A Study On Persuasive Function Of Cosmetic Advertisements In Facebook From The Perspective Of Pragmatic Presupposition

The thesis studies persuasive function of Facebook cosmetic advertisements from the perspective of pragmatic presupposition.The author attempts to figure out how persuasive function is better achieved in cosmetic advertising through the application of pragmatic presupposition.This study also summarizes desirable persuasive strategies and inform consumers of the working mechanism of advertisements.The main goal of advertising is to persuade consumers into purchasing,and advertisers appeal to our intellect,emotions and morals through various strategies.Pragmatic presupposition and Aristotle's three advertising appeals are adopted as the framework of this study.Pragmatic presuppositions and persuasive strategies in Facebook cosmetic advertisements are discussed and analyzed in this study.Qualitative and quantitative analysis are adopted to explore the following three questions: 1)What persuasive strategies are commonly adopted to rationally,emotionally or morally help achieve persuasive function in Facebook cosmetic advertisements? 2)How are pragmatic presuppositions employed in Facebook cosmetic advertisements to help achieve persuasive function? 3)Which strategies and presuppositions are more frequently adopted than others to help achieve persuasive function? 70 cosmetic advertisements on Facebook are collected as samples,and qualitatively analyzed into four types of presuppositions and three kinds of persuasive strategies.The frequencies of each type of persuasive strategies and pragmatic presuppositions are calculated so as to summarize the desirable strategies in advertising language.The analysis finds out that factive presupposition can presents facts so as to increase the credibility of the product,that belief presupposition can reinforce or challenge existing belief,that state presupposition can recall or envision state to create desire,and that behavior presupposition can recall or envision behaviors.The study shows that six rational strategies,four emotional strategies and two moral strategies are usually employed to persuade consumers.The emotional strategies are more frequently employed than others in Facebook cosmetic advertisements.Factive and state presuppositions aremore frequently employed than others in this research.Moreover,persuasive strategies are commonly seen in four pragmatic presuppositions.This study also found out that the pragmatic presupposition adopting rational,emotional and moral strategies can be correspondingly divided into rational presuppositions,emotional presuppositions and moral presuppositions.The study has both theoretical and practical significance.Theoretically,this study explores the connection between pragmatic presupposition and Aristotle's three appeals,which broadens the research scope in studying persuasive function.This study also deducts the fact that presupposition can be classified into rational,emotional and moral presupposition.Thus this study helps to bring the less accepted classification of presupposition into the spotlight.Pragmatically,it is expected that the study can shed light on the design of cosmetic advertisements in a more persuasive way and inform consumers or social app users the working mechanism of cosmetic advertisements.This thesis will help consumers to comprehend the promotion strategies the advertisers adopt,and make a rational choice of cosmetic products.