Euphemism in Laxative TV Commercials: At the Crossroads between Politeness and Persuasion

Despite the stigma attached to human defecation and people’s reluctance to talk about it openly, there are certain communicative situations in which one cannot evade referring to the elimination of body wastes. This is the case of laxative TV commercials, a type of discourse focused on the infrequen...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Crespo Fernández, Eliecer
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
Repositorio:RUIdeRA. Repositorio Institucional de la UCLM
OAI Identifier:oai:ruidera.uclm.es:10578/32915
Acceso en línea:https://doi.org/10.1515/pr-2018-0047
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/pr-2018-0047/html
https://hdl.handle.net/10578/32915
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Defecation taboo
Euphemism
Persuasion
Politeness
TV commercials
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spelling Euphemism in Laxative TV Commercials: At the Crossroads between Politeness and PersuasionCrespo Fernández, EliecerDefecation tabooEuphemismPersuasionPolitenessTV commercialsDespite the stigma attached to human defecation and people’s reluctance to talk about it openly, there are certain communicative situations in which one cannot evade referring to the elimination of body wastes. This is the case of laxative TV commercials, a type of discourse focused on the infrequent or difficult evacuation of the bowels that constitutes a breeding ground for euphemism. In this regard, following a socially-oriented approach to discourse analysis (Fairclough 2003), politeness theory (Brown and Levinson 1987), and cognitive linguistics (Lakoff 1993; Radden and Kövecses 1999; Steen 2011), the purpose of this paper is to gain an insight into the way euphemism works in a sample of contemporary American TV commercials advertising laxatives. The analysis reveals that euphemism – mostly in the form of metonymy and understatement – and non-euphemistic metaphors and similes serve as face-saving mechanisms for the company’s self-presentational purposes and are ultimately used as part of a sales strategy aiming to attract the interest of viewers.Walter De Gruyter202420242022info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttps://doi.org/10.1515/pr-2018-0047https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/pr-2018-0047/htmlhttps://hdl.handle.net/10578/32915reponame:RUIdeRA. Repositorio Institucional de la UCLMinstname:Universidad de Castilla-La ManchaInglés2019-GRIN-27188info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:ruidera.uclm.es:10578/329152026-05-27T07:36:41Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Euphemism in Laxative TV Commercials: At the Crossroads between Politeness and Persuasion
title Euphemism in Laxative TV Commercials: At the Crossroads between Politeness and Persuasion
spellingShingle Euphemism in Laxative TV Commercials: At the Crossroads between Politeness and Persuasion
Crespo Fernández, Eliecer
Defecation taboo
Euphemism
Persuasion
Politeness
TV commercials
title_short Euphemism in Laxative TV Commercials: At the Crossroads between Politeness and Persuasion
title_full Euphemism in Laxative TV Commercials: At the Crossroads between Politeness and Persuasion
title_fullStr Euphemism in Laxative TV Commercials: At the Crossroads between Politeness and Persuasion
title_full_unstemmed Euphemism in Laxative TV Commercials: At the Crossroads between Politeness and Persuasion
title_sort Euphemism in Laxative TV Commercials: At the Crossroads between Politeness and Persuasion
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Crespo Fernández, Eliecer
author Crespo Fernández, Eliecer
author_facet Crespo Fernández, Eliecer
author_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Defecation taboo
Euphemism
Persuasion
Politeness
TV commercials
topic Defecation taboo
Euphemism
Persuasion
Politeness
TV commercials
description Despite the stigma attached to human defecation and people’s reluctance to talk about it openly, there are certain communicative situations in which one cannot evade referring to the elimination of body wastes. This is the case of laxative TV commercials, a type of discourse focused on the infrequent or difficult evacuation of the bowels that constitutes a breeding ground for euphemism. In this regard, following a socially-oriented approach to discourse analysis (Fairclough 2003), politeness theory (Brown and Levinson 1987), and cognitive linguistics (Lakoff 1993; Radden and Kövecses 1999; Steen 2011), the purpose of this paper is to gain an insight into the way euphemism works in a sample of contemporary American TV commercials advertising laxatives. The analysis reveals that euphemism – mostly in the form of metonymy and understatement – and non-euphemistic metaphors and similes serve as face-saving mechanisms for the company’s self-presentational purposes and are ultimately used as part of a sales strategy aiming to attract the interest of viewers.
publishDate 2022
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2022
2024
2024
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://doi.org/10.1515/pr-2018-0047
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/pr-2018-0047/html
https://hdl.handle.net/10578/32915
url https://doi.org/10.1515/pr-2018-0047
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/pr-2018-0047/html
https://hdl.handle.net/10578/32915
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv 2019-GRIN-27188
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Walter De Gruyter
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Walter De Gruyter
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:RUIdeRA. Repositorio Institucional de la UCLM
instname:Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
instname_str Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
reponame_str RUIdeRA. Repositorio Institucional de la UCLM
collection RUIdeRA. Repositorio Institucional de la UCLM
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,300719

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