The primary aim of the study is to discuss the language of an advertising genre that has not received much attention as of yet. That genre is online advertising for online poker. In order to have a meaningful empirical part a framework of previous studies and related inquiries were built on previous chapters. Though the phenomenon is not properly investigated, there are enough tools for the task that have been utilized in previous advertising research. There are new components, such as the rapidly developing channel of promotion (the Internet) and the product, online poker. By studying the content designed by different online poker service providers, there is first an attempt to chart differences and similarities in their (English) presentation. After this is
22 completed, there is comparison to the Finnish version of the sites, which will enable a discussion on symbolic functions of English in Finnish advertising texts and whether the localized versions are identical in their portrayal of online poker. The next section discusses the actual data for the study and why and how the data was chosen.
3.2 Data
Since the online environment is enormous, it is critical to limit the study. After examining the different online gambling sites it became clear that the sites operate as portals to different online games. These portals are heterogeneous, since providers offer their own selection of online gambling. Thus, in order to get data containing similar elements, this study is limited to only one game, online poker. Poker is arguably more complex nature in comparison to other popular forms of online gambling. Poker has interesting intangible qualities that could be differentiate it from other online gambling. Consider the following statement written on Lucky Mobile Casinos (2016):
(11) Poker players like to say that they are not gambling: they are reading people
In the world of casinos offline and online, it seems that poker is considered more as a game of skill, rather than chance. This study takes no stance on this statement, but it must affect the way the poker services are marketed. In other words, other forms of gambling are considered to be games of chance, whereas poker requires skill. This quality makes poker an interesting target to study, since it has specific qualities which other “games of chance” lack. This thesis has a data-set of 10 English and Finnish webpages. Due to the strict parameters for narrowing the amount of data, a concise data-set was collected to reflect upon the issues in question. The limitations, which qualified this data are further discussed in the next chapter.
3.3 Methods
3.3.1 Limiting the data-set
After this initial limitation, the next task was to find the sites which provide poker both in English and Finnish using the same platform. McMullan et al. (2011) used a site called casinocity.com in
23 their study to find relevant results. The site (Casino City 2016) provides tools to search for Finnish language poker sites, which I used as well to find the main bulk of data for the research. From the results monolingual Finnish sites were culled, and sites which were translated via a computerized translator. I removed the latter results due to the focus of this study; the methodology of this thesis is not suited to inspect machine translations. The machine translations were relatively easy to identify, since, for example, English idioms were translated directly into Finnish. RedKings poker had the following advertisement on their sites:
Figure 2(a): RedKings (Finnish) Figure 2 (b): RedKings (English)
The English version of the advertisement is perfectly idiomatic English. The Finnish version, however, is understandable for a Finnish speaker but is unidiomatic. No native Finnish speaker would use the expression “saa ilmainen” – even if the inflected form (ilmaiseksi) would be correct, the utterance would still pragmatically strike as odd or out of place.
The Casino City search engine found most of the localized sites, but a few were discovered using Google. So, the following criteria were used to filter relevant data:
(A)The service provider must have English and a Finnish site for online poker
(B)The translated, or localized, versions must be human made, not machine translations
Overall, there were 10 sites that filled both these criteria. The number of sites was surprisingly low. Some online sites which had both English/Finnish localized versions were recently blocked to connection attempts coming from Finland. Though the reasons for the block are speculative, it might be that there have been more laws applied to online gambling thus making some sites unable to provide their services to Finland.
After the preliminary inspection of the data-set, a further limitation was made. In chapter 3.3.2 Method of analysis, an example page called Everest Poker is analyzed in depth using the selected method. After going through the site in detail, it was quickly determined that there are multiple different elements that make up the site, namely, attention-getters, promotions, the persuasion
24 text and terms and conditions, which are elaborated below. This layout seems to be a norm in the field of online poker, and they hold a plethora of linguistic and paralinguistic information. Thus, the focus of this study was narrowed down to mainly persuasion texts. In some cases, I will discuss the other parts of the site when needed, but the analysis focuses on persuasion texts. They hold the most linguistic information and they appear in almost all sites in the data-set. The table below shows the names and Internet addresses for all the data collected:
Table 2: Thesis data Provider
name
URL (English) URL (Finnish) Changes in layout
Betsafe https://www.betsafe.com/en https://www.betsafe.com/fi No Betsson https://poker.betsson.com/en/ https://poker.betsson.com/fi/ No
Betway https://poker.betway.com/ - Yes
Everest Poker https://en.everestpoker.com/ https://fi.everestpoker.com/ Yes Full Tilt Poker http://www.fulltilt.eu/poker/ http://www.fulltilt.eu/fi/poker/ Yes GUTS https://www.guts.com/en/poker https://www.guts.com/fi/poker No PokerStars https://www.pokerstars.eu/ https://www.pokerstars.eu/fi/ No Redbet https://www.redbet.com/en/poker https://www.redbet.com/fi/poker Yes Whitebet https://www.whitebet.com/en/ https://www.whitebet.com/fi/ No William Hill http://poker.williamhill.com/ http://poker.williamhill.com/fi/index/ No
The last column indicates whether there has been any changes in the layout of the poker site since the data was originally collected in Spring 2016. I reviewed the sites on 20.9.2016. All the sites which had done any changes in layout had them in both languages. Betway did not have a Finnish site available anymore. I have all the original collected sites saved and they are available on request. Next, I will discuss the method of analysis.
3.3.2 Method of analysis
The initial method of analysis is based on Hymes’ SPEAKING component framework. It is best exemplified in action by dismantling a site found in the data-set. First, there is a need to discuss what the actual data consists of. It was quickly found that most of the poker sites have essentially a similar layout presented for the potential customer. In short, the text elements have two broad categories – naturally there are headlines, pictures etc. – namely, attention-getters and persuasion texts. Persuasion texts were earlier defined in chapter 2.4.3 and they were based on Kelly-Holmes
25 (2005: 80) notion on online advertising texts resembling a mission statement and they work as a new method of influence for online advertising. The former category (attention-getters) is presented more aggressively, for example with a picture or a bigger font. Hypothetically, their objective is to grab the attention of the potential consumer, and to lure in the viewer to scroll down for the persuasion text, which further individualizes the site in question. I did not establish the attention-getters as a category in the theoretical section of this study. They were identified as an ad hoc category while conducting the Hymesian analysis. The following pictures are taken from the material:
Figure 3: Everest Poker, attention-getter
26
Figure 4: Everest Poker, persuasion text
Everest Poker’s main page is split in to two sections. The first picture is the attention-getting part of the main page, whereas the latter picture is the persuasion text. It seems to be the industry standard to split the front page in to these two different sections, where the attention-getter is filled with images and little text. The persuasion text part holds the vast majority of the text. This thesis acknowledges the presence of the attention-getters, but the focus of analysis is on the persuasion texts, since they contain the main textual persuasion.
On a normal-sized desktop screen, the web site roughly splits in two in a similar fashion as in figures 3 and 4. First, when one looks at the Everest Poker as a whole a theme crops up in many places: promotions and instant winnings. The backdrop of the webpage and the pictorial elements are quite neutral, poker and gambling themed pictures. The website’s color scheme is mainly green, black and white. The major scheme breaking items are the interactive buttons related to accessing the content provided by Everest and the flaming chip, which promotes a game called speed poker. All in all, the general atmosphere that the page attempts to build is that of professionalism, heritage and a passion for the game combined with ease of access. The professionalism component in this case does not mean that particularly skilled players play at Everest Poker. By all means their professionalism comes from being a trusted provider and a sponsor for a major tournament. Here is the connection for the passion component of the atmosphere; Everest Poker is the place where one comes to get better or to have fun:
27 (12) Improve your skills against players at your level
(13) .. who love the game of poker as much as they love having fun
The persuasion texts headline is the point where the attention-getter turns in to the persuasion text. The first part, or the attention-getter, focuses on special promotions of the site and simple steps on how to become a customer for the service provided. Then, the slogan “Everest Poker – a brand with real heritage” – starts the purely textual part of the page. So, the first thing the potential customer sees actually has nothing to do with heritage or any sort of tradition – it is just a generic fill of “free” “win” “fast” –themed attention-seeking. Partly this has to do with the medium of internet, where the user dictates the pace of browsing through content. In other words, a prospective player needs to be pulled in with the biggest perk that the provider can offer – in this case being one of the oldest sites is trumped by “free” €10.
3.3.3 Applying the speech act theory by Hymes
In the online gambling advertising context, there has been no previous linguistic analysis.
Therefore, next Hymes’ (1974) speech acts come into play. Next, I will examine the Everest Poker site by utilizing these tools for analysis.
Setting is where the conversation takes place. In this study, the place will always be on the advertiser’s domain. In effect, it means that the potential customer has willfully placed themselves to view the content provided by the advertiser. The customer might also be making comparisons between the different online poker providers, giving the advertiser a need to make their setting unique or to provide better incentives than others in order to be competitive. Therefore, the setting in this case is split in to the two aforementioned sections: the attention-getter and the persuasion text. There is a concrete example in large typescript “Deposit €20 & get €40 € 10 FOR FREE”, which is followed by pictorial elements, such as different promotions, games and leaderboards and then flowing into other selling points in the persuasion text section. The attention-getting part of the web page contains only a short narrative, and the focus is on describing the functions and promotions available at Everest Poker. The persuasion text part, on the other hand, contains a certain narrative, and uses words such as heritage and rich history in order to make an impression on the potential customer. The narrative is further examined in this chapter when discussing the ends of Everest Poker. It is of interest whether other sites have a
28 similar layout, which goes from key-selling point to light info (pictures, tables etc.) to a persuasion text.
Next, the participants of the dialogue on the Everest Poker web page are the following: Everest Poker, the Everest poker community and the potential customer. Everest Poker is making a sales speech for the potential customer on behalf of the Everest poker community. The community members do not have an actual voice, but the story is made out so that the Everest site knows whom they are and that they provide what the community needs. For example, Everest Poker states that it is “a home for passionate poker players” and that it is a “rewarding community”.
Interestingly, the persuasion text segment does not provide anything explicitly for experienced players: All the introduced perks of Everest are for newer players. For example, the persuasion text provides a link to a “free” beginner table called Shasta Sit & Go. First of all, under the terms and conditions only the first step, or table, is free in this game – if you wish to proceed, the subsequent tables will cost the user real money. Secondly, the “beginner” condition means that only accounts which have been active for less than 90 days are allowed to participate: In reality, a professional player could log in to Everest Poker, and if he just made his account, he would be eligible for the beginner table. Now it must be reminded to whom the persuasion text is made for i.e. a potential new user. This is a key point: The subtle meanings for experienced players can be read implicitly; the site is a platform for fresh players, but there is an open invitation for experienced players as well. That, in turn, gives out the message that a good player will have no trouble beating the competition and proceed to easy winnings at Everest. Since poker is a game where there are no teams and only one will proceed as the winner the rhetoric of community seems artificial.
Ultimately, the ends of the poker site are to get a new customer. For the customer, the ends of the dialogue might be different. For example, in Everest Poker there is an atmosphere of community and passion, which are meant to be extra perks of customership: You do not only get a chance to spend your money, or win, at the Everest site. You will also be a part of larger community, which creates a social aspect for the service. Furthermore, there is a chance to get better at the game and to participate in tournaments. Also, Everest Poker states “.. you can play with us safe in the knowledge that your funds are secure” – thus, there is an extra means to persuade the insecure customer through the usage of second person form, which brings the target closer to the addresser. These stories costs Everest Poker very little, but it might be an important element in
29 getting the potential customer to make the actual purchase. However, the way the ends are constructed might vary from case to case. Is there an attempt to persuade the customer through similar means ranging across the different sites, or do they actually promote unique services? It is for this research to find out what type of narratives can be found across different sites, and do they consist of the same substance matter.
Next, the focus will move on to act sequence. The persuasion text consists of a headline, which is followed by nine short paragraphs. The first three paragraphs are just one sentence short, whereas the rest are two or longer. Furthermore, the first three mini-paragraphs are clearly in their own segment, which are separated from the rest by the large Download and Register buttons and a thin line. The elements following the three mini-paragraphs are further illustrations of the content that Everest Poker offers. As mentioned before, the target audience is potential new customers i.e. fresh players and veteran players from different sites alike. The perks for fresh players are presented explicitly, whereas the veteran player perks are mostly implicit. Thus, the two different target groups will have a very different reading of the persuasion text. The story plot for the fresh player reads that Everest is a place to start out with other new players securely and smoothly, and there is a chance to advance after practice. The whole explicit message is a story told for a casual or new player, but the “existing” or “seasoned” player is addressed as well. For a veteran, the message says implicitly easy wins at Everest Poker, since it is intended for fresh players but in reality there is no regulation.
The next part of the speech act theory is key. Key indicates the tone of the voice, in this case it can be thought how as how the product is sold. The voice alternates between showing what Everest offers and how the addressee (you) could benefit from customership. For example, the first sentence in the persuasion text stands as following: “Welcome to Everest Poker, a home for passionate poker players since 2004 and a brand you can trust”. As I argued in the previous paragraphs, there are two targets, the new and the veteran player. For the two different audiences, the persuasion text has a different style of addressing: Overt promises lure in the fresh player, whereas the seasoned player is addressed via covert means. Simple language and an overtly nurturing text have an underlying promise of easy wins for the veteran player who can access the exact same games as the genuinely new player. Also, although the Everest site is localized to multiple languages, retaining a simple style ensures that the advertising message reaches as wide as an audience possible, since there are bound to be users from non-localized
30 countries. Lastly, simple language is not perhaps as attractive to some (mainly, native speakers), it also enables the localization to be easier. With few English-based idioms and metaphors, the text has a functional tone and is easier to translate and to localize to different languages.
Instrumentalities are the third last component of the speech act theory. Instrumentalities are the forms and styles of the act. The text is a marketing pitch which show-cases the extraordinary qualities of Everest Poker and tells it to the addressee by the explicit usage of the second person form. Consider the following example:
Instrumentalities are the third last component of the speech act theory. Instrumentalities are the forms and styles of the act. The text is a marketing pitch which show-cases the extraordinary qualities of Everest Poker and tells it to the addressee by the explicit usage of the second person form. Consider the following example: