ABSTRACT
One of the obvious things about talk is that everyone most of the time use language for the purpose of what Irving Goffman has called ‘impression management.’ In this chapter, the author intends to follow the consequences of Goffman’s and Victor Turner’s ideas about social and cultural performances (and performances about performances about performances), in the light of two competitive presentations in which Asatsu found itself: one, its successful pitch for the international account of Frontier; the other its failure to retain the prestigious PKW automobile account. It will be clear from the analysis of a particular social drama that emerged in Asatsu because of a sudden call for it to compete for the PKW account that all sorts of people in the world of business participate daily in different kinds of impression management, and that ultimately it is corporations that try to impress other corporations to enable business deals to go through and profits to be made.
