Sustainability as a trademark: an analysis of discursive formulas in advertising

Abstract

This article consists in a discursive analysis related to the notion of formula in advertising texts. It is specifically about evaluating the crystallization of the concept of sustainability flowing strongly around the advertising space. The theory behind the study focuses on Krieg-Planque (2010) work on the notion of formula and Maingueneau’s (2008, 2010) regarding to aphorization, particitation and hiperenunciador. This theoretical interface is justified by the fact that Maingueneau (2008, 2010) relate the concept of formula to aphorization as this corresponds to a kind of universal statement, which belongs to everyone and thus, polyphonic. As methodological procedures, we selected three advertisements, published in Veja magazine, special issue, December 2011. From the definition of the theoretical categories, we identified the formula and its variants to understand how the meaning is constructed in this discursive genre. Although the knowledge of the formula point to a diachronic research, this work, like that of Krieg-Planque (2010), considers a contemporary corpus, due to the support of the speeches, the journal, in turn, permits an analysis without necessarily proceed to a comprehensive rescue of the historicity of the formulas. The analysis revealed that the advertising is a promising vehicle for a number of formulas; it is a genre that appropriates strongly of the "truths" that circulate in the social environment for consequently incorporating them to the purpose of persuasion.