Ibérica ISSN: 1139-7241
[email protected] Asociación Europea de Lenguas para Fines Específicos España Díez Arroyo, Marisa ‘Ageing youthfully’ or the rhetoric of medical English in advertising Ibérica, núm. 28, julio-diciembre, 2014, pp. 83-105 Asociación Europea de Lenguas para Fines Específicos Cádiz, España Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=287032049005 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative 05 IBERICA 28.qxp:Iberica 13 22/09/14 19:22 Página 83 ‘Ageing youthfully’ or the rhetoric of medical English in advertising Marisa Díez Arroyo Universidad de Oviedo (Spain)
[email protected] Abstract This study examines how cosmetics brands adopt characteristics of medical English in their web sites as a rhetorical strategy to persuade consumers. From the joint perspective of rhetoric, understood as persuasive stylistic choices, and a relevance-theoretic approach to pragmatics, the present paper explains how social assumptions about “ageing youthfully” are successfully strengthened in this type of advertising thanks to the alliance with medicine. This work explores various rhetorical devices, specified through both lexical and syntactic features. The analysis suggested here urges to reconsider research conclusions drawn on the use of science in advertising along truth-seeking premises, as well as previous classifications of this type of goods based on purely informative grounds. Keywords: medical English, cosmetics, web advertising, rhetoric, persuasion. Resumen “Envejecer manteniéndose joven” o la retórica del inglés médico en la publicidad Este trabajo analiza el uso del inglés médico en las páginas web de las marcas de cosméticos como recurso retórico para persuadir a los consumidores.