Kaingang Podcast!

Speaking In Tongues

 “Language is the perfect instrument of empire”

When medieval linguist Antonio de Nebrija claimed to Queen Isabella, "language is the perfect instrument of empire," he alluded, in an overarching sense, to the fact that language itself is a pivotal component of the building and sustenance of territorial expansion from an imperialistic perspective. The theoretical underpinning for this ideology relates directly to the notion that language can be as much of a dividing force as it can be a uniting one. 

When Nebrija classifies language to be the "perfect instrument of empire," he unveils his appreciation of the fundamentals of colonization as imperialist territorial gain relies heavily on collectively oppressing a large group of people into succumbing to the might of a central power. Accordingly, this task of essentially taking over a group of people and asserting control over them is made relatively easier if the prevalence of a communication barrier is lowered; this can be ensured through the effective establishment of one language being that associated with the identity of an empire, thus mandating for the people of the colonies to acquire the basics of said language. 

In the case mentioned in the reading, "Speaking in Tongues," Nebrija proposed Spanish to be the language of the empire and the implications of this assertion are evidently described in the "beginning of the end of thousands of languages."

This concept of the loss of several languages at the cost of colonization however is not an unfamiliar phenomenon. 

The most prominent example would indubitably be the widespread conquests of the British Empire in the 1800s, whereby English was the language that permeated all conquered colonies. More specifically, if one was to look into the impact of the European colonization of India, the impression left behind by the ruling powers in regards to the pervasiveness of the English language was so utterly drastic that the language itself has been embedded in the country as that of its own, and remains to be so even 70 years after the English left the country. However, that being said, India is perhaps one of the only countries that preserved, despite the prolonged 300 year reign of the British, its plethora of languages, may perhaps be indicative of language also acting as a form of resilience to an empire. Thus while language, as stated by Nebrija, can be a "perfect instrument for empire," it can on the other hand also be equally detrimental to a Sovereign if the languages of a colony are powerful enough to overpower empire's "ideal instrument."

This is exactly what makes language threatening. Looking at the quote beyond its literal meaning, it can be inferred that "empire" could be applied to not only a large colonized territory but perhaps even to a small group of people who share a tongue, thus suggesting that language acts as a binding force amongst the members of any group. Hence, the remarkable power of language is subtly encapsulated in the relatively simple but notable quote whereby it is cemented that language acts not only as a conduit for communication amongst people but also as a critical cohesive force, extending to each one a unique identity. 

Ads and Stereotypes

Do you think that advertisers have a moral duty to avoid stereotyping people?

Whether we like it or not, mass media and its eclectic portrayal of subjects substantially influences our perception of the world around us. In fact, advertising agencies are well aware of the incontrovertible authority of their advertisements and often this vulnerable actuality is exploited and capitalized on for the primary purpose of reaping financial gains. Stereotyping is only one of the plentitude of rhetoric employed by advertisers to appeal to their target audience and ultimately coax them towards a central product. Accordingly, sweeping generalizations are at the core of this device whereby a certain group of people is perpetually illustrated in a peculiar manner, independent of whether the depiction is accurate or not. For instance the portrayal of a male figure as the "breadwinner" juxtaposed with a quintessential stay-at-home wife looking after the children or perhaps highlighting the superiority of one race to another due to associative factors, essentially fall under the category of common stereotypes we are exposed to through mass media. 

Continual subjection to stereotypes perpetuated by media embeds in our minds a prejudice against those at the centre of the injustice and hence in my opinion, advertisers have a moral duty to avoid stereotyping people. It is incorrect to primarily misconstrue reality regarding a certain group of people, however what intensifies the doing more so is when the thin line between a stereotype and practicality become blurred in societal views. Often, humour is utilized as an excuse for such falsified portrayals despite the fact that an advertisers essence of humour may not align with a considerable segment of the viewership. With mass media, the audience being reached is too diverse to please everyone through restricted depictions. However, at the same time, advertisers need to keep in mind that ideologies promulgated in advertisements can have drastic consequences on  propelling or conversely hindering the overarching societal mentality on a subject, making it crucial for advertisers to be vigilant in the process of creating advertisements. 

Nivea Print Ad Response

The print advertisement assigned to my group was a Nivea ad illuminating the brand's new moisturizer as the principal product being endorsed. The ad itself was produced as a marker celebrating, as the top-left textual component explicitly states,100 years of Nivea. 

Whilst the ad can be viewed holistically to deduce its fundamental purpose, the intricate melange of elements that elevate the advertisement are critical in regards to the cultural, social and historical insights they collectively provide.

To primarily contextualize the production of the ad, the ad is a pivotal part of Nivea India's campaign celebrating the brand's 100th anniversary. The significance of this event is emphasized by having Anushka Sharma, a renowned Indian actress, as the fresh face of the campaign. Whilst having celebrities endorse products with the aim of appealing to a greater consumer base is a common technique employed by marketers, the choice of Anushka Sharma being the central figure in this campaign is even more pronounced as it sheds light on the Indian society's standards of 'ideal' beauty. Sharma, in India, is widely admired for her naturally attractive aesthetics and more so due to her skin tone being on the lighter end of the spectrum. The Indian society, although relatively less in contemporary times, continues to be submerged in a rigid mentality whereby fair skin, as opposed to darker skin, is beauteous and therefore grandly valued. This facet of a historically embedded Indian ideology is arrested and effectually woven into the advertisement as artificial light is shone on Sharma to accentuate to the viewer her flawless fair skin, which implicitly is attributed to the Nivea body lotion. 

The advertisement also, whether deliberately or not, captures the hypocritical dimension of the aforementioned ideology as the "fair skin is beautiful" notion is applicable fundamentally to Indian women and not necessarily the men. This contrast is clearly visible in the advertisement as Sharma's male model counterpart has a considerably darker skin tone and has yet been deemed as 'product-endorsing' worthy. This aspect further reveals the unrealistic societal expectations that Indian women continually battle with, starting at a very young age. A hint at gender roles in the Indian society is also apparent in the advertisement as, according to the ad, a woman is required to alter her physical appearance to be more desirable to a man. 

Interpreting the social context of the advertisement, the intimate atmosphere established by the positioning of the models essentially cements an associative link with the body lotion and finding a partner. In fact, it may also be implied that applying Nivea's body lotion could enhance a woman's appeal in a way to attract more men. Sharma's direct eye contact with the viewer complemented by an alluring simper echoes an assurance that any woman purchasing this product would be as beautiful and attractive as Sharma, and hence capable of attracting more men. 

On a more general scale, this advertisement effectively empowers young women, as Sharma, a beautiful young woman, dominates the advertisement in the entirety despite there being a man in the ad as well. However, more specifically, Indian women who share similar traits, predominantly in terms of having light-toned skin, are incontrovertibly empowered in this commercial as these physical features contribute dramatically to Sharma being the principal focal point in an advertisement promoting exquisite, flawless skin as a result of the brand's moisturizer. Conversely, the marginalized group would perhaps be darker skinned Indian women who do not align with the illustrated beauty standards as the limelight is beamed directly on a celebrity embodying society's paradigm of Indian beauty. 

Pitch Presentation Reflection

Group: Inspire Your Desire (Shriya, Luiza and Fleur)
Product: Casio Keytar

As tasked, the central aim of our pitch was to convince Casio that our advertising agency—Inspire Your Desire—was the perfect fit to promote their new product (the Keytar) on a grand scale. In order to do so, we strategically incorporated the elements of carefully crafted appeals and persuasive techniques that underpinned and therefore propelled our pitch.

For instance, in order to enhance the ethos rhetoric, we decided that it would be effective to kick-start the presentation with an introduction to the agency and its reputation through highlighting the prestigious international awards we had been recipients of for our incredible work in the advertising field. The intended aim of this choice was to primarily lay the accolade-winning foundation of our agency whilst simultaneously canvassing a reliable/trustworthy image to the client. Complimentarily, we also introduced the concept of having The Beatles endorse the Keytar in our advertisements which again was an undercurrent of the ethos appeal as having the potential to have The Beatles in our campaign accentuated the status and reach of our agency.

The significance behind including The Beatles as opposed to any other musical group as a part of our campaign was in pertinence to the context of our pitch being in the 1980s in the United Kingdom. The Beatles were a group that had gained immense popularity during this time frame and hence were the group chosen as even the Clients would (hopefully) have been aware of their grand fan base that could potentially translate to being a segment of the consumer base of the Keytar.

In terms of relaying the principal idea itself, selective diction was employed with the purpose of evoking specific emotions in the Client subject to our presentation. For example, using connotative phrases like "I guarantee" and "we know/can" essentially conveys the charismatic conviction of the agency in the entirety whilst appealing to the logic and reason of the Client. As a team, we also formulated a slogan—"Now be a Star with your very own Keytar"— to augment to the Client the fact that the agency was already one step ahead in the planning process and would immediately proceed with the campaign were they to employ us.

In terms of the persuasive techniques whilst actually presenting the pitch, what I tried to focus chiefly on was sincerely trying to be enthusiastic about the product. I personally believe that for a presentation to be successful, demonstrating confidence in the material being presented whilst at the same time successfully communicating an idea to your audience in a engaging manner, is of utmost importance. Thus, in order to fulfill these aspects of a successful presentation, several rhetorical questions such as "Sounds hyperbolized?" and "How could we possibly do that?" were integrated to elicit a sense of curiosity in the audience and then satisfy the curiosity with the cued answer to the question. Another technique I used was to subtly, but consistently, signify the importance with which we regarded this opportunity. For example, I mentioned how Inspire Your Desire would run no parallel projects whilst in a deal with Casio as they would be our priority; this appeal would psychologically grant to them a status of superiority and how our company acknowledged this superiority.

All in all, I am very proud of how well our group worked together on this presentation as we distributed the segments equally and therefore shared the workload evenly. In regards to what I would do differently had I the chance to repeat the presentation, I would not change perhaps anything concerning the content of the presentation itself as I believe we worked hard to incorporate effectual arguments, appeals and persuasive techniques that elevated the content as a whole. However, in terms of my own presenting, I would most certainly get rid of the cue cards for the sole reason that whilst presenting I am so focused on engaging the audience through consistent direct eye contact and gestures that I often improvise my words/phrases on the spot. The cue cards that I had in hand during this presentation contained the ideas and exact phrasings that I had thought of as guidelines and hence glancing at the cue cards whilst saying something completely different utterly confused me and resulted in de-railing my thought process in the moment. In order to avoid this the next time, I would either try and prepare well enough to not have cue cards at all or if I am tentative and still feel the need to have cue cards, I would place merely key words as opposed to complete phrases/paragraphs on the cue cards.

Pantene Commercial

Love Your Hair Longer

The commercial, "Love Your Hair  Longer," promoting the benefits of Pantene Conditioner is essentially targeted at women who, as the name of the commercial suggests, experience problems regarding the growth of long  hair. 

Accordingly, the credibility of the advertisement and its central assertion is strategically cemented by deliberately employing the celebrity status of renowned actor/singer—Selena Gomez—in an effective fashion that contributes to the ethos rhetoric of persuasion. Subsequently, the fact that Gomez herself voices the statements regarding the product itself is pivotal in augmenting the authenticity of the content of the advert as it better convinces the audience of the gravity of the statements being made by celebrity Selena Gomez due to her glorious presence elevating the central message of the advert.

In terms of the pathos facet of the advertisement, the central concept thrives on appealing to the desire of women who wish to have longer hair, by accenting Gomez's perfectly set and radiating hair, which could be their own if they were to purchase the Pantene product. This illusionary play on the emotions of the audience elicits a hopeful response as the Pantene Conditioner is illustrated to be the panacea to one's hair growth problems. The use of exceptionally bright colours, specifically yellow, in the advertisement also stimulates a more positive aura in the entirety for the audience's perception, which works in favour of increasing product sales due to the optimistic connotations complimenting the advert. The psychological impact of the advert has also been critically considered as visual animations of the Pro-V formula working its way through brittle hair miraculously transforms the hair to strengthen it. Furthermore, the incessant reiteration of the formula being "new" psychologically influences how the audience absorbs the product as 'better than ever', simply due to the label of the formula being new.

The advertisement itself was released in the United States of America, however, Selena Gomez is a globally recognized figure, thus making the advertisement impactful on a global scale. Furthermore, the use of one of her greatest hits, "Hands to Myself," as the playback music of the commercial evokes a sense of familiarity in an audience, despite the fact that they may not be acquainted with Selena Gomez herself, her song is well-known, making it an effective choice to use it in the advert itself. The use of the single"Hands to Myself" also highlights the advertisement being fairly recent as this song was only released in 2015.

The final persuasive element that can also be observed in this advert is the use of logos, which is the appeal to logic and reason. Gomez iterates how the novel "pro-v" formula of the Conditioner "micro-targets weak spots" and therefore makes the hair stronger. The use of critical scientific jargon can provoke an audience regarding the argument sounding legitimate and therefore make the advert more successful. The use of impressive animations that visually display the functioning of the Conditioner to strengthen the hair also enhances the overall message of the advertisement by making good use of the structural liberties of the medium it was delivered in.

Letter to the Editor

To the Editor,

I write to you with the desire to convey my perspective on the argument tapped into, concerning the phenomenon of 'Text Speak' and the ostensible torment it has inflicted on teachers, in your latest issue. Whilst I do concede with some statements made within the article, in the entirety, I am afraid that I disagree with the outright condemning of social media platforms and the indirect labelling of technology oriented colloquialisms as a liability to the acquisition of Standard English.

As a student/youngster of today's generation, I find it quite unsettling how the article (falsely) reflects the youth's ineptitude to draw a line between contexts that justify the utilization of a certain nuance of English. Yes, the youth indulges in a new form of English alluded to as 'Text Speak,' however, the evidence provided to support the argument of this practice mitigating one's competency in Standard English is quite unreasonable. The article claims that children these days spend a lot of their time on "Facebook" and "Twitter" which translates to them having "limited vocabulary." As much as I have tried to comprehend this claim, I just cannot begin to absorb it merely because exposure to the World Wide Web and said platforms has perpetually been credited as for expanding our linguistic capabilities by constantly being introduced to novel words and phrases. So much so, new neologisms that have emerged from online phenomenons like 'Text Speak' are today even being legitimized by the Oxford English Dictionary. In my opinion, the English language has been subject to change throughout the of course of history. With every evolving generation comes an evolved form of the language, and for our generation technology just so happens to be the catalyst for this change.

Now, I understand how the manifestations of colloquial terminology and improper syntax and spellings may irk teachers. Nevertheless, what I do not understand is why technology is being accused as the primary reason for students' weakened awareness regarding the conventions of the English language? In fact, according to John McWhorter, a linguistics professor at Columbia University, the improper use of the rules of English is a relatively dated concept that can be traced back to several decades ago; thus, indicating that it is not purely the advent of technology that has caused this unfortunate notoriety to materialize. With all due respect, perhaps Mrs. Jordan should look into a viable solution to this problem as opposed to dismissing her students and their grammatical flaws as incorrigible. A balance needs to be struck between the exercising of the varied structures of English and I personally believe schools, where students spend a substantial amount of their time, should be a conduit to solidify this balance.

Sincerely,

Shriya Baweja