication which are socially and culturally meaningful. Its fundamental premise is

that we use signs – words (both spoken and written), images, clothing, gesture – to

communicate meaning. Formalism focused on the form and structure of language, the

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message for its own sake, and evolved into structuralism. A semiotic framework is

applicable to language, images, photographs, diagrams – any aspect of the text which

can be seen to carry meaning. Semiotics also helps to account for meaning created by

letterforms, typeface and page layout – often highly creative elements of the text which

lie outside what linguists often admit as ‘language’.

Signs in an advertisement

The arches were a design to be used in a building and that has created the unique

nature of the “M”. It does rely on colour, in that you might not recognize it as

McDonald’s if it was not yellow and red

The psychology of the colours used is another widely discussed topic, especially when

it comes to advertising. The red is believed to be the colour of aggressiveness, passion,

vitality, and strength. Furthermore, it is known to raise blood pressure and evoke hunger.

The McDonald’s logo is using a loosely analogous colour palette with a dominant

yellow. “Yellow, much like red, can have conflicting messages. It can represent sunshine

and happiness or caution and cowardice. Yellow is bright and highly visible which is why

it can often be found on caution and other road signs. Yellow is often used in logo design

to get attention, create happiness and warmth.” May be that is why most of McDonald’s

road signs are lighted in bright yellow, while the interior of the restaurants is usually

accompanied by red couches and accessories.(EXTRACT 1)

Baby McFry is a photograph of a toddler. On the level of denotation, then, we

could say it denotes that particular child, wearing those particular clothes, at the

particular time the photograph was taken. On the connotative level, though, the image

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is complex. It is made up of component signs. Connotations evoked by signs are not

universal – different people may read any image in different ways. Images also require

some interpretative effort on the part of the reader: the more time you spend looking at

them, the more you will probably see. For example, you may look at Baby McFry and

immediately recognize the McDonald's corporate logo (known as the ‘Golden Arches’,

due to the shape of the letter M). It is one of the best known logos in the world. You

might then decide that the bib and hat are significant – for you, these may connote

pleasure, distaste, or neither, but quite possibly a feeling you associate with a trip to

McDonald's.

Bignell also discusses codes in his reading, a discussion which relates to the

principle of selection and combination .Signs are selected from a paradigm – a set

of possible signs in a given category, such as nouns, jackets, colures. Here we have

a white (not Asian or Black for example) child (not a man, not an adolescent, not a

grandfather), with a McDonald's bib (not a different bib), and so on. These are

combined along the syntagm – in a sentence, this would be the linear order of the

words, but in an image it is the spatial arrangement. Because on the paradigmatic

and syntagmatic axes elements have been selected and combined, it is often

illuminating to consider what elements were not selected, and how a different

combination would have changed the meaning.

All the advertisement actually shows (denotes) is a fairly plump-looking baby,

probably between 12 and 18 months old, wearing a McDonald's bib and a paper hat

with an image of chips printed on it. So it would be quite possible to read this as an

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advertisement for McDonald's itself, or as a children's party invitation, or a family

snap.

McDonald's is a global brand; many people know that it has been targeted by anti-

capitalism activists, who raise concerns about the environmental damage they

believe stems from the production of ‘fast food’; by those who want to replace what

have been termed ‘Mc Jobs’ with better long-term career options and pay for young

people; by health professionals concerned with the projected rise in obesity

attributable, in part, to excessive consumption of fast food; and by those concerned

that the global expansion of McDonald's rides roughshod over local cultural

traditions. When viewing this advertisement, you may or may not have access to all

of this background information. Your interpretation of this spoof advertisement

therefore depends on your recognition (or not) of at least some of the current

controversies, your attitudes towards them, and perhaps your attitudes to advertising

in general. Your experience of such texts (and indeed any other text) is dependent

also on your cultural context, and social and political factors: you may be fully

aware of the opposition to McDonald's but think it entirely unreasonable. We return

later to this point in Reading B, where the meanings of the words and images in

postcolonial picture books are discussed.(EXTRACT 2)

McDonalds’ wish to all Islamic nations including Morocco “Aid Mubarak”:(Extract

3).

Very important aspect of the globalization of McDonalds in Morocco is the

certification of Halal meat. Actually, religion is taken into consideration by the

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corporation in order to make people eat in its restaurants. Culinary specialties proposed

by McDonalds are definitely respecting the culture, the religion and the expectations of

Moroccans. Eating Halal meat is primordial within Moroccan society. Thus, McDonalds

Morocco is offering and promoting for its 100% Halal meat by writing it clearly in all

advertisements and restaurants. The selection of suppliers is made in respect of these

values, based on the advice of experts in agriculture, microbiologists, nutritionists and

specialists in the food industry as clarified by Adam Wade in Aujourd’hui le Maroc. The

regular audits are conducted in the centers of production and distribution in which

McDonald's Morocco purchase. Hygiene is an essential aspect for the group. Strict rules

concerning restaurants and kitchens are designed to be regularly cleaned and sanitized

according to severe procedures. In fine, Moroccans would appreciate how McDonalds is

strictly following home’s values and traditions.

One example that illustrates strongly that McDonalds try to connect local tastes and

needs to its base products is offering the Mc Arabia to Moroccan consumers. The Mc

Arabia describes “as a new sandwich added to its well-loved menu in the Arabic region”.

Actually, it is described that Mc Arabia Grilled Kofta ad Chicken is another fruit of

customers' demands for a sandwich that is rich in local taste. The new sandwich is made

of two patties of grilled Kofta dressed with tahina sauce, lettuce, tomatoes and onions; all

wrapped in Arabic bread explains the McDonalds Arabia website. Concerning its

advertisement, its name in Moroccan billboards is written in Arabic; in fact, that word is

a transliteration of the English word "Arabia" rendering it as: أرابيا, as opposed to maybe

using the Arabic word عربية.

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McDonald’s advertizes by globalizing the way in which its restaurants are used.

McDonalds is adapting the architecture, the design, and the decoration of the restaurant to

local culture. Inspired by local architecture, Mc Donald's Fez has a terrace with views

over the Medina and is decorated with polychrome zelliges, carved wood… which

characterizes the Moroccan city. In Morocco, the menu of McDonalds is not totally

different from the one in the USA or European countries, but the restaurants are

presented as local places to linger, often for hours, over a snack. It organizes children's

birthday parties and employs female receptionists who deal with children and talk to

parents. McDonalds Morocco advertizing is based on the local culture by using local

decorations in its restaurants.(Extract 4)

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Conclusion

Education is the key of successful advertisement .Through knowing skills of language

which are linguistics and functional grammar analysis of language then language become

persuade and clear to people to understand the ideas and words or realize how an

ideology held.

Language has a powerful influence over people and their behavior. This is especially

true in the fields of marketing and advertising. The choice of language to convey specific

messages with the intention of influencing people is vitally important. Visual content and

design in advertising have a very great impact on the consumer, but it is language that

helps people to identify a product and remember it.

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Reference:

Halliday, M.A.K, An Introduction to Functional Grammar.(second edition).London:

Arnold .1994(1995)

http://www.fask.uni-

mainz.de/inst/iaa/anglophonie/second/biblio/Language%20and%20Power.pdf

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem01.html

Fairclough, N. (1992). Discovers and Social change. Cambridge Polity press.

Halliday. M.A.K. (1994). Introduction of functional grammar. London Edward Arnold

Halliday. M.A.K. and Mattniessen, C.(2004) .An introduction to functional grammar, 3rd

edition. New York: Oxford University Press

Text (Data):

• Later to Share holders(2006)

• http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/invest/pub/2006-Annual-Report.html

• Later to Share holders(2006)

• http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/invest/pub/annual-rpt-archives/1997-annval

• Tutorial Reference: Al-khatib, H., 2010, E300.Book U210b.

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Extract 1

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Extract 3

Extract 4

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