Tesco Coupon Analysis

Above is the back of a Tesco Clubcard coupon, which displays the terms and conditions for users when using a Tesco Clubcard. The purpose of the text is to prevent liability and protect Tesco from customer complaints etc. In the text is lots of legal jargon, meaning that all the information on the coupon is clear and unambiguous in order to avoid any confusion with customers.

At the top of the coupon you can see the Tesco logo repeated three times. By putting their well-known logo at the top of the coupon Tesco is showing their authority and by repeating the logo they make it clear that it is a Tesco coupon, as it is one of the first things people see when they look at it. The coupon also uses a lot of modal verbs, such as 'are, shall and will not'. These modal verbs make the text assertive and factual, so that the customer knows exactly what they can and can't do with the coupons. There are also orders in the text such as 'Hand this coupon', and 'See online', which are very precise and make sure that the reader knows exactly what to do. There are also words representing exclusion and restraint in the text, such as 'only', which shows Tesco's power and authority over the customers.

Lastly, the presentation of the text also contributes to how the coupon is read. For example, the information in the text is bullet-pointed but in a paragraph, which means that it takes up less space, and so Tesco have protected themselves from customer complaints without having to spend lots of money on printing. But presenting the information in this way also means that people are less likely to read it because information displayed in this way seems like a lot more to read than if it was set out in a normal bullet-pointed list.