Bhatia’s (2004) Move Analysis

Bhatia’s (2004) Move Analysis is often used to evaluate promotional texts. He identifies nine “moves”, claiming: “One of the most important moves in advertising discourse is ‘offering a product description’ that is good, positive and favourable”.

But is it really?

Bhatia’s (2004) Move Analysis:
1. Headlines (for reader attraction)
2. Targeting the market
3. Justifying the product or service
4. Detailing the product or service
5. Establishing credentials
6. Celebrity or typical user endorsement
7. Offering incentives
8. Using pressure tactics
9. Soliciting response

Contrary to Bhatia’s (2004) view, many advertising campaigns appear to be highlighting other moves more predominantly, such as offering incentives (7).

For example: The Economist produced a sample edition of their newspaper targeting the student market. In the actual adverting leaflet (see images above) in the centre of the magazine, the product is barely discussed let alone highlighted. It was clearly not necessary to detail the product, as they were providing a sample. However this still means that the advertising documentation predominantly highlighted the incentives (7) of the purchase and soliciting a response (9), conflicting with Bhatia’s (2004) own views.

So what makes one “move” more important than the others?

The order of priority of the “moves” will depend on the individual advertising campaign. In The Economist example, soliciting a response (9) appears to have been a priority. A whole page of the leaflet was used for the potential customer to provide their details and actually purchase the offer detailed in the advertisement.

Unlike The Economist example, offering incentives (7) would be less important for the promotion of luxury goods as this is less likely to appeal to the target audience. Promoters of luxury goods are more likely to emphasize establishing credentials (5) and user endorsement (6), whereas a promoter of a new brand/product would be much more inclined to highlight what the product does and why it is needed, as Bhatia (2004) suggests.

The “moves” chosen are thus dependent not only on the product being promoted but also on the stage of the product within its life cycle.

As we have already established, the relative importance of the “moves” will not be the same for all advertising campaigns. For The Economist example the importance would be ranked like this:

1. Header – this would probably be one of the most important “moves” in the majority of advertising texts, as it attracts the reader’s attention. An advertisement without an audience is worthless!
2. Targeting the market – again important for most campaigns, The Economist example is aimed at students which is clear from the frequent use of the word ‘student’ in the leaflet.
3. Offering incentives – the leaflet is full of incentives, which are particularly appropriate for their target audience.
4. Soliciting response – a whole page of the leaflet is dedicated to this “move”. The consumer is able to purchase the offer detailed immediately - an effective way to capture potential buyers interest (and money) whilst they still have all the incentives in front of them.
5. Detailing the product – the leaflet does little to detail the product, it states what type of articles can be expected by claiming that The Economist would provide ‘a truly international perspective’ etc.
6. Establishing credentials – this “move” has lower priority, as the campaign would assume that their target audience, students, would know who and what The Economist is and what they do.
7. Justifying the product – not a priority as the justification hides behind the incentives of this advertisement.
8. Using pressure tactics – pressure tactics are barely used in this text, the targeted words such as ‘inquisitive’ could imply that one must read the newspaper in order not to be considered “boring”.
9. Celebrity or typical user endorsement – no celebrity is used in this leaflet so this “move” is not used in The Economist example

Bhatia’s (2004) Move Analysis provides an excellent base both for creating and analyzing advertising text. The individual “moves” may differ in priority depending on the campaign, its target audience and main focus. Some “moves” may not be applicable to a particular promotional text. Writers of such texts are advised to consider the “moves”, but prioritize them according to their product, enabling them to exclude any irrelevant “moves” and add their own “moves” to address any unique needs that they may have.

References:
•Bhatia, V.K. (2004) Worlds of Written Discourse: A Genre-based View. London: Continuum.