Discourse Analysis 1
Content Structure
The image above represents a vintage bottle of Palmolive Dishwashing Liquid from 1985, the container is a common transparent one with a handle. The label on the front side of the bottle showcases an advertisement that proclaims Soften hands while you do dishes, an image of a well-kept hand posing with a shiny glass is seen at the side of the phrase.
Genre Structure
This is a product. The image shows clearly a bottle of dish soap with an ad that informs the buyer of a new milder formula used in the product, which has a targeted intention to not only clean dishes (which is the original objective), but it has a secondary purpose to soften hands. The ad shows the true intended buyer is: women, who are largely targetted as the primary users.
Rhetorical Structure
The label on the Palmolive dish soap is the theme of the product, which is to target a specific audience who gains from using this specific brand of dish soap. Mainly women are targeted for this because of the vintage attribute of the bottle, as they were the head of the household who were in charge of buying the groceries and keeping the house clean.
Linguistic Structure
The words on the label, written in delicate calligraphy, reference the purpose of the product and its correct use Softens hands while you do the dishes. the ad is directly talking to the buyer as it uses the colloquial second- person subject "you"
Layout Structure
The layout is mainly textually driven, but it needs the image by its side to work to all extent as the label adheres to the unique shape of the bottle. The green of the liquid is not contrasted by the label that is made with the same coloring scheme to almost pair the writing to the actual product inside of the bottle.
Navigation Structure
The buyers will immediately be drawn by the color of the product and the offer that it gives with its writing and picture on the label.
Illocutionary/ Perlocutionary
The Illocutionary utterance of the product is shown from the writing on the label, as it portrays elegant penmanship to present the dish soap as more than it is and have a more useful advantage for whoever buys it.
The Perlocutionary utterance, on the other hand, is the way that the label and the product themselves passively aggressively direct their attention to the targetted buyer: women, especially those who stay in their own homes and put aesthetics above cleanliness. This ad having a majority female audience is intended by only those who designed it, sending an unconscious desire to have both soft hands and a clean kitchen, this can only be achieved if you buy Palmolive dish soap.
REFLECTION
With this assignment I enjoyed how I had complete freedom of choice in what i wanted to present as my first Discourse Analysis. Choosing this image was a bit tough as i had many other ideas to bring to the table, but i found that this specific image would speak for itself as it brought not only an analysis but a discussion within me. I personally use Palmolive dish soap and never knew until not very long ago that the slogan for "softer hands" was a pubblicity effort to target housewives in the late 1950s all through, as it shown above, the 1970s and 80s