title: The discourse of New Zealand and French television advertising: a comparative approach

authors: Desmarais, Fabrice

abstract: This thesis explored two television advertising discourses. In a response to a need for more qualitative inductive approaches to cultural/national advertising whereby each culture is seen as unique and is not compared to another through the use of standardised American tools and values, this study blended specific quantitatively oriented strategies with interpretive sensitivity in an effort to engage in a cross-cultural “de-naturalisation” of New Zealand and French television advertising specificities. In this endeavour, the contrastive framework was particularly helpful as it made possible the “de-naturalisation” of advertising representations that are usually taken for granted in a particular culture. 

The exploration revealed interesting specificities peculiar to each advertising environment. The identification of major discursive objects in the television advertising discourse of each country, the subsequent in-depth analysis of these discursive objects, together with insight into communicators’ thinking, showed that the French and the New Zealand television advertising discourses differ both in terms of communicative approach and in terms of selection of imagery. 

Two main findings emerged from this study. The French television advertising discourse can be characterised by a heavy reliance on seduction, to the point that advertising and seduction were almost fused. This reliance on seduction was illustrated in the frequent use of feminine soft signs such as female voice-overs and female seductive characters, and the strong reluctance of French communicators to use a direct communicative approach. Interviews with French communicators revealed that their reliance on seduction - embodied in a range of texts that appeal to aesthetics, set up metaphorical or emotionally charged situations, and use female bodies and voices - was due to their being caught in strong traditional discursive formations on politeness and money that create knowledge about the act of selling as a shameful activity. 
In the New Zealand television advertising discourse, the act of selling was not considered as a shameful activity but was well accepted as the foundation of the communication exchange between advertising communicators and their potential viewers. As a result, New Zealand television advertising discourse did not rely as much on soft signs, on concealment, aesthetics, or on creating the illusion of emotion as French television advertising did, but used a more immediate, direct, and authoritative communication approach. This approach was embodied in the overwhelming amount of male characters and male voice-overs used in commercials, as well as in a majority of explicit messages. 

Whereas French communicators argued categorically that explicit reference to national values was not helpful in advertising, New Zealand communicators assumed that nationalistic discourse would have a commercial value and would inspire New Zealand viewers to consume products or brands. Their usage of discourses followed a cultural logic prescribed by a strong discursive tradition on the importance of nation. Products or brands were recurrently placed within a national framework embodied in linguistic forms, and so viewers were invited to think of themselves as citizens, and to think about products or brands in terms of their socio-national universe. In order to promote consumption, New Zealand television advertising also drew on sport as a combination of masculinity rituals, social instruction, moral training, and declarations of identity. Mythical kiwi ingenuity imagery was also instrumental in the promotion of consumption and in giving models of consuming behaviour to subject viewers. 

The thesis revealed that the content and form of advertising messages springs from communicators’ cultural communicative habitus. The choice of advertising elements is made according to rules of cultural communication based on traditional discursive formations internalised by individuals evolving within a particular institutional and cultural structure.

text: The discourse of New Zealand and French television advertising: a comparative approach This thesis explored two television advertising discourses. In a response to a need for more qualitative inductive approaches to cultural/national advertising whereby each culture is seen as unique and is not compared to another through the use of standardised American tools and values, this study blended specific quantitatively oriented strategies with interpretive sensitivity in an effort to engage in a cross-cultural “de-naturalisation” of New Zealand and French television advertising specificities. In this endeavour, the contrastive framework was particularly helpful as it made possible the “de-naturalisation” of advertising representations that are usually taken for granted in a particular culture. 

The exploration revealed interesting specificities peculiar to each advertising environment. The identification of major discursive objects in the television advertising discourse of each country, the subsequent in-depth analysis of these discursive objects, together with insight into communicators’ thinking, showed that the French and the New Zealand television advertising discourses differ both in terms of communicative approach and in terms of selection of imagery. 

Two main findings emerged from this study. The French television advertising discourse can be characterised by a heavy reliance on seduction, to the point that advertising and seduction were almost fused. This reliance on seduction was illustrated in the frequent use of feminine soft signs such as female voice-overs and female seductive characters, and the strong reluctance of French communicators to use a direct communicative approach. Interviews with French communicators revealed that their reliance on seduction - embodied in a range of texts that appeal to aesthetics, set up metaphorical or emotionally charged situations, and use female bodies and voices - was due to their being caught in strong traditional discursive formations on politeness and money that create knowledge about the act of selling as a shameful activity. 
In the New Zealand television advertising discourse, the act of selling was not considered as a shameful activity but was well accepted as the foundation of the communication exchange between advertising communicators and their potential viewers. As a result, New Zealand television advertising discourse did not rely as much on soft signs, on concealment, aesthetics, or on creating the illusion of emotion as French television advertising did, but used a more immediate, direct, and authoritative communication approach. This approach was embodied in the overwhelming amount of male characters and male voice-overs used in commercials, as well as in a majority of explicit messages. 

Whereas French communicators argued categorically that explicit reference to national values was not helpful in advertising, New Zealand communicators assumed that nationalistic discourse would have a commercial value and would inspire New Zealand viewers to consume products or brands. Their usage of discourses followed a cultural logic prescribed by a strong discursive tradition on the importance of nation. Products or brands were recurrently placed within a national framework embodied in linguistic forms, and so viewers were invited to think of themselves as citizens, and to think about products or brands in terms of their socio-national universe. In order to promote consumption, New Zealand television advertising also drew on sport as a combination of masculinity rituals, social instruction, moral training, and declarations of identity. Mythical kiwi ingenuity imagery was also instrumental in the promotion of consumption and in giving models of consuming behaviour to subject viewers. 

The thesis revealed that the content and form of advertising messages springs from communicators’ cultural communicative habitus. The choice of advertising elements is made according to rules of cultural communication based on traditional discursive formations internalised by individuals evolving within a particular institutional and cultural structure.

year: 2003

title: Anatomy and origin of authochthonous late Pleistocene forced regression deposits, east Coromandel inner shelf, New Zealand: implications for the development and definition of the regressive systems tract

authors: Bradshaw, Barry E.

subjects: sequence stratigraphy

abstract: High-resolution seismic reflection data from the east Coromandel coast, New Zealand, provide details of the sequence stratigraphy beneath an autochthonous, wave dominated inner shelf margin during the late Quaternary (0-140 ka). Since c. 1 Ma, the shelf has experienced limited subsidence and fluvial sediment input, producing a depositional regime characterised by extensive reworking of coastal and shelf sediments during glacio-eustatic sea-level fluctuations. It appears that only one complete fifth-order (c. 100 000 yr) depositional sequence is preserved beneath the inner shelf, the late Pleistocene Waihi Sequence, suggesting any earlier Quaternary sequences were mainly cannibalised into successively younger sequences. The predominantly Holocene-age Whangamata Sequence is also evident in seismic data and modern coastal deposits, and represents an incomplete depositional sequence in its early stages of formation. A prominent aspect of the sequence stratigraphy off parts of the east Coromandel coast is the presence of forced regressive deposits (FRDs) within the regressive systems tract (RST) of the late Pleistocene Waihi Sequence. The FRDs are interpreted to represent regressive barrier-shoreface sands that were sourced from erosion and onshore reworking of underlying Pleistocene sediments during the period of slow falling sea level from isotope stages 5 to 2 (c. 112-18 ka). The RST is volumetrically the most significant depositional component of the Waihi Sequence; the regressive deposits form a 15-20 m thick, sharp-based, tabular seismic unit that downsteps and progrades continuously across the inner shelf. The sequence boundary for the Waihi Sequence is placed at the most prominent, regionally correlative, and chronostratigraphically significant surface, namely an erosional unconformity characterised in many areas by large incised valleys that was generated above the RST. This unconformity is interpreted as a surface of maximum subaerial erosion generated during the last glacial lowstand (c. 18 ka). Although the base of the RST is associated with a prominent regressive surface of erosion, this is not used as the sequence boundary as it is highly diachronous and difficult to identify and correlate where FRDs are not developed. The previous highstand deposits are limited to subaerial barrier deposits preserved behind several modern Holocene barriers along the coast, while the transgressive systems tract is preserved locally as incised-valley fill deposits beneath the regressive surface of erosion at the base of the RST. Many documented late Pleistocene RSTs have been actively sourced from fluvial systems feeding the shelf and building basinward-thickening, often stacked wedges of FRDs, for which the name allochthonous FRDs is suggested. The Waihi Sequence RST is unusual in that it appears to have been sourced predominantly from reworking of underlying shelf sediments, and thus represents an autochthonous FRD. Autochthonous FRDs are also present on the Forster-Tuncurry shelf in southeast Australia, and may be a common feature in other shelf settings with low subsidence and low sediment supply rates, provided shelf gradients are not too steep, and an underlying source of unconsolidated shelf sediments is available to source FRDs. The preservation potential of such autochthonous FRDs in ancient deposits is probably low given that they are likely to be cannibalised during subsequent sea-level falls.

text: Anatomy and origin of authochthonous late Pleistocene forced regression deposits, east Coromandel inner shelf, New Zealand: implications for the development and definition of the regressive systems tract High-resolution seismic reflection data from the east Coromandel coast, New Zealand, provide details of the sequence stratigraphy beneath an autochthonous, wave dominated inner shelf margin during the late Quaternary (0-140 ka). Since c. 1 Ma, the shelf has experienced limited subsidence and fluvial sediment input, producing a depositional regime characterised by extensive reworking of coastal and shelf sediments during glacio-eustatic sea-level fluctuations. It appears that only one complete fifth-order (c. 100 000 yr) depositional sequence is preserved beneath the inner shelf, the late Pleistocene Waihi Sequence, suggesting any earlier Quaternary sequences were mainly cannibalised into successively younger sequences. The predominantly Holocene-age Whangamata Sequence is also evident in seismic data and modern coastal deposits, and represents an incomplete depositional sequence in its early stages of formation. A prominent aspect of the sequence stratigraphy off parts of the east Coromandel coast is the presence of forced regressive deposits (FRDs) within the regressive systems tract (RST) of the late Pleistocene Waihi Sequence. The FRDs are interpreted to represent regressive barrier-shoreface sands that were sourced from erosion and onshore reworking of underlying Pleistocene sediments during the period of slow falling sea level from isotope stages 5 to 2 (c. 112-18 ka). The RST is volumetrically the most significant depositional component of the Waihi Sequence; the regressive deposits form a 15-20 m thick, sharp-based, tabular seismic unit that downsteps and progrades continuously across the inner shelf. The sequence boundary for the Waihi Sequence is placed at the most prominent, regionally correlative, and chronostratigraphically significant surface, namely an erosional unconformity characterised in many areas by large incised valleys that was generated above the RST. This unconformity is interpreted as a surface of maximum subaerial erosion generated during the last glacial lowstand (c. 18 ka). Although the base of the RST is associated with a prominent regressive surface of erosion, this is not used as the sequence boundary as it is highly diachronous and difficult to identify and correlate where FRDs are not developed. The previous highstand deposits are limited to subaerial barrier deposits preserved behind several modern Holocene barriers along the coast, while the transgressive systems tract is preserved locally as incised-valley fill deposits beneath the regressive surface of erosion at the base of the RST. Many documented late Pleistocene RSTs have been actively sourced from fluvial systems feeding the shelf and building basinward-thickening, often stacked wedges of FRDs, for which the name allochthonous FRDs is suggested. The Waihi Sequence RST is unusual in that it appears to have been sourced predominantly from reworking of underlying shelf sediments, and thus represents an autochthonous FRD. Autochthonous FRDs are also present on the Forster-Tuncurry shelf in southeast Australia, and may be a common feature in other shelf settings with low subsidence and low sediment supply rates, provided shelf gradients are not too steep, and an underlying source of unconsolidated shelf sediments is available to source FRDs. The preservation potential of such autochthonous FRDs in ancient deposits is probably low given that they are likely to be cannibalised during subsequent sea-level falls.

year: 2004

title: Māori and Pacific language data in linguistics classes

authors: Barbour, Julie Renee

abstract: Māori and Pacific language data rarely appears in introductory linguistic text books. In a discipline with a dearth of Māori and Pacific scholars, there is an opportunity to reflect on our teaching materials and consider ways in which we can make our classes more inclusive spaces. In this presentation, we share some of the materials and associated activities that we incorporate into undergraduate linguistics classes, in an effort to make our disciplinary content more attractive to students who join our classes with a variety of heritage languages.

text: Māori and Pacific language data in linguistics classes Māori and Pacific language data rarely appears in introductory linguistic text books. In a discipline with a dearth of Māori and Pacific scholars, there is an opportunity to reflect on our teaching materials and consider ways in which we can make our classes more inclusive spaces. In this presentation, we share some of the materials and associated activities that we incorporate into undergraduate linguistics classes, in an effort to make our disciplinary content more attractive to students who join our classes with a variety of heritage languages.

year: 2023