Lewis H Glinert1. 1. Dartmouth College, Program in Linguistics and Cognitive Science, 6191 Bartlett Hall, Hanover, NH 03755, USA. lewis.h.glinert@dartmouth.edu
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The US Food and Drug Administration has called for research that may assist in developing standards for risk/benefit messages in the promotion of prescription drugs. Linguistics-based models of meaning and inference, though frequently applied to advertising, have not hitherto been used in this arena. OBJECTIVE: This study was intended to illustrate how discourse analysis, a methodology for microanalysis of texts in context, can elucidate the workings and interplay of promotional, informational, and other functions of direct-to-consumer drug advertising, anticipating threats to "fair balance" and pinpointing textual phenomena and issues suited to empirical study. METHODS: The text and visuals of a small corpus were analyzed along several dimensions, using theoretical insights of linguistic pragmatics and ethnography of speech to ask what the advertisement is seeking to do and what messages a viewer is likely to derive. RESULTS: The linguistic and rhetorical features include an intense switching and fusion of styles and modalities: the traditional advertising distinction between personal and impersonal, "company" and "consumer", was ostentatiously flouted. The role of spokesperson was assigned to characters in a real or virtual narrative. The narrative portion of the text and images often struck an ironic or postmodern note, eg, by mixing science with science fiction. The overall functions of the commercials (promotional, informational, and aesthetic) were themselves frequently blended. The text deployed several linguistic or rhetorical strategies to send a double message for promotional advantage, including syntactic-semantic ambiguity, voice-over risk messages at odds with upbeat visuals, and a vagueness of certain words in particular contexts. CONCLUSIONS: Findings contribute to our understanding of how TV commercials convey meaning with respect to drug benefits and risks, with implications for advertisers, regulators, and patient education. They also suggest new foci for empirical study.
BACKGROUND: The US Food and Drug Administration has called for research that may assist in developing standards for risk/benefit messages in the promotion of prescription drugs. Linguistics-based models of meaning and inference, though frequently applied to advertising, have not hitherto been used in this arena. OBJECTIVE: This study was intended to illustrate how discourse analysis, a methodology for microanalysis of texts in context, can elucidate the workings and interplay of promotional, informational, and other functions of direct-to-consumer drug advertising, anticipating threats to "fair balance" and pinpointing textual phenomena and issues suited to empirical study. METHODS: The text and visuals of a small corpus were analyzed along several dimensions, using theoretical insights of linguistic pragmatics and ethnography of speech to ask what the advertisement is seeking to do and what messages a viewer is likely to derive. RESULTS: The linguistic and rhetorical features include an intense switching and fusion of styles and modalities: the traditional advertising distinction between personal and impersonal, "company" and "consumer", was ostentatiously flouted. The role of spokesperson was assigned to characters in a real or virtual narrative. The narrative portion of the text and images often struck an ironic or postmodern note, eg, by mixing science with science fiction. The overall functions of the commercials (promotional, informational, and aesthetic) were themselves frequently blended. The text deployed several linguistic or rhetorical strategies to send a double message for promotional advantage, including syntactic-semantic ambiguity, voice-over risk messages at odds with upbeat visuals, and a vagueness of certain words in particular contexts. CONCLUSIONS: Findings contribute to our understanding of how TV commercials convey meaning with respect to drug benefits and risks, with implications for advertisers, regulators, and patient education. They also suggest new foci for empirical study.
Authors: Edward D McCoul; Alaa E Mohammed; Peter M Debbaneh; Maria Carratola; Amit S Patel Journal: JAMA Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg Date: 2019-07-01 Impact factor: 6.223
Authors: Adriane Fugh-Berman; Christina Pike McDonald; Alicia M Bell; Emily Catherine Bethards; Anthony R Scialli Journal: PLoS Med Date: 2011-03-15 Impact factor: 11.069