Discoursing children characteristics of Zenith bank®, Nigeria, advertising: an expression of clause as representation

Abstract

This study illuminated the strategy of Zenith Bank®, employing characteristics of children as fascinating instruments to persuade parents-cum-guardians to open a ZECA account for their children. Mrs. Bonke and the author randomly collected the advertisements for one year and nine months with a camera, utilizing a laptop to adjust the advertising frameworks. The author stratified the advertisements, enabling nine advertisements, entwined with features of children, for appropriate analysis. The application of Systemic Functional Linguistics’ ‘Clause as Representation’ facilitated the calibration of the recurrences of the clause processes and circumstantial devices. Nevertheless, tables and graphs explicated the frequency and flow of the grammatical components. The study revealed that Material (holds, give and starts), Mental (matters to, smiles and experience), and Behavioral (speaks and mimic) processes dominated the texts; whereas Location (in your best interest, today and away from me) and Cause (for the first time and of building towards a brighter future) are major enhancing informative mechanisms. The verbal modes and non-verbal modes exhibited general facilities and specific elements in the communications. Some of the universal aspects are open a ZECA account, special memories, the grey background and the Zenith Bank logo. The Hold, The Smile, The Step and The Mimic are parts of the definite building blocks of the advertisements, which appeared in the form of maternal affiliation, paternal partnership, and the child’s image. The investigation further demonstrated these modes in connotative figures. Among others, the images of hands in Plates 1 and 9 reflected strong ties among Zenith Bank’s stakeholders. Owing to the innovativeness of these advertisements, one might call for the production of advertisements in marital domains because such constructs might engender deep love in family affairs.

Keywords

• Advertising
• clause as representation
• connotation
• denotation
• discourse

References

1. Adedun, E. (2008). The relevance of advertising to the teaching of English in secondary schools. In Daramola, A. and O. Olusoga (Eds.), Literature and Language, a Drama of Life: A Festschrift in Honour of Z. A. Adejumo, pp. 208-213. Lagos: BPrint.
2. Ambler, T. (1996). Can alcohol misuse be reduced by banning advertising? International Journal of Advertising 15(2), 167-174.
3. Ambler, T., Broadbent, S., & Feldwick, P. (1998). Does advertising affect market size? International Journal of Advertising 17(3), 267-300.
4. Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2002), The effects of media violence on society, Science, 295(5564), 2377–2379.
5. Anderson, P. (2002), Assessment and development of executive function (ef ) during childhood, Child Neuropsychology, 8(2), 71–82.
6. Ang, I. (1991). Desperately seeking the audience. London, GB: Routledge.
7. Azzam, A. A. (2012). Effect of hand function training on improvement of hand grip strength in Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy in children. Novel Physiotherapies 2(6), 2-5. Retrieved on 11 January 2019 from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/aa58/54a89c5b5d6bd89ac2c011146728e360560d.pdf.
8. Barthes, R. (1986). Rhetoric of image. In R. Barthes (Ed.), The responsibility of forms: Critical essays on music, art, and representation, pp. 21-40. Oxford, GB: Basil Blackwell.

9. Bauer, L. (1983). English word-formation. Cambridge, GB: Cambridge University Press.
10. Blades, M., Oates, C., Blumberg, F., & Gunter, B. (2014). Advertising to children: New directions, new media. Basingstoke, GB: Palgrave Macmillan.
11. Bloor, T., & Bloor, M. (2004). The functional analysis of English. London, GB: Hodder.
12. Bloor, T., & Bloor, M. (2013). The functional analysis of English. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
13. Blumberg, F. C., Williams, J. M., & Kelley, B. (2014), Linkages between media literacy and children’s and adolescents’ susceptibility to advertising, in Advertising to Children, pp. 158-177. New York, NY: Springer.
14. Booij, G. E. (2007). The grammar of word: An introduction to morphology). Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press.
15. Bowcher, W. L. (2018). The semiotic sense of context vs the material sense of context. Functional Linguistics 5(5), 1-19. Retrieved on 22 August 2018 from https://doi.org/10.1186/s40554-018-0055-y.
16. Brigham, B. (1995). The man who invented the high-five. Retrieved on 19 September 2014 from http://www.thediamondangle.com/.
17. Bryant, W. K., & Zick, C. D. (2006). The economic organization of the household. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
18. Bryman, A. (2012). Social research methods. 4th edition. New York: Oxford University Press.
19. Buchsbaum, D., Gopnik, A., & Griffiths, T. L. (n.d.). Children’s imitation of action: Sequences is influenced by statistical evidence and inferred causal structure. Retrieved on 06 February 2019 from http://cocosci.princeton.edu/tom/papers/imitation1.pdf.
20. Buijzen M. (2007). Reducing children’s susceptibility to commercials: mechanisms of factual and evaluative advertising interventions. Media Psychology, 9(2),411–430.
21. Buijzen, M., & Valkenburg, Patti M. (2003). The unintended effects of television advertising: A parent-child survey. Communication Research 30(5), 483-503. Retrieved on 30 July 2017 from https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650203256361.
22. Butler, C. S. (2003a). Structure and function: A guide to three major structural-functional theories Part I. Amsterdam, AM: John Benjamins.
23. Butler, C. S. (2003b). Structure and function: A guide to three major structural-functional theories Part II. Amsterdam, AM: John Benjamins.
24. Butler, C.S. (1985). Systemic linguistics theory and applications. London, GB: Batsford Acedemic and Educational.
25. Calvert S. L. (2008). Children as consumers: Advertising and marketing. The future of children, 18(1), 205-234. Retrieved on 13 July 2018 from https://www.princeton.edu/futureofchildren/publications/docs/18_01_09.pdf.
26. Calvert, S. L., Jordan, A., & Cocking, R. R. (eds.) (2002). Children in the digital age: Influences of electronic media on development. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.
27. Calvert, S. L., & Wilson, B. (eds.) (2008). Blackwell handbook of child development and the media. Boston, USA: Wiley-Blackwell.
28. Campbell, M. C., & Kirmani, A. (2000). Consumers’ use of persuasion knowledge: The effects of accessibility and cognitive capacity on perceptions of an influence agent. Journal of Consumer Research, 27(1), 69–83.
29. Chandler, D. (2012). Semiotics for beginners. Retrieved on January 22, 2012 from: www.aber,ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/ semiotic.html.
30. Charmaz, K. C. (2014). Constructing grounded theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
31. Christie, F., & Unsworth, L. (ed) (2000). Researching language in schools and communities. London, GB: Continuum.
32. Corbin, J., & Strauss, A. (2015). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
33. Cowie, F. (2008). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Innateness and language. Retrieved on 21 January 2019 from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/innateness-language/.
34. De Vaus, D. A. (2014). Surveys in social research. (6th ed). Australia, AUS: UCL Press.
35. Diamond, A. (2013), Executive functions. Annual review of psychology, 64, 135-168.
36. Dyer, G. (2005). Advertising as communication. London, GB: Routledge.
37. Edell, J., & Staelin, R. (1983). The information processing of pictures in print advertisements. Journal of Consumer Research, 10, 45-61.
38. Eggins, S. (2004). Introduction to systemic functional linguistics. London, GB: Continuum.
39. Evans N. J., Carlson L., & Grubbs H. M. (2013). Coddling our kids: Can parenting style affect attitudes toward advergames? J. of Advert 42(2–3), 228–240.
40. Fecteau, J. H., & Munoz, D. P. (2006), Salience, relevance, and firing: a priority map for target selection, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10(8), 382–390.
41. Fisher, P. J., & Anong, S. T. (2012). Relationship of saving motives to saving habits. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning, 23(1), 63-79
42. Fiske, J. (1982). Introduction to communication studies. London, GB: Routledge.
43. Fontaine, L. (2013). Analyzing English grammar: A systemic functional introduction. Cambridge, GB: Cambridge University Press.
44. Forceville, C. (1996). Pictorial metaphor in advertising. New York, NY: Routledge.
45. Fox, N., & Worhol, J. G. (eds.) (1999). The role of early experience in infant Development. Skillman, NJ: Pediatric Institute Publications
46. Freedman, D. (1974). Human infancy: An evolutionary perspective. Hillsdale, US: LEA.
47. Friestad, M., & Wright, P. (1994), The persuasion knowledge model: How people cope with persuasion attempts, Journal of consumer research, 21(1),1–31.
48. Gabig, C. S. (2013). Telegraphic speech. In R. V. Fred (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders, pp. 3076-3086. New York, NY: Springer.
49. Gauntlett, D. (2005). Moving experiences: Media effects and beyond, volume 13. Indiana: Inidiana University Press.
50. Gentles, S. J., Charles, C., Ploeg, J., & McKibbon, K. (2015). Sampling in qualitative research: Insights from an overview of the methods literature. The Qualitative Report, 20(11), 1772-1789. Retrieved on 16 June 2018 from http://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol20/iss11/5.
51. Gieszinger, S. (2001). The history of advertising language. Frankfurt, GER: Peter Lang GmbH.
52. Gopnik, A., & Schulz, L. (2007). Causal learning: Psychology, philosophy, computation. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
53. Grüter, T. (2014). How do children learn language? Retrieved on 19 December 2018 from http://theresgruter.homestead.com/Gruter2014_HowDoChildrenLearnLanguage.pdf.
54. Halliday, M. A. K. (1995). An Introduction to functional grammar. London, GB: Arnold.
55. Halliday, M. A. K., & Hasan, R. (1985). Language, context, and text: Aspects of language in a socio-semiotic perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
56. Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen M. I. M. (2004). An introduction to functional grammar. London, GB: Arnold.
57. Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen M. I. M. (2014). Halliday’s introduction to functional grammar. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
58. Harris J. L, Sarda V, Schwartz M. B., & Brownell K. D. (2013). Redefining “child-directed advertising” to reduce unhealthy television food advertising. Am. J. Prev Med. 44(4), 358–364.
59. Harris, J. L., Speers, S. E., Schwartz, M. B., & Brownell, K. D. (2012). Us food company branded advergames on the internet: children’s exposure and effects on snack consumption, Journal of Children and Media, 6(1), 51–68.
60. Heckman, J. J., Flyer, F., & Loughlin, C. (2008). An assessment of causal inference in smoking initiation research and a framework for future research. Economic Inquiry 46(1), 42-43.
61. Henderson, J. M., Brockmole, J. R., Castelhano, M. S., & Mack, M. (2007). Visual saliency does not account for eye movements during visual search in real-world scenes. In R. P. G. van Gompel, M. H. Fischer, W. S. Murray, & R. L. Hill (Eds.), Eye movements: A window on mind and brain, pp. 537-562. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-008044980-7/50027-6
62. Hodgson, Geoffrey M. (2015). Conceptualizing capitalism: A summary. Competition and Change 20(1), 37-52.
63. Itti, L., & Koch, C. (2001), Computational modelling of visual attention. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2(3), 194–203.
64. Jarlbro, G. (2001), Children and advertising on television: A survey of the research, 1994-2000. Nordicom Review, 22(2), 71–78.
65. Jernigan D. H., Ostroff, J., & Ross, C. (2005). Alcohol advertising and youth: a measured approach. Journal of Public Health Policy, 26(3):312–325.
66. John, D. (1999). Consumer socialization of children: A retrospective look at twenty-five years of research. Journal of Consumer Research 26(3), 183–213.
67. Keyton, J. (2006). Communication research: Asking questions finding answers. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc.
68. Klein, C., & Foerster, F. (2001), Development of prosaccade and antisaccade task performance in participants aged 6 to 26 years, Psychophysiology, 38, 2, 179–189. Doi:10.1111/1469-8986.3820179.
69. Kovecses, Z. (2010). Metaphor: A practical introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.
70. Kress, G. R., & van Leeuwen, T. (2003). Reading images: The grammar of visual design. New York, NY: Routledge.
71. Kroeber-Riel, W. (1986). BildkommuniKkation: Imagery strategien für die werbung. Müunchen, GER: Franz Vahlen.
72. Kuisma, J. (2015), Consumer perception of online advertising: The effects of animation, ad characteristics, repetition and task relevancy on attention and memory (PhD, Thesis, School of Business Department of Marketing) Aalto University publication series, Finland.
73. Lagerwerf, L. (2002). Deliberate ambiguity in slogans: recognition and appreciation. Document Design, Amsterdam, 3(3), 245-260. Rertrieved on 13 January 2019 from https://ris.utwente.nl/ws/files/6761164/Lagerwerf02deliberate.pdf.
74. Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
75. Lapierre, M. A. (2013), Development and persuasion processing: An investigation of children’s advertising susceptibility and understanding. Journal of Communication 65(3), 423-442.
76. Leech ,G. N.(1981). Semantics. London, UK: Penguin Books Ltd.
77. Lichtman, M. (2013). Qualitative Research in education: A user’s guide. (3rd ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publication.
78. Lieber, R. (2010). Introducing morphology. Cambridge, GB: Cambridge University Press.
79. Livingstone, S., & Helsper, E. J. (2006), Does advertising literacy mediate the effects of advertising on children? A critical examination of two linked research literatures in relation to obesity and food choice, Journal of communication, 56(3), 560–584.
80. Lundmark, T. (2010). Tales of hi and bye: Greeting and parting rituals around the world. Cambridge: GB: Cambridge University Press
81. Martin, G. (2019). The phrase finder: Meaning of the expression – hi-five. Retrieved on 11 February 2019 from https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/181375.html.
82. Martin, J. R. (1992). English text: System and structure. Philadelphia, USA: John Benjamins.
83. Martin, J. R. (2016). Meaning matters: A short history of systemic functional linguistics. Word 62(1), 35-58.
84. Martinez, C. (2016), Targeting children online: Young internet users and producers in the commercial media environment. Lund, Lund University. http://portal.research.lu.se/ws/files/19637631/e_spik_version_carolina.pdf
85. Martinez, C., Sandberg, H., & Jarlbro, G. (2013), Children’s views and practices regarding online advertising. an interview study with swedish nine-year-olds, Nordicom Review, 34(2), 107–121.
86. Matthew, P. H. (1974). Morphology: Introduction to the word structure. Cambridge, GB: Cambridge University Press.
87. Maxwell, J. A. (2013). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach. (3rd ed). London, GB: SAGE.
88. McGilvray, J. A. (2006). On the innateness of language. In R. J. Stainton (Ed.), Contemporary debates in cognitive science, pp. 97-112. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
89. McQuail, D. (2010). McQuail’s mass communication theory. London, GB: Sage publications.
90. Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
91. Mooallem, J. (2011). The history and mystery of the high five. Retrieved on 13 June 2018 from http://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/page/Mag15historyofthehighfive/who-invented-high-five
92. Munoz, D. P., & Everling, S. (2004). Look away: the anti-saccade task and the voluntary control of eye movement. Nat Rev Neurosci, 5(3), 218–228. Doi:10.1038/nrn1345.
93. Myers, K. (1986). Under stains: The sense and seduction of advertising. Surrey, GB: The Gresham Press.
94. Nairn, A., & Fine, C. (2008), Who’s messing with my mind? the implications of dual process models for the ethics of advertising to children, International Journal of Advertising, 27(3), 447–470. Newman, D. G., Pearn, J., Barnes, A., Young, C. M, Kehoe, M., &
95. Newman, J. (1984). Norms for hand grip strength. Archives of Disease in Childhood 59, 453-459. Retrieved on 11 January 2019 from https://adc.bmj.com/content/archdischild/59/5/453.full.pdf
96. Nielsen, M. (2006). Copying actions and copying outcomes: social learning through the second year. Developmental Psychology 42(3), 555–565.
97. Nielsen, M. (2012). Imitation, pretend play, and childhood: Essential elements in the evolution of human culture? Journal of Comparative, 126(2), 170–181.
98. Oduwaye, L. (2007). Effects of institutional land uses on road traffic on metropolitan Lagos. The Social Sciences: Medwell Journals 2(3), 255-263. Retrieved on 10 May 2017 from http://docsdrive.com/pdfs/medwelljournals/sscience/2007/255-263.pdf.
99. Osoba, S. B.(2012). An analysis of intra-city patterns of residents in Lagos metropolis, Nigeria. International Journal of Development and Sustainability 1(2), 563-580. Retrieved on 13 June 2018 from https://isdsnet.com/ijds-v1n2-38.pdf.
100. Over, H., & Carpenter, M. (2013). The social side of imitation. Child development perspectives 7(1), 6–11
101. Packard, V. (2007). The hidden persuader. Brooklyn, USA: IG Publishing.
102. Panofsky, E. (1970). Meaning in the visual arts. Harmondsworth, GB: Penguin.
103. Pasricha, N. (2010). The book of awesome. New York, NY: Penguin Books.
104. Patton, M. Q. (2015). Qualitative research and evaluation methods: Integrating theory And practice (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Publication.
105. Peckham, A. (2012). Urban dictionary: Freshest Street slang defined. Kansas City, USA: Missouri: Andrews McMeel Publishing.
106. Pike, J. J., & Jennings, N. A. (2005). The effects of commercials on children‘s perceptions of gender appropriate toy use. Sex Roles, 52(1/2), 83-91. DOI: 10.1007/s11199-005-1195-6. https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/45638/11199_2005_Article_1195.pdf.
107. Plag, I. (2003). Word-formation in English. Cambridge, GB: Cambridge University.
108. Posner, R. (1974). Advertising and product differentiation. In J. S. Wright & J. E. Mertes (Eds.), Advertising’s Role in Society, pp. 44-46. Eagan, Minnesota: West Publishing Co.
109. Potter, W. J. (2011). Conceptualizing mass media effect. Journal of Communication, 61(5), 896–915.
110. PPG Industries, Inc. (2016). Psychology of color. Retrieved on May 10, 2016, from www.gliddenpaint.com/Ideas_Inspiration/psychology_of_color.html.
111. Ratliff, James D., & Rubinfeld, Daniel L. (n.d.). Online advertising: Defining relevant markets. Retrieved on 07 January 2019 from https://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/Online-Advertising2011.pdf.
112. Ravelli, L. (2000). Getting started with functional analysis of texts. In: Len Unsworth (Ed.), Researching Language in Schools and Communities, 1, 27-63. London, GB: Continuum.
113. Rochat, P. (2001). The infant’s world. Cambridge, CAM: Harvard University Press.
114. Sells, P., & Gonzalez S. (2002). The language of advertising. Retrieved on 21 August 2015 from http://www.york.ac.uk/language/staff/academic-research.paper/peter-sells.
115. Shimada, S. (1969). The development of smiling response in early infancy (in Japanese). Seishinshinkeigaku-zashi. Journal of Psychoneurology, 71, 741–756.
116. Sjöberg, J. (2013), I marknadens öga: Barn och visuell konsumtion. Retrieved on 13 June 2018 from https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:622472/FULLTEXT01.pdf.
117. Sklair, L. (ed.) (1994). Capitalism and development. New York, NY: Routlege.
118. Snow, C. W. (1989). Infant development. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
119. Spears, R. A. (2007). Dictionary of American slang and colloquial expressions. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
120. Spiteri, Cornish L. (2014). Mum, can I play on the internet?: Parents’ understanding, perception and responses to online advertising designed for children. Int. J. of Advert, 33(3),437–473.
121. Steiner. E. (2018). Obituary: A tribute to M.A.K. Halliday. Lingua 216, 1-9. Retrieved on 23 February 2019 from www.sciencedirect.com.
122. Stephens, K. (2007). Parents are powerful role models for children. Parenting Exchange. Retrieved on 06 February 2019 from www.ParentingExchange.com.
123. Takai, K. (2005). Development of spontaneous smiles and spontaneous laughs: From observations of one infant from 6-days to 6-months old in Japanese. Journal of Japan Society of Perinatal and Neonatal Medicine, 41, 552–556.
124. Teddlie, C., & Tashakkori, A. (2009). Foundations of mixed methods research: Integrating quantitative and qualitative approaches in the social and behavioral sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
125. Thompson, G. (2004). Introducing functional grammar. Great Britain: Hodder Arnold.
126. Thompson, G. (2014). Introducing functional grammar. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
127. Valkenburg, P., & Cantor, J. (2002). The development of a child into a consumer. In S. L. Calvert, A. Jordan & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.), Children in the digital age: Influences of electronic media on development, pp. 201-214. Westport, Conn.: Praeger.
128. Vega, V. (2009). Media-Multitasking: Implications for learning and cognitive development in youth. Background Paper prepared for the NSF-Sponsored Seminar on Implications of Media-Multitasking for Learning and Cognitive Development in Youth. Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA.
129. Vestergaard, T., & Schroder, K. (1985). The language of advertising. New York, NY: Basil Blackwell.
130. Wallis, C. (2010), The impacts of media multitasking on children’s learning and development: Report from a research seminar. New York, NY: The Joan Ganz Cooney Center, Sesame Workshop.
131. Weinberger, M. G., Spotts, H. E., & Markos, E. (2010). Joe Camel: Post-mortem of a brand spokesperson. International Journal of Advertising 29(3), 401-430.
132. Williamson, J. (1995). Decoding advertising: Ideology and meaning in advertising. New York, NY: Marion Boyars.
133. Wolff, P. (1961). Observations on the early development of smiling. In B. M. Foss (Ed.), Determinants of infant behavior, 2, (pp. 113–138). London, GB: Methuen.
134. Wolff, P. (1987). The development of behavioral states and the expression of emotions in early infancy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
135. Yule, G. (2010). The study of language. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
136. Zelazo, P. D. (2013). The Oxford handbook of developmental psychology, 2: Self and other. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.