CONTEXTS, COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES AND IDEOLOGIES IN THE ADVERTISEMENTS OF ROADSIDE HERBAL SEX-ENHANCEMENT DRUGS IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA

Abstract

Herbal sex-enhancement drugs are herbal remedies that function as energisers for sexual intercourse, and the increase in the usage of these drugs in Nigeria has been influenced by advertisements. Existing studies on advertisement of herbal remedies have identified language techniques, discourse styles, and discourse strategies. However, the manifestations of audience engagement and influence through context, ideologies and strategies have been underexplored. Therefore, this study was designed to examine language use in the advertisements of herbal sex-enhancement drugs, with a view to determining how contexts are evoked and how communication strategies and ideologies are deployed to influence consumers. Teun van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach to Critical Discourse Analysis, complemented by Jacob Mey’s Pragmatic Acts Theory and Paul Simpson’s notions of Reason and Tickle, was adopted as the framework. The descriptive design was used. The stratified random technique was deployed for the selection of nine southern states: South-West (Lagos, Oyo and Ondo); South-South (Delta, Edo and Rivers); and South-East (Anambra, Abia and Enugu). Similarity in the patterns of advertisement of the herbal sex-enhancement drugs in these regions necessitated the selection. Forty advertisements, average of four from each state, conveniently selected based on availability and relevance, were audio-recorded at markets and motor parks. The data were subjected to critical discourse analysis. Four contexts, namely sexual, medical, marriage and business, were evoked in the advertisements. They formed the basis for the communication and comprehension of the relevance of the drugs. Sexual context drew on the mental model of sexual intercourse, while medical context built on consumers’ understanding of medical consultation by positioning the advertiser as doctor and the consumer as patient. While marriage context relied on the social construct of sex as the binding force between husband and wife in the marriage institution, business context reminded consumers that the advertisement messages were an invitation to purchase the advertised drugs. The communication strategies used by the advertisers were problematisation of medical conditions, blame-shift hedging, non-evidential claims, camaraderie evocation and asserting drug’s potency. The target consumers’ sexual and medical conditions were presented as problems, to put them in a position where they would long for help, and drugs were sometimes projected to be so potent to address all the issues faced by the customers. Masculinist, pronatalist, “organicist”, heterosexualist and theistic ideologies underpinned the advertisements. Masculinist ideology built on the social construct that a male adult is defined by his sexual prowess; while pronatalist ideology projected that sex should go beyond pleasure and lead to procreation in marriage. “Organicist” ideology emphasised preference of herbal drugs to synthetic drugs; heterosexualist ideology promoted sexual intercourse between man and woman; while theistic ideology established the belief in God for healing. All the ideologies, except theistic, which appeared only in the South-South and SouthWest advertisements, were projected in the advertisements across the regions. Advertisements of herbal sex-enhancement drugs in Southern Nigeria have context-evoking messages, strategies and ideologies targeted at influencing public perception of sex-related issues.