Ludic pitch: what can we learn from the pitchers of Shark Tank in wordplaying on brands and product lexicons to generate laughter from the sharks?

Abstract

Pitches of Shark Tank, an award-winning American investment reality show, offer the viewers a unique way of pitching their brands and products. We call it a ludic pitch. To indicate that this unique pitch requires a neologism, we employed the theories of market pitching discourse by Sherry, brand name’s association by Meyers-Levi, self-reference by Bartlett, language play by Crystal, and mnemonology by Whorten and Hunt. We argue that this type of pitching is in need of neologism since this pitch has distinctive features compared to the general pitch. A ludic pitch emphasizes wordplaying on brand and product lexicons through visual-medial aids and theatrical acts to generate laughter from the catchers or sharks and to lighten the mood of the pitch. The pitchers exercise a ludic pitch through intra-referential, inter-referential, and extra-referential fashions. The first focuses on brand and product lexicon wordplays through deriving possible meronymous forms of the brand or product lexicons. The second emphasizes synonymity of a wordplay on the pitched brand and product lexicons. The third highlights the use of seemingly unrelated and irrelevant intertextual references to wordplay on the brand and product lexicons. This study might be employed as a theoretical basis to encourage a further examination over the ludic pitch on other pitching programs or non-televised pitches.