Go the extra inch (Lovehoney, 2016): How innuendos and metaphors are used as avoidance strategies in adult-product advertisements as way of promotion

This analysis intends to consider the methods by which advertising campaigns, for sex products, are marketed and advertised by two leading high street brands (Durex and Lovehoney) for the appropriateness of public consumption. This study will explore the way avoidance strategies are manipulated and adopted in television and Facebook campaigns, via the use of innuendo and metaphor. The correspondence between image and language features will be analysed via: semiotics, the application of Grice's maxims and other linguistic principles. Topics under discussion will consider how advertisers use avoidance strategies, such as metaphors and innuendos, while still conveying the intended meaning. Within this, analysis will be directed by the following factors: An exploration of how semiotics and language interacts within advertisements, how are these different across both companies? And what are their effects? How are avoidance strategies used in persuasion techniques in product advertisements/campaigns? Data will consist of a range of print Durex advertisements and Lovehoney videos taken from the YouTube channel and Facebook page of the companies; they will be subject to Criticial Discourse Analysis as discussed by Fairclough (1993) and Van Djik (1995) cited by Najafian and Ketabi (2011) and also semiotic analysis, as discussed by Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) in which the image, word and colour are social meanings of the advertisements that are coded. Grice's maxims will inform analysis of the application of avoidance strategies with a focus on the flouting of the maxim of manner, in which speakers must avoid ambiguity (Schwarz, 1996 cited by Álvaro, 2011). Due to the ever-growing openness of sexual discussion in society, companies can employ these techniques in order for advertising to take place in prime-time television with less worry about appropriateness. This research is imperative to the understanding of avoidance techniques, for the creation of advertisements of this nature in the future to not cause offence. Álvaro, R. (2011). THE ROLE OF CONVERSATIONAL MAXIMS, IMPLICATURE AND PRESUPPOSITION IN THE CREATION OF HUMOUR: AN ANALYSIS OF WOODY ALLEN’S ANYTHING ELSE. Master. Universidad Complutense of Madrid. Available at: http://eprints.ucm.es/13386/1/MA_Dissertation_ _Ramiro_Nieto_(2011).pdf [Accessed 26 Feb. 2017]. Kress, G. and van Leeuwen, T. (2007). Reading images: The grammar of visual design. Discourse, Cognition and Communication, [online] 15(3), pp.292-297. Available at: http://download.portalgaruda.org/article.php?arti cle=69122&val=4819 [Accessed 17 Feb. 2017]. Lovehoney, 2016. *Brand New* Lovehoney TV Ad | Fuzzy Buzzy Slinky Kinky. [video online] Available at: [Accessed 20 Feb. 2017]. Najafian, M. and Ketabi, S. (2011). The Words behind Images: A Critical Social Semiotic Approach toward Analyzing Advertising. International Journal of Linguistics, [online] 3(1). Available at: http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/ijl /article/view/880/pdf [Accessed 3 Feb. 2017].