Discourse Analysis of Herbal Medicine Ads on Radio

Abstract

The study sought to investigate the discourse that characterizes herbal medicine advertisements on radio. The study focused on the persuasion techniques, language style, tone and style of presentation associated with herbal medicine radio commercials. Three herbal ads on Peace FM were selected as the units of analysis. The products that were studied are New Kingdom Ginseng Power Capsules, Sibor Tonic and News Angel Natural Capsules. The study was anchored on the conceptual models of rhetoric and discourse. Theoretically, the study was anchored on the framing theory. Since the focus of the study was on the discourse associated with herbal products radio advertising, discourse analysis was deployed as the research method to gather data for the study. The study findings suggested that numerous persuasive techniques are used in radio commercials on herbal medicines. Some of the techniques include expert mention, persuasion by association, hyperbole and exaggerated claims. All the herbal products in the commercials were projected as possessing all the solutions to male erectile dysfunction. In terms of styles of presentation, all the three ads studied used dialogue and involved a conversation between a man and a woman. Fear, sex and humour were used as the main form of appeals in the ads. The findings of this study confirmed the assumptions of the framing theory as well as the conceptual models of rhetoric and discourse. The findings confirm the widely-held notion that advertising is a medium and a language of persuasion. Based on the findings, the study recommended to the Food and Drugs Authority to monitor herbal medicine ads seriously and ensure that claims made correspond to the actual capabilities of the medicines. The study concluded by suggesting that future researches must be conducted to establish whether or not these persuasion techniques influence audience's patronage or not.