Beauty metaphors in Thai advertising discourse of beauty products and services: A critical metaphor analysis
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Abstract
Background and objective (s) : In the advertising discourse of beauty products and services, metaphors are a prominentlinguistic device used to persuade consumers to become interested in and purchase products and services. Metaphors are also an important linguistic device in shaping certain aspects of beauty, which impacts the producers of the text of advertisements and the beauty perceptions of consumers. Therefore, the research for this article aimed to analyze conceptual metaphors about beauty in the Thai advertising discourse of beauty products and services, and to analyze aspects of beauty as reflected through such metaphors.
Methodology: This article adopted the approach of conceptual metaphor theory (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980) and the approach of critical metaphor analysis (Charteris-Black, 2004, 2005). The data was collected from three resources, with a total of 967 advertisements published from July to September 2023 reviewed.
Main result: The analysis reveals that there are 11 conceptual metaphors of beauty: BEAUTY IS AN OBJECT, BEAUTY IS LIGHT, BEAUTY IS WAR, BEAUTY IS A JOURNEY, BEAUTY IS NATURE, BEAUTY IS A TEST, BEAUTY IS A SECRET, BEAUTY IS FOOD, BEAUTY IS A PLANT, BEAUTY IS MAGIC, and BEAUTY IS MAGNETIC ENERGY. These metaphors reflect the following ideas about beauty: (1) beauty is desirable; (2) beauty is uncertain; (3) having a radiant face and skin, having a firm look, having a youthful appearance, etc., are considered beauty, while having dull skin, having a fat look, having an aged appearance, etc., are considered an enemy of beauty that must be eliminated; and (4) the presentation by the “advertisement text producer” is “a guide who has more knowledge of beauty than consumers”. These aspects of beauty are presented to highlight the importance of beauty products and services in order to enable consumers to be able to attain the beauty that they desire. This is related to the intentions of the advertising discourse, which is to convince consumers to be interested in buying beauty products and services, and to persuade business owners to hire the producers of advertising text to continue to be an advertiser.
Relevance to Thai Studies: This research explains some beauty aspects in a Thai context and makes evident the importance of metaphors used in everyday life as a linguistic device. This may impact the thoughts, beliefs, attitudes and behavior of people in Thai society.
Conclusion: In the Thai advertising discourse of beauty products and services, the producers of advertising text present a view of beauty as something desirable in order to highlight the importance of beauty products and services to help consumers appear to be as beautiful as they desire. This study revealed the “power” of the producers of advertising text in selecting and presenting certain aspects of beauty to satisfy their own business interests. Therefore, this study may help readers and consumers understand and become aware of the discourse created by the producers of advertising text as a tool for seeking their own benefits.
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