A critical discourse analysis of pavement advertisements of herbal medicine and spiritual healing services in Central Johannesburg

Abstract

This article discusses the language in a range of advertisements for herbal medicines and spiritual healing services, as found in fliers distributed on the pavements of the Johannesburg central business district. The socio-cognitive approach to critical discourse analysis (CDA) was employed to analyse the language used. The purpose was to identify the ways in which the producers of the advertisements, through careful choice of discourse, attempt to manipulate potential customers. It was established that the producers purported to have solutions to a broad range of problems affecting society. These included sexual, marital, business-related and social problems, for which the healers claimed to have quick and permanent solutions. Stylistic techniques include the use of juxtaposition, rhetorical questions, hyperbole, punctuation marks, indigenous languages, first-person narratives in testimonies, illustrations and the naming of herbs. The conclusion can be drawn that the advertisements demonstrate a perceived power imbalance between their producers and the target audiences. This may lead certain clients to be deceived by the herbalists and spiritual healers, sometimes with disastrous consequences. It is, however, acknowledged that not everyone in South African society believes all the claims made in these advertisements.