SPEECH ACTS IN PHILIPPINE TELEVISION (TV) COMMERCIALS

A Research Paper

MARLOWE B. INGLES
Don Bosco Technical Institute – Makati City

Abstract

Ten (10) Philippine TV commercials were analyzed using the Speech Acts Theory
(Searle, 1969). The main purpose is to know the dominant Speech Acts Classification in the
chosen commercials. The transcribed TV commercials were first segmented based on the
Utterance Theory (Bakhtin,1986). Data were analyzed using frequency and percentage statistical
tool. The findings reveal that there are three Speech Acts Classifications: Assertives, Directives,
and Expressives. that are present in the popular TV commercials. Among the three Speech Act
Classifications the widely used is the Assertives. The data also imply that the Philippine culture
is a high-context society. Thus, a ‘soft-sell approach’ would be advantageous to prospective
advertisers in the Philippines.

Key words: Speech Acts, Speech Acts Theory, Utterance Theory, High-context Society, Soft-sell
Approach

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1. Introduction

Language plays a vital role in human existence (I Can, 2013; Dutta, 2013). It is used in

almost all facets of society: education, business, research, government, health, leisure, and

ordinary social interactions. With different societies come different forms of expressions. This

societal language difference produces cultural differences in how words and their intended

meanings are understood by the community (Gumperz, 1982). Thus, a study of each linguistic

culture may lead to greater understanding on how people of certain place use and receive

language. This may minimize conflict and misunderstanding.

One of the language theories that can be used to understand the linguistic culture of a

society is the Speech Acts Theory (Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969). Speech Acts simply means

“actions performed via utterances” (Yule, 1996, p. 47). This theory suggests that any speech act

can be divided into three layers: Locutionary Act, Illocutionary Act, and Perlocutionary Act

(Austin, 1962). Locutionary act is the meaningful utterance; the illocutionary act is the speaker’s

intended meaning; the perlocutionary act is the effect upon the listener. These speech acts were

classified by Austin (1962) as constatives and performatives/declarations. According to Austin

(1962), constatives are the utterances that include assertions or statements which may be true or

false; performatives are not true or false, but utterance that performs an action, like, “I pronounce

you man and wife” and “I promise to return”. However, Searle (1976) classified the speech acts

into five (5) categories: directives, assertives, commissives, expressives, and declarations.

Directives cause the hearer to do a particular action. Assertives represent the speaker’s belief

about the truth of a proposition. Commissives commit the speaker to some future action.

Expressives express the speaker’s attitude and emotions towards the proposition. Declarations

2
change the reality according to the proposition of the declaration. Although of different

terminologies, the essence is still the same - that an utterance performs a certain function.

Studying culture through its language may pose significant challenges to any researcher,

for there are numerous situations where language can be used. Different language situations

require different theoretical approaches. Understanding a culture of a society by analyzing only

one genre of language may eventually fall on over-generalization. It is, therefore, much safer to

say that a study on a single register of discourse may add to the increasing knowledge on culture

through linguistic analysis.

In recent years, researchers’ “interest in the linguistic and discoursal characteristics of

advertising” (Simpson,2001, p.589) increases. Numerous scholars have studied advertising

because of “its cognitive features (Pateman, 1983; Redfern, 1982; Harris, 1983; in Simpson,

2001, p. 590), its cultural and anthropological dimensions (Aman, 1982; Goldman, 1992;

Schmidt et al, 1994; O’Barr, 1994; Ohmann, 1996) and its status as a genre or register of

discourse (Toolan, 1988; Bex, 1993)”(all cited in Simpson, 2001,p. 590). Moreover, because of

its dynamic and interactive properties, advertising “has been investigated within the parameters

of models in linguistic pragmatics” (Lakoff, 1982; Geis, 1982; Coleman, 1983, 1990; Tanaka,

1994; Short & Hu, 1997; all cited in Simpson, 2001, p. 590). As a well-planned medium of

expressions, advertising utilizes “socially-governed: relevance, originality, and impact” (Wells,

Burnett & Moriarty, 1995, p. 422) principles. According to Winters et al (1986, cited in Kangira,

2009, p. 40), “advertising is a…method of influencing sales by sending a sponsored and paid

message through mass media to a mass of potential buyers.” Advertising, for it to be effective,

should have “carefully designed messages that aimed at eliciting specific behavior changes in

people” (Kangira, 2009, p. 40).

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 This present study focuses on TV commercials in the Philippines. According to Pennock-

Speck and Fuster-Marquez (2014), “ analysis of TV ads is a worthwhile task for researchers” (p.

412), simply because “millions of people are exposed to them” (p. 412). Vestergaard and

Schroder (1986, p.10) explained that “TV commercials extend in time and make use of the

combined effect of sound and picture.” Its main purpose is “to persuade viewers to acquire

commodities or services” (Martinex-Camino & Perez-Saiz, 2012, p. 455). Mueller (1987, in

Ohata, 2004, p. 198) found that TV commercials “reflect the essence of social and cultural values

in a particular society.” Schmidt, Shimura, Wang, and Jeong (1995, in Ohata, 2004, p. 198)

further explain that “TV commercials seem to be quite socially bound in nature, as the messages

in any advertisement are often expressed in a socially appropriate or desirable manner so as to

accomplish the goal of getting consumers (the viewers) to buy a specific product.” Schmidt et all

(1995, in Ohata, 2004, p. 199) further mention that utterances in TV commercials have distinct

“illocutionary force of getting the viewers to buy a specific product or do some action.” This

illocutionary force can “be categorized as a kind of directive, either direct or indirect in its

representation (Banerjee & Carrell, 1988; Searle, 1976; in Ohata, 2004, p. 199). The speech act

of directive in TV commercials can be interpreted as an order, a suggestion (advice), or a request

(Ohata, 2004). Frazer (1983) specifies that although the forms or linguistic strategies of TV

commercials are more like request or orders, the intention is to suggest or recommend.

This paper aims to know the speech acts classifications of the utterances in the TV

commercials and the dominant speech act classification that is present in the selected Philippine

TV commercials. This study may add valuable information to the research on understanding

culture through linguistic analysis. The following questions are formulated to direct the

discussion in this paper:

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1. What are the Speech Acts Classification that the utterances in the selected popular Philippine

TV commercials belong to?

2. What is the dominant Speech Act Classification in the selected Philippine TV commercials?

3. What is the implication of the dominant Speech Act Classification to the culture of the society

where the TV Commercials were aired?

Review of Related Literature

Advertising has been playing important roles in society. It is not only means of knowing

available products and services in the market, but also a way to understand the culture of a

society.

According to van Enschot and Hoeken (2015), TV commercials employ rhetorical figures

to pose riddles for the audience to solve. These well-thought of “rhetorical figures can influence

ad liking because of the pleasure they provide”(p. 25) the audience. Advertisers also ensure the

commercials’ comprehensibility and liking. Through the use of tropes and visual and verbal

anchoring, TV commercials’ intended meaning is clearly received by the viewing public.

Theodorakis, Koritos, and Stathakopoulos (2015) study the effects of rhetorical figures in

controversial topics such as violence and eroticism. Their study confirms that “controversial

themes such as violence in advertising seem to fall within the range of what is considered

unacceptable” (Capella et al, 2010, in Theodorakis, 2015, p. 22). Their findings affirm the past

studies’ claim that using controversial advertisement attract negative attitude or acceptance from

the audience.

Pennock-Speck and Fuster-Marquez (2014) study the imperatives in voice-overs in the

MATVA corpus (Multimodal Analysis of TV Ads). Their aim is to look at the prototypical

5
expression of directives, that is, imperatives. They found that not all British TV ads have

imperatives. Data reveal that “acquisition verb, like ‘buy’ is not the most common. Contact verbs

like ‘call’ and ‘visit’ receive the most frequent tokens. These contact verbs are used to lessen the

imposition or to reduce the “face-threatening act” (Brown & Levinson, 1987).

Simpson (2001) studies reason and tickle as pragmatic construct in the discourse of

advertising. He found that “the distribution of reason and tickle advertising is relative to

particular types of commodities but that that distribution is influenced by a host of interrelated

factors such as budgetary constraints, prospective audience, and in the context of TV advertising,

the availability of slots in broadcasting schedules” (p. 605). He further explains that reason is

used for regularly used commodities while tickle should be used for “the promotion of luxury or

nonessential products” (p. 605).

According to Kangira (2009, p. 44),” rhetoric is the essence of advertising.” He explains

that the “designers of adverts make use of linguistic theory, that is, they use their knowledge of

the phonetics, phonology, syntax, morphology, semantics, and pragmatics of a language. He

suggests that people should “treat adverts with critical mind” (p. 44).

Ohata (2004) studies the TV commercials from Japan and the USA. Data reveal that “TV

commercials are made in a socially desirable and appropriate manner, and that the speech acts

vary from one culture to another” (p. 197). Findings also reveal that Americans like to use

bare imperatives while Japanese prefer the linguistic forms typical of requests.

Baig (2013) studies the advertising discourse using approaches of Discourse Analysis and

Critical Discourse Analysis by reviewing relevant literature. Its primary aim is to examine the

“power relation struggles among product-producers and product-consumers, to gauge the level of

psychological dominance exercised through advertising discourse” (p. 216). The study reveals

6
that advertisement is “one-sided” because the advertisers have “more access to discourse” (p.

134). Those who have more access to discourse control the power.

Stone, Besser, and Lewis (2000) study three advertising effectiveness dimensions through

random telephone survey. The survey gathered the respondents’ most liked or disliked

commercial by describing the commercials, brand preference, television viewing hours, and

demographics. This study supports other research claim that people ‘carry a set’ of liked and

disliked commercials. Moreover, data in this paper add valuable insights on identifying

memorable advertisements and assessing creativity.

Lin (1993) compares American and Japanese television commercials in terms of style and

content. She found that Japanese commercials were less informative than the American

commercials. Japanese commercials focused more on product availability and packaging while

American ads were focused on giving details about price, quality and performance. Japanese

commercials used a “soft-sell approach” using short messages, songs, celebrities, female voice-

overs and still graphics. On the other hand, American commercials used a “hard-sell approach”

employing long messages, animation, male spokepersons and humor. These differences may be

attributed to cultural differences. Japan is a ‘high-context society’ where familiar symbols and

icons are used rather than detailed, logical explanations. However, the US is a ‘low-context

culture’ requiring detailed, logical explanations to convey thoughts and actions.

In a comparative content analysis of 659 TV commercials from the US, France, and

Taiwan, Zandpour, Chang, and Catalano (1992) found that US commercials are focused on

providing specific consumer needs and solving problems; utilize celebrities, credible sources,

and product users; provide data-based arguments and explicit conclusions; talk to consumers

directly in a friendly, conversational tone; display the product aggressively. On the other hand,

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French commercials use symbolism, humor, and drama; does not focus on reason and argument;

provide information that the product sometimes cannot do. Taiwanese commercials connect the

product to traditional Chinese values; subtly present information through symbols, metaphors,

and drama related to family events; use abstract and lack specific consumer orientation.

Banwari (1994) surveyed 203 consumer panel to know their perceptions of television

advertising. Data reveal that consumers generally have a negative view of TV advertising. The

respondents view TV commercials as misleading, boring, irritating, silly, offensive, and trivial.

Moreover, consumers believe commercials promote unwholesome values and increase cost of

the product. However, the respondents also believe that TV commercials give valuable

information about the product that consumers may consider.

These studies have shown some of the significant roles of advertisements in society.

Advertisements’ language use, although socially-governed discourse, are still within the

discretion of the advertisers. This power is carefully balanced by the acceptance of the viewers

and the approval of the designated government agency. This significant information sheds light

on how advertisers methodically choose the language that is used in TV commercials to avoid

censorship and catch the attention of the viewing public.

Moreover, the above studies also pointed out significant differences in the content of TV

commercials in the countries compared. Some attributed the differences to the culture of the

country. The previous studies have shown that culture of the society plays a vital role on how TV

commercials are constructed and presented. This significant information reveals that society’s

culture may be seen and analyzed through the TV commercials.

However, this opportunity is less prioritize for studies of Speech Acts in Philippine TV

commercials are still limited.

8
Theoretical Framework

This study examined the discoursal features of the TV commercials using:

Searle’s (1976) Taxonomy of Speech Acts:

Classifications Descriptions

Assertives The illocutionary point is to make a

commitment to the truth or falsity of the
expressed propositions.
Directives The illocutionary point of these acts is to get the
hearer to do something.
Commissives The illocutionary point of these acts is to
commit the speaker to some future actions.
Expressives The illocutionary point of this class is to express
the speaker’s attitude and emotions towards the
proposition.
Declarations The essence of these illocutionary acts is to
change the reality according to the proposition
of the declaration, e.g.: “pronouncing someone
guilty” or “pronouncing someone husband and
wife”.

With regard to the transcribed words of the TV commercials, they were segmented into

meaningful utterances following the Utterance Theory of Mikhail Bakhtin (1986). There are

four accepted properties that utterances should have.

Properties of Utterance Description

Boundaries All utterances must be bounded by a "change
of speech subject". This usually means, as
previously mentioned, that they are bounded
by silence.
Responsivity or dialogicity The utterance must be either
responding/following a previous utterance or
generating dialogue.
Finalization- An utterance must have a clear ending, and
only occurs if the speaker has said everything
he or she wishes to say.
Generic form The choice of the speech genre is determined
based on the specific circumstances and sphere
in which the dialogue occurs.

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 According to Bakhtin (1986), a "word" or "utterance"--is the main unit of meaning (not

abstract sentences out of context), and is formed through a speaker's relation to Otherness (other

people, others' words and expressions, and the lived cultural world in time and place). A "word"

is therefore always already embedded in a history of expressions by others in a chain of ongoing

cultural and political moments. Spoken language relies on the context: common-sense reference

to experience and the relationship between the speaker and the audience to create and understand

the meaning of an utterance (Tannen, 1982).

Bakhtin, further, emphasizes that an utterance and a sentence are not the same thing.

Sentences do not indicate a change of speech subject, and thus do not automatically satisfy one

of the four properties of utterances. According to him, the sentence as a language unit is

grammatical in nature, while an utterance is "ethical". This idea must be considered when a

conversation is taking place in order to better understand its cultural and communicative

significance. A meaningful conversation largely depends on the sender’s and the receiver’s

knowledge of their society as influenced by their socio-cultural background. This dialogic

perspective explains why differences are but natural among different societies (Baxter, 2006).

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2. Methodology

2.1. Research Design

This paper was done using Quantitative design and Descriptive Method.

2.2. Materials / Corpus of the Study

The materials used in this paper came from Definitely Filipino: The Blog for Online

Filipinos’ Top 10 Most Memorable Lines From Pinoy TV Commercials. This site can be

accessed through this url: http://definitelyfilipino.com/blog/2012/01/29/top-10-most-memorable-

lines-from-pinoy-tv-commercials/. The materials are the transcription of the ten (10) Philippine

TV commercials.

2.3. Procedure

The transcriptions of the TV commercials were taken from a blog site which tackles

almost anything about Philippine culture and society. The materials were analyzed and coded

using Utterance Theory (Bakhtin, 1986). The utterances were classified and marked according to

their Speech Acts Classification by two inter-raters based on Searle’s (1969) Taxonomy of

Speech Acts. The classified utterances in the chosen TV commercials were tabulated per

commercial. The frequency of Speech Acts in the ten TV commercials was then analyzed.

2.4. Data Analysis

Data were analyzed using frequency and percentage statistical tools.

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3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Results

This section presents the findings of the study. The points of emphasis in this part of the

paper include a comparison of the ten (10) TV commercials in terms of the number of utterances

for the entire corpus and a frequency count of illocutionary acts.

In terms of the number of utterances in the ten (10) TV commercials and frequency count

of illocutionary acts, a comparison can be made, as Table 1 shows:

Table 1: Speech Acts in Philippine TV Commercials

Searle’s Taxonomy of Speech Acts Total

Number of
TV Utterances
Commercials per
Commercial
Assertives Directives Commissives Expressives Declarations
1 5 5
2 5 3 8
3 1 1
4 4 1 5
5 4 2 1 7
6 3 2 5 10
7 13 2 15
8 1 1
9 5 5
10 5 5
Total Number
of Utterances
per 45 9 8 62
Illocutionary
Act
Percentage 72.58% 14.52% 12.90% 100%

Clearly, Table 1 shows that great majority of the utterances are in the category of

Assertives while small fractions go to Directives and Expressives respectively. Interestingly,

the highest number of utterances was 15 (Commercial #7) which majority of utterances did not

even talk about the product but the actions of the game the commercial talents were doing. On

12
the other hand, the lowest number of utterance in a commercial was 1 (commercial #8) which

also did talk about the product.

The gathered data are significant in answering the three (3) research questions that direct

this paper:

1. What are the Speech Acts Classifications that are present in the selected popular Philippine

TV commercials?

The Speech Acts Classifications that are present in the selected popular Philippine TV

commercials are under Assertives, Directives, and Expressives. The findings reveal that

Assertives or utterances that convey belief in the truth of the expressed proposition (Bautista,

1988, cited in Dayag, 1997) surfaced as one of the speech acts in TV commercials. This is true in

the examples:

Balat nito ay DYINYUWAYN! (Seiko Wallete)

Hindi lang pang pamilya, pang Sports pa!”

The above two examples show the speaker’s belief on the truthfulness of their words. The

speakers of the utterances were just mentioning the qualities of the product.

Also, Directives which means the speaker attempts to get the hearer/addressee to do

something places second in the speech acts in TV commercials. This speech acts classification

was attained when the speakers used imperative utterance like:

Face the day! (Milo EnergyDrink)

May problema ka? (PLDT)

These sample utterances advise the viewers to do something and request an answer to a

question. The illocutionary force of the utterances in Directives makes the addressee to perform

and action.

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 Finally, the Expressives classification finds a place in Philippine TV commercials. This

classification express how the speaker feels about the situation. The speaker’s emotion was quite

evident in the following examples:

“I love you, Piolo” (Sprite)

“Sana maintindihan mo.” (PLDT)

In this classification, the speakers uttered thanking, apologizing, and welcoming words to

sooth the feeling of the interlocutor and to express his/her own emotion.

The three (3) Speech Acts Classifications evident in the ten TV commercials allow TV

advertisers to suggest and put forward products, to order and demand something from the

addressee, finally to express feelings about the product and convey emotions through dramatic

situations.

2. What is the dominant Speech Acts Classification in the selected Philippine TV commercials?

Unlike the previous findings that speech acts in TV commercials might be categorized as

a kind of directives (Banerjee & Carrell, 1988; Searle, 1976), data in this paper show that the

utterances in Philippine TV commercials are classified as assertives. Assertiveness means that

the utterances are about the speaker’s commitment on the truthfulness or falsity of the

something. This finding may have been caused by how the advertisement is presented. The

chosen TV commercials use story line and exposition that directly and implicitly talk about the

products. These advertisement strategies do not directly talk to the viewers, but only present

what the product is all about and how the product is part of everyday living.

14
3. What does the dominant Speech Act Classification imply on the culture of the society where

the TV Commercials were aired?

The dominance of Assertives in Philippine TV commercials may be influenced by the

culture of the place. The ‘soft-sell approach’ using real life situations where the endorsed product

may be used only shows that Philippine may have exhibited high-context culture as seen by

advertisers. This means that consumers can understand the non-verbal part of the message

(Onkvisit & Shaw, 1999). The use of detailed explanations and logic may not be necessary.

The data also reveal that the creators of these TV commercials have done their research

on the nature and culture of the Philippine society. The drama or storyline related to family

events and the use of familiar symbols are not unique characteristics of Philippine TV

commercials, but also of other Asian countries like Japan (Lin, 1993) and Taiwan (Zandpour,

Chang, & Catalano, 1992).

4. Conclusion

Speech Act Theory (Austin, 1962; Searle, 1976) states that certain act can be performed

through words or utterance. This theory is used in this paper to analyze the utterances in

Philippine TV commercials.

After the findings have been gathered, it can be said that how commercials are presented

affect the speech acts of the utterances. It is safe to say that the most preferred style in Philippine

TV commercials are not the one giving directives, but those that simply present information

about a certain product. This allows the viewers to discern which among the products are

appropriate to their needs and sometimes wants.

15
 The popularity of the chosen TV commercials may have also been caused by its

simplicity and its verbal, visual, and auditory anchoring.

This study may be beneficial to the students and teachers of English for Specific

Purposes. The findings of this study show that culture affects advertising practice, that utterances

in assertives classification are prepared in Philippine advertising, and that familiarity with the

common symbols, family event/gathering, and presentation style in a specific community has

been proven advantageous in advertising.

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 Appendix 1

Top 10 Most Memorable Lines From Pinoy TV Commercials

Definitely Filipino: The Blog for Online Filipinos

Retrieved from: http://definitelyfilipino.com/blog/2012/01/29/top-10-most-memorable-lines-

from-pinoy-tv-commercials/

1. Seiko Wallet –

Seiko, Seiko Wallet!

Ang wallet na maswerte!
Balat nito ay DYINYUWAYN!
International pa ang mga design.
Ang wallet na maswerte.
Seiko, Seiko Wallet!
Seiko, Seiko Wallet!
Seiko Wallet, ang wallet na maswerte!

2. Milo Energy Drink

Great things start from small beginnings.

Growing up, reach early for your dreams.
Face the day. It’s a new challenge.
A chance to be better.
A chance to become your dreams.
Growing up with Olympic Energy.
Growing up, with Milo!
Milo everyday!

3. Family Rubbing Alcohol

“Hindi lang pang pamilya, pang Sports pa!”

4. Dragon Katol

Girl: Dameyng lamowk!

Cowboy: Teypowk seyla ngayown. Sa Dragon Katol.

Dragon Katol! Dragon khung umusowk. Lamowk, sehguradowng teypok!

17
5. Mc Donalds

LOLO: (playing with something………….)

KAREN: Eto na lo….
LOLO: O, s’an ka ba galing, GINA?
KAREN: Lo, Karen po!
LOLO: Antagal-tagal na kasi nating hindi nagkikita, GINA
KAREN: (sad face…… )
LOLO: O sigeh kain na GINA
KAREN: (almost pissed-off) Karen po!
LOLO: (dividing the quarter pounder w/cheese sandwich into two, then wrapping the first half)
PARA SA PABORITO KONG APO, si KAREN……
KAREN: (smiling………..)

6. PLDT

Christian Vasquez: Hello Dad.

Dad: Hello! Oh Vic kumusta?
Christian Vasquez: Maayo man. Dad, may sabihin ako sa imo importante.
Dad: May problema ka?
Christian Vasquez: Dad, magshift nako sa Fine Arts
Dad: Bakit?
Christian Vasquez: Hindi ko hilig ang magdoktor…..Sana maintindihan mo.
Dad: Kung saan ka masaya ti, suportahan taka.

7. Coca Cola (Cokebeat commercial)

Ito ang beat sabay sabay

Ito ang beat bawal sablay
Pabilis ng pabilis
Wag ma-mimiss
Wag ma-mimiss
Gets ko na
Gets mo na
Ahhhhhhhhh……….
Nalilito
Nalilito
Nahihilo
Nahihilo
Coke ‘ko to! 4x

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8. Sprite

Toni Gonzaga: “I LOVE YOU, PIOLOOOOOOOO!”

9. Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdog

“He loves me..he loves me not…he loves me…he loves me not….HE LOVES ME!“

10. BEAM Toothpaste

B-E-A-M means “Smile!”

Smile kami pag Beam.

Beam na Beam, ngipin ay protektado

Panalo sa presyo. Panalo pag Beam!

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