CHAPTER 3 POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN AMERICAN AND
3.5. The hybrid negative-positive politeness strategy in American and
As in Table 3.1, the hybrid negative-positive politeness strategy is the third popular politeness strategy used in Vietnamese magazine advertisements.
When investigating into linguistic realization of this hybrid, it is found that there is no significant difference in the use of this strategy in American and Vietnamese magazine advertisements. Most of the selected advertisements in this study employ the hybrid of negative – positive strategy by combining Impersonalize S and H and Offer/ Promise strategy. This combination can be explained by the fact that in advertising, in order to convince customers about the effectiveness of the products, ad-writers should emphasize on the objectivity when mentioning the distinctive features of the products. In order to do so, they can use the strategy Impersonalize S and H to ensure that the product or service itself is beneficial for the customers and then Offer/ Promise strategy will help customers to be aware of which specific benefits they can get from the product/
service. This combination can be seen in the following example taken from Vietnamese data:
(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.pragmatic.analysis.of.commercial.advertisements.in.american.and.vietnamese.magazines(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.pragmatic.analysis.of.commercial.advertisements.in.american.and.vietnamese.magazines(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.pragmatic.analysis.of.commercial.advertisements.in.american.and.vietnamese.magazines(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.pragmatic.analysis.of.commercial.advertisements.in.american.and.vietnamese.magazines(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.pragmatic.analysis.of.commercial.advertisements.in.american.and.vietnamese.magazines(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.pragmatic.analysis.of.commercial.advertisements.in.american.and.vietnamese.magazines(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.pragmatic.analysis.of.commercial.advertisements.in.american.and.vietnamese.magazines(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.pragmatic.analysis.of.commercial.advertisements.in.american.and.vietnamese.magazines
Advertisement 12:
Product: Anlene Milk
Description: Hồng Thy, a Vietnamese actress, is running with her aunt in a park.
They are smiling happily.
Text:
Anlene được thử nghiệm lâm sàng giúp bắt đầu làm giảm nguy cơ loãng xương trong vòng 4 tuần.
Từ tuổi 35, xương bắt đầu suy yếu, phụ nữ dễ có nguy cơ bị loãng xương hơn, ảnh hưởng đến cuộc sống năng động. Vì thế, hãy bắt đầu uống Anlene ngay hôm nay để giúp xương chắc khỏe và có thể chăm lo thật tốt cho gia đình, công việc.
Để biết thêm thông tin về sức khỏe xương, vui lòng gọi 1900599979 (miễn cước)
Anlene is clinically tested to help reduce the risk of osteoporosis within 4 weeks.
From the age of 35, the bones begin to weaken, and women are at greater risk for osteoporosis which can affect their active life. So start taking Anlene today to keep your bones healthy and be able to take care of your family and work.
For more information on bone health, call 1900599979 (free of charge).
The mixed strategy used in this advertisement is the combination of negative strategy Impersonalize “Anlene is clinically tested” and positive strategy Offer/promise “to help reduce the risk of osteoporosis within 4 weeks.”
This combination makes the advertisement is more persuasive when the product is wisely introduced with scientific evidence and its benefits. After that, the advert denotes the common phenomenon of middle-aged women “are at greater risk for osteoporosis”. Therefore, Anlene is an appropriate product to help them improve their health to “be able to take care of … family and work.”
The same type of combination can be found in American data as in the following example.
Advertisement 13:
Product: Eos shave cream
Description: the image of the product on pink background
(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.pragmatic.analysis.of.commercial.advertisements.in.american.and.vietnamese.magazines(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.pragmatic.analysis.of.commercial.advertisements.in.american.and.vietnamese.magazines(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.pragmatic.analysis.of.commercial.advertisements.in.american.and.vietnamese.magazines(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.pragmatic.analysis.of.commercial.advertisements.in.american.and.vietnamese.magazines(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.pragmatic.analysis.of.commercial.advertisements.in.american.and.vietnamese.magazines(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.pragmatic.analysis.of.commercial.advertisements.in.american.and.vietnamese.magazines(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.pragmatic.analysis.of.commercial.advertisements.in.american.and.vietnamese.magazines(LUAN.van.THAC.si).a.cross.cultural.pragmatic.analysis.of.commercial.advertisements.in.american.and.vietnamese.magazines
Text:
Be Irresistibly Soft and Smooth.
Eos shave cream is so rich and moisturizing, you can shave wet or dry.
Packed with natural shea butter, eos leaves your skin super-soft and irresistibly smooth.
The product advertised is Eos shave cream. The advertisement begins with two adjectival phrases to emphasize the special characteristics of the product “Irresistibly, soft and smooth.” It then continues with more explanation for this three features “eos shave cream is so rich and moisturizing, you can shave wet or dry.” Finally, it ends with the combination of the mixed strategy between Impersonalize S and H by the use of reduced passive clause “Packed with natural shea butter” and Offer/ Promise strategy “eos leaves your skin super-soft and irresistibly smooth.” Once again, the advertisement recalls the benefits of the product and persuades the customers to buy that product as it is not only effective but also natural and good for health.
To sum up, no significant difference has been found in the use of the hybrid Negative-positive strategy between American and Vietnamese magazine advertisements except for the difference in the proportion.