Mental spaces and persuasion in the discourse of online poker advertising
Joel Lammila 235636 Master’s thesis English language and culture University of Eastern Finland Faculty of Philosophy School of Humanities October, 2016
ITÄ-SUOMEN YLIOPISTO – UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND
Tiedekunta – Faculty Philosophical Faculty
Osasto – School School of Humanities Tekijät – Author
Lammila Joel Elias Työn nimi – Title
Mental spaces and persuasion in the discourse of online poker advertising
Pääaine – Main subject Työn laji – Level Päivämäärä – Date Sivumäärä – Number of pages English Language and Culture Pro gradu -tutkielma x 13.10.2016 87
Sivuainetutkielma Kandidaatin tutkielma Aineopintojen tutkielma Tiivistelmä – Abstract
This master’s thesis focuses on the rhetoric of the advertising in online poker sites in English and Finnish. In marketing and psychology several studies have been conducted on online poker advertising. Therefore, by using the findings from different sciences the linguistics point of view provides a fresh angle to a contemporary topic. There is plenty of advertising research on other genres in linguistics, so more than enough methodological tools were available to conduct this research.
The research material was collected during spring 2016 by finding all the online poker sites that were paralinguistically identical, i.e. the texts and pictures had to be in same places both in their English and Finnish versions. Google and a casino index called Online Casino City (2016) were used to search the research material. In total, there were 20 (10 English and 10 Finnish) sites in the study. The sites were analyzed using the mental spaces theory by Fauconnier (1994) and speech act theory by Hymes (1974). The Finnish component of this thesis utilized the symbolic functions of foreign language in advertising theory by Kelly-Holmes (2005). The theoretical framework section also discusses related topics, such as the functions of advertising defined by Lavidge & Steiner (1961) and the theory of synthetic you by Fairclough (1989: 204), which help explain the results of this thesis. In addition, the examination of previous advertising research in Finland reveals that many approach the topic from similar theoretical backgrounds, which helps to justify the different perspective chosen to interpret the findings of this thesis.
The three research questions for the thesis were the following:
RQ 1: Are there common elements in the discourse of online poker site advertisements, and, if so, what are those elements?
RQ 2: Building on chapter 2.2, is there a special function found in or created by the persuasion texts, the usage of a second person narrative and the conceptualization of winning?
RQ 3: What symbolic function(s) of English language use can be found in the Finnish data?
The results of this thesis indicate that there are certain elements that are present in most online poker sites. Three main findings of this research that are applicable to both English and Finnish data-sets are the unique method of advertising message delivery, the persuasion texts, the way the viewer is addressed (second person) and how central the concept of winning is in the persuasion of online poker providers. In comparison to offline advertising introduced in Kelly-Holmes (2005), the online poker advertising texts are given more space. The online medium also affects the functions of advertising, as the web page also functions as a point of sale for the product. The aforementioned findings are used to create the affective and conative functions of online poker advertising. The third research question is answered by arguing that English works as the rhetorical domain builder of online poker advertising whereas the Finnish texts reconstruct the same advertising message identically thus creating the symbolic function of creativeness. Lastly, I argue that the advertising texts create conceptual distancing to the real flow of money in online poker. The advertising rhetoric sets up mental spaces that obfuscate the actual money spent while playing poker.
Avainsanat – Keywords
Advertising, linguistics, mental spaces, persuasion
ITÄ-SUOMEN YLIOPISTO – UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND Tiedekunta – Faculty
Filosofinen tiedekunta
Osasto – School Humanistinen osasto Tekijät – Author
Lammila Joel Elias Työn nimi – Title
Mental spaces and persuasion in the discourse of online poker advertising
Pääaine – Main subject Työn laji – Level Päivämäärä – Date Sivumäärä – Number of pages Englannin kieli ja kulttuuri Pro gradu -tutkielma x 13.10.2016 87
Sivuainetutkielma Kandidaatin tutkielma Aineopintojen tutkielma Tiivistelmä – Abstract
Tämän tutkielman tarkoituksena on tutkia Internet-pokerin mainonnan retoriikkaa englanniksi ja suomeksi. Markkinoinnin ja psykologian tieteissä on tehty useita tutkimuksia Internet-pokerin mainonnasta. Tutkimalla aihetta kielentutkimuksen metodein pystyy Internet-pokerin mainontaa lähestyä uudesta näkökulmasta . Kuitenkin lingvistiikassa on tehty aiempia tutkimuksia mainonnasta eri genreissä, joten Internet-pokerin mainonnan tutkimiseen löytyi sopivia metodologisia lähestymistapoja.
Tutkimusmateriaali kerättiin keväällä 2016 etsimällä kaikki englannin- ja suomenkieliset pokerisivustot, jotka olivat paralingvistisesti identtisiä eli sivustojen tekstit ja kuvat tulivat olla samoissa paikoissa sivustoilla. Tutkimusmateriaali kerättiin käyttämällä Googlea sekä Internet-kasinoindeksiä nimeltä Casino City. Kaiken kaikkiaan tutkielmaan valikoitui 20 sivustoa, 10 englanninkielistä ja 10 suomenkielistä. Sivustojen sisältö analysoitiin käyttämällä mentaalisten tilojen (mental spaces) –teoriaa (Fauconnier: 1994) sekä Hymesin (1974) puheaktiteoriaa. Suomenkielisen osion symbolisten toimintojen analyysiin käytettiin Kelly-Holmesin (2005) vieraiden kielten symbolisten funktioiden teoriaa. Teoriaosiossa käyn läpi myös aiheeseen liittyviä aikaisempia tutkimuksia, kuten Lavidge & Steinerin (1961) tutkimuksen mainonnan funktioista sekä synteettisen sinän (Fairclough 1989: 204) teorian, mitkä auttavat selittämään tämän tutkielman löydöksiä. Lisäksi, esittelemällä aikaisempia teoksia mainonnan kielestä Suomessa selviää suomalaisten tutkimusten tulevan samanlaisista teoreettisista lähtökohdista, mikä auttaa oikeuttamaan tämän tutkielman erilaisen tutkimusaineiston tulkinnan.
Kolme tutkimuskysymystä olivat seuraavanlaiset:
Tutkimuskysymys 1: Onko Internet-pokerin mainonnan diskurssissa yhteisiä elementtejä eri sivustojen välillä ja jos on, mitä ne elementit ovat?
Tutkimuskysymys 2: Nojaamalla kappaleessa 2.2 esitettyyn teoriataustaan mainonnan funktioista onko mahdollista paikallistaa erikoistoiminto mainosteksteissä, toisen persoonan pronomineissa sekä voittamisen konseptualisoinnissa?
Tutkimuskysymys 3: Mitä symbolisia funktioita englannin kielellä on suomenkielisessä mainonnassa?
Tämän tutkielman tulokset osoittavat, että molemmissa aineistoissa löytyy samanlainen tapa toimittaa mainonnan viesti käyttäjälle vaikutustekstien (persuasion texts) kautta ja että käyttäjään viitataan ekstensiivisesti käyttämällä yksikön toista persoonaa. Lisäksi voittamisen konseptualisointi on molempien aineistojen retoriikan keskiössä. Verraten Kelly-Holmesin (2005) printtimediasta keräämään mainosdataan, Internet-mainonnan tekstit saavat enemmän tilaa. Internet ympäristönä myös vaikuttaa mainonnan funktioihin, sillä pokerisivusto toimii myös tuotteen ostopisteenä. Nämä löydökset luovat internet pokerin mainonnan affektiivisen ja konatiivisen funktion. Kolmanteen tutkimuskysymykseen löytyi seuraavanlainen vastaus: Englanninkielinen mainonta määrittää konseptuaalisen kentän, ja suomenkielinen mainonta pyrkii rakentamaan tämän uudelleen luoden luovuuden funktionaalisen symbolin. Lopuksi, väitän mainonnan tekstien luovan konseptuaalista etäisyyttä rahan oikeaan kulumiseen Internet-pokerissa. Internet-pokerin retoriikka luo mentaalisen tilan, joka hämärtää todellisen rahankäytön.
Avainsanat – Keywords
kielitiede, mainonta, mentaaliset tilat, suostuttelu
Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction ... 1
2.0 Theoretical framework ... 3
2.1 Mental spaces in online gambling ... 3
2.2 Further definition on the mental space of advertising ... 5
2.3 Hymes and speech acts ... 7
2.4 Advertising language in offline and online contexts ... 9
2.4.1 Forms of address advertising ... 9
2.4.2 Offline advertising, the symbolic meaning of code-switching ... 11
2.4.3 Online advertising in gaming ... 15
2.5 English in Finland and Finnish advertising research ... 17
2.5.1 The concentric circles of English ... 17
2.5.2 English in Finland ... 18
2.5.3 Advertising research in Finland ... 19
3.0 Aims, data and methods ... 21
3.1 Aims ... 21
3.2 Data ... 22
3.3 Methods ... 22
3.3.1 Limiting the data-set ... 22
3.3.2 Method of analysis ... 24
3.3.3 Applying the speech act theory by Hymes ... 27
3.3.4 The Finnish localized version of Everest Poker ... 31
3.3.5 Research questions ... 33
4. Results ... 34
4.1 Persuasion texts ... 35
4.2 The pronoun you in online poker rhetoric in English and Finnish ... 36
4.3 Winning ... 38
4.3.1 Pokerstars and Betsafe ... 40
4.3.2 Betsson and Full Tilt Poker ... 40
4.3.3 Betway and Everest Poker ... 41
4.3.4 GUTS, Redbet and William Hill ... 43
4.4 Winning in the localized sites ... 46
4.4.1 Pokerstars and Betsafe ... 47
4.4.2 Betsson and Full Tilt Poker ... 48
4.4.3 Betway and Everest Poker ... 49
4.4.4 GUTS, Redbet and William Hill ... 51
4.5 Main findings and mental spaces ... 53
4.5.1 The mission of persuasion texts ... 54
4.5.2 Winning in online poker rhetoric ... 55
4.5.3 Addressing you in online poker advertising ... 57
4.5.4 The Finnish you ... 59
5. Discussion ... 61
6. Conclusions ... 65
7. Critical evaluation of the study ... 67
8. References ... 69
9. Appendices ... 72
9.1 English data ... 72
9.2 Finnish data ... 77
1 1.0 Introduction
This thesis discusses the rhetoric of online poker advertising in English and Finnish. The theoretical section discusses advertising research done in marketing, psychology and linguistics. The fields of marketing and psychology have focused some attention on online poker advertising. From the marketing point of view, Abarbanel (2013) argues that one of the factors of online gambling customer attraction is the perceived chance of winning at a given site. He does not, however, discuss how the manipulation of the concept of winning is done. Another research by McMullan et al. (2011) discusses the discourse of online gambling advertising from a psychological perspective.
Again, it is claimed that similar manipulation takes place, but it is not elaborated on exactly. In linguistics, there has been no previous research on online gambling advertising. On the other hand, there has been a multitude of advertising research in linguistics in general. Thus, the idea for this research was born: To be able to provide an in-depth view of the online gambling advertising rhetoric from the perspective of linguistics. Both of the studies mentioned above form categories on the overall imagery and texts provided in these sites i.e. there is a need to take a closer look at the actual advertising texts and see what a linguistic analysis can reveal about the discourse of online poker gambling. This is the first goal of the thesis.
After identifying the gap in research, I selected an appropriate methodology to set up the study.
First, I compiled two sets of online sites in both English and Finnish. These sites were then dismantled using the speech act theory by Hymes (1974). Using this approach, the category of persuasion texts as central markers of online advertising rhetoric was identified and that those texts conceptualize winning. The analysis also indicated that the second person form is the dominant way of addressing the viewer. To provide substance for this finding, I made two corpora from the English and Finnish data to illustrate that the advertisements make extensive use of you.
Advertising is a form of marketing, and thus has an agenda. The second goal is to examine these common elements found in the online poker discourse and analyze whether they have cognitive, affective or conative functions (Lavidge & Steiner 1961). The cognitive function raises awareness about the advertised item and affective function serves to give the marketed product preference over others. The conative advertisements are used to make the target take action or to buy the advertised product. To analyze how online poker advertisers attempt to achieve these functions, I chose the mental spaces approach by Fauconnier (1994). Mental spaces (Fauconnier 1994: xxxvii)
2 are domains that humans build in thought-formation. The strength of the mental spaces theory is that it is flexible and can be used to form a bridge between advertising research and linguistics.
The third objective is to examine the special functions of English language in Finnish advertising.
The theoretical background of this thesis indicates that there has been thorough research in English in Finnish advertising from the code-switching point of view (Paakkinen 2008, Pahta &
Taavitsainen 2004). This previous research has focused on English in Finnish advertising by finding single instances of code-switching. The current research wishes to approach the topic from similar, scientifically established backgrounds to see the English language affects Finnish online poker advertising on a more general level. To achieve this, Kelly-Holmes’ (2005) symbolic functions of English in foreign language advertising are discussed, and the new category of creativeness is established basing on Kelly-Holmes’ (2005) category of purity. The symbolic function of purity is created when English is omitted from the advertising texts, and the local language is dominant.
Conversely, in the Finnish online poker advertisements the texts seem to be imitated from the English originals, which make the English originals the source of creativeness.
The results of this thesis indicate that the online poker advertising mental spaces are set up to distance the viewer from the real flow of money. In both English and Finnish, online poker advertising creates the mental spaces in similar fashion. The analysis reveals that there are some superficial differences in conceptualization, but in the end both the English and Finnish versions address the same person, only in different languages. In relation to Lavidge & Steiner’s (1961) advertising function categorization, I argue that the advertisements both try to affect the viewer emotionally and to make her/him act. This is done by creating a consumer community (Fairclough 1989: 27) that is stimulated by endorsing big wins that are to be achieved by taking action and playing online poker. Consumption communities present a possible reality that people, or the consumers, may reach by purchasing the advertised product or service.
The outline of the study is the following. Section 2 establishes the theories used to form the core of this thesis and justifies the research questions chosen for this study. Section 3 further discusses the methodological basis of this thesis and demonstrates the method of analysis by dismantling a poker site found in the data. Section 4 first presents the results of this study, and then examines the mental spaces created by the results. Section 5 discusses the findings in a broader online advertising context. Section 6 establishes conclusions, which I have drawn from the findings and
3 the discussion sections of the thesis. Then, a critical evaluation of the paper is presented in section 7. Lastly, chapter 8 contains the list of references of the thesis and chapter 9 presents the data.
2.0 Theoretical framework
2.1 Mental spaces in online gambling
Abarbanel (2013) discusses online gambling marketing (poker included). He compares a virtual casino environment, or using his term, the virtual servicescape to a traditional, physical casino environment. Throughout the paper, Abarbanel argues that the perceived chance of winning affects the player’s desire to stay at a gambling site (Abarbanel 2013, 35 & 40). He does not discuss, however, how these marketers attempt to enhance the perceived chance to win, which certainly happens in order to attract customers. Since the environment is virtual, the service provider has few ways of affecting the target through their web page. Pictures and texts co-create a webpage. Since this is a study in linguistics, the main point of focus is on texts, but pictures are also taken in to account when needed. Abarbanel’s (ibid.) vagueness and loose definition about winning, however, raise an important issue for studies like the current paper. When conducting the empirical analysis of the data, a wider perspective needs to be maintained at the same time, since this type of data-set has not received linguistic attention before. However, this is a starting point to single out the substance matter for this study. The results of this research indicate that winning is conceptualized extensively in online poker advertising.
The first step is to find a way to scientifically approach the topic of conceptualization. Lakoff (1987) discusses the human conceptualization process thoroughly from an experientialist point- point of view rather than the objectivist. The theories, which this thesis relies on, take on a similar, descriptive stance to language and its functions rather than claiming objective truths. In this study, for instance the category of “persuasion texts” is born through extensive usage in the online poker advertising discourse. Lakoff (1987: 296) argues that the human conceptual system has a major role in creating reality. Lakoff (ibid.) claims that we act in concordance with our conceptual system and that since our actions are real, the conceptual system has a role in creating our reality. As an example, he argues that if we view that the concept of time can take on a metaphorical quality of being a resource, then it can be wasted like any other resource. Thus, we often create realities that
4 are not necessarily physical truths. In the context of this study, this approach is utilized by investigating how poker providers present the game through advertising texts and thus create the reality of online poker advertising. For example, a truth in online poker advertising is that you will win if you choose to play the game. This truth is created by the advertising discourse, which downplays conflicting properties such as losing. The point is not to argue whether these are as widely accepted truths as Lakoff’s (1987: 296) time example, but rather to see if there is a created truth or truths within the online poker advertising rhetoric and for what purposes that is done. To achieve this goal, I chose Fauconnier’s (1994) mental spaces approach.
Lakoff (1987: 280) discusses the predecessor of Fauconnier’s (1994) mental spaces theory. His summarization of mental spaces are that they function as a medium for conceptualization and thought i.e. in conceptualization, any static or active situation is represented by a mental space. In their simplest of forms, mental spaces are cognitive domains that humans build when engaged in any form of thought (Fauconnier 1994: xxxvii). The domains are, for example, conversation, reading, poetry and so on. These domains vary interpersonally, and they are connected by a function or many functions. One type of function is the pragmatic function. Humans establish networks between units of different domains for psychological, cultural or locally pragmatic reasons (Fauconnier 1994: 3), which allow us to link a unit appropriately to its correct counterpart.
Fauconnier (1994: 4) sets the following example:
(1) Plato is on the top shelf.
Here there are two objects. Object (a) Plato was an ancient philosopher and object (b) shelf is a construction in which other objects can be stored. Here, though there are other interpretations as well, a conclusion can be drawn the Plato is a book though it is not explicitly stated. This interpretation is denotative since Plato is an author and shelf is a common place to store books.
The context sets up the pragmatic meaning. This is a very simple example of Fauconnier’s work, but exemplifies mental spaces perfectly. Contexts set up meanings and we interpret linguistic choices by looking at the elements surrounding them. Also, in contrast to formal semantics, mental spaces take into account implications: At times meanings lie beneath the surface under the explicit textual denotations (Oakley et al. 2008: 5). In the current study, it is of interest to see if different linguistic choices lead to different interpretations first within the English advertisements and then with Finnish advertisements. In other words, after identifying the key concept, which binds the different poker sites together the concept needs to be dismantled by its linguistic
5 surroundings. What are the different mental spaces created around the central concept? Here is an example drawn from the data-set:
(2) This is where champions are born, and you could be next. (PokerStars)
PokerStars brands itself to be a home to numerous professional players, and, consequently, it also offers a new player a chance to join this group. At the same time, the potential player is told that PokerStars is the place to learn poker and be “born” a champion. There is no struggle or hard work nor blind luck present: One just needs to play the game and become a champion. The modal verb could in the latter clause is not related to the chance of being born a winner, but rather an invitation to join the champions. Winning becomes routine work i.e. there are no losers at PokerStars. The logic of the mental space created in this example leaves no chance of losing, only that of winning. The different aspects of winning are one of the main points of investigation in this study, and they will be further discussed in chapters 4 and 5. It is argued (chapter 5) that the advertising texts on online poker sites serve a purpose to further sales by distancing the actual stakes or money involved by providing extraordinary narratives. The pragmatic context of online poker advertising is more complex than in the Plato example, since it is more abstract in nature.
Therefore, after identifying the central concept and examining its linguistic surroundings in both English and Finnish, the interpretations of the mental space have to be made by analyzing the surrounding linguistic elements. In the next chapter, I will further examine the mental space of advertising from the marketing point of view.
2.2 Further definition on the mental space of advertising
The advertising mental spaces serve various functions. Classical advertising research done by Lavidge & Steiner (1961) classified the functionality of advertising by the following categories:
cognitive (awareness, knowledge), affective (liking, preference) and conative (conviction, purchase). The main point is that not all advertising are not meant to lead to direct purchases. The categories relate to the knowledge of the target audience about the product in question, advertisement that draw from the cognitive domain are utilized when the target is not familiar with the product, whereas conative advertisements are argued to be effective when the target knows about the product. For example, the following advertisement was shown on Canal+, which spotlighted a show on live poker:
6
Figure 1: A poker show ad shown on television
The punchline of the joke comes from lying, or bluffing, which is a part of poker. The quote above is an example of a blatant lie (Enron declared bankruptcy in 2001), which is contrasted by the tagline “Bluffing is a fine art.” This is of the cognitive category, since it grabs the attention with a joke in order to raise awareness in the target through mental effort. Why is this not an affective ad? Its goal is to be funny, thus bringing out a positive feeling in the viewer. The distinction is that the explicitly viewed element does not depict any emotional scenery, its effect occurs after conscious processing of the joke.
Previous advertising research in the mental space of poker has been done in the context of TV- advertising utilizing the previously introduced categorization. Kim et al. (2013: 1649) provide an argument to the paradigm shift in the context of internet poker TV-advertising. Their study examined internet poker advertising displayed on TV, and their comparative data was from 2006 and 2010. Kim et al. (2013) claim that in 2006 the TV-advertising focused on humor and exaggeration, whereas in 2010 the focus had shifted to the emotions that gambling stirs in a person. The argument is that the advertisers have moved on from the cognitive stage to the affective stage, which tries not to gain new members of audience but to please the existing ones.
The Kim et al’s. (2013) study categorized their findings through thematic categories, for example
7
“wealth”, “leisure” and “educational”. This categorization is quite vague: Although they may be accurate depictions of what the advertisements portray it makes no comment on how these themes are built in a specific way. Moreover, the study describes what is happening on the TV- screen, but the advertisements are not systematically broken down into discourse building elements.
However, the TV-advertisement is not the last point of contact before the sales for online poker.
The viewer has to access the Internet using different devices, thus making immediate purchase impossible. On the other hand, the advertisements posted on the Internet pages of poker providers are close to the actual point of sales. Also, the advertisements posted on the page are displayed since the user has directed him/herself there, whereas TV-advertisements are not controlled by the viewer. Therefore, it is assumed that when entering the web page the prospective customer knows something about online poker and this affects the functions of online poker advertising. There is no need to raise awareness in the user; instead there is a need to make him/her feel positive about the brand or to make a purchase. This paired with the fact that the Kim et al. (2013) study was done several years ago means that the online advertisements examined are most likely either affective or conative in nature. This thesis, however, focuses mainly on the textual units of the advertisements. The advertising discourse is built from both linguistic and paralinguistic elements. In this case, the paralinguistic elements are the pictures and the interactive components of a poker site. However, given the space of a master’s thesis, a limitation has to be made. By focusing on the texts, it is possible to pinpoint key elements of the online advertising rhetoric using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The next chapter discusses the advertising discourse from the perspective of linguistics, introducing a tool to inspect the advertising texts with an appropriate method. In order to discuss the function of the online advertising texts, they must first be located within the data-set and stripped from their paralinguistic elements.
2.3 Hymes and speech acts
The speech component theory (Hymes 1974) illustrates how many elements are actually in play in a discourse. It is formed by eight aspects that Hymes (1974) argues to be the basis of any speech event. These eight form the acronym SPEAKING, and they are further discussed in the next
8 paragraph. The data for the current study also has a plethora of factors that create the digital dialogue between online poker providers and their intended audiences. These factors, such as the online medium for advertising or the ways of persuasion by different companies required a way to deconstruct systematically the messages from different companies, in order to find a connecting element. Johnstone and Marcellino (2010: 4) argue that the strength of the SPEAKING mnemonics is that it takes the pragmatic aspect of what the speakers actually say and the context of the speech event into account at the same time. When investigating the genre of advertising, it has to be kept in mind at all times that the company always has an agenda of persuasion, and the methods of persuasion do not occur in a vacuum. The advertisers draw from a similar set of linguistic resources as their intended audience, and that their means of speech - or in a broader sense communication since the online medium has paralinguistic elements present as well – reveal upon investigation interesting phenomena about the language of online poker advertising.
Hymes’ (1974) component theory consists of eight different units concerning the speech act:
setting, participants, ends, act sequence, key, instrumentalities, norms of interaction and of interpretation and, lastly, genres. Setting is the time and the place of the undergoing action. By participants Hymes (ibid.) meant the difference between the speaker and the hearer of the speech act. Ends, on the other hand, are the different possible outcomes of the speech situation which affect the on-going discourse. Act sequence is the message form and content i.e. what is communicated and in which order. In more detail, the act sequence concerns the inner logic of a speech act, or the rules of how to communicate properly within a group. Next, the unit key bears the tone of the act, such as mocking or being serious. Instrumentalities have two subcategories, channel and code. Channel means by which medium the message is relayed: oral, written etc.
whereas code means the language choice. Norms of interaction and of interpretation must be considered as separate units. Norms of interaction are comprised of the dynamics of the speech situation, for example, whether it is right to interrupt the current speaker in order to add input.
The norms of interpretation provide a framework to decipher the message within the given discourse of speech. Lastly, genre is the category of the speech event, such as advertising.
The SPEAKING-framework has been previously used, for example, in studies concerning speech pragmatics, precisely, the act of complaint-making in the group of Chinese Malaysians (Lee 2006) and in a classroom study which discussed the characterization of success in a language (Italian) class (Antón 1996). This demonstrates the versatility of the framework in different situations.
9 Since there was a general framework of interpretation needed to analyze the fresh set of data collected for the current study, I chose a general yet systematic method of SPEAKING. Chapter 3.3.3 discusses how every site was analyzed by showing phase by phase how a site was dismantled. Shortly, the analysis reveals that most of the sites have a text element called the persuasion text (See chapters 2.4.3 and 3.3.3 for further definition) which contained the other main observation of this thesis, namely that the discourse favors the second person in addressing the viewer and that the concept of winning is a key component in online gambling rhetoric. In other words, the SPEAKING framework was used to crack open the data-set and to identify where the textual persuasion occurs, but more precise methods were needed for the actual content analysis. The next chapter focuses on the discourse of advertising. Advertising is approached from both linguistic and classical advertising research perspectives. First, the forms of addressing in advertising language are given a closer look.
2.4 Advertising language in offline and online contexts 2.4.1 Forms of address advertising
The first chapter of this section is about the forms of addressing in advertising, which is applicable to both offline and online contexts. The way the advertiser addresses the audience influences the advertising message. When analyzing the instrumentalities (Hymes 1974: 60) of the poker sites, it became obvious that both the English and the Finnish data-set in this thesis favored the second person form heavily in their narratives. Therefore, there is a need to present previous research done about the usage of second person form in advertising texts. Advertising engages the consumer in a persuasive discourse with multiple possible functions as was argued in chapter 2.2.
One way of investigating the functions are by categorizing the advertising rhetoric as “hard-sell” or
“soft-sell” (Cook 2001: 15). The former is characterized by direct, information based appeals, whereas the latter is built by implicating that the product would enhance the quality of life. The results of the current study indicate that the consumer in online poker advertising is addressed extensively with the second person pronouns, which would make poker advertising lean towards the hard-sell category. On the other hand, the narrative promises fabulous results mostly related to winning by playing poker. Due to the hybrid narrative, the hard/soft sell categorization does not
10 function well in this thesis. The online poker advertising rhetoric needs to be approached from a different angle.
The functions of advertising had one thing in common. The cognitive, affective and conative functions all have a goal of influencing the target i.e. to create a power relationship. Fairclough (1989) discussed British advertising rhetoric from a power relations point of view. Fairclough (1989: 204) claims that a synthetic you is constructed as a medium for the advertiser and the consumer to convey the advertising message. The synthetic you allows the advertiser to treat masses of people individually by establishing a close discourse with the viewer i.e. there is an attempt to create the impression of referring to an individual whilst using a channel that is targeted to a group of people. This link is artificial, since the advertiser is not actually present in the communicative situation, only the consumer is. Thus, the person addressed in advertisements is synthetic. Fairclough (1989: 207) argues that the direct advertising language is used, in part, to create the consumer identity. In chapter 2.1 I presented the relationship between reality and language by Lakoff (1987). In relation to this, Fairclough (1989: 27) makes an excellent point.
While he mostly argues about the general consumer identity creation, he also mentions consumption communities (ibid.). He claims that advertisements create consumption communities which invite the consumer to join them by presenting realities which may be possible by consuming the advertised product or service. The medium is the synthetic you, which is placed in these realities that can be reached by consuming the advertised item. In this thesis, the consumption community is online poker, which offers a certain reality through their advertising narrative. This approach is well compatible with the mental spaces theory, since through the advertising mental space it is possible to discuss the reality the synthetic you is placed in. Though this study investigates both English and Finnish advertisements, I argue that they create in effect a similar portrayal of reality. There are some minor conceptual differences, but the English advertisements create the framework in which the Finnish ads also operate in.
In the following chapter, a key study by Kelly-Holmes (2005) is examined and subsequently an overview on the offline domain and its differences to online advertising are formed. Kelly-Holmes’
(2005) research also serves as a key theory in establishing the symbolic meaning of advertising English in foreign contexts, which is a viewpoint that is applied to this study as well. The following chapter about the differences of offline and online advertising serves to illustrate a point why it is
11 relevant to give closer inspection to the online domain. Also, the additional area focus of this thesis, namely the function of English in foreign language advertising is introduced.
2.4.2 Offline advertising, the symbolic meaning of code-switching
This chapter mostly focuses on a research done by Kelly-Holmes (2005) on symbolic functions of code-switching in advertising language. First, code-switching needs to be defined. There are multiple related phenomena, such as code-mixing and code choice and they have slightly varied definitions. Kelly-Holmes (2005: 10) uses the term code-switching adopted from Gumperz (1996:
365). Code-switching means using a different speech variety or varieties within the same speech event. In different genres or contexts code-switching takes place for different reasons (Kelly- Holmes 2005:11). In the subsequent paragraphs in this chapter, the reasons for advertising code- switching are discussed.
Kelly-Holmes (2005) discusses extensively the symbolic meanings of language choice, mainly English, in bilingual advertising contexts. She suggests that the language choice in advertising is never fully arbitrary (Kelly-Holmes 2005: 138). This connects well to the argument for advertising functions discussed earlier: Advertising has a specific, in Hymesian terms, end to its function such as the three goals (cognitive, affective and conative) discussed in 2.2. Other scholars have come to similar conclusions as Lavidge & Steiner (1961). There is an attempt to persuade or win the target over (O’Shaughnessy and O’Shaughnessy, 2004: ix), in order to attain a new customer or to retain an old one. Drawing on these arguments, language choice influences the effectiveness, or persuasion of advertising. In other words, the symbolic functions of foreign language discussed in this chapter are used to enhance the persuasive effect of advertisements.
Kelly-Holmes (2005) argues that English as language choice in foreign advertising carries a strong symbolic meaning. Currently, English is considered as a global lingua franca, thus giving it a special quality. Whereas German as a language choice in American advertising is an ethnic (expertise in engineering, precision, effectiveness) stereotype, English holds a more abstract cultural meaning (Kelly-Holmes 2005: 68). Instead of creating a mental link between the advertised product and Englishness, there seems to be a link to superiority in a technical, cosmopolitan or a modern sense.
Also, English is claimed to have connotations to neutrality, being “cool”, fetishizing English as lingua franca and to purity. Next, let us consider two examples given by Kelly-Holmes (2005)
12 relating to English being connected to technical superiority. The German car manufacturer Audi has used the following slogan in global and domestic marketing:
(3)Vorsprung durch Technik
Unfortunately, I was unable to locate the whole advertisements associated to the examples given in this section. However, this slogan is not elaborated further upon in Audi advertising, be it an American or German context. It holds purely symbolic value about the Germans being competent in engineering and car-making (Kelly-Holmes 2005: 47.). On the other hand, let us consider the following Toyota car advertisement published in Germany:
(4)Für die Konkurrenz war es ein schwarzer Freitag. Der Toyota Yaris. Sieger im Crash-Test.
In this example the English term “crash test” is nativized to the German language context. It is much more subtle than the previous example, and it holds different connotations. Instead of being an explicit element connected to stereotypes of Englishness or that of being American, there is argued to be a link to the general field of technic instead (Kelly-Holmes 2005: 70).
In addition to this theme, the next example from Kelly-Holmes shows the English- modern/cosmopolitan link. Like with the previous category, the phenomenon is best exemplified by drawing on Kelly-Holmes (2005: 71):
(5)METRO Group The Spirit of Commerce
Metro is a German retailer. The ad was posted in a German magazine, Der Spiegel, and it contained English only in its slogan. Furthermore, upon closer inspection, it is revealed that Metro uses English in the headings in their web site (Kelly-Holmes 2005: 71). All the other texts, such as technical descriptions, product info and so on, are both on the advertisement and the web site in German. Thus, English is used in visible places in order to create the symbolic effect of modernity.
The next usage of English in advertising is quite different. Kelly-Holmes (2005: 72) exemplifies neutralitywiththe following:
(6)Die brand neue L.U.C. Quattro Tourbillon
This is an advertisement by a Swiss watch manufacturing company, Chopard. In this example, four different languages are present. The overall framework of the sentence is German, brand is borrowed from English, quattro from Italian and Tourbillon from French. Switzerland’s official languages are all of the previously mentioned ones except for English. Consequently, English is
13 used to create a unifying effect (Kelly-Holmes 2005: 72). Furthermore, the language choice overrides the linguistically challenging situation of choosing one language to present the brand: All are utilized, and English is thrown in to the mix to further cultivate the atmosphere of neutrality (ibid.).
As the third last category for English usage in foreign advertising, Kelly-Holmes (2005: 73) discussed English being a cool choice. Here, the example discussed is a Volkswagen advertisement designed for a German audience (ibid.):
(7)Hello Sunshine. Das New Beetle Cabriolet.
Here, the coolness association is quite easily identified. Volkswagen is an iconic German car manufacturer, and the advertisement in question targets a German reader. The Cabriolet in the advertisement is yellow, and sun is just about to shine after rainfall (ibid.). The wordplay here is nothing too sophisticated, but it seems to have been designed in order to make the product in question appear more trendy, or cool.
The second last category of the Kelly-Holmes (2005) research is English as a symbol for internationality. This category involves the juxtapositioning of texts within an advertisement. The symbolic function of internationality is argued to come from having a brand name and a slogan in English, whereas the rest of the advertisement content is highly localized to the target audience.
Let us, once again, consider this proposition by looking at an example (Kelly-Holmes 2005: 75):
(8)Der neue Honda Accord Tourer. Du hast freie Hand.
In this Honda car advertisement this is the most visible part of the advertising text. However, above the graphic is the company slogan “The Power of Dreams”, which is obviously in English.
The rest of the content, such as product info, is in German. Therefore in this category, English does not serve a communicative, informative or a persuasive function. As Kelly-Holmes (2005: 77) argues, English just needs to be present to tell the audience that the company is a global player.
Moreover, this is a standard policy across the advertising field, which is by quantity a solid argument for the existence of this particular category. Although many companies decide to translate or to localize their marketing message to target cultures, slogans are often left untranslated. In effect a covert, subtle language choice gives out a strong message to the viewer.
14 The last category of English usage in foreign language advertising presented in Kelly-Holmes (ibid.) is the absence of English as a symbol of purity. In short, when addressing to a local, non-English speaking audience omitting English is argued to be a symbol of purity (Kelly-Holmes 2005: 79).
Having a fully monolingual advertising text, including slogans and punchlines, the advertiser places themselves closer to the viewers. It is most likely that this sort of text works best with brands that originate from the target country, in order to be authentic and appear sincere. When English is left out, there is often an attempt to promote local and national qualities, which can be an effective tactic especially in food advertising. Promoting locality in food advertising signifies green values due to simple logistics, since importing increases shipping distance, which in turn creates more pollution. Though the argued function is dissimilar to the one proposed in this thesis this category is used as the basis for the proposed symbolic function of creativeness further discussed in 4.5.4 and 5. The material in this thesis suggests that due to their likeness to the English texts, English is the creative language of the online poker advertisements whereas Finnish is used to replicate the same mental space. Conversely to the purity (Kelly-Holmes 2005: 79) category, the influence of English does not promote local or national qualities; the English texts create a multinational, culturally independent synthetic you (Fairclough 1989: 204) which is subsequently translated to Finnish.
These categories are one of the many suggested roles of English in foreign language advertising.
Kelly-Holmes (2005) opens an interesting avenue of linguistic inquiry, since the suggested roles for English in foreign language advertisements are quite abstract in nature. Furthermore, it is important to investigate what types of stories associated with the ethos of winning are built in English and Finnish online poker advertising, and whether the discourses are similar.
In chapter 2.5.3 further research based on Kelly-Holmes’ (2005) findings in Finnish context are discussed. Findings from different cultures seem to build a strong case for her results, thus giving them solid credibility. The studies discussed in this thesis have quite similar approaches to the topic. This thesis has a different approach by utilizing the mental spaces method combined with linguistic analysis. Next, the differences in traditional, offline advertising (print media) research and new, internet based advertising research are discussed. This study investigates the language of online advertising, and therefore the differences to traditional advertising research must be made clear.
15 2.4.3 Online advertising in gaming
The online context, due to its fast pace of development provides multiple angles to approach the study of language in general. As an illustration, online advertising offers a multitude of techniques that would be impossible to implement in traditional, print advertising which raises methodological questions. Choosing online advertisements for research material is problematic with ad tailoring, which means that there is a hidden method behind the advertisement shown for the user. The phenomenon is best exemplified by an ad posted via advertising network behavioral targeting. Advertising networks consists of a series of websites that share their user data (Srimani
& Srinivas 2011: 57). Individual user data sharing allows the sites that belong to the advertising network to display tailored advertising by tracking user online behavior whilst on the network sites. As it would be extremely interesting to inspect these tailored advertisements, it unfortunately is quite difficult. The problem lies within the method of delivery and accessibility.
Since the advertisements posted are based on my personal browsing history, the data-set would only contain advertisements chosen and tailored just for me. I deemed circumventing this issue to be outside the scope of a master’s thesis. Therefore, I chose to look at static, non-tailored advertising texts. The texts chosen for this thesis are embedded to the poker sites, and thus they are displayed to every user identically.
Kelly-Holmes’ (2005) research focuses on traditional advertising, though she discusses the online environment briefly. At the time of writing in 2005, web-based advertising was on a rather primitive level compared to today. Online advertising has been a growing field of business ever since the dawn of Internet, and increasing competition leads to more elaborate techniques to gain competitive advantage. Kelly-Holmes (2005) argues that reputable businesses do not engage in aggressive, pop-up advertising. Modern lightweight platforms, however, allow aggressive advertising without disrupting the user experience. In Kelly-Holmes (2005: 80), there is a discussion of interest concerning the online as a medium for advertising. In contrast to traditional advertising, this field has a closer relation between the advertiser and the target. The McMullan et al. (2011) research mentioned earlier supports this notion. It is argued that due to the user being in control of the information flow, online brand positioning becomes more of a mission statement by genre than traditional advertising text (Kelly-Holmes 2005: 80). Texts that resemble mission statements were indeed found in the data of this thesis. Most of the sites had, usually towards the bottom of the main page, a text element which, in this study, is called the persuasion text which
16 attempts to persuade the potential customer while providing conceptual distance to the actual risks of gambling. The persuasion texts contain are a major finding in this thesis, which contain the other rhetorical devices found in this research. The main characteristics of this finding are that it contains the most linked textual elements forming a narrative revolving around winning and how it addresses the viewer in an intensive, second person narrative in both English and Finnish.
The current paper also wishes to see whether there is a difference in English language advertising and Finnish advertising for the same product. The former advertisements are meant for a monolingual (English-speaking) and multilingual audience at the same time, whereas the latter are meant solely for a Finnish audience. The first problem that occurs is to identify a product group which has enough data in both languages. English advertisements are easy to locate, but the Finnish counterparts are more difficult. Hence, I decided to look at a product group that is solely based in the online domain so that there is plenty of data available.
McMullan et al. (2011) examine the online gambling phenomenon from various perspectives. In their discussion (McMullan et al. 2011: 641) it becomes clear that the target audiences include the youth. Many gambling sites are interconnected with popular social media among minors. The advertising techniques are also multi-channeled and interactive. To create a sense of community amongst fellow gamblers and the platform sites often provide incentives to recruit friends and offer bonuses if they successfully attain new customers (ibid.). Moreover, the sites often offer
“play money tourneys” and other, if taken at their face value, free services. This form of advertising is aggressive and unethical. International law is lagging behind, and while there are etiquette rules in the business, they are followed rather leisurely (ibid.). Thus, it can be concluded that there are few limits to online advertising for gambling services. It creates a need to look deeper in to the phenomenon, to see what type of a mental space the service providers attempt to make.
McMullan et al. (2011) conclude that there is often an attempt to dissociate the prospective customer from the money spent and emphasize winning. Moreover, the prospect of not succeeding is not even entertained and gambling is a way to fulfill fantasies, have good time and most of all to win. The study established that this sort of landscape is created by elements such as design of the web page, easy availability and on-going exposure to the marketed product. The scope of the study was impressive, and it covered other, gambling related topics as well. The paper introduced many themes, but it was more of a general article on online gambling discourse
17 and it did not discuss the specifics such as how the different functions mentioned above are created. However, for this research, an important aspect was revealed. McMullan et al. (2011) describe winning as a multimodal construct, which sparked the idea for this study to take a closer look at the text elements found in gambling, and in poker advertising. The results of the current study agree with the McMullan et al. (2011) study. There indeed is an attempt to distance the prospective customer from the money flows via conceptual distancing, which I further discuss in chapter 5. Next, the discussion shifts to the linguistic environment in Finland, in order to establish the context for the Finnish language part of this thesis.
2.5 English in Finland and Finnish advertising research 2.5.1 The concentric circles of English
English is spoken globally. The spread of English has been examined by developing different models. One of the most influential models is Kachru’s (1985: 11-30) concentric circles model.
Kachru (ibid.) divides the English-speaking world into three concentric circles: the inner circle, the outer circle and the expanding circle. The first consists of the traditional bases of English, such as the UK and the USA. The outer circle includes countries which have not always had English as their native tongue. English has had a significant role due to historical reasons, and it plays a part in the institutions of the nation. In outer circle countries English is an official language and it has affected the way the country has developed. For example, English was introduced to India by the British, and it was one of the factors which shaped the country into its contemporary form. Lastly, in the expanding circle countries, English has been introduced via the educational system. Although English is not an official language, it can be deeply embedded in the society. Finland is an expanding circle country. There are many fields in which English is used, and yet it is not an official language. Furthermore, these fields are prominent in a contemporary society, like business, academia and advertising.
Kachru’s model, however, is not perfect. The concentric circles model divides the English-speaking world by nation states. By forcing all the different English-speaking countries into their respective circles, the model neglects internal variation within the countries (Leppänen et al. 2008: 16).
Furthermore, the context in which it discusses the role of English is outdated: The contemporary
18 world is more united due to cultural and economic globalization. There is a new domain of intercultural contact, namely the Internet, which was not present at Kachru’s (1985) time of writing. As the focus of the current study is to shed light on the modern role of English in Internet advertising, this approach does not suffice.
2.5.2 English in Finland
Even though the setting of this thesis is virtual, there is a need to discuss cultural backgrounds. In order to discuss the processes behind language choice in the localized advertisements knowledge about the linguistic environment of the target culture is required. The status of English in Finland has changed dramatically in the last 90 years. Finland established English as a core subject in elementary schools in 1918 (Leppänen et al. 2011: 18). Subsequently, the status of English has anything but declined through the decades due to several different factors, e.g. societal changes, such as globalization, urbanization and technologization of the society as a whole (Leppänen et al.
2011: 17). For instance, in a survey conducted by Leppänen et al. (2011: 141) in 2007 the strong presence of English in Finland is confirmed. The survey was sent out to 3000 Finnish nationals between the ages 15 and 74 and the response rate was 49.92% (1495). The results show that Finns have a positive and pragmatic attitude towards English and it is not considered a threat to the Finnish language and culture. In fact, the results of the survey are quite the opposite: The Finns value English as an important resource. Also, English is used in almost all domains of society. For example, Finland has not, unlike many other European countries, dubbed TV-programs (ibid.). In Finland, most of the foreign programs are subtitled. This has led to exposure to English on a daily basis and thus shaped Finns’ attitudes towards foreign languages, most of all English. Furthermore, English has had an optimal linguistic base to root itself in Finland. Although there are two national languages in Finland, the foundation of the society is mostly monolingual. Unlike in many other officially bilingual countries, there is no need for a vehicular language between the two speaker groups, as most of the Swedish speaking Finns are also fluent in Finnish (Leppänen et al. 2011: 17).
According to Leppänen et al. (2011: 19) 91% of the Finnish elementary school students start studying English in the third grade. Moreover, in 2013, according to Statistics Finland (2014) 99.4%
of the 9th grade comprehensive school students studied English. It is probable that the status of English will not be declining in the near future, as most Finns will continue to have at least basic skills in English.
19 2.5.3 Advertising research in Finland
In the Finnish context, advertising and language choice has received attention as well. Paakkinen (2008: 316) went through several different MA theses on the topic, and discussed what conclusions the different theses had in common. The data for these theses were collected from TV- advertisements and magazine advertisements. She determines that English has several different uses: To persuade the viewer to buy the product, to get attention and to soften the meanings for strong expressions (such as the usage of taboo words), and to express group solidarity. Paakkinen (2008: 319) exemplifies group solidarity as follows:
(9) Kapula tykittää coolia saveria
Here, English lexicon is applied in to Finnish grammar. Thus, there is an attempt to appeal to the target segment by the advertiser to create an atmosphere of belonging and group solidarity.
Furthermore, she concludes that in comparison to several different countries, English is used to a great extent in advertising in Finland. Paakkinen (2008: 326) also claims that the meaning of English is mostly symbolic. The different symbolic meanings of English include the following:
Table 1: The symbolic meanings of advertisement English (Paakkinen 2008: 320)
Symbolic meanings Trendiness Internationality Cultural symbol Modernity,
technology, fashion
Traits, which expresses the symbolic meanings
-Vocabulary -Expressions
-Advertisements, that were wholly in English
-English slogans of mixed language advertisements -Product names that were in English
-Illustrations, which are associated with the American culture
-Strong expressions (which may lose a part of their effect if translated)
-Vocabulary -Product names -Terms
-Expressions
Her four main categories derive from the findings of Kelly-Holmes (2005). An interesting finding and a different category from Kelly-Holmes (2005) is the subcategory strong expressions within cultural symbols. An example of this category is found in an advert for a cosmetic product: The
20 product is described to be “magic drops”. She argues (Paakkinen 2008: 322) that the translation
“taikatipat” would strike the Finnish audience as strange and unfitting (ibid.).
Piller’s (2003) research discusses English in several foreign contexts. Her results are similar to Paakkinen (2008). Whereas Piller (2003: 174-175) focuses more on statistics and examining the different attestations of the English-induced social stereotypes, Paakkinen (ibid.) exemplifies symbolic meanings more concretely. They both conclude that instead of offering an ethno-cultural stereotype, English provides most of the time, a social stereotype, which supports the findings of Kelly-Holmes (2005).
Pahta & Taavitsainen (2004) had an interesting approach to the research of advertising in Finland.
Their data was collected from the Yellow Pages, which are company advertisements in the end of the regional Finnish phonebooks. They make roughly the same point as Leppänen et al. (2011), but also state that Finns are used to the juxtaposition of languages in public contexts. Thus, there are more opportunities for code-switching since the target audience is open to code-switches. Also, they make an excellent point in their introduction (Pahta & Taavitsainen 2004: 169) about the differences in bi-lingual advertising in Finland compared to other Northern European countries.
Typologically, Finnish is not in the same language group as the Scandinavian countries, but, instead, is a part of the Finno-Ugric language families. For example, in contrast to Swedish, Finnish is typologically much “farther” away from English. English, or Swedish for that matter, are not highly inflectional languages like Finnish is. It is stated that there are more chances for creativity in Finnish/English code-switching, but there also is the danger of confusion (Pahta & Taavitsainen 2004: 169). Creative code-switching allows the construction of hybrids like the following example of a company that provides physiotherapy, found in the data:
(10)Helppis
This is an example of a trilingual, Finnish/Swedish/English hybrid. The stem of the word is the English verb help, which is has taken on the popular –is suffix of the vernacular Helsinki dialect (ibid.). This Helsinki slang itself is a Finnish/Swedish hybrid. Furthermore, I would argue that the word is a hybrid of the English word help and the Swedish word kompis (friend). Thus, a short, single-word company name that symbolizes a helping friend, which neither language could construe in a single word is created. It humanizes the company and creates a symbolic function of
21 neutrality (Kelly-Holmes 2005: 79), which as was argued before, brings the company closer to its multilingual potential customers.
In this section I have illustrated that there has been research on the discourse of Finnish advertising from a certain point of view. Code-switching has received plenty of attention in the past, and the categories introduced by Kelly-Holmes (2005) have been consolidated and expanded upon. This thesis approaches the topic from a different perspective. The goal is to discuss the discourse of online poker advertising in both English and Finnish on a broader level; the mental spaces and speech act theories allows this approach. Therefore, due to the focus of previous research and the aim of this thesis, instead of investigating strictly code-switching I chose an alternative approach. This thesis does not set out to find individual instances of code-switching on the lexical item level. In the English data-set, the pronoun you was the 6th most frequent word and the Finnish constructions with second person verbal inflections were as prominent (see chapter 4.2). Furthermore, the persuasive functions were found to be built similarly in both languages. This approach does not restrict the research of the symbolic function of language usage. In fact, the symbolic functions can be expanded from code-switching to English as the prominent discourse builder in online poker advertising. It is argued that the English language affects the way the Finnish persuasion texts are constructed on different, grammatical and conceptual levels. This is further discussed in 4.5.4 and 5.
3.0 Aims, data and methods 3.1 Aims
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
