CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Hyperbole is one of figurative language that dramatizes things with overstatement.

Figurative language is a style seen in terms of meaning. Figurative language is part of

the language that uses words to mean something different from their ordinary meaning

in the word emphasizes an idea. It cannot be interpreted according to the purpose of

the literal words. Hyperbole causes something that seems more excessive than it does.

Hyperbole in general conveys the speaker's feelings or emotions exaggeratedly, that’s

why hyperbole can be used in the form of humor, joy, distress, and many other

emotions. It depends on the context in which the speaker uses it. To grab the reader's

attention, hyperbole usually uses a remarkable word. The sentence examples of a

significant word are as follows,

(1) There are still thousands of works waiting for me tonight.

(2) This home costs my entire money.

In example (1), by saying thousands of works, the speaker intends to say that he has so

many works to do, but the number is not literally in thousand. While in example (2),

my entire money, in literal meaning is all of the speaker’s money until the debt remains

0. In fact, the speaker wants to emphasize that his house costs most of his money by

saying my entire money (Voltadewi, 2014).

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 The function of hyperbole in advertising is to create emphasis and exaggeration to

capture the audience's attention and make a strong impression. Hyperbole is a figure of

speech that involves extravagant or exaggerated statements or claims that are not meant

to be taken literally. In advertising, hyperbole is often used to highlight the unique

features, benefits, or superior qualities of a product or service. Here are some functions

of hyperbole in advertising:

1. Attention-Grabbing: By using exaggerated and attention-grabbing statements,

hyperbole helps advertisements stand out from the crowd and capture the audience's

attention amidst the abundance of advertising messages.

2. Memorable Messaging: Consumers are more likely to remember hyperbolic

statements due to their unique and exaggerated nature. They create a lasting impact and

help the product or brand stay top-of-mind.

3. Emotional Appeal: Hyperbole can evoke strong emotions and create a sense of

excitement, curiosity, or desire among consumers. It can generate enthusiasm and make

the audience feel a heightened need or urgency for the advertised product or service.

4. Differentiation: By making bold claims or exaggerating the product's features or

benefits, hyperbole can help differentiate a product or brand from its competitors. It

emphasizes unique selling points and positions the product as exceptional or superior.

5. Persuasion: Hyperbole aims to persuade consumers by creating a sense of

desirability and portraying the product or service as exceptional or extraordinary. It can

influence consumers' perceptions and increase their inclination to purchase or engage

with the advertised offering.

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 However, it's essential for advertisers to strike a balance when using hyperbole.

While exaggeration can be effective in advertising, it should not cross the line into

making false or misleading claims that could deceive consumers. The use of hyperbole

can also make the reader feel that statements containing hyperbole are too far-fetched,

not according to facts, not as good as reality, and some customers even feel lied to.

Advertisers need to ensure that their hyperbolic statements are still grounded in truth

and align with the overall message and positioning of the product or brand. Advertisers

also need to maintain the quality that can compensate for advertisements so that readers

do not feel disadvantaged and continue to believe in the products and advertisements

that are delivered.

The use of hyperbole in every advertisement is a marketing technique that we often

encounter, including food advertising. However, there are still many people who do

not understand hyperbole intelligibly, especially the forms of hyperbole. The author

focuses on Jollibee as the subject of this research. Jollibee is a Filipino fast-food

restaurant chain known for using hyperbole in its marketing, especially on Instagram.

The author chose this fast-food restaurant as the subject of this research because it is a

successful example of a company that uses hyperbole effectively. In other words, the

author is studying how Jollibee uses exaggeration in its marketing to promote its

products and attract customers. The author is particularly interested in how Jollibee

uses hyperbole on Instagram, which is a platform that is known for its visual and

engaging content.

The author's research is likely to be of interest to other researchers and companies

that are interested in using hyperbole in their marketing campaigns. The author's
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research could also be of interest to consumers who are interested in learning more

about how companies use hyperbole to influence their purchasing decisions. The author

focuses on their Instagram because Instagram is a social media platform that is widely

used, and many multinational corporations utilize it as a marketing tool. Further,

Instagram is a powerful tool for social network marketing, distinct from other social

media platforms. It offers a better visual platform and makes it simple for people to

communicate with one another.

The author found the hyperbolic expression phenomenon is an engrossing topic.

Analyzing hyperbolic expressions could help people know more about language

features and how hyperbole can affect customers to buy the product. In addition, by

getting to know better about hyperbole forms, content writers could vary the hyperbole

used to make it more attractive to customers. In conducting this research, the author

hopes this research will be advantageous to the readers and will attract more people

and students to understand hyperbole. The author expects that the result of this research

can contribute to add reader’s knowledge about the use of hyperbole in advertisements

and also for another researcher as a practical source to do further research related to

this topic. Furthermore, this research aims to investigate the forms of hyperbole in

Jollibee advertisements and to find out the function of hyperbole in Jollibee

advertisements on Instagram.

1.2 Theoretical Framework

The use of theories or concepts in a study is needed as a reference in analyzing

existing problems and helping to answer the research questions presented. To analyze

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the problems in the study, the author will use the hyperbolic expression as a conceptual

framework. Those concepts are the key in answering research questions that arise

because of the anomalies in this issue.

1.2.1 Hyperbolic Expression

Hyperbole is a style of language that contains exaggerated statements and does

not determine it according to actual reality. Hyperbole is a language style that contains

an exaggeration, exaggerating something. Hyperbole is an expression that exceeds the

literal expression and contains more semantic attributes of expression Claridge (2011).

The hyperbolic expression can find in media such as television, novel, magazine, and

other media, especially in advertisements, so that readers are interested in buying the

product, but some of the products use hyperbolic expressions that exaggerate the reality

of the product. Based on the explanation above, hyperbole expression is the language

style that exaggerates something such as the real meaning, number, size, and others,

and it uses in many media, especially advertisements.

1.2.2 Hyperbole and Subjectivity

All speakers have unique identities and perspectives that influence their

communication with others. It is impossible to eliminate personal expression in

language as it is inherently subjective. The degree to which a speaker's identity is

evident in their communication can vary depending on their level of engagement in the

discourse. This expression of subjectivity can be intentional or unintentional and

manifest in various forms within language. Examples include perspectives or attitudes,

emotional tone, or commentary on speaking style. One way to explore subjectivity is

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to analyze the use of hyperbole in language, particularly in areas where objective facts

can be measured or counted. When hyperbolized language contradicts clearly objective

measurements, it becomes subjective in nature. Here are examples from Claridge

(2011),

(3) And so we had our instructor right there, and we asked a million

questions … all the time

(4) Then I had to wait a week for my suitcase.

Example (14) context is the speaker and her fellow students shoeing other people’s

horses, which is presented as being potentially dangerous (e.g., it could make the horse

lame if done wrongly), and the excessive number of questions points to the subjective

feeling and message to be conveyed, namely that great care was taken by the students

so as not to hurt the horses. Example (15) context is a trip from London to Hamburg,

where many things went wrong. Although the luggage delay was not the most

significant inconvenience, the statement in Example (15) emphasizes the multitude of

problems encountered, the speaker's frustration, and how this minor incident was the

final straw. These subjective meanings are evident in both examples, but Example (14)

uses the conventional phrase "a million," which makes it more obvious. On the other

hand, Example (15) employs a less common phrase, "a week."

The example shows how subjectivity clearly impacts a semantic domain that was once

intended to be objective. The increased significance of time in the current data can be

explained by the fact that human views of the passage of time are significantly more

subjective than actual size or quantity.

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1.2.3 Identifying Hyperbole

Maria Christodoulidou (2011) describes two types of hyperbole as follows:

I. Overstatement of numbers and quantity, the speaker tends to overstate

numbers of times, years, occurrences, etc. An example from Claridge

(2011),

(5) I have about a thousand calls to answer by noon.

II. Impossible description. It is like fantasies that are produced in a way

that cannot occur. Therefore, it must be taken figuratively or

rhetorically. An impossible description can be stated with exceeding

manner, reality, feeling, condition, etc. An example from Claridge

(2011),

(6) She’s allergic to everything.

1.2.4 The Forms of Hyperbole

There are seven forms of hyperbole, according to Claridge in 2011, namely single-

word hyperbole, phrasal hyperbole, causal hyperbole, numerical hyperbole,

superlative, comparison, and repetition.

1. Single Word Hyperbole

This form only occurs when there is only one exaggerated content in an

utterance or sentence. If the word is omitted, the hyperbolic meaning will

completely disappear in the advertisement, one word hyperbole is more

effective and economical. There are also universal quantifiers referring to

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 single-word hyperbole referring to numbers. They are all, every, everybody,

nothing. For example,

(7) For the first time in forever, I finally came to the concert.

Forever in this statement does not mean really forever, but it refers to a very

long time. In the sentence, the hyperbolic word is forever. If the word forever

is removed from the sentence, the element of hyperbole in that sentence will

also completely disappear. The single-word hyperbole with the word forever

exaggerates the emotion.

2. Phrasal Hyperbole

Phrasal hyperbole is a certain combination of words and senses that create

hyperbolic meaning. For instance,

(8) Oh! My sore eyes can’t wait to see the queen and the princess. I

bet they’re absolutely lovely

This statement is phrasal hyperbole. It is a combination of words and sense. My

sore refers to sense. It is something that can only be felt. Eye is a word explained

by the sense. The phrase my sore eyes express how he cannot wait to meet the

queen, and the word is applied to make things seem to be exaggerated.

3. Clausal Hyperbole

Clausal hyperbole is a hyperbolic style that occurs by combining two or more

clausal constituents. This form hardly occurs compared to the others. For

example,

(9) I’ve started talking about the pictures on the walls

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 Talking is an activity that involves the speaker and hearer, it is impossible for

a wall to be a hearer. This statement is clausal hyperbole because clausal

hyperbole is a hyperbolic style that occurs by combining one or more words.

4. Numerical Hyperbole

The number can be one of the hyperbolic signs and they occur frequently.

Numerical hyperbole can be found in single-word, phrasal, or clausal

hyperbole. There are significant words to recognize numerical hyperbole, they

are hundreds, thousands, millions, billions, and so on. for instance,

(10) There are still thousands of tasks waiting for me tonight.

By saying thousands of tasks, the speaker intends to say that he has many tasks

to do, but the number is not literally in thousand.

(11) Beautiful! Powerful! Dangerous! Cold! Ice has a magic that

can’t be controlled. Stronger than one, stronger than ten, stronger

than a hundred men!

This statement contains numerical hyperbole and the use of numerical

hyperbole with the word hundred makes the situation become bigger and

impossible to happen. In reality, it would not be possible if some men could be

more potent than a hundred men.

5. Superlative

If there is a superlative, there must be a comparison and the superlative form

can indicate hyperbole. Superlative makes something sound so excessive and

extreme, therefore it leads to overstatement. As in the following examples

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 (12) It is the cheesiest thing that I’ve ever heard.

(13) Yeah. I bet Elsa’s the nicest, gentlest, warmest person ever.

Oh, look at that. I’ve been impaled.

In the statement above, there are four superlatives; cheesiest, nicest, gentlest,

and warmest. Superlative makes something sound so excessive and extreme.

6. Comparison

In comparison, there is something that is being compared, and it potentially

contains hyperbole. However, not all comparative phrases make sense to reach

the goal. As the following example,

(14) She misses more words out than she gets in.

7. Repetition

Repetition in hyperbole mostly occurs in conversation or we can call it a

phenomenon in spoken language. It appears from just saying more X by

repeating for several times. The repetition here is repeating the same thing in a

strict combination without interruption. Not all repetitions are hyperbole, many

of them are just common repetitions. As in the following example,

(15) Sexy today, sexy tomorrow, and sexy forever.

1.2.5 Function of Hyperbole

In food advertisements, hyperbole is a rhetorical device used to make

extravagant or exaggerated claims about a product to grab the audience's attention and

make the food item look more appetizing. In order to generate an emotional response

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from readers and convince them to purchase the items, it employs persuasive language.

There are several ways to use hyperbole in food marketing:

1. Exaggerated Taste: Hyperbolic terms are frequently employed to emphasize

the food's extraordinary attributes while describing its flavor. For instance, a cereal

commercial can assert that its product is the most delicious cereal you will ever taste

or that it bursts with flavor, giving the audience the sense of a delectable full meal.

2. Amplified Benefits: Food advertisements may use hyperbole to highlight the

potential benefits or positive effects of consuming a particular product. For instance, a

beverage commercial might claim that their drink will give the customers limitless

energy or instant vitality, suggesting that consuming their product will tremendously

boost your well-being.

3. Excessive Visuals: Food advertisements can also employ hyperbole visually.

This can involve exaggerated depictions of the food itself, such as oversized portions,

vibrant colors, or exaggerated steam rising from a plate, all aimed at enhancing the

perceived desirability of the product.

4. Dramatic Language: Language can be used hyperbolically to create a sense

of urgency or excitement. Advertisements may utilize phrases like unbelievable, mind

blowing, or jaw-dropping to amplify the impact of their claims and evoke a strong

emotional response from the audience.

Hyperbole is a figure of speech and it is involved exaggerating the ideas that need

stress. However, it is a literary device and we use this device in our daily conversation

to include a certain effect. It is applied to accentuate the thoughts, ideas, and images

presented in the literature and it dramatizes the overall text. It's considered to note that
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hyperbole in food advertising is often intentionally exaggerated and not meant to be

taken literally. Its primary purpose is to capture attention, create an emotional

connection, and ultimately persuade consumers to try or buy the product. The objective

of using hyperbole is to add an amusing effect to the text. In short, by applying

hyperbole, one can turn a common feeling into a remarkable one.

1.3 Review of Previous Study

This chapter discusses the review of related studies that are relevant to this research.

The reviews are from five previous studies which are related or intersect with the

research title chosen by the author. These research articles are different from each other

in terms of the objective of the research, source of data, and among others.

The first research is a journal article entitled An Analysis of Language Used in

Revlon’s Advertisements written by Maria Rentina Kota 2019. This article investigates

the types of linguistic features and persuasion techniques of language style used in

Revlon advertisements. This research used qualitative and discourse analysis methods,

and the author used 31 Revlon advertisements. This research uses a theory of language

style used in advertisement proposed by Grey (2008). Research findings showed that

there were two linguistic features used in Revlon advertisements. They were lexical

feature and syntactic features. The persuasion techniques used in Revlon were the

pioneering stage, competitive stage, and retentive stage. The most dominant linguistic

feature used in lexical feature was simple vocabulary. This research does not use the

same main theory as the reviewer’s research, but this research has clear objectives

because the author clearly describes this research objective. The author explains the

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background and method clearly by providing a brief explanation so the reviewer can

understand the language style from Grey’s theory used in Revlon’s advertisements.

The second research is a thesis entitled Hyperbolic Expression in SCTV Slogan

Advertisement written by Wina Sari Lubis, University of Muhammadiyah Sumatera

Utara 2017. This study aimed to find out the form used in SCTV slogan advertisement

and its function. This study was conducted using the descriptive qualitative method.

Thus, in doing this research, library research was applied to analyze the data. This

research used Claridge’s theory. This study result shows that slogan advertisement on

SCTV uses a hyperbolic style in delivering their message. The most common

hyperbolic form in SCTV slogan advertisement is the phrasal form. The function of

using the hyperbolic style is to make the advertisement more attractive. Therefore, the

customers will have a high interest in buying the products. This research provides

advantages for the reviewer because it helps the reviewer a lot because this research

has the same conceptual framework. This research is relevant to the reviewer’s research

and gives knowledge and understanding to support this research. Despite the

advantages, this study still has weaknesses in previous studies. This study just mentions

two previous studies, and it would be better if the author added more previous studies

to her research.

The third research is a journal article entitled, The Form and Function of

Hyperbolic Expression in Online Perfume Advertisements, written by Saomi Wahyu

Voltadewi, Diponegoro University 2014. This research aims to identify and classify

the forms of hyperbolic expressions in perfume advertisements and find out why

hyperbolic expressions are used in perfume advertisements. This research uses a theory
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of language style used in advertisement proposed by Grey (2008) and Claridge (2011).

This research is categorized as a study. The research analysis results show that perfume

advertisements use many forms of hyperbole, especially single word forms. This thesis

is relevant to the reviewer’s research because the findings and data discussion is well-

explained and detailed. Even though this paper supported the research that will be

conducted in the future, this thesis also has a weakness: it did not mention any

limitations or the scope of the research.

The fourth research is a journal article titled Meaning Analysis of English Slogan

Advertisement written by Eva Nurul Chandra, Pamulang University 2012. The

researcher intends to analyze the text meaning of the slogan. The collected data of

English slogans advertising from English newspapers or magazines are analyzed

qualitatively based on Semantics and stylistics theories. This research shows that most

slogans contain figurative language to promote their product or service. The researcher

also gives a brief explanation of 30 slogans she found. This research does not use the

same main theory as the reviewer’s research, but this research has a clear theoretical

framework, namely semantic, stylistic, and figurative language, that helps the reviewer

write this research.

The fifth research is an article entitled How Instagram Can Be Used as a Tool in

Social Network Marketing by Lim Sook Huey and Dr. Rashad Yazdanifard. This

research focuses on how Instagram contributes to social network marketing. This

research was done by using qualitative analysis methods. The researcher begins their

research with a brief explanation of marketing and then specifies Instagram as social

network marketing. This research concludes that Instagram is one of the most profitable
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platforms for marketing a product or service because marketers can identify the

audience that can be targeted and also interact with customers who are interested in

that specific product or service. This article indirectly supports this research because it

provides the fact that Instagram is one of the most profitable platforms, and it is

explained in general and easy to understand.

Those previous researches give much support to this research, from those previous

studies helps the author to understand broadly hyperbole and advertisement on social

media. The advantage of this research from previous studies is the source of the data.

The data of this research are taken from Jollibee advertisements on Instagram. This

study has not been investigated further. This is an opportunity for the author to analyze

the hyperbole in the Jollibee advertisement on Instagram.

1.4 Research Questions

The author found Jollibee is a fast-food restaurant that usually uses hyperbole in

their advertisements. This research aims to find hyperbolic forms that occur in Jollibee

advertisements on Instagram based on Claridge’s theory. Related to this research, the

author focuses on the following questions:

1. What are hyperbolic forms occur in Jollibee advertisements on Instagram?

2. What are the functions of hyperbole in Jollibee advertisements on Instagram?

1.5 Objectives
The objective of this research is to identify the forms and find out the function of

hyperbole in Jollibee advertisements on Instagram. Based on the research questions of

this study, this research aims to figure out the answer to those questions. The aims of

this research are to identify the forms of hyperbole in Jollibee advertisements on

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Instagram and find out the function of hyperbole in Jollibee advertisements on

Instagram.

1.6 Scope
This research focuses on analyzing the forms of hyperbole in Jollibee

advertisements on Instagram. The author chose photos posted by Jollibee’s Instagram

account from 2021 until March 2023 that using English language as a limitation. The

scope of this research is to analyze the forms and functions of hyperbole based on

Claridge’s theory (2011).

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