Cure for weak manhood: A persuasive euphemism strategies in selected Nigerian herbal medicines advertisements

Abstract

The study examined herbal medicines advertising discourse as unique terms of depicting weak manhood euphemistically in order not to sound vulgar. Twelve advertisements (ads) served as the data of investigation. The data were taken from Facebook advertisements (both texts and images) and analyzed from the purviews of Barthesian denotative and connotative annotations, Halliday's transitivity concepts, and critical discourse analysis. This study aims to examine how weak manhood is portrayed, the ideology behind its portrayal, and the persuasive techniques used in the ads. The study revealed concealments in form of sexual satisfaction (e.g. next match, lasting gbola, bigga gbola, better something, leg shaking) and power/activeness (e.g. big carrot, strongest bamboo, Manpower, 45 mins, inner chamber, excellence in the other room, power to do more, and extra time/large). The study suggested that further researches to analyze from a multimodal perspective on how different visual and linguistic choices deployed in the herbal cure for weak manhood ads contribute to the euphemistic and persuasive import of taboo-related advertising. Again, however acceptable euphemistic expressions may be in certain context; they are considered too explicit, pinged with negative connotation and therefore create war among readers.