The way in which companies frame themselves, their products and their clients

KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN FACULTEIT SOCIALE WETENSCHAPPEN - FACULTEIT LETTEREN OPLEIDING BEDRIJFSCOMMUNICATIE The way in which companies frame themselves, their products and their clients An analysis on the webtexts, the brochures and the press releases of five companies operating in the textile industry Promotor: Prof. A. VAN LINDEN MASTERPROEF Aangeboden tot het verkrijgen van de graad van Master in de bedrijfscommunicatie door KATRIEN BORKELMANS Academiejaar 2011-2012   2   KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN FACULTEIT SOCIALE WETENSCHAPPEN - FACULTEIT LETTEREN OPLEIDING BEDRIJFSCOMMUNICATIE The way in which companies frame themselves, their products and their clients An analysis on the webtexts, the brochures and the press releases of five companies operating in the textile industry Promotor: Prof. A. VAN LINDEN MASTERPROEF Aangeboden tot het verkrijgen van de graad van Master in de bedrijfscommunicatie door KATRIEN BORKELMANS Academiejaar 2011-2012   3   INDEX Introduction 6 FRAMING LITERATURE STUDY 8 I. Framing in communication research and other theories of communication 9 1. Media's influence on the public 1.1 Omnipotence of the media 1.2 Limited power of the media 1.2.1. Agenda-setting 1.2.2. Priming 1.2.3. Framing 1.2.4. Third person effect 1.2.5. Two-step flow communication 1.3. Influence of the media on the public 1.4. Framing: A case study by Van Gorp II. Framing as a linguistic approach 9 9 10 10 11 11 12 12 13 13 15 2. The relevance of the Frame Theory in Linguistics 15 3. General Frame Theory 18 4. Frame Semantics 19 ANALYSIS OF FRAMES 20 Chapter One: Web texts 21 1.1 Z&S Lahnstein 1.2 Z&S Mohsdorf 1.3 Process Control 1.4 Filtertechnik Europe 1.5 Hubron International 1.6 Comparison Chapter Two: Brochures 2.1 Z&S Lahnstein 2.1 Z&S Mohsdorf 2.3 Process Control 2.4. Filtertechnik Europe 2.5 Hubron International 2.6 Comparison Chapter Three: Press Releases 3.1 Z&S Lahnstein 3.2 Z&S Mohsdorf   21 24 27 30 31 34 35 35 40 44 48 52 54 56 57 59 4   3.3 Process Control 3.4 Filtertechnik Europe 3.5. Hubron International 3.6 Comparison 61 64 64 67 GENERAL CONCLUSION 69 BIBLIOGRAPHY SAMENVATTING 70 72 BIOGRAPHY 75   5   INTRODUCTION   Mass consumption, mass production and mass media are all terms that have great significance in our present-day society. Companies nowadays produce products that reach a far greater customer-base then they did before, but at that at the same time need to be adjustable to a specific client's needs. The company's growing customer-base implies a far greater audience for all of the information about themselves that they send out into the world. This has resulted in a more nuanced way in communicating this information where companies try to portray a certain image of themselves, without doing so explicitly. They use the mass media to their advantage and have learned to send certain sub textual messages in their otherwise purely informative texts, about what the company and their products stand for and what they consider their clients to be like. The way in which a company frames itself, its clients and its products greatly depends on the goal of the text as well as on the type of the text. Often there are even more factors to consider, such as; the presupposed readers of the text. Here we can ask ourselves, how this works exactly and in which way these approaches differ from each other. Generally, framing is described as a persuasive technique in the communications theory. This technique consists of choosing certain words and images in order to accentuate certain aspects of the text. One does this, not only to highlight certain positive aspects, but also to deliberately create a certain feeling, which from that moment on coincides with the framed object, in the mind of the reader. It creates a certain emotional connotation for it. This implies that there is a frame that is created that determines the way in which messages need to be understood. It does this by accentuating the aspects of the framed object that are preferred to be brought across and weakening the aspects that the writer would want to go unnoticed. Contrary to the rational choice theory, which presumes that people will always try to make the most rational choice based on the information at hand, the framing theory teaches us that the way in which this information is presented will influence the people's choice. This implies that people make certain choices based on their 'emotional intelligence' instead of on their rational intelligence. Solvay and Mayer (1990) described 'emotional intelligence' as; 'A form of social intelligence that contains the capacity to check and distinguish one's owns feelings and those of others, and to use this information to guide his actions.' Daniel Goleman (1995) too said that social factors and emotions are important when making decisions, which is why it is not enough for companies to only take the customer's ratio into account. If and how this is done will be discussed throughout my analysis. Five companies that operate in the textile sector were used for my analysis. These include companies producing spin finishes or colouring as well as companies producing machinery of filters. The fact that all of these companies manufacture products that are not end products, but merely products used in the stages prior to the end stage, causes them to be framed differently. Their manufacturers cannot use the same techniques as companies that produce end products to frame their products as being desirable. We will analyse the aspects that are focused on and come to conclude some of these companies' preferred subjects and techniques. The companies in question are; Zschimmer & Schwarz Lahnstein, Zschimmer & Schwarz Mohsdorf, Process Control, Filtertechnik Europe and Hubron International. In our analysis we will concentrate on the six elements in a frame that may convey meaning according to Bales (2002, 60). These include; the context, numbers, the messengers, visuals, simplifying models and metaphors and the tone. After we have analysed these elements and explained in what way they help constitute the frame, we will add some other elements when   6   needed. We conclude each chapter with a conclusion where we will compare the companies with each other and discuss the ways in which they differ from each other and the ways in which they use certain elements to construct a frame in the same way. The first chapter of this thesis contains a literature study on the concept of 'framing' throughout the years along with the different opinions of different researchers then and now. The chapter contains a history of the qualitative approach to framing and a history of the quantitate one. The next three chapters consist of an analysis of the web texts of the before mentioned companies, an analysis of their brochures and an analysis of their press releases. Each of these chapters ends with a conclusion comparing our findings, which will be used to form the general conclusion in the fifth chapter. FRAMING: LITERATURE STUDY   7   What is framing? Before we can analyse the way in which companies frame themselves, as well as they do their clients and their products, we need to have a clear understanding of what 'framing' actually means and what framing consists of. Traditionally, framing is defined as 'focusing the attention of people within a field of meaning'1. Although Tversky and Kahneman (1981) can be seen as the founders of the faming theory, Fairhurst and Sarr (1996) are the ones that coined the term 'framing' itself. Even though this definition provides us with a general notion of the concept of 'framing', it does not include the information that there are two scientific disciplines that have studied framing, namely; communication science and linguistics, and that they have both done so in their own way. Seeing that I am going to use elements from both types of approaches, when making my analysis, I am going to start with an overview of these two approaches and an introduction on how they came to be. In the next chapter, I will discuss the different ideas and definitions of framing as well as some hypotheses about the effects framing a message can have on its audience. But before we go further into detail about the meaning of framing itself, I will first situate the Framing Theory in communication research and discuss its place amongst other communication theories, and then I will be doing the same for its place in linguistics. After this I will discuss framing in further detail, and start elaborating on the elements that constitute a frame and the different framing techniques. I. FRAMING IN COMMUNICATION RESEARCH AND OTHER THEORIES OF COMMUNICATION                                                                                                                 1   http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_tversky_framing.html 8   In the field of communication, framing defines how news media coverage shapes mass opinion. Framing effects refer to behavioural or attitudinal outcomes that are due to how a given piece of information is being framed in public discourse. With the introduction of mass media, which enabled communicating a single message to a big group of people at the same time, researchers examined the media's impact on the people on the receiving end of that message. Several theories were formed concerning the media's impact, ranging from it having a very considerable impact, to it having a small impact on the opinions formed by the people hearing the news. 1. The media's influence on the public When researchers started to examine the history of 'thinking' inside communication science, they began to look at the influence the media had on the public. While doing this, two theories were proposed. The first theory suggests the omnipotence of the media, while the second theory attributes only limited power to the media. 1.1 Omnipotence of the media In the 19th century, the creation of mass media generated a revolution in the way people were able to share information. Since for the first time in history, big crowds of people could be reached by the same message at the same time, nobody doubted the major influence this would have on them. Therefore, the first communication scientists all attributed much power to these media. The people supporting this first theory assumed that these mass media reached practically everyone. They presumed that there was a direct link between the content of the message, and the effect it had on its recipient. They also stated that the recipient was influenced in a linear way, without any factors that could intervene with the message (De Boer & Brennecke 2003). The figure below shows this process schematically. Figure 1: Correlation between the message and its effect according to the theory of the omnipotence of the media (De Boer en Brennecke 2003, 17). MESSAGE     (sender)         EFFECT     (recipient)     The recipient was not only seen as being able to absorb these messages, but he was assumed to accept the content of them without thinking them through. Contrary to the Rational Choice Theory (Zey 1998, 1), which states that people will always try to make the most rational choice based on the information available, the Framing theory states that the way this information is presented will influence the decisions of the people making the choice. At that time people did not question the influential nature of the media, but they admitted the influence not being of the same strength everywhere. 'The masses' were thought to be more vulnerable for the media's influence than 'the elite'. Later people discovered that both groups of the population had the tendency to think that the media had a bigger influence and effect on other people than themselves. The notion of media having a lot   9   of power, can be seen as the first theory about the way mass media work, and the effects they have on their audience (Stappers, 1983). For nearly all of the last century, communication analysts have tried to analyse the power of the media, but so far they haven't come to a definite conclusion. They did however, come to many theories and hypotheses. In the thirties, people were certain of the impact and the great influence mass media had. They even worried about the effects films could have on a young audience and were convinced of the fact that the films could encourage the youngsters to commit crimes and harass people. These fears were also confirmed, when in 1929-1933 a study of the 'Motion Picture Research Council', investigating the effects movies had on their audience, confirmed that young people were negatively influenced by movies (De Boer en Brennecke 2003, 27). However, this study was heavily criticised, because of its methodological weaknesses and the researchers' prejudices(De Boer en Brennecke 2003, 28). Throughout time, there have often been studies, examining the effects of mass communication, and until the invention of the television, these studies mainly focused on the influence of newspapers and films. Failing to reach a consensus, Berelson (1964) argued that 'some kinds of communication on some kinds of issues, brought to the attention of some kinds of people under some kinds of conditions, have some kinds of effects.' Berelson saw these effects as being influenced by many factors. Statements such as these already insinuated the demise of the overall acknowledgement of the 'omnipotence' of the media. When researchers started to analyse the power of the newest medium, i.e. the television, they returned to their previous theory and reconfirmed their belief in the omnipotence this media had. Even now, this often remains to be the case. A clear example is the Media Malaise Theory (Patterson, 1993 and Cappella & Jamieson 1997), stating that the dwindling trust in political leaders and institutions is caused by the focus of the media's attention on scandals and goals that aren't obtained instead of on the accomplishments made. 1.2 Limited power of the media In our current society, there's a ruling consensus about the limited effects of the media. But these effects, however limited, are not to be neglected. It is safe to say that communication analysts accept that media have only restricted influential power, but still they keep trying to find situations in which large media effects are shown. When doing so concepts such as agenda-setting, priming, the third person effect, the two-step flow hypothesis and last but not least framing, are often mentioned. All of these concepts take time to work; we are now going to briefly discuss all of them, before concentrating on framing. 1.2.1 Agenda-setting According to the agenda-setting theory, all the things people talk and think about originate in the media. People talk about agenda-setting when they have concluded that there is a resemblance between the agenda of the media and the agenda of the public, which is so striking that it cannot be deemed a coincidence. An explanation for the agenda-setting effect can be found in psychology. According to McCombs (1994), people have a constant need for orientation. The more an individual is uncertain about a specific subject, or on the contrary more interested he is in a particular subject, the need for information about the environment he is in grows stronger. Researchers have shown that the effect of the media agenda on the agenda of the public is fairly large (De Boer en Brennecke 2003, 201). There is even evidence to be found, not only for the hypothesis that the media influence what the public sees as socially relevant or non-relevant topics, but also for the hypothesis that the   10   subjects the media show as being important don't necessarily coincide with reality. Research also shows that the frames of interpretation the media use, influence the frames the public uses for interpretation (De Boer en Brennecke 2003). The effect generated by the agenda setting is largely determined by interpersonal communication. Agenda setting is not something that happens solely in the media, but the public can also influence the agenda. The effect of interpersonal communication on the agenda setting typically occurs in one of two ways. On the one hand, the agenda setting effect could be small, when people use a lot of interpersonal communication and little information coming from the media. On the other hand, the effect generated by agenda setting could be enhanced, when people using interpersonal communication and it confirms the information given by the media. When people are talking and thinking about subjects brought up by the media, this could have a homogenising effect on the different groups in society; it could give rise to a consensus within the public, causing the public to form a community. This homogenising effect occurs, when groups, that have internal differences, use media that are either the same or very much alike. It also occurs when the individuals within the groups, are very receptive to the effects of agenda setting. This receptiveness depends on a great number of things, among which for example language, the volume of exposure to the medium and the trust in the medium (De Boer en Brennecke 2003). 1.2.2 Priming Since the eighties, priming has been said to be related to agenda setting. Priming is used to determine the judgement measuring devices of the public. It's a psychological process in which the attention of the media for certain subjects, activates the memory of people, which causes it to influence the information processing process and the opinion forming process (De Boer en Brennecke 2003, 203-205). People often give judgement intuitively, based on the information at hand. The information at hand is usually the information which is either recently heard or the information that has been most often processed, seen or read. For example, if the focus in all articles that are published about George Bush is on the way he gives great importance to family, the public will judge him differently, than when the articles would have focused on the non-effective way he handled the reconstruction of the city of New Orleans after hurricane Katrina. In both cases agenda setting results in talking about Bush, but priming defines which of his characteristics are being talked about. Nevertheless, it must be said, that the more someone knows about a certain subject, the less they are influenced by messages in the media. According to De Boer and Brennecke (2003), priming can also be seen as a possible psychological explanation for agenda setting. By expanding the notion of agenda setting by including the concept of priming in its meaning, it is easier to construct a theory, in which the influence the media have on their audience is explained. 1.2.3 Framing 'To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating context, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation' (Entman 1993, 52). This means that framing has to do with the production, the content and the effects of messages conveyed in the media. With this, it is important to the journalist to select certain characteristics that define a certain subject. This selection depends on internal and external factors, ranging from the time a   11   journalist has to write the article or the moral values he holds dear (internal) to matters like shareholders and politics (external). By choosing to focus on certain attributes, the media not only decide which subjects come to the attention of the public, but also the frame that is used by the public to interpret it. This could influence the public's opinion about who they hold accountable for certain issues that are presented in the news (De Boer en Brennecke 206-209). Framing influences people on an individual level, as well as society as a whole. On an individual level, framing can influence the information processing process, altering a subject's connotation. On a society as a whole, framing could influence social and political processes like collective behaviour and decisions made by the leaders. The difference between framing and agenda setting is that contrary to agenda setting, framing and priming not only apply to what people talk and think about. They also influence the way people talk and think about these matters (De Boer and Brennecke 2003). We will further specify framing, its meaning and its effects later on, through a case study. 1.2.4 Third Person effect The 'third person effect' was introduced by the sociologist Davison in 1983. This theory states thatpeople always assume the media have a bigger effect on other people than on themselves. It is concerned with the influence the mass media have on their audience and the way other people's perceived opinions about things also influence them. Davison says that there is a discrepancy between the power people think that media messages have on other people and the presumed influence of these messages on oneself. People always assume that these messages affect others more than they do themselves; it's the 'third person' that is easily influenced, not me. This effect is called the 'third person perception'. It is only when people act in a certain way, because of the presumed impact the media have on others that the effect is shown. This implies that it is not the media message that influences people, but the fact they think that others will be influenced by it (De Boer and Brennecke 2003). Many researchers have studied these effects through experiments and surveys, and seemed to conclude that this hypothesis was true. Cohen( 1991), Mutz (1989), Price (1996) and Gunther (1993) studied the third person effect by making people read articles containing NEGATIVE information. They concluded that people presumed that the others reading the articles would be more influenced by them, than they were themselves. 1.2.5 Two-step flow communication The two-step flow communication theory states that the direct influence the media have on the public is rather limited. The real influence comes from interpersonal communication, between opinion leaders and others, called followers. During these conversations, the opinion leaders influence the followers, causing the media influence to occur in steps. The media first influence the opinion leaders, which subsequently influence the followers, through interpersonal communication (De Boer en Brennecke 2003). The idea that media influence happens in steps was first formed and studied by Lazersfield (1944). The two-step flow hypotheses originated because of Lazersfield combining two of his interests, which, until then, were studied separately. He combined his interest in the individual decision making process, with his interest in the influence of mass communication. The importance of interpersonal influence on the individual decision making process was already accepted for a long time. Lazersfield created the idea of 'opinion leaders' after his research on potential voters in Erie County Ohio. He studied the possible influence mass media could   12   have on decision-making processes of the voters during the election campaigns. Research showed that interpersonal communication had a greater influence on peoples voting behaviour, than the mass media, confirming the two-step flow hypotheses. The media messages first reach the opinion leaders, who then pass these on to other people. Communication processes through mass media aren't personal, which causes them to be less effective (De Boer and Brennecke 2003). These processes do take a certain amount of time; reactions of the public on media news can take weeks or even months. 1.3 Influence of the media on the public Although this paper concentrates on the way companies frame themselves, their clients and their products in their texts that reach mass audiences, it might be useful to provide a quick overview of the way these media can influence their readers. In order to detect the causal effects of the information flow coming from the media on the recipients' reactions, we should first examine the information that is provided as well as the generated reactions. We can do this by having a content analysis, followed by an opinion survey. There should be causality. A lot of insights in communication research are based on the experimental method, because this method is very well suited to detect causal effects. The best known publications in this field are those of Hovland and Iyengar. Unfortunately, many statements about the 'real' effect that news has on people are based on an analysis of the news, without including an opinion survey. The researchers analyse the news, without including research of the public. Statements about the 'real' effect news has on the public, based on opinion surveys, without analysing the news first, aren't accurate either. Analysts as well as politicians often make the wrong assumptions about things, when they base their conclusions solely on opinion polls. Changes are linked directly to the latest news information that is spread, without examining if similar news systematically results in the same effects. Even communication scientists made this mistake for years (De Boer and Brennecke 2003). 1.4 Framing: A case study by Van Gorp Framing, a term used in media studies, sociology and psychology, refers to the social construction of a social phenomenon by mass media sources or specific political or social movements or organizations. It is an inevitable process of selective influence over the individual's perception of the meanings attributed to words or phrases. A frame defines the packaging of an element of rhetoric in such a way as to encourage certain interpretations and to discourage others. This implies that framing is a way of communicating, which brings others to accept one meaning above another. It is a process by which a source of communication can determine a political matter or a public controversy (Van Gorp 2006). Van Gorp (2006, 3) defines framing as follows: 'an unshakable meta-communicative message that represents the structuring notion that gives meaning and cohesion to a news message'. According to him, this message helps the recipient to structure and define the content of reality. The frame itself is a part of culture, which is aligned with cultural motives, like moral values and stereotypes. In a frame analysis, the symbols included in the media message, which provide the frame, are assessed. These are things like word choice, metaphors, descriptions and images (Gamson and Lasch, 1983). The frame is therefore the notion that   13   specifies the way in which these framing devices relate to one another. This definition of framing implies the following characteristics: - A frame is something that 'sticks'. It is often a case of 'first come, first served', which implies that the frame that is established first, will be considered the truth. - A frame works between the lines. It is something underlying the text, which causes the readers of the text to often be unaware of its existence. - A frame structures the information, providing a narrative. - A frame supplies meaning and cohesion, which enables it to direct your interpretation in a certain direction. (Gagestein, 2010) Van Gorp recognises the fact that even though mass media don't shove their ideas and images down peoples' throats, they operate in a complex way and he sees that there are still a lot of pieces of the puzzle that are missing (Van Gorp 2006, 3). In his research about framing and the interpretation of news, he interprets framing as connecting two aspects of the communication process. Framing refers, on the one hand, to the typical way in which the journalists present the news, and on the other hand to the way the public incorporates these frames and thus approaches reality in a way similar to that of the journalists (McQuail 2000, 495). He concludes his research by saying that framing often plays a role in the initial interpretation of a message, while the effect on the attitude towards the message is less explicit. This is also the reason that Price and Tewksbury labelled this phenomenon the short-term effect of media messaging: framing brings about a mental connection between subjects and certain ideas. The frame brings a series of framing devices together in a logical way, and causes the result of this persuasive potential to be more than the sum of these devices separately. Framing is, in other words, the cumulated effect of all kinds of rhetorical means, with the frame as definite structure. But in order to work, the frame needs to compete with the recipients' own opinion (Van Gorp 2003, 25). His research also shows that the more pronounced the public's attitude is, the more the messages' interpretation is coloured by their own convictions (Van Gorp 2003, 25). He concludes that framing can cause people to change their attitude towards something, but mainly when they haven't formed a strong opinion about the subject beforehand (Van Gorp 2003, 25). II. FRAMING AS A LINGUISTIC APPROACH   14   Linguistics is easily defined as the study of human language. It can be broadly broken into three subfields of study: language form, language meaning and language in context. When we consider framing as a part of linguistics, we focus on the fact that words and phrases can mean more than what we find about them in the dictionary. We focus on their connotations and the fact that the same words can imply different things in different contexts, even though their lexical definition remains the same. Fillmore (2003, 263) maintained that 'certain kinds of structured background information (or frames) should be treated as essential components or accompaniments of word definitions.' For Fillmore, frame setting should be an essential part of word definition in dictionaries, implying the importance of frames that underlie each and every utterance. He defines a 'frame' as a structure of knowledge or conceptualization that underlies the meaning of a set of lexical items that in some ways appeal to the same structure (Fillmore 2003, 267). According to Fillmore, the description of meanings of most of the lexical items should consist of two parts: the frame setting part (identifying and characterizing the frame and introducing its frame-specific vocabulary) and the definition, which specifies the portion of phrase of that frame that constitutes the profiled meaning of the word. When the frame is known or when it can be taken for granted, the definition identifies the concept in terms of its participation to the frame; a frame setting is a description of the features of the frame itself (Fillmore 2003, 271). 2. The relevance of Frame Theory in linguistics Since the 1980s, after the 'cognitive turn', modern linguistics has increasingly preferred an approach to language that is based on our experience of the world and the way we perceive and conceptualize it, i.e. the cognitive linguistic approach (Ungereg and Schmid 1996, x). A few key concerns of this branch of linguistics are: prototypes, categories, metaphors, metonymy and frames. Generally speaking, frame theory deals with our knowledge of the world (Bednarek 2005, 685). In a first definition, a frame can be seen as a mental knowledge structure, which captures the 'typical' features of the world. Researchers from various fields and backgrounds have been interested in the frame concept, ever since its introduction (Bednarek 2005, 686). Even though there is no unified frame theory, it has nonetheless gained widespread acceptance by linguists, who concentrate on various aspects of the frame phenomenon. Raskin (1984) and Konerding (1993), for instance, are interested in lexicography and the relation between frames and meaning. Indeed, frame semantics plays a major role in linguistic frame theory; we will talk more about this particular topic in a following chapter. The frame concept has also been applied in discourse analysis (see Brown and Yule 1983; Muller 1984). Chafe (1977) focuses primarily on frames and verbalization, i.e. 'those processes by which nonverbal language is turned into language' (Chafe 1977, 41). Shannon (1981) deals with 'linguistic indicators' of frames (Shanon 1981, 35). Inevitably, this has led to terminological confusion. 'Frame' became a term linked with different, though related phenomena. At the same time, a number of other expressions, such as script, schema and scenario, were chosen to refer to these notions. Figure 1 and 2 give a schematic overview of these developments. After taking a closer look at these, it is safe to say that the competing terms (script, schema and scenario) usually only have a slight difference in emphasis, which causes them to be almost indistinguishable. After looking at the examples used in their figures it seems that they can be considered as specific instances of frames (Bednarek 2005, 688). We will therefore follow Fillmore in regarding 'frame' as ' a general cover term for the set of concepts   15   variously known, in the literature on natural language, as 'schema', 'script', 'scenario', 'ideational scaffolding', 'cognitive model', or 'folk theory' (Fillmore 1982, 111).   16     17   3. General Frame Theory Even though frame theory has its roots in philosophy and psychology, it is generally associated with Minsky's work in artificial intelligence (AI). Minsky takes up a notion introduced by the psychologist Bartlett in his research, stating that: 'the past operates as an organised mass rather than as a group of elements each of which retains its specific character' (Bartlett 1932, 197). While on a quest to figure out how to equip computers with the knowledge of the world they would need in order to perform certain tasks, he also pursued his interest of 'a theory of human thinking' (Minsky 1975, 215), which led him to his theory of frames. This theory is now famous and often cited in linguistics (see also Konerding 1993, 24; Brown and Yule 1983, 238). 'Here is the essence of frame theory: When one encounters a new situation (...), one selects from memory a structure called a frame. This is a remembered framework to be adapted to fit reality by changing details as necessary. A frame is a data-structure for representing a stereotyped situation like being in a certain kind of living room or going to a child's birthday party. Attached to each frame are several kinds of information. (...) Some is about what we can expect to happen next' (Minsky 1977, 355). Minsky thus defines a frame as a mental representation of our knowledge of the world. A frame is thought of as a certain structure, as 'a network of nodes and relations' (Minsky 1977, 355), which seem to be structured as different levels. There are fixed top levels, containing the elements of an instance that are always true, and there are lower levels, which have many terminals, 'slots that must be filled by specific instances or data' (Minsky 1977, 355). Those specific instances, can themselves be smaller sub-frames, and usually have to fulfil certain conditions given by the terminals through what Minsky calls markers. Minsky highlights the fact that 'frame's terminals are normally already filled with 'default' assignments. (...) The default assignments are attached loosely to their terminals, so that they can be easily displaced by new items that fit better the current situation. (...) Once a frame is proposed to represent a situation, a matching process tries to assign values to each frame's terminals, consistent with the markers at each place' (Minsky 1977, 356). Apparently, some of these assignments are mandatory, others optional (Minsky 1975, 239). This basically means that in our memory, knowledge is stored in a very large number of frames and frame-systems ('collection of related frames', Minsky 1977, 355). These findings shed a light on a whole different aspect of frames, and the way framing works in the human mind. These aspects are important for our analysis because frames are an important factor for the creation of coherence by hearers. Frame-conflicts may lead to disturbed coherence, although they need not necessarily do so: the application of a superordinate frame may override deviations from the norm and thus create coherence (Bednarek 2005, 703). In my analysis I will also take account of the cohesion in the frames, created by the companies, in order to see if the lack of cohesion, in some situations, causes the companies to fail in their efforts to frame certain things in certain ways. An example of this could be the use of incorrect English while trying to frame themselves as professional.   18   4. Frame semantics With the term 'frame semantics', Fillmore (1982) had a research programme in empirical semantics in mind, together with a descriptive framework for presenting the results of such research. Frame semantics offers a particular way of looking at word meanings, as well as a way of characterizing principles for creating new words and phrases, for adding new meaning to words, and for assembling the meanings of elements in a text to the total meaning of the text. By the term 'frame' he had in mind any system of concepts related in such a way that to understand any one of them you have to understand the whole structure in which it fits; when one of the things in such a structure is introduced in such a text, all of the others are made available (Fillmore 1982, 111). Fillmore presents a view in which words represent categorizations of experience, and each of these categories is underlain by a motivating situation occurring against a background of knowledge and experience. With respect to word meanings, frame semantic research can be thought of as the effort to understand what reason a speech community might have found for creating the category represented by the word, and to explain the word's meaning by presenting and clarifying that reason (Fillmore 1982, 111-112).   19   ANALYSIS OF FRAMES Bales (2002, 60) distinguishes six elements in a frame that may convey meaning and that can be used to develop communication messages. These elements include: o o o o o o Context: this contains the background information conveyed in a text. Context can stimulate a more systemic view of a product and its manufacturers. If there is a problem, the context establishes the cause of the problem and who is responsible for solving it. The context must be built into the frame with the introduction of the problem. Numbers: these may support a frame, but are not sufficient to create a frame. As most consumers apparently find it difficult to grasp the exact size and meaning of numbers, they need cues. Messengers: these may amplify or undermine the message. Some messengers are more credible for some issues than others. In addition, messengers may also stimulate a more systemic view and may underline certain aspects of e.g. a product, the production process, etc. Visuals: these may stimulate frames but can also undermine a verbal frame. Close-up images emphasize the personal and hide the industrial and the systemic. Simplifying models and metaphors: these allow people to make inferences beyond the words used. As they contain mental models they may complete ways of thinking. They are easily picked up by the media. Tone: it can be rhetorical, which tends to polarize people, or reasonable, which makes people more open to scientific findings and practical solutions. In our analysis of the way companies frame themselves, their products and their clients we will analyze their web texts about the company's history, their brochures containing product information and their press releases. We begin by taking a closer look at the way the above mentioned elements occur, before completing the analysis by adding some of the other elements we discussed in the previous chapter about the history of framing. While doing this, we aim to create a detailed image of the frames that are constructed in these texts along with their results. We will also distinguish between the original intentions of these companies and the way they actually come across, because these two things don't always coincide. For example, when a company tries to frame itself as being very professional, but does so using very poor English, it generates the opposite effect. Another example is a company's use of deontic modality in explaining to the customer how to use a certain product. Even though this may come across as obliging or ordering the customer to do something instead of asking them politely, using deontic modality is customary to writing recipes or instruction manuals. To conclude we can also state that none of the brochures apart from the Process Control ones, or webtexts, or press releases will be using any simplifying models or metaphors.   20   CHAPTER ONE: WEB TEXTS The web texts I am using for my analysis on how these five companies frame themselves, their products and their customers, are the ones about the companies' history. These texts are often the first thing the customer sees when they see the company's website and they are therefor an opportunity for these companies to make a good first impression. Since these texts are often the first thing a (prospective) client sees of a certain company, one can assume that companies put a lot of effort into them. The customer will redirect the feelings they had while reading the text towards the company, which makes these texts an opportunity to generate positive feelings as well as a possible risk to generate negative ones. The companies writing these texts are well aware of this, and will try to convince the customers of their long-standing traditions and professionalism. The reason they do this is to make the company feel familiar to the client and by highlighting how long they have already been in business, they add some type of credibility and legitimacy to their business. These texts are obviously all about context information, but not all of the companies approach this in the same way. Some tell us the entire story of their company in great detail, while others concentrate on providing an overall picture, some focus on the past, while others focus on the present, all of which result in different types of frames. While analysing these frames, we will begin by focussing on the elements Bale (2002) believed to convey meaning, before adding other elements from the previous chapters. 1.1 Zschimmer & Schwarz Lahnstein (ZSL) Context: When visiting the Zschimmer & Schwarz website, the first thing we see is 'Zschimmer & Schwarz Group'. This instantly evokes the image of a big company with multiple departments, standing strong as a group. Zschimmer & Schwarz Lahnstein then continues by saying: 'Zschimmer & Zschwarz is a family owned, medium sized chemical company with head quarter in Lahnstein, near Koblenz/Germany. Founded in 1894 in Chemnitz/ Germany, it is an international supplier of specialities and auxiliaries for different industries.' Immediately their size becomes less threatening and the company itself becomes less impersonal. They are a big company, but they're 'family owned'. The word 'family' automatically conjures up different types of positive emotions and concepts in our mind like cosiness, hominess, closeness and togetherness, which causes us to have positive feelings towards this company. The fact that initially they call themselves 'medium sized', even though they are a group (implying multiple subsidiaries) and will start to talk about their many participations worldwide shortly, makes them come across as modest. They continue by briefly listing their activities, before stressing the importance of companies such as themselves for the overall comfort in our day-to-day lives. Then follows a fairly detailed list containing the dates of their different expansions named 'where we come from', which is followed by another list titled 'where we are today', which contains many 'fun facts' about the company. The first list tells the tale of two men that came from nothing and became partners in starting up a company that, together with the help of their future family members, became world-renowned. It emphasizes their long-standing traditions, creates the image of two families that have been working together for generations, while hinting at the fact that the founders of this multinational were ordinary people like you and me. This again frames the company as a group of people who are a team, with family values, who are our peers and easy to relate to. The products, seeing that these people make them, are framed as 'made with a lot   21   of attention and care'. At the same time the dates show us the rapidness at which the company has grown. This frames the company, and its employees, as ambitious and industrious, while the products are framed as high quality, since they are clearly appreciated all over the world. 'What we are today' provides a clear image of the company's exact size, their equipment, their eco-friendliness, their customer service and their certifications. It is more of a sales pitch to convince the client of the company's qualities, than it is a neutral text about the company's history. The text highlights the fact that the company is dependable, easy to reach (since there are subsidiaries all over the world) and still modern. The mentioning of all of their state of the art equipment, laboratories and purification unit emphasize the fact that even though their company has existed for a really long time, they have evolved and should not be considered out-dated. Numbers: Besides the expansion dates, all of the numbers used in this text are there to indicate the company's size. 'More than 20 companies and participations in 15 countries and a large number of dealer agents make up the worldwide commercial and technical customer service.' ' (...) today ZSCHIMMER & SCHWARZ Holding GmbH & Co KG has 17 partnership firms in different parts of the world.' 'The parent company in Lahnstein employs a staff of approx.. 500 people (...).' 'In the summer of 1993 ZSCHIMMER & SCHWARZ MOHSDORF GmbH & CoKG was established and employs today some 110 personnel.' This again frames Zschimmer & Schwarz as a rapidly growing company, with a great number of employees all over the world, which are all at the client's service. The fact that certain types of companies appeal to certain types of customers, implies that Zschimmer & Schwarz sees their customers the same way that they see themselves. Their typical client is framed as someone who attaches a lot of importance to family and tradition, but who still wants to progress, develop and keep improving himself. Messengers: The messenger in this text is the Zschimmer & Schwarz group itself, although there seems to be a shift of perspective from time to time. At times it seems as if the messenger talks about a company they know a lot about, while at other times it is made very clear that he/she is part of this company he/she is speaking of, e.g.; 'Zschimmer & Schwarz is a family owned, medium sized chemical company (...).' 'Manufacture of chemical products was added to the business in 1909.' 'More than half of the company's turnover is achieved abroad.' as opposed to; 'Our activities range from research to manufacturing of a broad variety of tailor made chemical auxiliaries (...).' 'Who would think that the clothing we wear, the shampoo we use for our hair, the tiles on which we step or the shoes on our feet are all made possible by high grade chemical   22   auxiliaries? Making these products available and developing even better ones- is the core of our business.' Although the first three examples with third person forms seem more distant, they also seem more neutral. The fact that they talk about 'Zschimmer & Schwarz', 'the business' and 'the company' makes it feel as if these statements are not subjective but merely facts that are stated in order to inform the client. This contrasts with the first person forms that are used in the second set of examples. Here the company is presented as a team, of which the people are the customer's peers. We all use the same shampoo and we all step on the same tiles, and Zschimmer & Schwarz is not just any business, it is 'our' business. This makes the messenger feel as someone we can relate to, again enhancing the 'family frame' of the company. We must also remark the fact that the distant 'company' and 'business' are used when talking about things like; size, expansions and profits, while 'our' and 'we' are used when talking about the products, as if to say that while 'the company' is occupied with expanding its business and turning profits, 'we' are focused on developing the best possible products, to make 'our' (ZSL team + customers) lives easier. The Zschimmer & Schwarz Group's international success makes them a very trustworthy messenger. The information is presented in such a way that although we have no choice but to be in awe of the company's grandeur, the company does not come across as a braggart. The subtle alternation between the two perspectives, makes Zschimmer & Schwarz come across as a professional, respected company whose employees' main concern is to provide high quality products to improve the world we live in. The products are framed to be of high quality, not only because they are developed by this internationally successful business, but also because all of these specialists develop these products partly for themselves. We all benefit from these products, the customers as well as the people of Zschimmer & Schwarz, so why would the manufacturers not want to develop great products, if they are also going to be using them. Visuals: Apart from a small picture of the company's domain in Lahnstein, there are no other visuals used in this text. This picture shows the company and its location next to the Rhine. The picture is taken on a sunny day and the way the domain is located alongside the river amidst the trees, gives it a holiday feel instead of a grey, cold, industrial one. This makes the company feel welcoming and enhances their ecological frame, as well as that of their products. The lavish trees and the clear blue water surrounding the factories prove that Zschimmer & Schwarz is not harming the environment with the production of their products. Tone: The overall tone of the text is very formal en neutral. This is enhanced by the fact that the statements about where the company comes from and where they are today, are written in bullet points, as to emphasize their purely informative function. Zschimmer & Schwarz did not attempt to provide the customers with a well-written story about the company, dressed in colourful adjectives and lively anecdotes. It just wanted to provide the customers with a detailed and accurate list of the most important information. The tone does however slightly change when talking about the products they develop. Here it becomes almost amazed and enthusiastic about the endless possibilities of chemicals and the fact that they themselves are a part of the development process. This frames the people of Zschimmer & Schwarz as the nononsense type of people, who are still enthusiastic en even proud of what they do. The only negative thing we can say about this text is the at times artificial phrasing, which is due to the fact that this is a German company and not an English one, and that they do not hire native speakers English speakers to check their texts. Although they have a great English vocabulary, their sentences are occasionally not quite what they should be. This has to do with the sentence structure, the use of the wrong hyponym or the omission of certain words.   23   '(...) a family owned medium sized chemical company with head quarter in Lahnstein (...).' (Instead of e.g. 'with their head quarters in Lahnstein) 'In the summer of 1993 ZSCHIMMER & SCHWARZ MOHSDORF GmbH & CoKG was established and employs today some 110 personnel.' (Instead of 'founded and today it employs a staff of nearly 110 people.') 'The head office in Lahnstein, our subsidiaries and a worldwide representatives network ensure an constant customer and application oriented service (...)' (Instead of 'representatives' network' and 'a constant') However small, these mistakes somewhat spoil their 'professional' frame, though not enough to undo it completely. It is a shame that Zschimmer & Schwarz lets something like this undo some of the extensive work they have clearly put into this text. The fact that they did not have the text revised by someone who actually speaks English perfectly shows a lack of attention to detail and implies their assumption that they speak English perfectly themselves, when clearly they do not. In short we can say that this text frames Zschimmer & Schwarz as a family owned, professional and ecological company that has teams all over the world at its customers' disposal, who consider their customers to be their peers and who manufacture all of their products with care in order to make this world a better place. 1.2 Zschimmer & Zschwarz Mohsdorf (ZSM) Context: Since ZSM is a subsidiary of ZSL we would expect to see very similar texts about the history of the company, but in reality this does not seem to be the case. Although the text, titled 'Zschimmer & Schwarz Group' starts out the same way: 'Zschimmer & Schwarz is a family owned, medium sized chemical company with head quarter in Lahnstein, near Koblenz/Germany. Founded 1894 in Chemnitz/ Germany, it is an international supplier of specialties and auxiliaries for different industries.' it goes on by conveying different information. Where ZSL told us about '20 companies and participations in 15 countries', ZSM talks about '22 companies and participations in 15 countries'. This is confusing, and together with the artificial phrasing from the ZSL text, this again frames Zschimmer & Schwarz as inattentive to details. We can assume that the company had expanded by the time they had this particular text written, but the fact that not all the Zschimmer & Schwarz websites are updated to provide the same information frames them negatively. This being said, the mentioning of Zschimmer & Schwarz as a group and a family owned company conjures up the exact same emotions and connotations that it did in the previous text. The text goes on to say the exact same thing as the ZSL one; it talks about the importance of chemicals in our day-to-day lives, but does this by phrasing it in an entirely different way. ZSL: 'Owing to the ingenuity of scientists, chemistry is taking a major share in the cultural achievements of modern times. Chemicals have become an integral part of our lives.   24   They are beneficial in so many respects without our being aware of their presence. Who would think that the clothing we wear, the shampoo we use for our hair, the tiles on which we step, or the shoes on our feet are all made possible by high grade chemical auxiliaries? Making these products available - and developing even better ones - is the core of our business.' ZSM: 'The ingenuity of scientists has ensured that chemistry is taking a major role in the social achievements of modern times. Chemicals have become an integral part of our lives. Specialised chemical products are beneficial in many respects. Most of us would not realise that the clothing we wear, the shampoo we use for our hair or, the dishwashing detergents and cleaning agents we use in our homes are made possible by high grade chemical auxiliaries. Our business is to make these products available. (...)' This again is written in imperfect English and although the English vocabulary that is used in this web text is different, it isn't always better. Because Zschimmer & Schwarz Mohsdorf is a subsidiary of Zschimmer & Schwarz Lahnstein, the text does not say anything about the expansions, nor does it mention the founders of its parent company: mister Zchimmer and mister Schwarz. It does however mention the history of this specific company, before it was taken over. It even lists the two product lines this specific company focuses on, namely textile auxiliaries and phosphonates. There is a section about their latest technology, the assurance of their quality, their commitment to environmental protection, the readiness of their team to help and there is even one about the city of Mohsdorf and its surroundings. All of these things establish the exact same frame for the company as the previous text did, but ZSM goes about it in a completely different way. In the previous text, for example, we needed to deduce the fact that Zschimmer and Schwarz' employees are at our disposal, because there were so many of them in so many different countries. In the ZSM text, we are literally told: 'We are a team of professionals, ready to help.. whatever your needs.' 'Please contact us!' In the ZSL text, the use of words such as 'we' and 'our', the mentioning of it being a family owned business and calling it 'the Zschimmer and Schwarz Group' all indicated the fact that they wanted to present themselves as a team. Here they actually call themselves that way: 'Efficiency in product and technical development, production and customer service is a matter of teamwork and cooperation.' In the ZSL text, the use of 'we' and 'our' implied that they presented themselves as the customers' peers; the ZSM text again, literally tells us so. 'Besides being the producers of chemicals, we want to be your partner.' These are just some of the examples of the two companies' different approaches. Normally one would assume that these two texts constitute the exact same frame for the companies. This would be the case if it were not for the fact that trying to frame themselves as a team, while using two texts that are so utterly different and obviously not a team effort does exactly the opposite. So here we are dealing with an incoherent frame, where ZSL and ZSM are   25   framed the same way, as a team, but only for each division separately. It seems as if the employees of ZSL are a team, the employees of ZSM are a team, but the employees of ZSL and ZSM put together are not. Numbers: The only numbers that are used in this text are the ones indicating important years for the company, the number of years Zschimmer & Schwarz Mohsdorf exists and the number of companies and participations worldwide. Contrary to the previous web text, this one does not contain the dates of the many expansions; it does however give us some additional information about ZSM before it became part of the Z&S group. Apparently 'Chemical products have been manufactured in Mohsdorf for 60 years.' This adds to the company's credibility, seeing that it too stems from its own long-standing traditions, and surely they must have been doing something right if a company like Zschimmer and Schwarz was interested in taking them over. Messengers: The messenger alteration is exactly the same as in the previous text, and it results in the exact same frames. It uses the distant third person forms 'Zschimmer & Schwarz', 'the company' and 'the business', when talking about things such as the company's size and revenue, and the first person forms when talking about the products and addressing the customers' needs. This again results in Zschimmer & Schwarz being framed as a big, successful and innovative business, whose employees consist of a team of the customer's peers. The products are framed as very high quality, since they are manufactured by this company and their specialists, who produce these products with love. Visuals: The only visual that is used in this text, is the picture of the company's premises. The mountains and nature surrounding the company buildings yet again justify the company's claim of being ecological and producing ecological products, since the environment does not seem to be harmed by them being there. The last section of the text titled: 'Mohsdorf and its surroundings', even offers the customers some additional historical information about the valley in which the company is located, enhancing the 'holiday destination' feel. The combination of the picture and this text makes the company feel extra welcoming. It frames them as inviting and easily accessible, while framing the customer as a person of culture, who enjoys history as well as nature. Tone: The overall tone of this text can be defined as formal as well as neutral. The difference in phrasing of the text compared to the previous one, even tones down the enthusiasm, e.g. ZSL: 'They (Chemicals) are beneficial in so many respects without our being aware of their presence. Who would thing that the clothing we wear, the shampoo we use for our hair, the tile on which we step, or the shoes on our feet are all made possible by high grade chemical auxiliaries? Making these products available - and developing even better ones- is the core of our business.' ZSM: 'Specialised chemical products are beneficial in many respects. Most of us would not realise that the clothing we wear, the shampoo we use for our hair or, the dishwashing detergents and cleaning agents we use in our homes are made possible by high grade chemical auxiliaries. Our business is to make these products available.'   26   Even though these two excerpts of text convey the exact same information, the fist one does it far more enthusiastically. The first text is a lot more engaging and convinces the client of the astonishing facts about these chemicals, which the second one does not. It is obvious that the second text has the intention of being more business-like and formal, but it is in fact just more thought through and less pleasant to read. The tone as well as the vocabulary used might have changed, but it did not improve the quality of the text. The sentences are still artificial, and they still contain mistakes, making it very clear that the person who wrote them does not speak English perfectly. 'Laboratories with latest equipment, a modern production line and logistics, and the certification of our company in compliance with ISO standards, all combine to the high quality of our products, which are delivered to our customers all over the world and to guarantee a comprehensive service.' (Instead of e.g. 'The combination of our well equipped laboratories with our modern production line and the excellent logistics of our company result in high quality products, which comply to the ISO standards. These are then delivered to our customers all across the world with a guaranteed perfectly executed service.) Frame-wise this does the exact same thing as it did in the previous text: it slightly spoils their 'professional' frame, makes them seem like they are not attentive to detail and portrays them as overly confident about their knowledge of the English language. In short we can say that this text also frames Zschimmer & Schwarz as a family owned, professional and ecological company that has teams all over the world at its client's disposal, who consider their customers to be their peers and who manufacture all of their products with care in order to make this world a better place. But seeing that we did not come across this text separately and are able to compare it to the text of ZSM's so called teammates, we need to nuance this image. The discrepancies in information and the differences in approach result in the fact that this frame holds for the two Zschimmer & Schwarz divisions separately. Despite their efforts to hide it, analysis shows that there is only a ZSL team and a ZSM team, but no Z&S team. 1.3 Process Control GmbH Context: When we visit the Process Control site, the first thing we see is a text titled 'About Process Control Corporation'. Adding the term 'corporation' immediately evokes the image of it being a big business. The text goes on to explain that Process Control GmbH is merely one of its subsidiaries, which was added in 1993, while the Process Control Corporation was already founded in 1967. Both of these companies are relatively young and they supply '(...) processors with auxiliary equipment, including gravimetric blending, scrap recycling, material handling and extrusion control systems.' The text goes on by saying that: 'We have an unending commitment to the design and engineering of advanced auxiliary machinery for the plastics processing industry. Our goal is to provide the most accurate equipment and exceptional customer service. Process Control leads the industry with advanced design and innovative solutions for the global marketplace.'   27   This information does a number of things. For starters it frames the company as modern and innovative. We previously mentioned that customers prefer companies that have been in business for a long time, as it provides these companies with a certain credibility. The fact that a company has been able to stay in business for a long time, also assures the customer of the quality of the company's products. Since Process Control has not been around for that long, they cannot fall back on their long-standing traditions and existence to convince the customers of their quality and trustworthiness, so they focus on the advantages they do have instead. Being new in a field where people deal with advanced high tech technology is not necessarily a bad thing. This technology just was not there yet hundreds of years ago, so them being a relatively new company is normal. They do not frame themselves as new to the field, but as the latest in advanced technology. Secondly they are already talking about 'the global marketplace', so even though they are fairly young, they have already taken the market by storm. The text also elaborates on that: '(...) Process Control GmbH (...) handles (...) continental Europe, India, Africa and the Middle East. Process Control Corporation provides (...) China, North Pacific-Rim, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand.' Frame-wise the mentioning of international success does the same as it did in the other companies' texts; it makes their company seem more legitimate and their products are automatically assumed to be of a high quality. This continues in the following excerpt: 'We continue to set the standard with the introduction of Guardian Series 2, our allnew gravimetric blender designed to provide precise batch-to-batch dispensing and consistent homogeneous blending in each and every batch.' The form 'continue' implies that they were setting the standards already, the all-new again emphasizes their innovativeness and their being modern and the 'precise' and 'consistent' emphasize the accurate and reliable nature of their products. Their customers are framed as fans of their innovative work and appreciative of their dependable machinery. The text concludes with a segment called 'Process Control Corporation Management Team'.2 Here we find miniature biographies about the education and work-history of the members of the management team, along with their pictures. Instead of framing themselves as specialists by calling themselves that way, Process Control does this by showing off the expertise of their employees. Numbers: The numbers in this text are mainly used to indicate dates and years of experience, of the company as well as of its employees. They serve to give information to the customers to make Process Control feel more familiar, while framing the employees as experienced and qualified. Messengers: Similar to the other companies' web texts, there is an alternation between the distant third person narrator and the use of the first person form. Frame-wise this partly does the same thing. The distant form is used when talking about things such as: when the company was founded, the fact that they lead the industry, and countries they supply to. The                                                                                                                 22 In comparison to the other web texts we will analyse this is rather unusual, but because the head quarters of this company are in Atlanta (U.S.A.), while the head quarters of all of the other companies we examine are in Europe, we can assume that this has to do with the difference in culture and tradition.   28   first person form is used to stress personal attention and effort that is put into the things that are referred to. 'We have an unending commitment to the design and engineering of advanced of auxiliary machinery for the plastics processing industry.' 'Our goal is to provide the most accurate equipment and exceptional customer service.' 'We continue to set the standard with introduction of Guardian Series 2, our all-new gravimetric blender (...).' As we can see, Process Control does not use the first person form to present itself as a member of the same group as the customers, as its peers. It does however use these forms to present the company as a team, as a group of people who work together. It goes even further than Z&S, by identifying some of these people and listing all of their qualifications, not only to familiarize the customers with them but also to convince the customers of their qualifications. Where other companies just describe themselves as specialists, Process Control goes about it in another way and it lists the employees' educational career as well as their industrial one, which makes the fact that they are all specialists easily inferable. Visuals: The first visual that is used in this text is the picture of the company building. The picture of the modern facilities was taken on a sunny day, with clear blue skies and trees surrounding the building. This creates a positive connotation for the company; the holiday destination feel of the picture combined with the presence of nature makes it hard for us to imagine that horrible things would happen behind these walls. The other type of visual that is used is the portraits of the company employees accompanying their biographies. This connects their faces to their names, making it feel to the customers as if they know them already, which makes them easier to trust and like. The products are framed as high quality, since they are made by these specialists. Tone: The overall tone of the text is very sincere and persuasive. Sentences such as: 'We have an unending commitment to the design and engineering of advanced auxiliary machinery for the plastics processing industry. Our goal is to provide the most accurate equipment and exceptional customer service. Process Control leads the industry with advanced design and innovative solutions for the global marketplace.' make this very clear. Process Control wants to convince its customers of their strength and suitability for the job, without even talking about their products specifications. Even the members of the management team are described in a prasing way, as if they too were products that need selling. 'Dana (...) has extensive experience with, (...) holds a US Patent regarding gravimetric control (...) and had authored numerous technical papers on auxiliary.' 'John (...) has extensive experience with gravimetric blending (...) and has been a senior member of the Extrusion Division of SPE for over 25 years.' 'David has experience with fortune 500 (..), he has an MBA from Kennesaw State University, MS in Information Systems from Washington University (St. Louis) and a BS in Accounting from Grove City College.'   29   This frames Process Control as a company that excels in multiple way;, these include; its products, its commitment to excellent customer service, its innovative products and its team members. It comes across as a company that is very sure of itself and proud of its qualities, while framing its clientele as unable to argue with its persuasive arguments. The numerous occasions where their products are described as innovative, advanced, all-new and setting the standard, in combination with the fact that they are produced by the company's 'dream team', frame them as the highest quality. It does this while implying that these products are appealing to innovative customers with an eye for real quality and knowledge of the textile business. 1.4 Filtertechnik Europe (fteu) Context: The web text about Filtertechnik is relatively short, not unlike their brochures (which we will discuss in the following chapter). Contrary to the web texts we have seen so far, Filtertechnik mentions the year it was founded, without mentioning its founder. 'Since 1973 we have continuously extended our know-how in the field of filtration of liquid and high-viscosity media. Furthermore, we are specialist for the use of wire mesh in filtration and production of filter elements.' The text goes on to explain what wire mesh is, before stating that: ' It is our very priority to serve the customer with specific knowledge of demanding applications.' The information that is provided about the company is very short, and the claims made by them, like the fact that they are specialists, are not further elaborated on. The text concludes with two lists in the form of bullet points, titled 'The following components make Filtertechnik Europe a reliable partner for advanced and demanding solutions' and 'Technical know-how of production and logistic performances are a fix part of our service, because of'. This frames Filtertechnik as a no-nonsense type of company. They supply the customer with everything they think they need to know, without wanting to waste the client's time by adding anything else. This is positive, since they frame themselves as efficient, but the fact that this text can be read quickly implies that it was written quickly as well, which could result in the client thinking that Filtertechnik did not put enough of effort into it. The client is framed as someone whose time is valuable and not to be wasted, but at the same time, the lack of any type of explanation as to why the information given is true, also frames them as someone who accepts everything they are told as the truth. 'The following components make Filtertechnik Europe a reliable partner for advanced and demanding solutions: o Engineering of new products (such as?) o Specific development of established products (such as?) o Targeted selection of the ideal filter medium (how?) o Minimisation of downtime in production through preventive measures (to which extent/ by which measures?)' This could however also just be a way to entice the customers and persuade them to contact Filtertechnik Europe. Due to the company's efficiency and self-proclaimed qualities, the products are also framed in a positive way.   30   Messengers: Like in the other web texts discussed so far, there is an alternation between the first person forms and a distant third person form 'Filtertechnik Europe', this alternation offers a difference in perspective of the messenger. When using the first person form, the messenger considers himself a part of Filtertechnik, but when using the distant 'Filtertechnik' form, it seems as if they do not. Apart from this, the use of these two forms also has different implications with regards to the framing. Using the term 'Filtertechnik' makes it hard for the readers of the text to relate to it, the use of the 'our' and 'we' form on the other hand, presents the company as a team. It concentrates on the people working for the company instead of on their concept and the actual building they work in . Contrary to the other web texts, the distant form is used only once: 'The following components make Filtertechnik Europe a reliable partner for advanced and demanding solutions.' This emphasizes all of the teamwork that precedes the moment the products arrive at the customer, and even tough the distant form is used, it is followed by the mentioning of the fact that Filtertechnik wants to be partners, as to bridge the distance. This frames them as a highly efficient and tight-nit team that deliver dependable products and that thinks of its customers as its partners. Visuals: Filtertechnik too uses a picture of its company on a sunny day, surrounded by nature, to establish a welcoming frame. Alongside the picture of the company's domain, we find two pictures of 'Supplier of the year' awards that Filtertechnik won in 2009 and 2011. These awards provide the company with a certain credibility, since in stead of just saying that they are reliable and legitimate, showing these awards proves it. The customers are framed as expecting and deserving nothing but the best and the products are framed as high quality and promptly delivered. Tone: The overall tone of the text is neutral, formal and mostly concise. The text gets straight to the point and presents the information without a lot of elaboration on the subject. The majority of this already short text consists of lists containing bullet points made up of brief sentences. This frames the company as not wanting to sugar-coat things and as efficient and straight to the point, which are all attributes everyone appreciates. The client is framed as someone who appreciates this type of approach, does not have a lot of time to waste and only wants to hear the most important information. The products are framed as the products of an efficient well-trained and organised team. To sum up we can say that Filtertechnik consists of a highly efficient close-nit team of experts that are straight to the point and that do not want to waste the customer's time. They frame their customers as the company's top priority and as the company's partners, who trust them completely and believe everything they say. The products, all developed by Filtertechnik's specialist team, are framed as high quality products that are always delivered on time. 1.5 Hubron International Context: The text about the history of the company starts by saying that: 'Hubron International is one of the world's leading suppliers of black masterbatch with over 85% of masterbatch production exported through a world-wide network of Distribution Partners. Established in 1934 as a manufacturer of rubber compound, in 1971, Hubron started the production of plastic black masterbatch. Since then, the company has been serving the demands of industries such as film, sheet, pipe, cable and fibre extrusion; moulding, and technical compounding across the world.'   31   The actual amount of information that is given about the company's history is rather small. We are told when the company was originally founded and when it branched out to become the business it is today, but that is about all the information we get. There is no mentioning of who started the company, where it was located, or its size at the time compared to now. This frames the company as not being concerned with the past. Where they come from is not important, the important thing is where they are heading. Being one of the world's leading suppliers of black masterbatch, one does not need any further introduction. The client is also seen as someone who attaches more importance to the way the business is now, than the way it started out, which makes them fans of improvements. The products are framed as high quality products that have worldwide success. Despite the fact that the information about the company's history is brief, Hubron did not lose sight of the fact that knowing the history of the company attributes a certain credibility to it in the mind of the customers. In the second paragraph Hubron mentions in passing that: 'Our firm was one of the first independent masterbatch houses to be accredited in the UK with ISO 9002. The firm has held this quality award since 1986 demonstrating at the time professional pioneering in this area'. The way Hubron mentions this, so casually, frames them as modest, while at the same time the information itself frames them as pioneers. The fact that they were one of the first implies that they have set the bar and the text further explains that they have been able to maintain these high expectations for themselves. In the lines that follow, Hubron states that: 'The many prestige companies that have already chosen Hubron as their business principal are taking advantage of our depth of technical awareness and extensive knowledge. We work closely with our Distribution Partners to achieve realistic objectives and provide the best possible customer service.' The fact that Hubron uses the term 'prestige' so closely to its own name, does two things; on the one hand Hubron comes across as modest, because it does not use this term to describe itself although it could (since it is on of the world's leading supplier and a pioneer in its field). On the other hand, using this term so closely to its own name creates mental associations between the two in the mind of the customer. This way Hubron presents itself as a prestige company without calling itself a prestige company. The fact that they talk about their goal to achieve 'realistic' objectives again frames them as modest, but it also results in the rest of the text being interpreted as 'true'. The fact that they moderate the expectations they have for themselves, automatically makes the readers assume that Hubron moderates all its statements this way. Since they did not exaggerate here, why would they do it anywhere else? So when they conclude by saying: 'Hubron is a highly motivated company, dedicated to meeting the requirements of customers and distribution partners. Hubron continues to actively invests in personnel and process technology to ensure the highest standards in both products and service.' The client automatically assumes this as the truth, which causes the company to fit in this exact frame. They are highly motivated, dedicated to meet the requirements of customers and they continue to actively invest in personnel and process technology to ensure the highest standards to both products and service. This also constitutes the product's frame. Numbers: The only numbers that are used are the dates. These confer certain legitimacy on the company and imply its long-standing traditions.   32   Messengers: For almost the entire text, Hubron is talked about in the third person. Contrary to the other web texts where the first person form is generally used, here they are used on only five occasions; 'Our firm was one of the first independent masterbatch houses to be accredited in the with ISO 9002.' 'Quality is still our key performance objective.' 'The many prestige companies that have already chosen Hubron as their business principal are taking advantage of our depth of technical awareness and extensive knowledge. We work closely with our Distribution Partners to achieve realistic objectives and provide the best possible customer service. Batch to batch consistent product quality and numerous relationship specific investments are at the core of our offering.' The actual name of the company is mentioned seven times, as opposed to only one time like in the previous texts of the other the companies. Frame-wise this represents Hubron as a team, but at the same time it makes it easier for the client to assume that the information given is true. Using mostly the 'Hubron'-form in stead of the 'we' form makes it seem as if Hubron is talked about by someone who knows a lot about it, since the narrator is part of the Hubron team, but at the same time, since the narrators' team membership is not put in the forefront, the narrator seems more objective. Visuals: The text about the history of Hubron is accompanied by a picture of the company building on a sunny day. The only difference here is that the picture does not portray the entire company domain. We only see part of it, namely the silos containing all of the products. The sate of the art equipment again frames the company as very professional, and emphasizes the company's greatness and vastness, which had already been referred to in the text. The products are thus framed as produced by professionals and seeing that they are kept in such big silos, they can never be out of stock. Tone: The overall tone of the text can be described as sincere. This is due to the fact that instead of using the first person forms a lot when talking about the company, the more neutral form, 'the company' or 'Hubron' is used. This makes it seem as if the messenger is not that closely involved and thus rather objective. Another thing that makes the text seem sincere is that, instead of calling the company 'the best' or 'great', it gives actual examples of how the company excels, such as the ISO 9002 it was accredited. This frames the company as very professional and distributing high quality products, which stem from a long tradition of high quality production. To sum up we can say that Hubron is an internationally renowned company that manufactures products that are held up to the highest standards, meant for customers who expect nothing but the best and deserve nothing but the best.   33   1.6 Comparison When we visit the website of any type of company, we will always find a text on how this company came to be. This customary company history lesson is not reserved solely for companies in the textile industry; it has become a standard element on every company website, so there are certain elements that are always mentioned. These include the year the company was founded, the things it produces, the way in which it has grown and the things it deems most important. However this does not mean that all of these texts are exactly the same. Not only do they differ in length, tone and extensiveness, they also differ in focus. While some of these texts serve in fact to provide (potential) customers with details about the company's history, nowadays a lot of these texts serve to convince the (future) customers to choose this company. In our analysis of the web texts of these five companies studied, we came across some similarities, which all resulted in a particular frame. The texts all started with the year they were founded and the services they provided. This is done to emphasize the company's long-standing traditions, since consumers tend to evaluate companies that have been around for a long time more positively than companies that only just recently came about. The companies that were still relatively young tried to avert from this by emphasizing their innovative nature, or giving examples of certificates and prizes they obtained to reassure the client that even though they may lack experience, they do not lack expertise. All of this was used to frame the company as professional, and thus framing their products as made by professionals i.e. of a high quality. Naming the people who founded the company (ZSL, ZSM, PC) , calling it 'family owned' (ZSL,ZSM) as well as portraying its employees and giving the customers details about their lives, are all tools to given the company a more familiar feel. It introduced the customers to the people behind the company. This is frequently accompanied by the use of the first person form when talking about the company (ZSL,ZSM,PC,FTEU), which together results in the company being framed as a team of people, which are welcoming to customers and consider them as their partners and peers. The products 'high quality' frame was mostly established by emphasizing the company employees' expertise (ZSL,ZSM,PC,FTEU,Hubron) in combination with a listing of the company's subsidiaries worldwide (ZSL,ZSM, PC, Hubron). The customers are framed indirectly; with this we mean that the information given by the companies is the information they feel would appeal to their (prospective) customers. When a company mentions it being ecological (ZSL) the customer is framed as someone who cares about the environment, if the company highlights its modern and innovative nature, the client is framed as progressive and as always wanting to move forward. The only negative things we found while analysing these texts was the use of imperfect English (ZSL,ZSM, Filtertechnik Europe) and the inconsistent information on the company's site and that of its subsidiary (ZSL,ZSM). This always resulted in a (slightly) incoherent frame. Telling your audience how professional you are, while making linguistic mistakes does not exactly improve your credibility.   34   CHAPTER TWO: BROCHURES A brochure is a small booklet or leaflet, typically containing promotional material or product information. Even though this definition seems quite straightforward, brochures can have many different forms. Even when concentrating on giving product information to possible clients, they are also a way over covert advertising, is then distributed with the intention to sell the product. The product information is often presented as being objective, but one should not forget the fact that this information is framed in a positive way. This serves to induce costumer interest in this product and to expand the company's client base. Because of the nature of the products supplied by the companies we examine, the brochures have a different feel and content than the brochures we normally receive in our mail, e.g. brochures about food, clothing, electronic devices etc. The brochures we will analyze have a specific target audience, who have different needs, namely, chemical companies and textile companies. A clear example of this is that no flashy packaging is used, because of the fact that the products are often not end products or finished products, but mainly ingredients or components, which serve to optimize the client's end product. The products often have an abstract form; therefore the companies selling these products need other arguments to persuade the clients to buy them. We will look at all of the brochures separately, using what we have learned about the elements that constitute a frame so far, and we will conclude this section by discussing the similarities and differences in the companies' framing strategies. 2.1 Zschimmer & Schwarz Lahnstein Zschimmer & Schwarz Lahnstein (ZSL) is a part of the Zschimmer & Schwarz holding. It produces spin finishes: 'the finishing touch' for synthetic fibers. Zschimmer & Schwarz Lahnstein hands out four different kinds of brochures to its customers. Brochure one, titled 'Industrial chemistry tailor-made', is the brochure that corresponds most to the general image we have of a brochure. It starts with the phrase: 'Welcome to Zschimmer & Schwarz in Lahnstein' and is very promotional. It lists the different departments for which they develop spin finishes, such as, the leather department, the man-made fibers department, the ceramics department, and the surfactants department, but they also list their delivery priorities, their guarantee of absolute reliability, and their commitment to protecting the environment. This is unusual for a company making these kinds of products, because as we move forward with our analysis of the brochures used by textile companies producing these types of products, we will find that they differ immensely from brochures we deal with in every day life. These are the typical brochures that come to mind when we hear the word 'brochure', but that will not be further elaborated on here. Brochure two exemplifies a more typical brochure of the textile world; it contains all of the technical information one could need when working with the spin finishes. The brochure contains instructions on how to handle the spin finish correctly in case of any of the problems that can occur, instructions on personal protection when handling spin finishes, instructions on how to apply the spin finishes, how to determine the oil pick-up, among others. This information is al very technical and illustrated with formulas, tables and diagrams. The third brochure, titled 'Special products for the production of Man-made fibers', contains more detailed information about their range of products from the man-made fiber department, seeing that these are their top selling products. There are three kinds of manmade fibers, namely polypropylene, polyester and polyamide. The brochure provides us with the information on which type of spin finish to put on which type of fiber and how to do so, depending on the desired result.   35   The fourth and last kind of brochures are the data sheets. Every product has its own data sheet. These provide the clients with general information about the application as well as more detailed information such as the chemical composition, iconicity density, and other features. These data sheets are not handed out all at once. Clients interested in specific products, will only get the data sheets of these products. This happens proactively for possible future clients, who at that time buy similar products from the competition as well as after clients have shown an interest to buy. When these data sheets are handed out proactively, and the client lets the company know they might be interested in purchasing the product, the company sends them samples of the product, in order to further convince them. The different nature of these brochures accounts for their difference in content and resulting frames. Context: Brochures one, two and three provide us with a context, while brochure four does not. In the first brochure, which welcomes us to Zschimmer & Schwarz Lahnstein, we find an introduction that highlights the way in which chemicals have come to play a big part in our everyday lives, whether we realize that they're there or not. The use of words like 'chemistry', 'specialists' and 'worldwide' in the title of the introduction, instantly portrays the image of a scientific, specialized and international company, with a long-standing history. This history is even elaborated on near the end of the brochure, in the chapter 'Origins of our business'. Zschimmer & Schwarz Lahnstein (ZSL) continues to frame itself this way all throughout the brochure. It even adds to that by discussing their delivery priorities and progressive logistics. It reassures the customer of its reliability by extensively discussing their stock and fuel depot. Apart from being very industrial, internationally established and professional, which is portrayed in the chapters about 'controlled control' and about 'industrial chemistry tailor made', they also highlight the fact that they care about our environment. Behind all of this chemistry and industry, there are people who care about the world we live in. This makes Zschimmer & Schwarz feel more like a group of people than like this big non-personal company. They even frame themselves as a welcoming group of people by explicitly mentioning, in their chapter 'Industrial chemistry tailor-made', that 'No brochure can respond fully to the great diversity of the customer's requests and demands. Nothing can take the place of direct personal contact and comprehensive discussion to exchange information. (...) We look forward to talking with you. Do not hesitate to contact us (...).' Besides framing themselves as being an international manufacturer of tailor-made industrial chemistry that the client can rely on to have a high quality product delivered on time, Zschimmer & Schwarz also frames itself as being ecological. By doing so, it frames its customers in a similar way. The customer is seen as someone who also wants to provide their clients with a high quality product by using high quality components.3 The customer is also seen as someone who cares about the environment, otherwise Zschimmer & Schwarz would have not deemed it important to mention that they do too. The client is framed as someone who appreciates reliability and punctuality, because they too want to be able to take excellent care of their clients as. The products are framed as being of a high quality, since they have been held up to the high standards of the ZSL quality control, while at the same time they're framed as being eco-friendly. In the second brochure, containing the technical information of the spin finishes, a short introductory text provides us with the context information. The title 'Our man-made                                                                                                                 3  Since the spin finishes Zschimmer & Schwarz sells are not endproducts, but merely components of the client's end product, choosing the high quality ZSL products allows them to enhance the quality of the customer's products.     36   fiber auxiliaries: keeping ahead of market demands', brings forth the image of a company that is dynamic, innovative and concerned with their clients' wishes. The text below further explains and supports this. When we look further and start reading the actual brochure, we notice that even though Zschimmer & Schwarz frames itself very positively, the extensiveness of the information given initially frames the client as someone who is not familiar with spin finishes at all. Besides the fact that the brochures mentions things like 'stir extensively when it is not homogeneous' (p3) and 'do not swallow' (p9), it also discusses every aspect of the spin finish, as well as how to use it, and what to do when one encounters an unexpected result. Although it might seem unnecessary at first, this might also just be standard procedure. I think we can safely assume that Zschimmer & Schwarz is obliged to hand out this type of information about its products to its clients. When we look even further down the brochure, the abundance of technical drawings, chemical formulas and technical terms make it clear that Zschimmer & Schwarz sees their clients as people who know a lot about chemistry and spin finishes already. The products are framed as being reliable and predictable. The brochure is presented as containing everything you need to know about spin finishes and all of the solutions to all of the possible problems you could encounter with them. The fourth brochure does not give us any context information at all. Numbers: In the first brochure, the only numbers that we come across are; '12.000' and 'seven', to indicate the number of pallets that can be handled by ZSL's 'seven computers' as well as '100%' to indicate the completeness of their quality check. This frames the company as being really big and meticulous and frames the products as being of high quality. The second brochure contains many numbers indicating a lot of different things. These include temperatures, percentages, values in chemical formulas, amounts expressed in grams, time passed expressed in minutes, heating speed expressed in degrees per minute and voltage. These create a very scientifically grounded frame for the client. The numbers in the third brochure do the exact same thing. Here, numbers mainly represent the active matter in percentages that is found in the products, but at the end of the brochure they are also used to indicate the number of liters that go into the different types of packing as well as the number of subsidiaries ZSL has worldwide. The same holds for the data sheets. The numbers indicating the storage time, the density, the viscosity, the pH-value and the active matter enforce the frame of the client being scientifically educated. Messengers: In the first brochure, the messenger is ZSL represented as a group. When talking about itself and its own standpoints, ZSL uses the 'we'-form as subject, the 'our'-form when possessive and the 'us'-form as direct and indirect object. It does this in two ways. On the one hand it talks about 'our' and 'we' when referring to itself and the rest of the human population (= inclusive use of 'we' including the hearer/reader), e.g. 'Chemicals have become an integral part of our lives. They are beneficial in so many respects without our being aware of their presence. Who would think that the clothing we wear, the shampoo we use for our hair, the tiles on which we step, or the shoes on our feet are all made possible by high grade chemical auxiliaries?'(p2) This frames the company and the people working there, who represent them as our peers. It gives the impression that we are all part of the same group, sharing the same experiences and dealing with the same everyday situations. These shared experiences and situations are made possible, partly because of companies like ZSL, since they develop important components of the products we so love to use. This is the second way in which the plural form is used. When ZSL talks about 'our business' and 'our main product', they are talking about the group of people that represent ZSL (= exclusive use of 'we', not including the hearer/reader), namely   37   all of the people that work there. Using the plural form represents them as a team instead of merely coworkers, which adds a positive connotation to the company. They also explicitly frame themselves as specialists: 'As specialists we maintain a fully equipped pilot tannery for feasibility testing and development.' (p4) 'We are well qualified in research and development, working practice and technical service to always optimize our ceramic auxiliaries and adapt them to the individual requirements of our customers and prospective buyers.' (p8) There are two occasions where 'the company' is used, this when talking about the actual production and the profit: 'The preliminary and intermediary products used in our manufacturing processes are largely derived from the company's own production.' (p6) 'More than 60% of the company's turnover is achieved abroad.' (p 17) When talking about 'manufacturing', the personal 'we' is used, causing these processes to have an artisanal feel, which is then contrasted with the industrial production processes, performed by 'the company'. By contrasting the use of the familiar 'we' with the distant use of 'the company' this way, it instantly generates even more positive feelings towards the ZSL group, who concentrate on making our lives better in stead of on production and profit like 'the company' does. In the second brochure, the messenger is indicated in the same way. The plural form, representing the team behind ZSL, is used when talking about 'our pilot plant', 'our sophisticated processing', 'our special auxiliaries', 'our manufacturing processes' and 'our company's own production resources' in the introduction, and continues this throughout the brochure when talking about 'our customers', 'our technicians' and 'our products'. Again this generates the same positive emotions towards Zschimmer & Schwarz for the exact same reasons. A noticeable difference with the first brochure relates to the use of 'the company', instead of it remaining distant and generic it has now become 'our pilot plant' and 'our company', eliminating all distance. The messenger is framed as being easily accessible and someone we can relate to. The findings for the third brochure, which only contains a stretch of text in the introduction, are the same as for the second brochure, generating the exact same framing result: 'We provide the man-made fibers industry with an extensive product line'. (= Inclusive) (p1) 'The preliminary - and intermediary products used for the manufacturing process are largely derived from the company's own production.' (= Exclusive) (p1) The frame is also kept consistent throughout the data sheets' application guidelines, which contain the brochures' only running text: 'Our application laboratory is always at your disposal to do such a test.' (p1 on every data sheet) 'For the protection of the application solution against the attack of mold and bacteria   38   we recommend to add 0.1% of our bactericides Flerolan 1688 or Flerolan 1670 to the solution.' (p1 almost every data sheet) Visuals: In the first brochure we find pictures of the entire Zschimmer & Schwarz domain, followed by pictures representing the different departments they develop spin finishes for, e.g. a picture of their personal brand of soap for the surfactants department. Throughout the brochure, the text of each chapter is accompanied by pictures of Caucasian people working in state of the art laboratories, factories and warehouses. Some pictures even show people working in their on plant kitchen and fire station. The only chapters that are accompanied by pictures that do not show people are the ones about the company's commitment to protecting the environment, here the pictures show their state of the art purification unit, and the one about the origins of ZSL, showing us they way the ZS factories used to look. All of this frames ZSL in as very professional company. It shows us that their factories and laboratories are well equipped and that they have a lot of specialists working there, but at the same time it makes them feel very approachable. The close-up pictures of people operating the company's equipment emphasize the personal and hide the industrial. Their products are framed as being of high quality and it is shown that they are handled with great care by all of the ZSL employees. The customer is framed as someone who appreciates all of this, which is the reason why ZSL is showing this to him, and as someone who is welcome and trusted. This last part is generated by the fact that ZSL shares all of this detailed company information with him. Brochure two contains an entirely different kind of visuals. Apart from the traditional picture of the company's building on the front page of the brochure, all of the pictures it contains are related to chemistry. These include drawings of test tubes, pictograms regarding safety and first aid, chemical conversion formulae, application representations and graphic drawings representing thermogravimetry. The company shows the customer its scientific credibility, while framing them as someone who knows a lot about chemistry; ZSL assumes the client will be able to interpret al of this scientific visual information. The products are framed as being stable and easy to use, because the information presented with the visuals all seems very straightforward. The application guidelines are very easy to follow, the test results are all positive and the chemical formulas are clarified where needed. In brochure three, small pictograms accompany the spin finishes and indicate what they can be used for, for instance packaging belts and big bags, sewing thread, ropes and filtertow. The pictogram 'filtertow', for example, contains a drawing of a package of cigarettes. At the end of the brochure, we find a map of the world with numbers on it, indicating the company's subsidiaries. The pictograms frame the products as being very versatile and useful for many different things. Considering all of the technical and scientific information included in the brochure, I think it is safe to say that the client does not need these pictograms in order to know what all of these spin finishes could be used for. All of the surrounding information shows that this brochure is meant for people who already know a lot about spin finishes, which leads us to believe that the pictograms are there for some other reason. Their positioning on the right hand side of the page, makes them useful as a tool to easily find the right product in this brochure, without having to read everything on the page. The only visuals the data sheets contain are graphic drawings representing thermogravimetry. This frames the company, its products and its clients in the exact same way as brochure two. Tone: The tone in the first brochure is rather informal. This tone and the text's abovementioned use of 'we' and 'ours' frame the company and its clients as being each other's peers. The tone in the second brochure is exactly the same. The introduction is the only part that contains full text, and the use of 'we' and 'our' in combination with the informal tone   39   generate the exact same framing effect as the first brochure. In the third brochure, only the introduction is informal. The rest of the brochure is written in a formal serious tone, which enhances the scientific content. This frames the company as being accessible as well as specialist. The fourth brochure, hardly containing any text except for the application guidelines, is written in a neutral tone. The guidelines are not even written as instructions, but rather as an informative text, containing some of the company's recommendations, e.g. 'Antelin 2607 is applied purely or as an aqueous solution (e.g. 10-25%) by means of the usual application devices. For the protection of the application solution against the attack of mold and bacteria we recommend to add 0.1% of our bactericides Flerolan 1688 or Flerolan 1670 to the solution.' (p2) This offers ZSL the opportunity to instruct their clients, without them feeling like they are being told what to do. ZSL is thus framed as a team that concerns itself with what their clients want. It presents itself as an internationally renowned company, which is self-sustaining and which cares for the environment. The products are framed as being products of that. They are appreciated by clients all over the world, because of their quality and eco-friendly nature despite their chemical make-up. The client is framed as someone who holds its own products to the same high standards as ZSL, that is, as someone who wants high quality raw materials for the production of their products. 2.2. Zschimmer & Schwarz Mohsdorf Zschimmer & Schwarz Mohsdorf (ZSM), which is also part of the Zschimmer and Schwarz holding, is a company that specializes in textile auxiliaries. Even though one would assume these brochures to be practically the same as those of Zschimmer and Schwarz Lahnstein, this is not always the case. To understand the difference in brochures of these two parts of the same holding, one must be acquainted with the history of this company. Zschimmer & Schwarz Mohsdorf, formerly known as SeH chemie Böhme, became part of the Zschimmer & Schwarz holding as the result of a takeover purchase. This implies that this company used to have more than just a different logo on the side of their building; it also had another approach to distributing information to their customers. Until recently, this was still noticeable in their brochures. Even though the cover of these brochures contained the same logo and the same colors as the brochures of Zschimmer & Schwarz Lahstein, their content was completely different. Examples of this were the lack of structure, the overall lay out and the sloppy presentation (they were just loose sheets held together in a binder, with no clear content table). A couple of years ago, Zschimmer & Schwarz discovered the concept of 'corporate branding'4, and it unified its brochures. For our analysis we will concentrate on the latest brochures, seeing that these are the ones in which the company seems to have put the most thought into, with regard to 'framing'. Zschimmer & Schwarz Mohsdorf has two main brochures to give to customers, providing information about their wide range of products. The first brochure is presented as giving a complete product overview, thus providing all the necessary information to the client that is needed in their decision-making process about their possible purchase. The second brochure contains a list of the concentrated products and a list of their diluting guidelines. These                                                                                                                 4  Corporate branding: the practice of using a company's name as product brand name. It is an attempt to use corporate brand equity to create product brand recognition. (http://www.lemento.com/nl/corporate_branding/corporate_branding.asp)   40   diluting guidelines are an instruction manual on how to use these products, in order for them to work optimally. The fact that this information is normally only required after purchase might imply that part of the appeal and advantages of these products lie in their ease of use as well as in their quality. Context: The ZSM brochures do not really give a context. This could have to do with the fact that the company is already known to the client, since the sales take place in the presence of a sales representative of the company and not just in a store or online. It could also have to do with the fact that the context in which this product is made is not deemed important. There is, however, on the brochure's first page a detailed list of all of the company's subsidiaries and participations, and all of their respective addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, email addresses and other contact information. This encourages the client to contact their firm personally for any further questions. From a framing point of view, the company making these products does a number of things. First of all it frames itself as being very professional, yet easy to reach. The number of subsidiaries and participations accompanied by the main three branch offices, which reside in Germany, create the image of a successful and internationally renowned business. This implies the quality of their products, because if their product wasn't very good, the company would never have had the chance to branch out internationally. It is also reassuring that the company is so easy to reach for possible questions. Even though this is logical from a marketing point of view, the client now has a more concrete view of the company and what it consists of, making it feel more familiar. The second brochure does not give a context. Numbers: The brochure containing the 'ZSM-concentrated products and their diluting guidelines' consists almost entirely of scientific data and test results. The content table distinguishes; lubricants, pretreatment auxiliaries, dyeing auxiliaries and finishing. These chapters are further divided into sections, e.g. the chapter about lubricants consists of antistatic agent for synthetic fibers and spinning lubricant for wool and wool mixtures. For each of these sections, the brochure gives us the dilution instruction, presented in a table. This table contains the recipe, the recommended quantities and the quantities for maximum dilution. Below the table we find specifics about the diluting operation and the things that need special attention. For example; the dilution instruction table for antistatic agent for synthetic fibers contains the following things; in the recipe column we find water, ELACTIV K (the antistatic agent), preservative and active matter, the recommended quantities are given in kilos, except for the active matter, which is given in percentages. The same is true for the column containing the quantities for maximum dilution. By presenting these numbers in this way, the company frames its clients as being real experts. The clients are assumed to know what these numbers mean and how to interpret them. No additional information is given, so even though the brochure is very well structured, which makes it easy to find the specific information needed about a certain product, without any prior knowledge, this brochure is not helpful at all. For people who aren't in the textile industry and who have no knowledge of this type of chemistry, all of these numbers mean nothing. The product is also framed as being very straightforward, because there is no additional information given that explains the quality of the products as a result of these numbers. Even though these brochures are meant to entice new client's interest and preserve the present client base, there is no clear sign of an attempt to persuade them to buy these products. The numbers are assumed to speak for themselves. They are not compared to numbers of other products, nor is there an explanation added as to why these numbers are good. Messengers: Because there is no running text in these brochures, it is hard to indicate a specific messenger; the messenger in these brochures is Zschimmer & Schwarz as a whole. There is no indication of a specific scientist performing all of the analyses and tests. The different tests could even have been performed by different researchers, but Zschimmer &   41   Schwarz publishes them all under their name. We previously discussed the context that was given in this brochure, which frames the messenger as an international renowned business, evoking the image of the company and all its employees being specialists. The extensiveness of the numbers presented in the tables of the diluting guidelines brochure, as well as the extensiveness of the description of all of their products' characteristics, evokes the image of a company (messenger) that is a very trustworthy source of information. It therefore supports a positive attitude towards the company. Visuals: The first thing we notice when we see the brochures, is the colors that are used. The cover of the brochures is made up of a yellow background with a wide blue line on the right side, which contains the company's logo and their address, phone number, fax number, and other contact information. These same colors are used throughout the brochures, which clearly indicates the use of a house style, and gives the brochures great uniformity. When we look up the meaning of these colors, we find that these two colors have specific meanings, and must have been chosen with great care. Yellow is often said to be the color of creative and intellectual energy. It symbolizes wisdom and stands for joy and happiness. On top of this, it is said that people of high intellect favor this color5. Blue, on the other hand is often associated with truth6. When we open the brochure containing the overall product information, we see a picture of the Zschimmer & Schwarz building, which is a yellow building, on which we see the name 'Zschimmer & Schwarz' in blue lettering. Throughout the brochure, which has fifty-eight pages, we find six one-page pictures, each one announcing the beginning of a new chapter. The pictures show us the outside as well as the inside of the company's building. They show us Caucasian people at work, in the laboratories as well as in the factory. This gives the company a face. As mentioned above, close-up images emphasize the personal and hide the industrial, giving the company a familiar feel, which makes them feel trustworthy. The company hereby frames itself as being dynamic, fully operating and very much alive, while reinforcing its professional image by showing the customer their state of the art machinery and laboratories. The second brochure, containing the ZSM-concentrated products and their diluting guidelines, consists nearly entirely of tables and figures, giving the brochure a very scientific feel. Even though the house style remains present on the cover of the brochure, the color yellow is not used on the inside pages. The pages are just white with a blue print, and even though the company's logo is present on all of them, there are no extra visuals used. Tone: as mentioned above, there is no running text present in these brochures, which makes it difficult to determine a tone. In the brochure giving the complete product overview, short sentences are used to describe the products, their application field, characteristics, chemical composition, appearance and iconicity. There is no punctuation apart from a comma here and there, nor are there capital letters used, or full sentences containing a subject and verb. These lists are very straightforward, again framing the company in a very professional, no nonsense way. But when we take a closer look at them, we see that the adjectives used to describe the characteristics of the products aren't always neutral, e.g. excellent, highly effective, (displays) maximum emulsifying (effect), and good. So even though at first glance, it may not look like the company is trying to persuade customers to buy these products, because of their lack of catchy slogans and elaborate explanations of the way the product works, the use of these adjectives frames the products in a positive way. The lay-out and brief descriptions, being so simple and straightforward, make it easy for the customers to accept these descriptions as truthful. The client is still framed as a professional, who has an extensive prior knowledge of these kinds of products. As one of the many examples of this we find the characteristics of the first product CELLENA VAW: contains mineral oils, imparts excellent lubricity, dust                                                                                                                 5 6   www.vervendeconinck.be/tekst/betekenis_kleur.pdf www.vervendeconinck.be/tekst/betekenis_kleur.pdf 42   binding, non-yellowing, corrosion inhibiting. Even though these characteristics are presented as very positive assets of the product, there is no mention as to why, implying that this is enough for the customer, who knows what he's dealing with, to appreciate them. The second brochure containing the diluting guidelines, though mostly consisting of tables, also contains some instructions on the bottom of each page. The instructions are made up of short imperative sentences listing the consecutive steps one should take while using the product, in order to obtain maximum effect. Even though the imperative form is used, it does not give the impression of being imposing or impolite, since instructions or recipes are typically presented this way. With some products, there is a warning added to the operation guidelines. Here there are some inconsistencies in phrasing. Compare (1), (2) and (3): (1) Pay attention: - the pH-value of this dilution must be between 3.3- 4.2 -the pH-value you can adjust with caustic soda. Please be careful! This reaction is very exothermic. Cool the liquor during neutralization. (p7) (2) Pay attention: Please be careful! This reaction is very exothermic. liquor during neutralization. (p9) Cool the (3) Pay attention: The pH value of this dilution must be between 3 to 3.3, to be adjusted with acetic acid, if necessary. (p13) (1) to (3) are just some of the examples we find of the brochure's differences in phrasing while expressing the same thing. This leads us to believe that different people performed the tests on these different products. The fact that Zschimmer & Schwarz didn't bother to take the time to review these results and formulate them in a uniform way frames them negatively. All in all the brochures present a company whose main concern is the production of a fine product and showing its scientifically proven qualities, and though it does not seem to be bothered with consistency in listing operation guidelines, it is important for the customer to feel that the company has put a lot of effort in the brochures it is presenting to him. In short we can now conclude by saying that Zschimmer & Schwarz frames itself as being a professional company that needs no introduction, while framing its products as straightforward and its customers as being experts in the textile field. The products are framed as needing no sales pitch, since the test results are presumed to speak for themselves, nor do their clients need any further information as to why these results are good. Because of the fact that I am not familiar with the textile industry, it is hard to see if there are any characteristics or effects of the products that are minimalized or even omitted, but on the surface, this does not seem to be the case.   43   3. Process Control Process Control is a company that specializes in the production of machinery and control systems for the textile industry. They have four different brochures that they hand out to their customers, the fourth one consisting of a binder, containing very detailed product information. In brochure one and brochure two, we find pictures of al the different machinery they have to offer, accompanied by small pictures and a short explanation about what it is they do and how they work. Brochure three is dedicated entirely to automatic scrap recycling systems; inside we find pictures and drawings about the system's cycle accompanied by a short explanation. The machinery used for scrap recycling is some of the same machinery we came across in the other Process Control brochures. It also contains a picture of the cutaway view of an RMX Refeed Machine, illustrating and explaining the different steps the material inlet goes through, after entering this machine. These brochures have a completely different feel to them than the other ones. All of the pictures and explanatory texts that go together with the drawings of the different steps in the machines' processes make them very easy to read. Although these brochures give the impression of being far more complete than the previous ones, this might also just have to do with the nature of the product they're selling. These are not just oily products; these products can be set in motion, which implies that there is more information to give. Context: This brochure does not really give a context. This could again have to do with the fact that the customer already knows the company. Each brochure does contain the address of at least one of the Process Control factories along with other useful contact information such as email addresses, telephone numbers, fax numbers and websites. Brochure one and two contain a chapter named 'interface connection' stating that Process Control has '...already performanced (brochure one)/ performed (brochure two) Interface Connections with the following protocols. E.g.: Profibus, Devicenet, CAN Bus, Siemens 3964, (...), Telemechanique, Modbus RTU.' Here something strange happens frame-wise. On the one hand, Process Control is trying to establish itself as a renowned professional company, by showing us that their machinery is easy to use and can be hooked up to a variety of computerized control systems. On the other hand, they are using imperfect English doing so. The fact that the word 'performanced' of brochure one was corrected to 'performed' in brochure two shows us that they have noticed their mistake. However, this did not refrain them from handing out the brochures, containing the spelling mistakes. Even though the spelling mistake has been corrected by now, the fact that it happened in the first place does not show Process Control in the best possible light. It shows a lack of effort on its part to make sure everything the customer gets is of a high quality. The customer on his turn could interpret this to be the case for all of the company's products, expecting them not to be perfectly in order. Here we can talk about an incoherent frame, where the company's intentions and its actual effect do not coincide. The company wants to frame itself and its products as being of a high quality, by giving examples of their successes, but as a result of their imperfect English, they end up doing the exact opposite. Brochure two contains a quick reference to the country the company is in, in its title: 'Intelligent Technology for increased success, Made in Germany.' Brochure three, devoted entirely to Automatic Scrap Recycling Systems (ASR), contains the most context information about the products that are being described. Starting with the phrase 'Turn your scrap into profit', the introduction goes on to describe the advantages of using these products.   44   It mentions how the recovery of scrap reduces the production costs, and provides a list containing all the benefits of their patented ASR system, followed by its wide range of applications and concluding with information about another one of their products, which offers complete gravimetric control. This frames the company as being concerned with the client's finances, offering them a way to save money. The company is actually trying to sell their product, but does it in such a way that it seems like they have the client's best interest at heart. The company also frames itself as a true innovator, having invented this system. The fact that they have patented this system and that they display this very noticeably, makes this very clear. The client is framed as being economical and ecological. Recycling is good for the environment and the client who is offered this product is hereby framed as someone who is willing to invest in a better environment. At the same time, it is the cost reduction benefit of this device is the one that is most stressed, causing us to believe that the client is also framed as someone who wants to keep their expenses to a minimum. The product is framed in the same way; ecological and economical. It makes sure that none of the input goes to waste, that the scrap is being minimized, and all of this while the customer is saving money. Numbers: In the Process Control brochures, we find some percentages here and there. In brochure one, the chapter about the Gravimetric Blender with Extrusion Control states that ' The gravimetric accuracy is better than +/- 0.5% in any case.' In simple terms this means that the Gravimetric Blender with Extrusion Control is very accurate, so by saying this, the device is framed as being very accurate. By mentioning in such a short way, without any further information, the client is framed as someone who knows what they are talking about. They are informed about the gravimetric accuracy, in a way that implies that they are already familiar with the reasons why this accuracy is so important, or with the accuracy results of the other machinery of this kind that is on the market. There is no explicit comparison to other brands of machines in this brochure, which causes us to believe that the client is already presumed to know this information, so that they are able to make these comparisons for themselves. In brochure four, containing the detailed product information, we find a lot of numbers. These numbers range from the voltages needed for the power supply of the machinery, to the machines' measurements, the accuracy levels, and air consumption levels. Though most of these numbers look quite straightforward, we must keep in mind that these brochures are meant to persuade customers to buy these products. This means that for people, like me, who are not familiar with this kind of machinery, all of these numbers look like they are simply informative, but we can in fact, when we take into account the context in which these numbers are provided, presume that they represent positive qualities and that they are 'better' than the corresponding numbers of the same kind of machinery made by a different company. They frame the products as being ecological, since they do not need as much power supply as other similar machinery, nor do they consume a lot of air, yet remaining very accurate and effective. Presenting these numbers this way is very effective from a selling point of view. The numbers speak for themselves, there is no persuasive text accompanying them, nor is it mentioned that these machines are more ecological than others. The client is presumed to be able to interpret these figures, making any kind of sales pitch superfluous. Messengers: The messenger in these brochures is Process Control itself. If the company could speak, this is what it would tell you about its products. The machines are talked about in a very enthusiastic way, without the use of lingo. The messenger explains what these machines do, how they work, what they are for, and does this in a manner that is easy to understand for anyone, not just for people who are familiar with this type of machinery. Process Control comes across, as a messenger who is very well informed about its products   45   and even seems proud of them, without going entirely overboard by using an abundance of flashy and exaggerating adjectives. We will come back to this, when we discuss the tone of the brochure. For now we can conclude by saying that there is no indication as to why the readers of this brochure would assume the descriptions given, to be anything less than the truth. Even though we cannot deny that the image that is presented of these products in the little segments of texts that accompany them is a very positive one, it is done in such a way that we easily accept it as being true. Visuals: The thing we notice instantly about these brochures is the abundance of visuals. There are in fact so many pictures, that we can divide them into three categories. As a first category, you have the pictures of the machinery. These provide us with precise images of what the machinery looks like. Because it is hard to see the degree to which these pictures are scaled down, we have the second category of pictures namely the technical drawings. These drawings, which are included only in brochure four, give a very detailed view of the machinery. The machinery is drawn from all angles in immense detail and accompanied by all of its measurements and the weight of all of its parts separately. The amount of product that can be processed in the machine in one turn is also indicated. We also find technical drawings of the control panels, along with information about the possibilities of adding optional extensions to the machinery. The third category of drawings includes the system descriptions. These are mainly simplified drawings of the way the machinery works, accompanied by a description of the subsequent actions the machinery undertakes. The different processes the product that is put into the machine undergoes are explained step by step and arrows indicate the product's direction, meaning the order in which it passes through the different machines on its way from input to becoming output. Another type of system description drawing used is one about the operator stations, here we see where it gets its information from, where the information you put in it is sent to, while again indicating the path the raw material takes to becoming a finished product. The use of the pictures of the first category seem very logical from a marketing point of view; products on sale are often accompanied by their picture. The technical drawings also make a lot of sense, since they give the customer the information that they need, when he is considering installing one of these machines in their factory. It is important to know their exact size and weight, not to mention the fact that these drawings also provide the customer with information on how the machinery is assembled. So if one day one of the pieces needs replacement, the drawing gives you an indication of how to take the machine apart and how to put it back together again. The third category drawings by contrast have a somewhat different effect. Although it might be logical to provide system description drawings in brochure three, as it is devoted entirely to a product Process Control has created and which is therefore different from the rest, for all the other machinery in brochure one, two and four it is rather unnecessary. It is as if the customer is being talked down to, because they are framed as someone who knows nothing about the way these machines work. Although all of these drawings make the brochure easy to read and even though they might not even bother the customer, it is important that we acknowledge the fact that by providing them, Process Control frames itself as knowing more about these machines than the customer does. This might seem normal, but we must keep in mind that the drawings we are discussing contain only the most basic functions; 'this is where the product goes when you turn on the machine'. So the fact that they provide this information to the customer, frames him as somewhat of a knucklehead, as all of the customers are already working in the textile industry. On top of this Process Control frames its products as being very easy to work with. Apart from the fact that they are so high tech that even the engineers buying them need this extra information, the drawings make it seem like they just need to be put in the right order, attached to each other and then they'll work. In reality, many people are needed to staff the different stations on and between the machines in order to make them run smoothly.   46   In brochure two we also find pictures of the company itself, but it does not include any of the products. We can assume that Process Control does this for the same reasons as Zschimmer and Schwarz do, that is, to give the customer the feeling of being familiar with the company, instead of it being an abstract notion in their minds. It also highlights the accessibility of the company as well as its state of the art infrastructure, which frames them as being trustworthy. Simplifying models and metaphors: In brochure one, we find the phrase 'The Grinders are working with a "scissors cut" principle and are able to process edge and bleed trims.' Here 'the scissors cut' principle could be seen as a simplifying model, which results in the client's ability to imagine what happens to the product on the inside of the machine. In the second brochure, we come across a simplifying model in the visuals rather than in the text. Even though the working of every product that is presented in this brochure is accompanied by a simple explanation, there aren't any simplifying models or metaphors used, except for one mentioning of the 'scissor cut principle'. Apart from some technical terms like cascade chamber (which is a static mixer), hopper, fluff and film, the explanation is given in an English that every one can understand, and it does not take resource to metaphors or models. The reason for this is simply that the actions performed by the machinery are so straightforward and easily imaginable by anyone, that there is no need for this. We do find one of the system drawings on the back of the brochure, which serves as a simplifying model. It shows the patented automatic scrap recycling system, because this system is unique to Process Control and it is therefore that Process Control wants to supply the customer with extra information. The third brochure, devoted entirely to their unique patented automatic scrap recycling systems, contains many simplifying models in the form of drawings. These make it very easy for the customer, or anyone else for that matter, to understand the way these machines work. It also explains why this machinery differs from others like it, and the reasons why it works better. Apparently the unique way their machinery cuts the product, using more sustainable knives that cut like scissors instead of like a razor, enables them to regenerate and reuse all the scrap that is created along the way. Even though at first glance the drawings and their explanations seem very simple, when we start to read them properly we find that there is an abundance of technical terms, which frames the customer as being familiar with the textile industry, and as someone who knows a lot about this type of machinery. Contrary to the other Process Control brochures, in this brochure the company frames its clients as being its peers, who know quite a lot already, and in doing so it also frames itself as professional and of high quality. The high quality frame stems from its products, which are framed in the same way. The innovative-patented technology along with the wide range of products, each of them meticulously described, especially in the fourth brochure, causes the customer to feel like the products are up to standards. It gives the impression that once the products are acquired, there should not be any surprises. Seeing that the machines are so well described in the brochure, one could not imagine anything could go wrong. The automatic scrap recycling system even creates the image of Process Control being a company that, if it is not satisfied with the technology at hand, it will develop its own new technology to be able to offer their clients the best. In the fourth brochure, we find exactly the same type of descriptions as in brochure three, but here the descriptions are even more elaborate. They contain the materials the machinery is made of, its standard specifications as well as its options along with all of its possible speeds and applications. Process Control, their clients and their products are framed exactly the same way as in the previous brochure, for the exact same reasons. Tone: When asked to describe the tone of this brochure, the first word that comes to mind is 'enthusiastic'. The actions performed by the machinery are all described in an active way,   47   which is enhanced by colourful adjectives and adverbs such as polished, precise, accurately, big, high, expensive and special. This frames the company and its products as very dynamic; one action quickly and seamlessly follows the other. The way in which it is described makes it very easy for the customer to imagine all of this, which induces their excitement for the product. By doing this, the company frames itself as being dynamic, since it is the creator of these exciting products. The products are framed the same way, exciting and dynamic, which implies that the customer is framed as someone who appreciates these characteristics. Even though all of the elements that we mentioned above evoke a very positive image of the company, we still find some things in these brochures that do not match the image the company's trying to create, which is resulting in an incoherent frame. These things include spelling and grammar mistakes such as (the above mentioned) 'performanced' in brochure one and 'main-tenance-free' in brochure two. They also include inconsistencies in the overall layout. In brochure four, the descriptions of the machinery sometimes include a segment named 'standard features' while some of them include a segment named 'standard specifications', both explaining the same thing. Some times these features or specifications are given in bullet points, some times they are given in full sentences. The symbols preceding these bullet points also differ; sometimes they are '+-symbols', sometimes they are '?symbols'. It is a pity that a company that has clearly invested a lot of time and effort in the description of its products and the way they work did not take the time to correct these details. Needless to say, this reflects badly on the company. Even though it tries to portray itself as professional and as having high standards, by doing it in this way, it contradicts itself. Therefor we can conclude by saying that Process Control actively frames itself as being very professional, innovative and concerned with their client's wishes and financial situation, as well as with the environment. It frames its products as easy to use, ecological and of high quality. However, it involuntarily frames itself and its products negatively, by the lack of attention to the details we have just discussed. The customers are framed a bit incoherently too. In some brochures (1 & 2) they are framed as people who are not very familiar with this type of machinery and are therefor still in need of a lot of simplified information, while in other brochures (3 & 4), they are framed as people who have a thorough understanding of the textile industry. This shift becomes apparent by the sudden use of technical terms and a difference in the degree of difficulty of the explanatory texts. 4. Filtertechnik Europe (FTEU) Filtertechnik Europe is a company that specializes in the production of metallic filters, which are made out of metallic wire cloth used to filter out impurities from the polymers after they have been melted, right before they are turned into thread. Fteulight is a subsidiary of this company that specializes in using the wire cloth, which is used to make the filters, for decorative purposes, by converting it into designer objects, like lamps. Filtertechnik has two brochures to hand out to its (future) customers. The Fteulight brochure is a very basic one containing the three main types of 'light' filters, wheel, rocker and disk, which are used for interior design, along with some information about the material, the effect, the company's inspiration and their capability. The second brochure contains more detailed information about their services, the advantages of using their products, their staff, the different type of wire cloth, the most customary materials for wire cloth and their product scope. In both brochures we find the text in both German and English printed next to each other. Seeing that Filtertechnik is a company with clients from all over the world, this makes it seem as if its German clients are the only ones who don't speak English.   48   Context: Brochure one offers us information about what it is exactly that fteulight does: ' Fteulight develops and manufactures lights, suspended ceilings, dividing walls and equipment made of wire cloth for function rooms and living spaces'. In its segment titled 'inspiration', it tells us where it gets its inspiration as well as how long it has been doing this, namely thirty-five years. In its segment about capability it highlights the exclusivity of the special cloth they use for this, namely MASH. This frames the company as being unique, and the mentioning of their 'inspiration' frames the people working there as artists in stead of simple employees. The fact that they have been able to stay in business for thirty-five years, frames their products as being of high quality and wanted by the public. The customer is framed as a person who appreciates modern interior design, since these are the products that they produce. On the back of the brochure we find the necessary information to contact them, such as address, telephone, fax number, websites and email address. This frames the company as being easy to reach and receptive to questions and/or commentaries. The second brochure provides us with more context information. It contains a preliminary remark where it mentions that; 'This handbook contains worth knowing facts and information. This makes our catalogue interesting for buyers and engineers as well. Due to the variety the listed specifications can only be an extract. (...) Nevertheless, for special applications you may need more detailed information. Do not hesitate to contact our well-trained staff. In any case contact us if you have questions concerning wire cloth, because wire cloth and manufacturing filters are our specialities.' (p1) In this brochure, the company frames itself as welcoming, as well as specialists. The customer is framed as someone who already knows a lot about these filters, but might still benefit from some additional information about specific details. Saying that the catalogue is interesting for buyers as well as engineers, creates the image of them being peers. The product, developed by well-trained specialists, is framed as being of high quality. Other context information is given when discussing their services: 'Together with our customers we develop new capable solutions. As a result of 35 years of experience (...).' (p2) Here the company and the customers are framed as being equals, developing the products together, while at the same time the company is framed as 'caring', seeing that it cares so much about fulfilling the client's wishes that it asks them for their opinion while developing its products. This in turn frames the products as being exactly what the clients want and need. In the chapter called 'Making the right choice' the staff is presented, giving the company a familiar feel. The brochure ends with the following a small paragraph on page seventeen: 'For further information please visit us at our homepage www.fteu.eu. For technical guidance our well-trained staff will be at your command. Do not hesitate to contact us to [email protected] ' (p17) this again frames them as being welcoming and accessible. The only slightly negative thing that can be said about Filtertechnik so far is their use of imperfect English. Things such as 'at your command' in stead of 'at your disposal' and 'contact us to' in stead of 'contact us at', makes them seem rather inaccurate and makes it feel like they did not take the time to have   49   this brochure revised by a professional who speaks English perfectly. This also makes the addition of German texts for the German people who don't speak English a little ironic. Numbers: The only numbers we find in the Fteulight-brochure, are the ones indicating the flexibility of the halogenspots, being 90°, and the one indicating the number of years the company is in business. Product wise, this merely gives us one of tits characteristics. Business-wise it enhances the company's credibility, which we have already mentioned before. In the Filtertechnik brochure we find a lot of numbers. Besides indicating the number of years the company is in business, these numbers are used to indicate measurements, product numbers, density, tensile strength, melting points, maximum usable temperature and the standard specifications. These numbers frame the company as being very accurate and precise; they deliver products that all have the exact same specifications; if you buy the same filter twice, they'll both be exactly the same. This also frames the products as very reliable, and their detailed description makes sure that the clients that order them aren't in for any surprises. Contrary to the other company's brochures, the numbers in this one do not serve to recommend or help sell the product. Contrary to numbers representing test results, these numbers are standard specifications and serve only to indicate the type of the filter. The customer is framed as someone very critical, someone who knows a lot about these things already and therefore needs a lot of information, since no small detail would go unnoticed. Messengers: The messengers in the first brochure are the people who work at Fteulight, the ones who represent it and therefore speak on its behalf. This is made clear in the very first line of the brochure: 'Fteulight develops and manufactures lights, suspended ceilings, dividing walls and equipment made of wire cloth for function rooms and living spaces.'(p2) On the back of the brochure the customer is encouraged to: 'Ask for detailed information or (to) visit us. Your benefit - our target' (p3), which makes it clear that the company is represented by several people. This frames the company as being a team, consisting of all of the people who work there, without making a distinction between them. The brochure says to 'contact us', and not some specific department of the company, emphasizing their togetherness. In the second brochure, it seems like it is the higher management that is sending the text. This is shown in the following sentences: 'Do not hesitate to contact our well-trained and experienced staff'. (p1) 'Our engineers and technicians would be pleased to be helpful.' (p5) 'For technical guidance our well-trained staff will be at your command.' (p 17) By contrast, there are also indications that all of the people who work at Filtertechnik, the ones who represent it, are the messengers of these texts. We can find examples of this in the following sentences: 'Your benefit - our target! Contact us!' (p1) ' Together with our customers we develop new capable solutions.' (p2)   50   'For further information please visit us at our homepage www.fteu.eu.' (p17) This shift in messenger becomes very clear in the following sentence: 'For technical guidance our well-trained staff will be at your command. Do not hesitate to contact us or email us to [email protected].' (p17) Because of the fact that customers are encouraged no to hesitate to contact 'us' or email 'us' in stead of 'them' (the well-trained staff that is at their command), I think we can safely say that the messenger here is Filtertechnik as a group, again framing the company as a team as opposed to a group of co-workers, which gives it a positive connotation. Visuals: In the first brochure, we find a couple of pictures of lamps and a suspended ceiling. In keeping with the modern and arty image of its products, the company wants to propagate, the pictures are artistic, each one showing only a small detail of a specific product. These pictures frame the company as well as the products as being trendy, modern and unique. In the second brochure, we find six different types of visuals. The first type consists of pictures showing the filters up close. These we find on the cover of the brochure and here and there throughout the brochure, serving as decoration. The second type of visuals are the pictures of the company's domain and the portraits of some of the people working there, namely the account manager, the sales manager, the quality manager, the wire cloth specialist, the technical designer and the head of engineering/production. Like in all other brochures, these pictures serve to emphasize the personal in stead of the industrial, making the company feel familiar to the client. All of the visuals that follow are more scientific. The third type consists of microscopic enlargements of things like multipore, different kinds of filters (to show the wire cloth's weave), the structure of zinc coating and a split wire. These pictures serve to illustrate the text that accompanies them. The fourth kind is detailed drawings of the different ways in which the filters can be woven, each of them resulting in a specific type of filter. The wire cloth itself is produced, by a special weaving -loom. The detailed drawings of all of the different types of weaves are there, not because Filtertechnik assumes that its clients does not know these types of weaves, but because Filtertechnik differs from other filter manufacturers by having such extensive options in this field. The pictures frame Filtertechnik as being very skilled and versatile. Because of their wide range of products, they are able to develop products that respond to the client's specific needs, which frames their products positively. The fifth kind of visuals consists of charts containing the material characteristics and the standard specifications of which the values are expressed in numbers. It is customary for companies that produce filters to make these public. The fact that they are included in this brochure frames Filtertechnik as a legitimate company, whose products are held to certain standards, and whose clients, who are very familiar with these, expect them to be included in the brochure. The sixth and last kind of visuals is the maps on the back of the brochure that indicate the company's exact location. This again emphasizes Filtertechnik's welcoming and accessible nature. Tone: The overall tone of the first brochure is rather formal, but this does not mean that Fteulight did not make an effort to embellish the text. The use of words such as 'pure', 'shining', 'excites' and 'inspires' show that the company wants to frame itself as well as its products as being dynamic, exciting and new. As the brochure is designed to appeal to the customer, the customer is framed as someone who appreciates all of this, and who is dynamic, exciting and modern too. The tone in the second brochure is very formal and the running text contains imperfections in the formulation of the sentences. There are several indications that English is   51   not the writer's native language. These include: 'This handbook contains worth knowing facts and information.' (p1) 'For technical guidance our well trained staff will be at your command.' (p17) 'Splitted wire 80µm.' (p3)` 'Do not hesitate to contact us or email us to [email protected].' (p17) The first two sentences are examples of phrases that are very awkwardly formulated, while the last two sentences contain actual mistakes. This somewhat spoils the frame the company wanted to present for itself. It wants to frame itself as very professional and articulate. Even though they put a lot of effort into the brochure, the mistakes that are made result in the company not coming across this way. Instead of framing itself as being professional and having the necessary know how, the fact that they express themselves poorly when talking about this sheds a negative light on them, but not extensively enough to damage their image severely. Overall the company is framed as professional, innovative and precise. The products are framed the same way, which attributes a high quality to them. The customer is framed as wanting nothing but the best, as being inquisitive about a lot of details, and as knowing enough about these filters to appreciate a high quality product. 2.5 Hubron International Hubron is a company that specializes in the production of Black Masterbatch. Masterbatch consists of plastic granules that are melted to color the synthetic fibers. Black, like white, is one of the most difficult colors to make, which is why there are companies that specialize in making this product. Black Masterbatch is also used to turn light colors into dark colors. The brochures Hubron hands out to its customers are elaborate data sheets, containing all of the necessary information. Even though it seems as if they only produce one product, there are a lot of different varieties, such as 'Black Masterbatch for quality film, general extrusion, moulding and compounding applications', 'Black Masterbatch for high quality fiber applications' and 'Black Masterbatch for high quality pipe applications'. The data sheets contain the performance benefits and overview, the application areas, the typical applications, the main features, the material data and specifications regarding the test methods. Context: The data sheets do not include a lot of context information. Apart from the logo, which makes it clear that the sheets concern products developed at Hubron, and their contact information at the bottom of the first page, there is no additional information about the company. This again could have to do with the fact that the company sends sales representatives to hand out these brochures and to personally provide the context information of this company. Numbers: Numbers in these data sheets are used to represent a number of things. Firstly they indicate unique number of every type of product, e.g. NBB140, as well as the name of the carrier they are transported in, e.g. a PA6 carrier. Secondly, they indicate the size of the synthetic particles, e.g. 20-25 nm. In addition they are used to represent scientific data, such as black carbon content, the test method used, and the typical melt index. Like in all other brochures, these numbers contribute to the professional image of the company, as well as framing the clients as being familiar with this kind of chemical information. The lack of   52   additional information does two things: it frames the clients as persons who do not need these test results further explained and it frames the products as being of such a high quality that no additional persuasive arguments are needed. All of the persuasive arguments are given in the form of test results and percentages, without being compared to the competitors' products. Messengers: Even though this brochure does not contain a lot of full sentences, it is clear to the reader that it is the Hubron-team that is providing the text. Every data sheet contains the following sentences, in which this is made clear: 'Applications may require different masterbatches depending on processing parameters or local specifications. It is advisable to check with our sales department prior to commercial production.' 'The information in this sheet is to the best of our knowledge true and accurate, but all instructions, recommendations and suggestions are made without guarantee, since the conditions of use are beyond our control.' 'Hubron black masterbatches are typically available in 25kg Polyethylene Bags.' Even though the first example might make it seem like it is the people who employ the different Hubron departments that offer this information to the clients, the rest of the brochure presents the messenger as the Hubron-team. The fact that they take the time to nuance the test results enhances their professionalism and a sense of accuracy. This frames the messenger as very trustworthy as well as professional. The company is framed as holding its products to high standards. It wants to present its clients with honest and accurate information, and its also frames its demanding clients as needing this. The brochure presents the information in a way that is satisfactory for clients, who already know a lot about this type of product and who know what they are looking for. The test results and material data are by themselves sufficiently persuasive to enable the client to make the right decision. This again frames the products as being of a high quality, which is easily noticed by the experienced clients, who are, not unlike Hubron itself, experts in the field. Visuals: There are three types of visuals used in these data sheets. Firstly, there are the tables containing the checklists (of the main features and typical applications) and test results. As every data sheet has the exact same lay out, these make it very easy for the client to look up things, compare products and to get a quick overview of a product's most important characteristics. Apart from already being framed as wanting to provide its clients with honest information, the company is now framed as being concerned with the client's practical needs. The information is easily accessible and the way it is structured allows the client to get a quick but complete overview. Secondly, nearly every data sheet contains pictures of objects that have been colored black by Hubron's Black Masterbatch. These serve to illustrate the products' results in a way that is more direct than the test results. Thirdly, there are data sheets that contain bar charts. These are used to indicate the UV protection properties of certain products. This again contributes to the high quality frame of the product. Tone: The overall tone of this brochure can be described as formal and neutral. Even the products' benefits are presented as simple facts: ' PEB7303 is an economic grade with covering power similar to a 40% SRF (60nm) carbon black masterbatch. Its economic nature makes it especially attractive to   53   processes that have uncontrolled masterbatch additions.' ' PEB6240PA is a concentrate of a 20-25nm particle sized carbon black in a HDPE carrier. It is manufactured to give a very high standard of pigment dispersion making it suitable for very high quality, pipe extrusion applications.' The wording makes it very easy for the client to assume this information as true. If Hubron had inserted more of its own involvement in the production process of these products, the clients would be more skeptical. For example: ' Our PEB7303/ The PEB7303 we produce is an economic grade with covering power similar to a 40% SRF (60nm) carbon masterbatch.' 'The PEB6240PA we manufacture gives a very high standard of pigment dispersion making it very suitable for very high quality, pipe extrusion application.' If the benefits were presented this way, it would be more likely for them to be interpreted as being subjective. Hubron is well aware of this and bypasses this. Hubron is a company that originated in England; the English that is used in these brochures clearly brings this out. The texts, however short, are written by someone who masters the English language and who is well aware of its subtle nuances and is able to use these to their advantage. This activates a positive connotation for the company in the readers' minds. Hubron frames itself as being specialist. As it only manufactures Black Masterbatch, it became very good at doing so. Its name, Hubron International, already indicates its elaborate client base and the data sheets frame them as scientifically accurate and reliable. The company is sure enough of its products to share all of its specifications and features with its clients, framing its products as simply 'the best' there is, with results that speak for themselves. The customer is framed as someone who is in want of this type of product and who is very precise in testing them.7 We can deduce this from the fact that the test results are nuanced in case the customer performs these tests themselves. The customer too is thought of as an expert in the field of textile technology, and very capable to interpret all of these scientific data as well as to perform these tests themselves. 2.6. Comparison When we read company brochures, all we ever expect to find is product information alongside with some context information of the company providing them. Our analysis has shown that these brochures in fact provide us with so much more. The present the way the company sees itself, its clients and its products and the way it wants them to be seen by others. The context information given in these brochures does more than introduce the company to its clients it also presents the company's core values. The context in the brochures we have used for our analyses frames the companies as a team of experts who produce high quality products with care. It shows the way in which the companies consider their clients. The companies consider them to be of great importance and use them as a motivation to keep evolving and innovating their products in order to make them happy. In stead of just labeling their products as 'high quality', the companies use the context information to highlight the fact that they operate internationally implying that their products are appreciated all over the world, but also to inform the clients about their ability to service them wherever they may be.                                                                                                                 7  After showing an initial interest in the product, the client is provided with a sample of it, before having to decide on an actual purchase.   54   The companies inform the clients about their long-standing traditions and experience in the textile field to insure them of their reliability. While doing so, the company refers to itself in an inclusive we-form, framing itself as a motivated team, while framing its customers as part of the company's family. The visuals in the brochures are most often used to present the company's state of the art facilities, again enhancing their professional frame and reassuring their clients of their products qualities and the effort that is put into manufacturing them every step of the way. Other visuals include tables that go together with numbers. These show us the products scientific characteristics that are in fact disguised qualities. The numbers are never accompanied by an additional sales pitch, but are presumed to speak for themselves. This explicitly shows the product's qualities, while framing the client as a specialist, because the numbers are not accompanied by any additional information as to how interpret them either. Concerning the messenger of these texts, there is often an alteration between a 'we'-form and a more distant form. When the messenger of the text uses the 'we'-form it is clear that he is part of the company team that consist of a group of specialists that are at the client's disposal. It often even indicates the inclusion of the client, framing them as the company's partners and/or peers. The distant form is used to make the messenger feel more objective. The overall tone of the brochures can be described as neutral, but still sufficiently enthusiastic to show the commitment of the companies and the pride they take in producing their high quality products.   55   CHAPTER THREE: PRESS RELEASES Traditionally, a press release defined as a written or recorded communication directed to the members of the news media for the purpose of announcing something newsworthy. Typically they are mailed, faxed, emailed to editors at newspapers, magazines, radio stations, television stations and/or television networks, but the ones we are going to analyse are published only the company website. These press releases, although also meant to inform the world, are mostly there to inform (prospective) clients, which is why they can only be found on the company website, under the title 'news' and in specialized magazines, instead of in the daily newspapers. The press releases are used to inform clients about things such as: new products, new subsidiaries, upcoming textile fairs (where the company publishing the press release will be present) and changes in the company website. Because of the enormous number of press releases these companies have published throughout the years, only one of each type is used for the analysis. By this we mean that if there are several press releases published concerning the release of a new type of product, we will only use one of these per company as a representative example. The following press releases were used: Z&S acquires an important share of USA FIBRE SOLUTIONS Z&S acquires the Colormix division of T.E.M.A. Z&S hires a new representative for Turkey ZSM Techtextil 2009 PC Dana Darley speaking at GPEC 2011 PC launches new website PC NPE 2012 report PC New Western Regional Sales Manager Hubron O'Brien Group acquires Whitaker Technical Plastics Ltd Hubron partner with IMCD Hubron launches its new website Hubron to exhibit at Plastimagen 2011   56   3.1 Zschimmer & Schwarz Lahnstein (ZSL) We know by now that Zschimmer & Schwarz Lahnstein is a big company of which Zschimmer & Schwarz Mohsdorf is a subsidiary. This means that a lot of the press releases published for the two companies are the same. In this section we will discuss the different types of press releases that are published in both the companies' 'news' section. In the section on Zschimmer & Schwarz Mohsdorf we will discuss the type of press release that was published only in this subsidiary's 'news' section. Zschimmer & Schwarz Lahnstein (/ Mohsdorf) uses press releases to inform their customers about things such as new divisions they have acquired, new shares they have acquired and newly appointed sales representatives. Context: The press release type concerning the newly acquired divisions is typed on a page containing the company logo, the company name and a mentioning of the company contact information down below. The press release starts by saying: 'ZSCHIMMER & SCHWARZ acquires the Colormix division of T.E.M.A. - the acquisition is part of the grow strategy of ZSCHIMMER & SCHWARZ - the transaction strengthens the position and service expertise of ZSCHIMMER & SCHWARZ' Starting the press release this way sends out a very clear message about the company. The logo and contact information present the image of a unified company that is easy to reach. Calling the acquisition 'part of the grow strategy' frames Zschimmer & Schwarz as an innovative company, that is structured and on track. It did not just coincidentally grow; it has a well laid out plan and it is sticking to it. The fact that 'growing' was part of their 'strategic plan' emphasizes their innovative nature as opposed to simply being successful. This frames them as ambitious. They are successful, but that does not make them contented. They were planning to expand and they are expanding, which portrays them as a company that keeps its promises and frames them as being very reliable and able to think ahead. This could come in handy for future customers, seeing that it implies that Zschimmer & Schwarz is able to foresee possible problems and therefor able to solve them. The second sentence stating that 'the transaction strengthens the position and expertise' frames this acquisition as something that is done to benefit the customer as opposed to the company itself. So in addition to the acquisition being seen as a win for Zschimmer & Schwarz, the customer should feel fortunate because: 'The transaction comprehends the transfer of the complete Colormix Division of T.E.M.A. including all specialized personnel and all customer relationships.' This frames Zschimmer & Schwarz as doing everything for its customers. Even though they are successful already, it does not appear to be enough and every way they can improve their customer service, they will. Even when they expand their product range to offer their customers a wider range of choices, they also expand their team of specialists so the client does not have to trade quality for quantity. The products are framed as being of a stable and reliable quality, since new products mean new specialists at work. The press release also contains background information about the original Colormix company as well as their personal contact information on the bottom of the page. The text concludes with a brief history of Zschimmer & Schwarz as to inform the previous Colormix customers of the new people they will be dealing with. The type of press releases concerning the newly acquired shares is again printed on the same type of document, containing the company logo and company contact information, again portraying Zschimmer & Schwarz as a unified and easily accessible team. The press release starts by saying:   57   'ZSCHIMMER & SCHWARZ acquires an important share of USA FIBRE SOLUTIONS - the acquisition is part of the grow strategy of ZSCHIMMER & SCHWARZ - the transaction extends the product portfolio and strengthens the position and service expertise of ZSCHIMMER & SCHWARZ.' Calling the acquisition a 'part of the growth strategy' does exactly the same frame-wise as it did in the previous press release. By stating that 'the transaction extends the product portfolio and strengthens the position and service expertise', again this acquisition is framed as something that benefits the customers, as something that is done to optimize service to them. The rest of the press release looks exactly the same as the previous one did. There is some background information about the company whose shares they have acquired, their contact information, as well as a brief history of Zschimmer & Schwarz. To sum up we can say that this frames the company as being dedicated to providing their customers with the best possible service and products. The last type of press release that is published by Zschimmer & Schwarz is the one containing information about newly appointed sales representatives. The press release is brief, and states that: 'ZSCHIMMER & SCHWARZ, Care Specialities and Phosphonates Division have appointed IMCD Türkiye as their new representative for Turkey.' This statement is followed by IMCD's contact information. This press release, though seemingly solely informative, indirectly highlights Zschimmer & Schwarz's success, which can be derived from the fact that they keep on expanding and hiring. Throughout all of this their customers are framed as deserving nothing but the best, but at the same time they are indirectly framed as demanding, since Zschimmer & Schwarz might not be going through all this effort, if they were easy to please. Their customers are also framed as fans of constant evolution, which is implied by the fact that it is this type of information Zschimmer & Schwarz chooses to share with them. There are no press releases about new products, or about changes in management; the only type of information this customer seems to be interested in is updates about the company's growth. Numbers: The only numbers that are used in these press releases are the dates that indicate the day on which these changes take effect. This does not establish any frames. Messengers: The messenger of all of these different types of press releases is Zschimmer & Schwarz as a team. The logo, the colours as well as the contact information listed below, they all show us where this message is coming from without us even having to read the text. Zschimmer & Schwarz is thus framed as a unified front and their company logo portrays their professionalism. The distant form 'ZSCHIMMER & SCHWARZ' is used to talk about the company, written in capitals as to portray them as a brand, enhancing their credibility, and giving them an air of grandeur, as if one is supposed to be familiar with them. Visuals: Apart from the logo, there are no visuals used in these press releases. The logo again frames the company as professional and a team, as a brand that is supposed to be recognisable. Tone: The tone is formal and neutral. The use of the distant 'ZSCHIMMER & SCHWARZ'form, makes the text feel more objective and strictly informative rather that intended to persuade. So when they talk about Zschimmer & Schwarz's 'service expertise',   58   this statement is presumed to be true, which results in Zschimmer & Schwarz framed as having excellent service. In short these press releases serve to highlight the fact that Zschimmer & Schwarz is a rapidly growing and immensely successful company, which does everything for its customers. The customers are framed as the reason for all of the changes the company makes, since all of them are done to improve the company's service to them. The products, which keep expanding in range, are portrayed as internationally coveted. 3.2 Zschimmer & Schwarz Mohsdorf (ZSM) There is only one (type of) press release we find on the Zschimmer & Schwarz Mohsdorf site that we do not find on the Zschimmer & Schwarz Lahnstein one. It is a press release titled 'Techtextil 2009' and it announces the company's presence on the textile fair 'Techtextil' in Frankfurt. The press release contains an English version of the text as well as a German version, which is reproduced below, and like the Filtertechnik brochures this inadvertently makes it seem as if all of Zschimmer & Schwarz's customers from all over the world speak English, except for the German ones. Context: The press release starts by saying that: 'The German chemicals and auxiliaries producer Zschimmer & Schwarz is again exhibiting at this year's Techtextil show in Frankfurt. This year the focus is a combined approach of the Fibre Auxiliaries Division located in Lahnstein and the Textile Products Division in Mohsdorf. It is the aim of the two Zschimmer & Schwarz divisions to show that Zschimmer & Schwarz has a complete understanding of providing the whole textile and nonwoven value chain with an optimised combination of products, starting from the fibre and nonwoven feedstock to final textile fabric. Both divisions have developed in their specific field a strong expertise and experience that they would like to offer the business partners of Zschimmer & Schwarz.' The word 'again' in 'Zschimmer & Schwarz is again exhibiting' shows us that Zschimmer & Schwarz is a company with long-standing traditions in the textile industry. The rest of the text goes on to emphasize that both divisions of Zschimmer & Schwarz will be present, and it highlights the fact that the combined effort of these two divisions is what makes them special and operate so well. They want to frame themselves as a team, instead of having just one company working for them, the customers of Zschimmer & Schwarz get two. They even explicitly call themselves a team in the second paragraph: 'On the Techtextil 2009 Zschimmer & Schwarz Fires team will focus on the promotion of new spin finishes for the manufacturing of PET belts: FASAVIN TC 171 as well as of PET tire cord: FASAVIN TC 167.' This would all be considered normal, were it not for the fact that this press release was published only on the Zschimmer & Schwarz Mohsdorf website and not on the Zschimmer & Schwarz Lahnstein one. This results in an incoherent frame. They portray themselves as a team that does everything together, but it is clear that they do not. This was already made clear when we analysed the web texts about the company history and discovered that it contained information about Zschimmer & Schwarz that was inconsistent.8 The products are                                                                                                                 8  ZSL  talked  about  20  companies  in  15  countries,  while  ZSM  talked  about  22  companies  in  15   countries.     59   framed as of a very high quality, since people that have 'a strong experience and expertise in their field' have developed them. The customers are addressed as 'the business partners of Zschimmer & Schwarz' framing them this way. The text also announces the introduction of new products: 'On the Techtextil 2009 Zschimmer & Schwarz Fibres team will focus on the promotion of new spin finishes for the manufacturing of PET belts: FASAVIN TC 171 as well as of PET tire cord: FASAVIN TC 176.' 'In the staple fibre and nonwovens group Zschimmer & Schwarz has developed a new product for the spunlace process and with FDA approval which optimizes the production of PET based filter and wipes materials: LERTISAN SL 15. Another new product for nonwovens is the LERTISAN HD 102, (...)' 'Last but not least Zschimmer & Schwarz is also presenting a new product line called ECOLINE.' 'Two new biocides for the antimicrobial treatment are introduced, (...).' This press release is basically a long list of new and exciting products. This frames the company as innovative and its customers as people who are always on the lookout for the next best thing. This is peculiar since, contrary to a lot of other companies (which we will see next) Zschimmer & Schwarz does not publish separate press releases about the arrival of new products, which implies that they do not think that their customers want to know about these things. Zschimmer & Schwarz Lahnstein did not even publish this press release. This results in an incoherent frame for the Zschimmer & Schwarz customers. Both divisions are part of the same company, or as they like to call it, the same 'company team', yet they do not have the same opinion about their customers needs. Zschimmer & Schwarz Lahnstein framed their customers as people solely interested in the company's growth, while Zschimmer & Schwarz Mohsdorf frames them as also interested in their innovative new products. Not only does this result in an incoherent frame for their customers, it also emphasizes yet again the lack of teamwork between the two divisions. Numbers: Apart from in the product names, the only numbers we find are the ones in the following phrase: 'Both teams are looking forward to welcome you on our stand in Hall 3.0; Booth A27 and discuss how our products can help you achieve your goals.' It is not the numbers, but the phrase itself that frames the company as welcoming. The fact that they use 'both teams' and not 'the entire Zschimmer & Schwarz team', again emphasizes the fact that they are separate divisions. They view themselves separately, but want the customers to think they are a team. Messengers: The messenger is a neutral party that talks about the Zschimmer & Schwarz divisions but is not really a part of it. In light of the previous remarks regarding the company's team spirit (or lack thereof) the messenger can even be interpreted as a mediator. 'The German chemicals and auxiliaries producer Zschimmer & Schwarz is (...).' 'It is the aim of the two Zschimmer & Schwarz divisions to (...)'   60   'The fibre auxiliaries division is (...)' 'Zschimmer & Schwarz fibres team will (...)' The distant third person form is used everywhere apart from the last sentence: 'Both teams are looking forward to welcome you on our stand in Hall 3.0; Booth A27 and discuss how our products can help you achieve your goals.' For a company that introduces itself as 'family owned' we do not see a lot of family bonds here. The company is not talked about as being part of the family or as being a family itself. On the contrary, this text further confirms our suspicions that this company's divisions do not work together well as a team. The company is thus framed as fragmented, as opposed to unified, despite all of the company's efforts. Visuals: Contrary to all of the other Zschimmer & Schwarz press releases, this one does not contain the company logo, its name and its contact information. This makes us assume that Zschimmer & Schwarz Lahnstein, the parent company, wrote all of the other press releases. It shared all of its press releases with Zschimmer & Schwarz Mohsdorf. Zschimmer & Schwarz Mohsdorf, in its turn, did not. The fact that this press release, written on a different type of document, using a different type of lettering, containing a different type of subject, was only published on the Zschimmer & Schwarz Mohsdorf website, again frames the company's divisions as not working well together. Tone: The tone is very neutral and formal. They try to frame themselves as professionals, but their lack of knowledge of the English langue results in some very strange sentences, e.g. 'Both teams are looking forward to welcome you on our stand (...)' (Instead of 'looking forward to welcoming us to our stand') This does not frame them as professional. It frames them as unprofessional, presumptuous about their knowledge of English and inattentive to details. It indirectly frames their customers as people who do not speak English well enough to notice these types of mistakes, and as people who are not really bothered with details either. Since most of the press releases on the ZSM site are the same as the ones on the ZSL site, ZSM too is framed as a rapidly growing and immensely successful company, which does everything for its customers. The customers are framed as the reason for all of the changes the company makes, since all of them are done to improve the company's service to them. The products, which keep expanding in range, are portrayed as internationally coveted. But the additional press release we found here again further confirmed the suspicion that the Zschimmer & Schwarz family is not such a great team after all. 3.3 Process Control GmbH (PC) Process Control publishes four different types of press releases. These include: announcements about new staff members, reports about expos, announcements about new websites, and guest speakers. Context: All of the press releases have the same small segment of text at the bottom of the page that contains the context information.   61   'Established in 1967, PCC has an unending commitment to the design and engineering of advanced auxiliary machinery for the plastics processing industry. Our goal is to provide the most accurate equipment and exceptional customer service. We revolutionized processing with development of Automatic Scrap Recycling for in-line processing of film scrap and the first continuous gravimetric blending system. Process Control continues to lead the industry with advanced design and innovative solutions for the global marketplace.' This is then followed by their contact information as well as the name of their general manager and his personal email address. This frames Process Control the same way its web text did, as an innovative company that is dedicated to providing its customers with the best possible service. The use of words like 'advanced', 'revolutionized' and 'innovative' emphasizes the company's progressive nature. Though relatively young, 'Process Control continues to lead the industry', which implies that they have been doing so for a long time. The products are described and framed as 'top notch', while the customers are framed as progressive and innovative as well. This is implied by the fact that they are attracted by these types of products and were it not for them and their eagerness to try these new and revolutionary products, Process Control would never have had the chance to become so successful. Numbers: In the press releases concerning the announcements of new staff members, numbers indicate their years of experience, e.g. ' John has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the university of Missouri at Rolla and has been a senior member of the Extrusion Division of SPE for over 25 years.' Here numbers are used to reassure the customers that although the employee is new to the company, he/she is not new to the field. It reassures the customers and stresses the employees' expertise. This frames the products as produced by experts, while it frames the company as not only producing the best products but also hiring the best people. In the press releases containing reports of expositions, numbers are used to indicate the company's successes there. 'Overall, the conference generated over 300 leads for Process Control - well above average for companies of a similar size.' Here Process Control explicitly compares itself to other companies, after stating the number of leads so as to emphasize them even further. Since all of Process Control's competitors were also present at this exposé, doing so well here implies doing better than them. This simply frames the company as 'better than its competitors'. Messengers: In all of the press releases the messenger alternates freely between the 'our' and 'we'-form and the 'distant' forms, apart from in the expo reports, which only use the distant third person form. 'Process Control Corp. is pleased to announce a new addition to its sales team. John Braaf has signed on as our regional sales manager for the Western half of the United States.' 'The Process Control booth at the International Plastics Expo displayed strong results during its weeklong stay in Orlando, Florida. (...) Overall, the conference generated over 300 leads for Process Control - (...).'   62   'Process Control would like to announce the launch of its new website at www.process-control.com. (...) The website also features a profile of our company and management team and full listing of our sales representatives across the United States.' 'Dana Darley, the General Manager of Process Control Corporation, will be speaking at this year's Global Plastics Environmental Conference by the society of Plastics Engineers. (...) Join us for 'Plastics Recycling and Sustainability on my mind' at GPEC 2011 on October 17-19 (...)' Frame-wise this does exactly the same as it did in previous texts. The distant form implies a neutral messenger who is not really a part of Process Control, which makes him seem more objective, which allows the customers to assume that everything in the text is true. The 'our' and 'we'-forms imply that the messenger too is part of the Process Control team. It frames the company as a close-nit group of people and gives it a more human feel. The texts in which both of these forms are used, result in a combination of these two frames. Visuals: There are two types of visuals that are used in all of Process Control's press releases. The first one is the company logo, which frames the company as a legitimate professional company that wants to present itself as a unified group. The second type comprises the pictures that accompany the press release's text, e.g. the press releases announcing new company employees contain a picture of said employee, press releases containing reports of the exposés contain pictures of the company's booth at said exposé. The goal of this type of visual is to make the text more fun to read and to help the customers to visualise the things that are talked about in the text. This frames the company as helpful, animated and lively, while framing the customers as interested in every detail of the company's message. Tone: The overall tone of all of these press releases is rather formal, but because the pictures are added, it becomes less formal. This frames the company as a neutral messenger, adding credibility to the message that is conveyed. It also frames the company as very professional and dedicated to inform their customers the best way they can. The customers are framed as unappreciative of unnecessary ways to make the texts sound better. To them it seems there is no need for elaborate stories, they just want the information clear and simple, yet detailed and accurate. To sum up we can say that these press releases serve to show off Process Control's success. They keep hiring new people and do better than similar companies on expos. They do all of this in service to their customers, who are framed as wanting and deserving nothing but the best. Their customers know quality in products as well as in companies, which is why Process Control wants to show the customers that it is providing it for them. The products are embedded in a high quality frame, since they are manufactured by the best company that only hires the best employees.   63   3.4 Filtertechnik Europe (FTEU) Filtertechnik does not publish press releases. They rely on their sales representatives to keep the customers updated on new developments. Although their website offers a tool, which can be used to subscribe to the company newsletter, this tool does not work. After calling the company to inform them of my failed attempts to subscribe to their newsletter and to ask them to subscribe me themselves, they informed me that they do not publish a newsletter and that that tool was not supposed to be there. Although this explained to me why the tool was not working, it is highly doubtful that all of the people who have tried to subscribe to this company's newsletter have called to inform them about their failed attempts; this is implied by the fact that prior to my phone call, they were not even aware that the subscription tool was on their website. Apart from the fact that this tool must have often been a source of frustration to a lot of people, as they might not have been aware that the tool does not work and that that does not have anything to do with their personal Internet connection or computer, it does not frame the company as very professional. They informed me that even though they do not publish press releases at the moment, they are intending to do so in the future, but are at the moment nowhere near ready for it. This makes us wonder why it is that all of the other companies are able to do this, and they are not. The lack of press releases and the newsletter subscription tool that does not work frame the company as anything but professional. Their lack of effort put into informing their customers of new developments also frames them as unmotivated and lacking enthusiasm. If they were enthusiastic about their company's developments, they would want to share them with the world. 3.5 Hubron International Hubron International publishes four different kinds of press releases on its website to inform its customers. These press releases can be divided in: press releases announcing new subsidiaries, press releases announcing new partnerships, press releases announcing a new website launch and press releases informing the customers about their participation in upcoming exhibits. What is remarkable about these Hubron press releases is that they are the ones that look the most like actual press releases that are sent to newspapers. They have short newspaper headline-like titles, they are supposedly neutral but still try to frame the company in a positive way and they consist of four to five relatively short paragraphs. Context: The press releases announcing new subsidiaries contain context information about the subsidiary as well as a quick summary of what Hubron stands for, in case we might have forgotten, e.g. 'WTP was founded in 1994 by Granville Withaker who sadly passed away last year. It was established as a manufacturer of proprietary compounds for technically demanding applications in the automotive, electronics, telecommunications and aerospace industries. Traditionally WTP developed and supplied static dissipative and conductive compounds, but expanded its product portfolio into the growing market of natural and additive compounds.' 'The sales and marketing of the materials and services offered by WTP will be managed by Hubron (International), one of the worlds leading manufacturers of black masterbatch. Executives at Hubron (International) see the range and quality of products offered by WTP as an exciting addition to the company's existing product range.'   64   This frames WTP as a rapidly growing company, with a wide range of services and a vast amount of success. Hubron is described as a world leader in manufacturing black masterbatch. The fact that these two companies combine forces, frames them very positively. Hubron is framed as a company that is innovative and it attracts other companies that that too. The fact that they mention that Hubron executives are happy about this addition to their team reassures the Hubron customers. They trust the Hubron team, since they are already working with them, so even if this praising introduction of WTP was not enough, the Hubron company approval should do the trick. The customers are framed as fans of development. They are seen as people that love innovation and progressiveness in other companies, supposedly because they are like this themselves. This is made clear by the way Hubron has choses to go about the description of itself and its new subsidiary. The fact that it focuses on these things, while there are a lot of other things that could also have been said shows us that Hubron thinks these things will generate the most positive response from their customers. Both companies' success implies high quality products, which is how they are framed. The press releases announcing new partnerships also contain context information about Hubron as well as its new partner: 'From November 1, 2010, IMCD has been acting as the Nordic and French Distribution Partner for Hubron (International) Ltd. IMCD will market the products to the plastics industry in these two market areas. The move concentrates on strengthening Hubron's position in the Nordic and French markets and will focus on making Hubron's world-class range more easily available in small lots size through IMCD.' 'We are excited to be able to work with such a strong and technically focused business partner, say Stefan Hansson, Business Unit Manager Plastics at IMCD (...) Black masterbatch and conductive compounds fit very well in our product portfolio for the plastic industry, making us a more complete partner for the customers in the different key sectors.' The text frames Hubron as an internationally successful company still on the rise. Instead of Hubron announcing how happy it is with this partnership, like in the previous press release, here it is Hubron's new partner that shows its joy. Being honoured to work with Hubron must mean that Hubron is a very respected and excellent company, which results in this statement framing Hubron this way. The products are framed as being of high quality since they are already internationally appreciated and produced by 'such a strong and technically focused business partner'. The customers are explicitly framed as the company's partners, which induces positive feelings toward the company from these customers when they read that they are seen this way. The press release announcing the new company website provides us with the following information about Hubron: 'Hubron (International) Ltd, one of the leading black masterbatch and specialist conductive compound manufacturers in Europe, launched a brand new customerfocused website this month.' 'With over 75 years experience in compounding Hubron (International) currently exports over 85% of masterbatch production through a world-wide network of Distribution Partners. The new site will help them to communicate with existing and prospective customers. Their annual production capacity is 35,000 tones and they have   65   an extensive masterbatch range based upon a variety of carriers and suitable for a wide range of applications.' This again frames Hubron as an internationally successful company that has not stopped taking the time to optimize its client's service. We already knew Hubron was a big company9 , but this text goes on to describe exactly how big it is. It justifies Hubron calling itself one of the world leading black masterbatch producers, which frames them as credible and truthful. The customers are framed as important to the company, as the reason for some of their improvements. Being produced by 'one of the leading black masterbatch and specialist conductive compound manufacturers in Europe', the products are framed as the best there are. The press releases informing the customers about Hubron's participation to certain exhibits do not contain any context information about Hubron, they do however urge the customers to ask any questions they may have: 'Should you be interested in finding out more about the company, please contact our Business Manager, David Ansorena in advance to arrange a meeting at the show. We are expecting a significant number of visitors to our booth and would like to make ourselves available and welcome as many people as possible during the duration of the trade show. We look forward to welcoming you at the exhibition.' This frames Hubron as welcoming, accessible and wanting to take the time for each and every one of their customers without them having to wait around for their turn. Numbers: The only press release that uses numbers that contribute to a certain frame, is the one about the launch of the new website: 'With over 75 years experience in compounding Hubron (International) currently exports over 85% of masterbatch production through a world-wide network of Distribution Partners. The new site will help them to communicate with existing and prospective customers. Their annual production capacity is 35,000 tones and they have an extensive masterbatch range based upon a variety of carriers and suitable for a wide range of applications.' This frames the company as having long-standing traditions, a vast international client-base and a large capacity. It gives Hubron credibility and makes it attractive. Messengers: Like all other companies, Hubron too alternates between the first person forms and the more distant generic form, but it does so more systematically than the other companies. In the press releases announcing new subsidiaries we find e.g.: '(...) producer Hubron (International), has acquired Whitaker Technical Plastics (WTP), a manufacturer of highly specialised technical compounds.' 'Executives at Hubron (International) see the range and quality of products offered by WTP as an exciting addition to the company's existing product range.'                                                                                                                 9  See web tekst and brochures   66   In the press releases announcing a new partner we find e.g.: 'The move concentrates on strengthening Hubron's position in the Nordic and French markets and will focus on making Hubron's world-class range more easily available in small lots size through IMCD.' 'We are excited to be able to work with such a strong and technically focused business partner, say Stefan Hansson (...)Black masterbatch and conductive compounds fit very well in our product portfolio for the plastic industry, making us a more complete partner for the customers in the different key sectors.' In the press releases announcing the new website we find e.g. : 'Hubron (International) Ltd, one of the leading black masterbatch and specialist conductive compound manufacturers in Europe, launched a brand new customerfocused website this month.' 'Hubron (International) Ltd Managing Director Keith Simms says: "At Hubron we have always taken customer service seriously, talking and listening to our customers and taking their opinions on board. Over the last year we have conducted a research programme and the results have influenced the launch of a new website and its design and content".' In the press releases announcing Hubron's presence at an exhibition we find e.g.: 'Should you be interested in finding out more about the company, please contact our Business Manager, David Ansorena in advance to arrange a meeting at the show. We are expecting a significant number of visitors to our booth and would like to make ourselves available and welcome as many people as possible during the duration of the trade show. We look forward to welcoming you at the exhibition.' As we can see, the distant third person forms are used here to talk about the company as an entity that manufactures certain product and has many successes. When people are quoted and the emphasis is on the company's team members the first person forms are used. Here Hubron wants to portray itself as a group of team members instead of as an abstract entity. Framewise this alternation between messenger perspectives (as part of the company team or not) does exactly the same thing as they did in previous texts. The distant third person forms highlight the messenger's objectivity, portraying the text as 'true', while the first person forms frame the company as a team. The first person forms also put the company team members on the same level as the customers, because they too are just people. It indirectly frames the customers as their peers. Tone: The tone is again very neutral and formal, framing the company as professional. One thing that was rather remarkable was the fact that when talking about WTP, they said: 'WTP was founded in 1994 by Granville Whitaker who sadly passed away last year.' It frames them as a company that cares about more than just making a profit. In the otherwise neutral text the word 'sadly' really stood out from the rest, as it was the only adjective expressing any type of personal emotion. This again emphasizes the humane aspect of the company.   67   In short we can say that Hubron is portrayed as a world leader in its field, whose customers are so important to it that it will do anything to save them time and serve them as best as they can, while providing them with the best products. 3.6 Comparison A lot of companies use press releases as a simple way to reach a large audience with news about their company, and with these company's that's exactly the same. A possible difference, though, might be that these five textile companies use them merely sporadically, and sometimes do not make use of them at all. They trust that the information they wish to send out will reach their customers through other routes as well, such as via their sales representatives. This brings forth that only the most important information is announced through press releases. In general these press releases are used to frame these companies as thriving, they list all of the companies' recent successes and maintains the frames that were already established in the web texts and the brochures, which is why we will not repeat them. The press releases in particular, frame the companies as ever evolving and growing in success, but do so in a way that also accentuates the company's altruistic reasons for it, namely to benefit the customers. The customers are framed as the motivational reasons for these companies to keep improving themselves. They are their source of inspiration, which attaches a lot of value to them. The products are again framed as being held to the highest standards.   68   GENERAL CONCLUSION This paper has investigated the way in which five companies, namely Zschimmer & Schwarz Lahnstein, Zschimmer & Schwarz Mohsdorf, Process Control, Filtertecknik Europe and Hubron International, frame themselves, their products and their clients in their webtexts, borchures and press releases. Our analysis has shown that these companies construct similar frames for themselves, their clients and their products and do so by using similar techniques. In general these companies use the context information they use in all three text types (webtexts, brochures, press releases) to gain the clients' trust in their abilities as well as in their products. The companies either use the context information to highlight their longstanding traditions, or to emphasize their innovative nature. The companies that have been around for a long time use this to their advantage. As they have been around for a long time, they were able to gain a lot of experience and expertise. They inform the clients about their international client base, while emphasizing their staff's expertise. All of this printed alongside the companies' logos and contact information results in a professional frame. The companies present themselves as legitimate, accessible and reliable companies and some of them even highlight some of their specific qualities, such as their care for the environment (ZSL, ZSM). The companies that are relatively new use this to their advantage as well. They frame themselves as innovators that are still up to date on the latest of technology. This information also provides us with a frame for the companies' products. As these internationally renowned companies, which present themselves as teams of experts, manufacture these products the products are given a 'high quality' frame. The clients in their turn are framed indirectly as well. Being that the companies have chosen to share this specific information with their customers, it is implied that this is the information that the clients need. The clients want to be assured that the products they buy are of a high quality and that they are manufactured by an internationally respected expert company. The customers are thus framed as wanting and expecting nothing but the best. The numbers that are used in these texts are used to specify the companies' exact size and number of subsidiaries, but are mostly there to indicate the results of tests that have been performed on the products. These numbers, presented in tables, frame the companies as very scientifically grounded. The products are framed as high quality, this because they have been dissected completely, which would make it hard to hide any negative aspects of them. The fact that there are no additional sales pitches added to these results implies that these numbers are presumed to speak for themselves. The customers are framed as specialists, because they are presumed to be able to interpret all of these numbers without any additional information, seeing that none is given. Throughout the texts the companies generally use two different forms to refer to themselves. Often an 'our' or 'we'-form is used to present the company as a team of experts. They address the customers as their peers and at times even explicitly refer to the customers as their partners, framing them this way. A more distant form is used to present the text as written by an objective messenger. This results in the customers' assumption that the information presented is true. The companies also provide their clients with visuals. Generally these consist of pictures of the companies. The companies are always shown on a sunny day surrounded by nature. This frames them as well as their products as not harmful to the environment, because not even the companies' immediate surroundings are affected by them. The companies also often provide us with pictures of their state of the art equipment to enhance their professional frame. When the companies show us pictures of their employees, they familiarise the customers with them frames them as the customer's peer, since they are people just like them. These pictures are accompanied by detailed descriptions of the employees' degrees and years of expertise. This again frames the companies as very professional and specialist, while at the same time justifying the products' high quality frame. The tone in all of these texts is rather neutral, framing the companies as sincere.   69   Before we conclude we must remark that almost none of the companies use simplifying models and metaphors, which often go together with framing. We must also note that there were times that the frames the companies wanted to create were incoherent. This occurred when they used imperfect English to portray themselves as professional and respectable, which resulted the frames to be slightly damaged without damaging the overall image of the company too much. It showed a lack of attention to detail and the companies' overestimate of their knowledge of the English language. Further research is needed to show if other textile companies frame themselves, their products and their clients in the same way, using the same techniques.   70   BIBLIOGRAPHY Bales, S.N. (2002). Framing public issues. Frameworks Institute. Bednarek, M. (2005). Frames revisted: the coherence-inducing function of frames. Journal of Pragmatics, 37(5), 685-705 Berelson, B. en Steineir, A. (1964). Human behavior: an inventionary of scientific findings. New York: Brace &World. Chafe, W. (1977). Creativity in verbalization and its implications for the nature of stored knowledge. Discource Production and Comprehension. 41-55. Norwood NJ, Ablex. Cohen, J., & Davis, R. G. (1991). Third-person effects and the differential impact on negative political advertising. Journalism Quarterly, 68, 680-688. Cohen, J., Mutz, D., Price, V.,&Gunther, A. (1988). Perceived impact of defamation: An experiment on third-person effects. Public Opinion Quarterly, 52, 161-173. De Boer, C. & Brennecke, S. (2003). Media en publiek: Theorieën over media-impact. Boom. Entman, R.M. (1993). Framing: toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. The journal of Communication, 43(4), 51-58. Fairhurst, G., Sar, R. (1996). The art of Framing. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Fillmore, C. (1982). Frame semantics. Linguistics in the Morning Calm. Seoul, Hanshin Publishing Co., 111-137. Fillmore, C. (2003). Form and meaning in language. CSLI Publications. Gamson, W. A., Lasch, K.E. (1983). The Political Culture of Social Welfare Policy.In Evaluating the Welfare State. New York: Academic Press, 397-415. Goleman, D. (1999). Emotionele intelligentie. Olympus. Gunther, A. C. (1991). What we think others think: Cause and consequence in the thirdperson effect. Communication Research, 18, 355-372. Gunther, A. C., & Mundy, P. (1993). Biased optimism and the third-person effect. Journalism Quarterly, 70, 58-67. Gunther, A. C., Thorson, E. (1992). Perceived persuasive effects of product commercials and public service announcements: Third-person effects in new domains. Communication Research, 19, 574-596. Konerding, K-P. (1993), Frames und lexikalisches Bedeutungswissen. Untersuchungen zur linguistischen Grundlegung einer Frametheorie und zu ihrer Anwendung in der Lexikographie. Tübingen, Max Niemeyer Verlag.   71   Lazarsfeld, P.F., Berelson, B. Gaudet, H. (1944). The People's Choice. Columbia University Press. McCombs, M. and J.-H. Zhu (1995).Capacity, Diversity, and Volatility of the Public Agenda: Trends from 1954 to 1994. Public Opinion Quarterly 59: 495-524. McQuail, D. (2002). The influence and effects of mass media. Mass Communication and Society, 70-93. Minsky, M. (1982). A Framework for Representing Knowledge. The Psychology of Computer Vision, 211-277, New York, McGraw-Hill. Minsky, M. (1977). Frame theory. Thinking: Reasings in Cognitive Science, 355-376. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Price, V., & Tewksbury, D. (1996). Measuring the third-person effect of news: The impact of question order, contrast and knowledge. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 8, 120-141. Price, V., Tewksbury, D., & Huang, L. N. (1998). Third-person effects on publication of a Holocaust-denial advertisement. Journal of Communication, 48, 3-26. Raskin, V. (1985). Semantic Mechanisms of Humor. Dordrecht, D. Reidel. Shaw, D., McCombs M. (1977). The emergence of American political issues: agenda setting function of the press, ST Paul, MN, West. Shanon, B. (1981) What is in the frame?--Linguistic indicators. Journal of Pragmatics, 5, 3544, 1981. Stappers, J.(1983). Wetenschap als gemeengoed; een studie van wetenschapsvoorlichting in Nederland. Den Haag, SDU. Tversky, A., Kahneman, D, (1981) The Framing of Decisions and the Psychology of Choice. Science 211: 453-458. Ungerer, F., Schmid, H-J. (1996) An introduction to cognitive linguistics. Pearson Education. Van Gorp, B. (2006). Framing en het interpreteren van nieuws, een experimenteel onderzoek naar de effecten van frames. PSW-paper 2004/6. Zey, M. (1998). Rational choice theory and organizational theory : a critique. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Websites http://www.vanseodesign.com/web-design/framing-expectation-exposure-effect/ www.vervendeconinck.be/tekst/betekenis_kleur.pdf   72   SAMENVATTING De manier waarop een bedrijf zichzelf, zijn klanten en zijn producten framet is sterk afhankelijk van zowel het doel van de tekst als het soort tekst. Vaak zijn er nog andere factoren, zoals het publiek voor wie deze tekst bestemd is, ook van invloed. De vraag die hier bij gesteld kan worden is op welke manier dit van elkaar verschilt en op welke manier dit in zijn werk gaat. In het algemeen wordt framing beschreven als een overtuigingstechniek in de communicatie. Deze techniek bestaat uit het kiezen van woorden en beelden, met als doel bepaalde aspecten, die in de tekst beschreven worden, te benadrukken. Dit niet alleen om de positieve kanten van iets naar voor te laten komen, maar ook vaak om doelbewust een bepaald gevoel te creëren dat vanaf dan voor de lezer van de tekst, met het geframede samengaat. Een emotionele connotatie als het ware. Er wordt dus een kader gecreëerd, waarin de boodschappen begrepen moeten worden, door het benadrukken van de aspecten die men het liefste wil overbrengen, en het afvlakken van de dingen die voor de schrijver het liefst onopgemerkt moeten blijven. Deze paper bevat een analyse van hoe vijf textielbedrijven zichzelf, hun klanten en hun producten framen in hun webteksten, brochures en persberichten. Deze bedrijven waren: Zschimmer & Schwarz Lahnstein, Zschimmer & Schwarz Mohsdorf, Process Control, Filtertechnik Europe en Hubron International. In deze analyse werd vooral gekeken naar de zeven elementen van Bales (2002,60), namelijk; de contextinformatie, de cijfergegevens, de boodschapper van de tekst, de visuele representaties, de metaforen en simplificerende modellen en de toon van de boodschap. Dit zijn de elementen die volgens Bales de belangrijkste zijn voor het creëren van een frame. Vervolgens werd de analyse op specifieke plaatsen aangevuld door andere elementen, die op deze plaatsen het frame beïnvloedden. In het algemeen toonde onze analyse aan dat de bedrijven gelijkaardige frames creëerden voor zowel zichzelf als hun klanten en hun producten, en dat ze dit deden op een gelijkaardige manier. De bedrijven gebruikten de contextinformatie die ze gaven over hun bedrijf als een manier om zichzelf als professioneel te framen. De bedrijven die al lang bestonden gebruikte hun lange bestaan om zich te legitimeren, ze hadden immers al veel ervaring kunnen opdoen en waren erin geslaagd om na al die jaren nog steeds te blijven bestaan. De bedrijven die relatief jong waren, benadrukten hun innovatief karakter en frameden zichzelf als 'bekend met de nieuwste technologie'. De bedrijven versterkten hun professioneel frame ook door het vermelden van hun internationale bekendheid en gespecialiseerde, hoog opgeleide werknemers. De producten werden hierdoor op hun beurt geframed als van hoge kwaliteit, aangezien ze internationaal in trek waren en geproduceerd werden door deze specialisten. Indirect werden de klanten hierdoor geframed als kenners, die niet anders dan het beste verdienden. De cijfergegevens, gepresenteerd in tabellen, benadrukten vooral het wetenschappelijk karakter van de bedrijven, waardoor hun professionalisme nogmaals werd benadrukt. In plaats van persuasieve reclameboodschappen, gebruikten de bedrijven de testresultaten van hun producten om deze aan te prijzen. De producten kregen ook hierdoor een hoog kwaliteitsframe, want er werd namelijk geïmpliceerd dat ze geen verkooppraatje nodig hadden, maar dat de resultaten op zich al aantrekkelijk genoeg waren. De klanten werden hierdoor geframed als wetenschappelijk onderlegd, aangezien ze geen additionele informatie nodige hadden om al deze cijfergegevens te kunnen interpreteren. In de teksten werd er afgewisseld tussen twee verschillende vertelperspectieven. In de eerste plaats werd er vaak gebruik gemaakt van een 'ons' of 'wij-vorm, waarbij de verteller van de tekst deel uitmaakte van het bedrijf. Dit deed men om het bedrijf te framen als een team en de klanten te framen als het teams gelijke. In de andere instanties gebruikte men een neutrale vorm ('het bedrijf' ipv. 'ons bedrijf') om een zeker afstand tussen de verteller en de boodschap te creëren. Hierdoor werd de inhoud van de tekst gemakkelijker als 'waar' aangenomen,   73   aangezien hij door een objectieve instantie verteld werd. De bedrijven gebruikten vooral visuele representaties om de binnen- en buitenkant van hun gebouwen af te beelden, en wel om twee redenen. Om te beginnen werden alle gebouwen omgeven door natuur. Dit framede de bedrijven als onschadelijk voor het milieu, aangezien zelfs de onmiddellijke omgeving van hun fabrieken niet onder hun aanwezigheid leed. Bovendien toonde de foto's ons alle wetenschappelijke en technische apparatuur van het bedrijf, wat hun professioneel frame nogmaals bevestigde. Bepaalde bedrijven gaven ook foto's van hun werknemers vrij, vergezeld door een korte biografie die heel hun universitaire en professionele carrière bevatte. Hierdoor bewezen de bedrijven dat hun werknemers daadwerkelijk specialisten zijn, wat hen nogmaals als professioneel framede en waardoor het hoge kwaliteitsframe van de producten bevestigd werd. Alle teksten werden opgesteld in een neutrale toon, die de oprechtheid van de bedrijven ten goede kwam. Opvallend was dat bijna geen enkel bedrijf gebruik maakte van metaforen en simplificerende modellen, die in het algemeen vaak gepaard gaan met framen. We konden ook besluiten dat sommige bedrijven een incoherent frame creëerden, doordat het Engels wat ze gebruikten fouten bevatte. Dit beïnvloedde hun professioneel frame op een negatieve manier, maar niet in voldoende mate om het gehele image van het bedrijf te schaden. Verder onderzoek zal moeten uitwijzen of andere textielbedrijven de framing van hun bedrijf, hun klanten en hun producten aanpakken op dezelfde manier.   74   BIOGRAFIE Op 14 november 1988 werd in het Oost-Limburgse ziekenhuis in Genk Katrien Borkelmans geboren. Als klein meisje begon ze haar schoolcarrière in Maaseik, gevolgd door een opleiding Latijn-Wetenschappen in het Koninklijk Atheneum van Maaseik. Ondanks haar wetenschappelijk opleiding, werd haar interesse in talen gewekt. Toen Katrien in 2006 haar diploma behaalde, koos ze er voor om Taal- en Letterkunde te gaan studeren aan de Katholieke Universiteit van Leuven. Op aanraden van haar leerkrachten in het middelbaar onderwijs koos ze voor de module Engels-Nederlands, die ze in het derde bachelor jaar aanvulde met een specialisatiemodule literatuurwetenschap. Toen ze in 2011 haar bachelorsdiploma Taal - en Letterkunde Nederlands- Engels behaalde koos ze voor de Master Bedrijfscommunicatie en dit omdat ze meende dat dit haar meer kansen op de arbeidsmarkt zou bezorgen. Tijdens deze master liep Katrien gedurende 30 dagen stage op de persdienst van Belgacom, waar ze de kennis die ze opgestoken had tijdens haar beide opleidingen kon benutten. Omdat Katrien van plan was om haar intrede te doen in het bedrijf van haar vader, koos ze ervoor om haar masterproef te doen over enkelen van de bedrijven die haar vader vertegenwoordigt en dit met het oog op een eerste kennismaking in de wereld die binnenkort een groot deel van haar leven zou uitmaken.   75