Attitude in Manifestos

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the fundamental manifestos articulated on the 15 websites of wine, perfume and chocolate and employs the Appraisal system’s Attitude categories of Affect, Judgement and Appreciation to make visible how the texts project the addressees. The imagined addressees are construed as associating strong feelings of happiness with the products. They find several of the traditional luxury values important but also embrace alternative values. They are construed as consumers who strive towards enhanced knowledge about wine, perfume or chocolate with the goal to develop from novice to connoisseur and from an insecure to a confident consumer. They want to enjoy luxury as part of their everyday lives, including reading about the products on the websites and being amused by the online reviewer discourse.