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A manufacturer of a product that transports, processes, and packages bulk materials with a pneumatic process sued a competing manufacturer that uses a screw process using the latter company's advertising, which compared and evaluated the two methods, and charged that these advertisements constituted a deceptive trade practice. The plaintiff claimed that in these advertisements the defendant not only made false, misleading, and disparaging comments but also failed to reveal the industry data, studies, statistics, and other information that might substantiate its claims. Syntax analysis of these advertisements revealed that in these advertisements the verb tenses indicated that the defendant did not claim that comparisons with other types of conveyors were based on studies or tests. Semantic analysis of the word “ratings” conveys that this word indicates a subjective estimate or comparison, one not requiring research or tests. It also showed that the terms used in the comparisons (best, good, fair, poor, worst) are used regularly to indicate attitudes, beliefs, or dislikes, as opposed to the numerical, statistical measures of qualities that are used in reporting research findings.

In a class action suit based on deceptive trade practices brought by eleven state attorneys general against the maker of a nicotine skin patch, plaintiffs claimed that the advertisements for that product made deceptive and false claims about its ability to cause smokers to “quit smoking” and that claims to success in this were based on inadequate research tests. Analysis of the narrative structure of the advertisement indicates that it did not include the conventional evaluation phase. The advertisement's implicature is that the narrator now thinks he can quit smoking, but nowhere does he say that he successfully quit. Semantic analyses of “quit” and “quitter” do not convey total permanence but, rather, ambiguously suggest an attempt with either permanent or temporal effects, supported by many citations based on a Lexis/Nexis search of media usage. If the advertisement had wanted to indicate permanence, the defense suggested words available in the lexicon to do this.

The case of a bank's advertisements about the rate of return for its certificates of deposit centered on the use of the lexical items in the bank's advertisements and other materials, specifically “interest,” “simple interest,” and “compound interest.” A plaintiff bought CDs in 1983, before the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation began to require banks to specify the difference between simple and compound interest in their advertisements. Principles of lexical semantics and marking were used to indicate the taxonomic hierarchy of relationships between interest (the unmarked highest node), simple interest, and compound interest (the marked lower nodes), because the latter two can be differentiated from each other and are more morphologically complex while maintaining their relationship with the higher node. Principles of language change also were relevant to this case. Historical records of the use of these terms supported the defense that when the plaintiff purchased the CDs, there was no usage or legal reason for the bank to have indicated what type of interest would be paid. Because “simple interest” was the unmarked form at the time of purchase, synonymous with “interest,” the bank did not engage in deceptive trade practice.

This chapter examines how color interacts with the other visual signals from floral size, shape, and outline in enhancing floral attraction to visitors. Visual attraction by flowers is linked to floral shape and size. For most pollinators, color and color patterns are attractive. Most of today’s key pollinating taxa have good color vision, and flowers should have been selected to interact with their visitors’ visual abilities. The chapter first considers floral pigments and floral color before discussing the problems of defining and measuring color in flowers. It then explains how animals perceive flower color and proceeds by analyzing color preferences in animals, along with the ecology and evolution of flower color and color preferences. It also explores nectar guides, how floral color change can control pollinators, and other visual cues used for advertisement. Finally, it asks why flower colors diverge, citing the role of selection.

This chapter examines how flowers use olfactory signals to attract pollinators. Floral scents mostly result from the production of small amounts of simple volatile organic compounds. The molecular size of these components largely determines their volatility, and hence the distance they will travel from the plant over a given time span. Plant volatiles emitted as scents are typically lipophilic compounds, all of which are able to cross biological membranes and evaporate into the atmosphere readily. The chapter frst describes different types of floral scents before discussing the techniques used in the collection and measurement scents. It then considers variation in floral scents, along with the discrimination and detection ranges of floral odors. It also explains the importance of odor learning to visitors’ ability to discriminate and to maintaining reproductive isolation for the plant. Finally, it provides an overview of interactions of scents with other floral signals used for advertisement.

The Cantonese displayed acceptance of Westerners and their cultures in the late imperial and Republican period, in spite of their reputation for being xenophobic and anti-foreign since the days of the Opium War. Many people in Canton adopted an unmistakably pro-West attitude, from popular favourable perceptions of such foreign ‘imperialist enclaves’ as Hong Kong and Shameen to the advocacy for total Westernization by senior academics from a Canton university. Despite its much propagated anti-imperialist stance, the local nationalist government was, in reality, highly conciliatory when dealing with foreign powers.

The modern notion of the child as “cute” as opposed to merely adorable or even charming crosses a boundary. The meaning of the word “cute” underwent a transformation, from the manipulative and devious adult to the lively charm of the willful child, suggesting a new tolerance for the headstrong, even manipulative, youngster. This suggests that the attractive, bubbling enthusiasm associated with children is no longer seen negatively as manipulative or devilish, but positively as charming and even desirable. The cute became the look of wondrous innocence. Cute children became the New Kids in dolls, illustrated stories, magazines, and advertisements. This chapter examines how parents contributed to the idea of the cute child through their style of child rearing, and how this image promoted consumerism.

The 1984 film Gremlins is a classic example of how wondrous innocence can go astray. The adorable Gizmos on which we lavish love and attention in our typical middle-class homes can become the bratty Gremlins almost without our seeing why. In real life, most parents today think that this transformation has to do with their “breaking the rules”. Ironically, the ways that adults have shared the image of wondrous innocence with their children explains part of the shift from the cute to the cool. Adult fascination with the image of the cute child — the naughty-but-nice boy and the sweet and coquettish girl — redefined adult understanding of childhood in the rituals of family life in the early 20th century. Even more important, parents passed that fascination on to the children themselves. It is no surprise, then, that the entertainment industry appealed directly to children, in effect, accelerating the parents' penchant for passing the cute to the cute.

This chapter discusses Charles Cooke and his idea of a pocket library. The chapter argues that Cooke's concept combines Bell's idea of a national library and Wenman's insight for inexpensive books. The chapter explains Cooke's ‘important object of easy purchase’ and his advertising apparatus. Cooke's advertisement stresses that his books were better illustrated and printed on better paper than any works of the poets at three times the price. Cooke positioned himself in the market by coupling his undeniable compromises in page layout with a generous schedule of ‘embellishments’. Cooke launched his series with poets whose pictures, scenery, and imagery were more amenable to constructions of British nationalism and evocative of a bardic interplay with landscape. The figure of the bard served as a vehicle for bringing together a community as wide as Cooke's network of distribution. Features of portability and ornamental potential were consistent promotional themes of Cooke's editions.

This chapter discusses the continuing crusade to introduce and popularize cleanliness across the United States. After 1910, reformers and sanitarians did not stop chasing dirt, in fact they had devise means to reach a bigger population wherein they could teach the importance of cleanliness. In the 1910s and 1920s public health and cleanliness were introduced in schools and workplaces, turning cleanliness into a cultural value. To the Americans, keeping clean was not only healthy but also patriotic, success-driven, and very American. Gradually becoming obsessed with cleanliness, America created journals, publications, and compelling advertisements (both on print and on radio) dedicated to sanitation—a move which educated and persuaded masses to value and observe cleanliness.

This chapter looks at the reading communities formed through the personal advertisements on the newspaper's front page. Its second column came to be known in the late 19th century as the “agony column” for its emphasis on personal distress, ranging from pathetic tales of runaway husbands to plaintive cries for attention from lonely hearts. Such heartfelt pleas did not escape the attention of the school of sensation novelists, who were quick to capitalize on the criminal possibilities of the most interactive section of the newspaper through an improbable number of phony marriage announcements, misreported obituaries, and unanswered missing-persons inquiries among their fictional narratives. Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White, Ellen Wood's East Lynne, and Mary Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret illustrate how the newspaper could be used to begin a second life. The misuse of advertisements in these novels taps into the at-once stimulating and disturbing implications of anonymity in modern life brought within everyone's reach through the daily press. Audiences were not just reading about other people's lives in the newspaper. They were using the newspaper to change their own.

Anti-semitism, expansion and orchestration are the recurring themes that dominate the events related to the Second World War. Documentary evidence is provided on certain accounts of these said themes. An advertisement came out in 1923 regarding an exhibition of drawings which later led to the murder of about 4,000 Jews, which furthered the killing of an even larger number of Jews by Romanian forces. This shows that the atmosphere during the interwar period is related to the slaughter occurring during warfare, which is true for Nazi anti-semitism. In relation to this, Germany had more ideological obsession than merely discouraging communism, and the existence of Jews as an image is shown to illustrate a map of places wherein revolutions were to be held. Lastly, the chapter provides excerpts of certain books and journals that exemplify technical innovation and the accumulation of practical experience involved in mass murder without directly referring to human beings.

Chapter 3 provides background material on the Army’s culture and recruiting history, before presenting an analysis of the recruiting materials. Army advertising sometimes showcases traditional warrior masculinity, featuring weaponry and soldiers who test themselves, but makes other masculine appeals as well, like acquiring a good trade that allows economic independence, building character and self-confidence, and gaining technological prowess. The Army has also created ads that combine martial imagery with the language of business, creating a bridge between the older forms of masculinity with which Army service had been associated and newer, business-world forms of masculinity that are gaining prominence in civilian society. The chapter gives a brief history of women in the Army and examines their portrayal in recruiting advertisements. The Army has presented women the most frequently of any of the services and has gone the furthest in framing them as normal, unexceptional members of the institution, though they are never associated with combat or weaponry.

Chapter 4 provides background material on the Navy’s culture and recruiting history, with some emphasis on the role of race, before presenting an analysis of the recruiting advertisements. Navy recruiting appeals have tended to shift back and forth between a focus on career and benefits—first presented in terms of masculine pride in work that is physically and mentally challenging and later shifting to an emphasis on professional careers, personal success, and advanced technology, aligning the Navy with the high-status careers of the information age and its emerging dominant models of masculinity—and a focus on adventure and the traditional benefits of life at sea, like excitement, challenge, and travel. The chapter also gives a brief history of women in the Navy and examines their portrayal in recruiting materials. While recruiting materials have made token references to female sailors, women often represent the pleasures of travel and shore leave.

Chapter 5 provides background material on the Marine Corps’ culture and recruiting history, before presenting an analysis of the recruiting materials. Over the course of the all-volunteer force, Marine Corps advertising has consistently emphasized elitism and sent the message that the Marines will demand that a recruit prove his worth, but once he has, he’s part of an exclusive warrior brotherhood. The Marines offer a rite of passage into manhood. Based on their structure and personnel needs, the Marines need to use only one version of masculinity—traditional warrior masculinity—in their appeals. The chapter also gives a brief history of women in the Marines and examines their portrayal in recruiting materials. The Marines have the smallest percentage of women of any of the services. Marine recruiting advertisements rarely show women and make no attempt to use gender-inclusive language. The few Marine ads that feature women are published only in magazines aimed at women.