A multimodal discourse analysis of toyota print advertisements

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES -*** ĐINH THỊ VÂN ANH A MULTIMODAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF TOYOTA PRINT ADVERTISEMENT (Phân tích diễn ngơn đa phương tiện quảng cáo in công ty Toyota) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.02 HANOI – 2018 Vietnam national university Hanoi University of languages and international studies Faculty of Post-graduate studies -***** ĐINH THỊ VÂN ANH A MULTIMODAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF TOYOTA PRINT ADVERTISEMENT (Phân tích diễn ngơn đa phương tiện quảng cáo in công ty Toyota) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field : English Linguistics Code : 8220201.02 Supervisor : Dr NGUYỄN THỊ THU HÀ HANOI – 2018 DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis, entitled “A multimodal discourse analysis of Toyota print advertisement” is a bona fide study done by me under the supervision of Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, University of Languages and International Studies during the academic year 2017-2018, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Degree of Master Program in English Linguistics (applied orientation) in University of Languages and International Studies This research has not been undertaken or submitted elsewhere in connection with any other academic course i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my whole-hearted gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Ha for her guidance and continuous help throughout the completion journey of this thesis The momentous support given by Dr Thu Ha is indescribable and her persistent patience is of a top-notch appreciation that will be always remembered Also, I would like to thank to my parents for their never-ending encouragement and extra-ordinary guidance They instantaneously helped through my hard times I am mightily thankful their sincere support and precious effort shown from the beginning up till the completion of this research Last but not least, a special thank is dedicated to my best friends for their moral support To them I say: “we meet to part, but more importantly we part to meet.” ii ABSTRACT This study is positioned within the multimodal discourse analysis domain, which attempts to reveal the relationship between multimodal discourse and the underlying social meanings, especially the message of environment protection and the link between human and nature The research aims to find out the answer to how visual and verbal elements are incorporated in Toyota‟s print advertisements to convey the message of environment protection apart from drawing the attention of the viewer to the main product Employing the framework of Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006) and Halliday‟s functional grammar (2014), the study has reached some main findings: (1) all the three meta-functions play their roles in representing the message of nature preservation in the five print advertisements, (2) the compositional meta-function seems to be most productive in conveying the message of nature protection, (3) the verbal elements and visual elements are synonymous to demonstrate the message and the brand image of Toyota and (4) the visual elements seem to be more powerful in conveying the message of nature protection in these advertisements LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND IMAGES iii Table Mood in clause (Halliday, 2014, p78) Table Mood and Theme relations in clause (Halliday, 2014, p78) Figure Main types of visual representational structure (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2006) Figure Procedure of the study Image Min emissions Image The planet‟s favorite hybrid Image Go green Go Prius Image Aim: zero emissions Image Myth iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND IMAGES iv PART INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study 1.2 Objectives of the study 1.3 Scope of the study 1.4 Methods of the study 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Organization of the thesis PART DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Discourse Analysis 1.2 Multimodal Discourse Analysis 1.3 Advertisements and Multimodal Discourse Analysis in advertisements 10 1.4 Kress and Van Leeuwen‟s grammar of visual design framework 11 1.5 Halliday‟s functional grammar 18 CHAPTER II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 21 2.1 Data of the study and some contextual background 21 2.2 Research procedure 22 v CHAPTER III: DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION…25 3.1 Data analysis 25 3.2 Findings and discussions 37 CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION 43 4.1 Summary of the study 43 4.2 Limitations of the study 44 4.3 Suggestions for further study 44 References 46 Appendices 48 Appendix I 48 Appendix II 49 Appendix III 50 Appendix IV 51 Appendix V 52 vi PART INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study Discourses are produced for a variety of purposes and classified into many types and forms such as digital or print As a matter of fact, the emergence and the fast increase in the popularity of multimodal discourse have downplayed the once leading role of traditional discourse of sole linguistic mode In almost all aspects of life, multimodal discourse, i.e the discourse that makes use of a few modes of communication such as color picture, sound, movement, and language, has become more appealing and more informative, especially in the arena of mass media One clear example of multimodal media genre is advertisement, which has received considerable attention from discourse analysts, who have been attempting to explain how different modes of communication can be combined to function in a discourse To name just a few, Af Lars Sorensen‟s research into professionals in films, television and photography business (2011) which aimed to find the visual communicative strategies and how the modes as well as the strategies were employed to persuade a professional audience A multimodal discourse analysis of advertisements of Hong Kong charity organizations by Ma Mei Lin Linda (2005) was conducted on three levels: micro, meso and macro to find out the language status of Chinese and English in charity advertisements in present-day Hongkong Moreover, another study applying multimodal approach is Chunyu Hu and Mengxi Luo‟s research on Tmall‟s double eleven advertisement (2016) which illustrated how visual components serve as a huge attraction to the viewers and effectively justify the composition behavior by appealing to the cultural and social state In addition, the multimodal discourse analysis in Indonesian print advertisements (2013) was conducted by Yusnita Febrianti, which aimed to look at how the multimodality of the semiotic resources in several Indonesian print advertisements expresses meaning of the visual elements and vice versa Furthermore, Maria Bortoluzzi also carried out a study on corporate identity in Total‟s 2005 advertising campaign in 2010 in order to analyze how the interplay between visual and verbal modes of communication constructs complex layers of meaning to enhance the advert‟s main claim To follow this trend of research into the multimodal discourse of advertisements, the current study focuses on how visual and linguistic resources can be used, independently or in combination, to construct a theme or a message in print advertisements In particular, this study will look at the advertisements of Prius from Toyota and the overall theme of environment protection Print advertisements as one of the media genres, plays a vital role in draining attention and shaping attitudes, especially in the aspect of environmental protection In recent years, sustainability and environment protection have become one of the most important factors in conducting a successful business, which creates the green image of the company in more depth From 1883 since the first modern automobile was invented, human only has strived to expand the car industry in order to meet the higher demand of people However, car industry is considered as one of the most air polluting industries That is why car manufacturers are trying to create more and more awareness about its influence on the Nature Therefore, almost all of car manufacturers have to adapt to those important factors and aim for sustainability The image of nature and environment protection can be found in print advertisements of many large companies such as Toyota or Ford However, the series of Prius from Toyota is considered as one of the most successful campaign for a hybrid car This company used various ways of media including print advertisements to promote the campaign That is why, About the interpersonal meta-function, except for the Min emissions advertisement which has both demand and offer gaze, the others could be defined as an offer gaze In addition, all advertisements have the camera angle at eye level which means the point of view is one of equality and there is no power difference The viewers and the represented participants are equal in performing the messages and receiving the messages It also denotes an involvement of viewers into the participants in the print advertisements Moreover, the viewers are given freedom when they see and evaluate the information they receive from these advertisements Last but not least, the composition of all advertisements can be identified as center margin The Prius car is positioned in the center of the image in order to attract the viewers to the main product and to make it stand out Moreover, the matter relating to the car which appears or doesn‟t appear in the advertisement is not much more important when the designers want their viewer to pay more attention to the main product Among five discussed print advertisements, there is an advertisement called Aim: zero emissions in which the car doesn‟t exist However, the viewers still know that the focus of this advertisement is also the car – Prius by using the text as well as the whole picture Because of the hand, the link between human and nature is created It also means that human will create things which are not harmful for the nature and Prius is one of that things People in general and the company in particular will strive to reduce the negative impact on the nature and the environment Toyota‟s cars are shown as a part of the natural world They are not machine anymore, but they are friendly towards nature These advertisements create a great impact on the viewers‟ mind, attitudes and also draw attention of them whenever they see the print advertisements of Toyota company Almost all of the advertisements, the brand image of Toyota is constructed as an environmentally friendly brand which is as powerful as 37 Nature At the same time, Toyota also provides the same product attributes of other car manufacturers All in all, Toyota company in their campaign relating to Prius is one of the most successful campaign of this company in the effort of building a sustainable and eco-friendly brand in the car industry through their communicative choices Toyota also underlines the vital role of having a positive impact on the environment, which encourages other car manufacturers trying to reach a more sustainable and friendlier to the Nature 3.2.2 The compositional meta-function seems to be most productive in conveying the message of nature protection The compositional meta-function includes information value, salience and framing, which are used to describe the connection among different components of the visual to one another and to the external elements in the context In these print advertisements, the main participants which are the Prius car and other nature images such as the sheep in Min emissions and the tree made by hand in Aim: zero emissions are the most salient, the most eyecatching elements in the composition These forms the largest and simplest elements in the print advertisements Moreover, these elements are also in sharper focus and receives the greatest amount of light Hence, the viewers‟ attention is not only drawn to the Prius car but also to the nature elements which are protected if they buy and use that car In addition, about the information value, as mentioned in each advertisement analysis, the main participants are placed in the center of the advertisements which help these elements stand out to have the viewers‟ attention In particular, from these advertisements, the viewers are not only attracted by the car but also by the harmlessness of it to our nature It can be as naïve and harmless as a sheep or it can help people save money and energy In terms of framing, the connection among the elements The degree to which a car is visually joined to other elements relating to nature through the absence of framing devices 38 and the similarities of vivid colors All in all, these features seem to be more productive in conveying the message of nature protection when using the Prius car, in drawing the viewers‟ attention to the product and in making the product become outstanding itself In short, it can be seen that among these advertisements, the compositional meta-function seems to be more productive in conveying the message by creating a strict connection between human, nature and the Prius car 3.2.3 The verbal elements are synonymous with the visual images As analyzed along with the visual elements above, it can be noticed that the visual elements and verbal elements are always synonymous, which are used to emphasize on a Hybrid car with advanced features to protect the nature and human Almost all of the verbal elements are declarative, imperative: You and imperative: You and me in Mood These kinds of Mood give the viewers the emphasis of the designers which relates to the car, a Prius and also help the designers to assign the role to the viewers Attracting them to outstanding features of a Hybrid car along with the environment protection message is one of the most important things of choosing these kinds of Mood In terms of Theme, with the main verbal elements of each advertisements which is placed in the center of the image and is bigger than others, the marked theme is mentioned It helps to draw the attention of the viewers to the product, a Prius car and the message of nature protection The harmony between verbal elements and visual elements can be seen obviously in these five print advertisements It can be concluded that the verbal elements and visual elements of five print advertisements are synonymous, which are used to create the harmonious relationship between nature and human (the car) In addition, the discourses going along with the images emphasize on the brand image of Toyota “the harmony between man, nature and machine” and the message of environment protection 39 3.2.4 The visual elements are probably more powerful than the verbal elements in conveying the message of nature protection in these advertisements As stated in finding 3, the visual elements and verbal elements are always synonymous when they are used to reveal the message about environment protection and draw the viewers‟ awareness about one of the most important issues recently However, it can be seen clearly that the visual elements are more effective to that In almost all of advertisements, the image of Nature is used as the backdrop which makes the car stand out and become the most outstanding thing in order to identify the meaning and to convey the message of environment protection through the various semiotic modes The visual placement of the car among the natural environment and the vivid colors enhance the association about the relationship between the machine and the Nature The use of trees, animals and other creatures of Nature along with the car builds up a strong and unique connection of the relationship between Human and Nature There is no doubt that visual elements play a vital role to convey the message of nature protection and draw the viewers‟ attention to not only one the environment – one of the most important issues – but also to the product itself The analyst‟s finding seems to be the same as the idea of Hecker and Stewart (1988) stated that: “Non-verbal communication will not only become a means for drawing attention to a verbal message, but also it will also become the message itself in many instances.” Visual elements can add more meaning to the thing that is basically neutral Images or pictures are worth a thousand words, therefore advertising designers usually try to visually communicate messages rather than bod down the viewers in heavy text In addition, it is also noteworthy that there is an advertisement in which linguistic elements are excluded altogether leaving the visual images the only mode of communication That shows how powerful visual images can be in 40 independently getting the message across Even in the advertisements where both visual and linguistic resources are utilized, the linguistic means often occupies much less space than the visual does It seems, in these advertisements, the visual always captures the most attention of the viewers due to the vivid colors of the nature and the arrangement of objects in the picture 41 CHAPTER IV CONCLUSION 4.1 Summary of the study This study is conducted within the multimodal discourse domain in order to explore how the images of Nature are represented in five print advertisements to convey the message of environment protection and the effect of these environmental advertisements to draw attention of the viewer to the main product and to strengthen the brand image Employing the framework of Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006) to analyze the images basing on the three meta-function including representational meta-function, compositional metafunction and interpersonal meta-function, the reached some findings Firstly, all the three meta-functions play their roles in representing the message of nature preservation in the five print advertisements In particular, the compositional meta-function seems to be more proactive to reveal the message The image of Nature is represented visually and verbally A frontal angle is used to attract the viewer and allow them to evaluate and understand these advertisements freely There are a lot of symbols which are used to illustrate for the image of the Nature such as a sheep, a tree, mythological creatures or a forest Therefore, it can be seen easily the harmony relationship between human Another finding is that the verbal elements and the visual elements are synonymous to illustrate the brand image of Toyota and convey the message of environment protection The emphasis on both personal which is beneficial for customers and social benefits; thus, underlining the added value to the environment itself The associations anchor value of the car making it become outstanding from the rest of the car manufacturers, which helps to strengthen the brand image of Toyota in car industry It draws the attention of the 42 viewers in both the product – the Prius – and a successful green image of Toyota, which this company is trying to create through the series of Prius – a eco-friendly hybrid car Last but not least, the visual elements are more attractive and productive to draw the viewers‟ attention to the message of nature protection and the Prius car Images or pictures can more than words can The visual elements can become the most effective and persuasive mean in print advertisements in general and in Toyota‟s Prius car print advertisements in particular 4.2 Limitations of the study As this is her first attempt to embark in multimodality, the researcher has tried her best to apply her knowledge of and skills related to discourse analysis, and multimodal discourse analysis in particular, into this study However, her analysis cannot be said to be exhaustive, but it should be seen as a fair demonstration of how a multimodal discourse analysis can be done Moreover, the interpretation of the visual may at times sound subjective However, the researcher has tried her best to draw on the prescribed framework, and that issue has been debated as far as visual interpretation is concerned In other words, controversies are still inherent in any work of visual interpretation In additional, as the nature of a qualitative study, the findings are not to be generalized They are the results of detailed analysis and observation, which contribute to the general understanding of how different modes of communication can be utilized in meaning making 4.3 Suggestions for further study In order to explore more thoroughly into the subject of multimodality and advertisement, there are several suggestions for further studies on this topic such as: 43 - Multimodal analysis in different kinds of discourse: TV commercial, poster, banner, book or magazine cover pages, etc in terms of culturedependence - Multimodal analysis of Toyota print advertisements compared to other car manufacturers - The visual communicative strategies used by film makers, advertisement designers or photographers to draw the attention of viewers 44 References Af Lars, S (2011) A multimodal approach for advertising for professionals in the film, television and photography business BA- Thesis in Marketing and Management communication, May 2011 Barthes, R (1977) The photographic message In R Barthes, Image, music, text Hill and Wang Barthes, R (1977) Rhetoric of the image, In R Barthes, Image, music, text Hill and Wang Blerina, B (2003) Understanding culture through images, The Netherlands Brown, G and Yule, G (1983) Discourse analysis Cambridge: Cambridge university Press Corbett, J B (2006) Communication nature: How we create and understand environmental messages Washington: Island Press Cook, G (2001) The discourse of advertising London: Routledge Chunyu, H and Mengxi, L (2016) A multimodal discourse analysis of Tmall’s Double Eleven advertisement English language teaching, Vol 9, No.8, 2016 Goldman, R (1992) Reading ads socially Psychology Press Halliday, Michael A.K (1978): Language as social semiotic: The social interpretation of language and meaning Maryland University Park Press Halliday, Michael A.K (1994): An introduction to Functional Grammar (2nd edition) London: Arnold Halliday, Michael A.K (2014): An introduction to Functional Grammar (4th edition) London: Routledge Hecker, S and Stewart, D.W (1988): Nonverbal communication: Advertising’s forgotten elements in Nonverbal communication in Advertising Lexington, MA: Lexington 45 Jewitt, C (2009): The handbook of multimodal analysis London: Routledge Kress, G and Van Leeuwen, T (2001): Multimodal Discourse: The modes and media of contemporary communication London: Arnold Kress, G and Van Leeuwen, T (2006): Reading images: The grammar of visual design (2nd edition) Oxford: Routledge Kress, G and Van Leeuwen, T (2002): Color as a semiotic mode: notes for a grammar of color Visual communication MaMei, L L (2005) Multimodal discourse analysis of advertisements of Hongkong charity organizations The HKU Scholars Hub, The university of Hongkong, 2005 Machin, D (2007) An introduction to multimodal analysis London: Routledge Maria, B (2010) Energy and its double: a case-study in Critical multimodal discourse analysis University of Udine, 2010 Stockl, H (2004) In between modes: language and image in print media John Benjamins Williamson, J (1987) Decoding advertisements ideology and meaning in advertising London: Marion Boyars Press Yusnita, F (2005) Multimodal discourse analysis in Indonesian print advertisements State university of Malang, 2005 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/automobile http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/02/03/a-prius-brake-issue-adds-totoyotas-woes/ http://www.toyotaglobal.com/company/vision_philosophy/toyota_global_vision_2020.htlm https://www.adsoftheworld.com/taxonomy/brand/toyota 46 Appendices Appendix I: Min emissions 47 Appendix II: The planet‟s favorite hybrid 48 Appendix III: Go green Go Prius Appendix IV: Aim: zero emissions 49 Appendix V: Myth 50 51 ... theoretical background of discourse analysis, multimodal discourse analysis, advertisements and multimodal discourse analysis in advertisements Moreover, the backbone frameworks used in this study are... are also dealt with: Kress and Van Leeuwen (2016) and Halliday‟s functional grammar (2014) 1.1 Discourse Analysis (DA) Discourse analysis is a general term that stands for several various approaches...Vietnam national university Hanoi University of languages and international studies Faculty of Post-graduate studies -***** ĐINH THỊ VÂN ANH A MULTIMODAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF TOYOTA PRINT