The language of advertising is characterized by a great variety; this is because it is, or should be, understood by most consumers.
Inevitably, advertisements designed for a visual medium like television or the cinema screen will be dominated by images, and usually these will be more important than any accompanying spoken or written words. However, prosodic features like intonation, pace and rhythm will influence the viewer, and the use of a written slogan can make the product more memorable. In print forms like newspapers and magazines, advertisements rely on combination of copy and image, it is the balance of the two that is important. Because print is not transient, as an image on the screen is, it can be reconsidered: the written language accompanying the image can therefore be more extensive.
Advertisements for different media use different techniques, but a number of features are common to both spoken and written examples. First, it is always important to establish:
- The advertiser: logo, slogan, brand name, distinctive colour or image
- The target audience: age, gender, social status
- The function of the advertisement or its message: for example ‘buy this’, ‘give generously’, ‘join us’ and so on
- The selling techniques:
§ A product-based approach praises the features of a product or service, hoping to win customers on the strength of the product or service itself
§ An audience-based approach tries to convince the target audience that they need a particular product or service: by concentrating on practical needs like saving time, or psychological needs like the desire to look better or younger, advertisers try to persuade consumers that their lives will be better if they use a certain product or service
§ An impact-based approach aims to attract attention linguistically or visually.
By focusing on the language and images, it is possible to analyse the way in which the advertisement is intended to influence its target audience.
Desing
Often the first thing to influence a viewer or reader will be the overall design of an advertisement. Juxtapositions of slogan, image, copy and logo contribute to the overall effect. They all work together to create a certain view of a particular product or service.
The images will also attract the attention of the intended audience: they are a form of non-verbal communication. The people, the settings, the props (objects used in a particular context to create a sense of reality) and the product itself together make up the image. Each element can work in both a literal and a symbolic way. In an advertisement for perfume, for instance, the clothes worn by the actors, the kind of background used, and props like a diamond necklace and a waiting Rolls Royce car, would together symbolise that this perfume is associated with wealth, luxury and status. A reader or viewer would automatically recognise the implicit meaning of the non-verbal signals and would therefore make certain assumptions about the perfume.
Stereotypes
Advertisers use cultural stereotypes in their images so that they can be sure that their target audience will associate good thing with a product or service. Women are invariably beautiful; children are angelic; men are strong and rugged; and young people are up to date with current trends. Props help to create these stereotypes –grasses symbolise cleverness; books symbolise education; beer has connotations of masculinity; and so on. By breaking down the codes that are used in the images, it is possible to learn something about the advertisers’ intentions even before reading copy.
Language and tone
The language of advertising is quite often associated with the language of everyday conversation: the tone is often informal and chatty, and colloquial expressions are common. Verbal contractions like we’ve and you’ll are easily recognisable features of informal spoken language that would be inappropriate in a more formal variety. Advertising language is distinct from conversation, however, and other linguistic features make this field a variety in its own right.
Slogans
A slogan is crucial if an advertising campaign is to succeed, because it is the slogan that will stick in people’s minds. The structures varies, and may use a noun phrase, a simple sentence or
a complex sentence. Advertisers can use puns, disrupt collocations, or work on our emotions, but whatever approach a particular campaign uses, the slogan is always made eye-catching.
Lexical choice
Lexical choices is crucial to the effect an advertisement will have since it help to create a relationship with the audience. The copy of an advertisement can have two functions: modifiers can be used to emphasise the positive attributes of a product in order to persuade a consumer to buy it (conative function); or the written text can provide technical facts about the product to inform the consumer, of size, power, range of features, price and so on (referential function)
The language of advertising can also influence the contemporary word stock. During the period of a campaign, slogans and phrases may become part of everyday usage.
- Colloquial expressions can now be heard in everyday conversation, such as freebies, bangers and mash, c’mon.
- Adjective phrases can become catchphrases, as with the phrase naughty but nice (originally used in a campaign promoting real cream), which suggests that something is pleasant even if not really a good thing to do.
- Sentences can use distinctive patterns that are memorable. The advertisement for a new product, for instance, may draw on earlier advertisements while introducing a new angle. The marketing of a dark Kit-Kat chocolate bar in October 2006 retained a link to the traditional slogan have a Break, Have a Kit-Kat, but drew on the connotations of additional words to make the new product seem desirable:
o BREAK into your DARKER SIDE
The imperative dynamic prepositional verb is an explicit semantic link to earlier advertising, but the noun phrase introduces the new angle. As well as an explicit reference to the dark chocolate, its connotation of evil (and perhaps the suggestion of Star Wars’ dark side) suggest that this new version of an old product is dangerously liberating. The comparative form of the adjective prevents it being an outright threat –that is ‘danger’ and ‘evil’, but both within a safely controlled environment!
Because advertising language changes so fast, however, coined words and phrases soon become stale and are then replaced with new expressions.
Modifiers are a distinctive feature of advertising language because of their power in attracting attention. By using them in strings, advertisers can arouse emotions, stimulate desires, and so on. Because they allow advertisers to evoke the kind of image they want to associate with a particular product or service, modifiers are described as TRIGGER WORDS. Some, like big, long or double, indicate physical qualities that can to some extent be proved; others, like wonderful, elegant or incredible, are intangible and so cannot be measured. Advertisers often use these quality words precisely because they are vague. The most common adjectives are good, better, best, free, special, great, real, new and big, all of which create a positive image without really telling the consumer anything about the product or service.
Other modifiers relate directly to price: the verb reduced, the adjective cheap, and the noun bargain can all modify the noun prices. Compound phrases can be used to suggest that products have special features.
Because each new campaign must attract attention, advertising language is often innovative. Advertisers coin new worlds (neologism) to make a brand more memorable:
Ex. The Shoob – fashion’s latest craze! (ankle boot – hybrid of shoe+boot)
Ex. Incredibubble! (advertising the penguins a Bristol Zoo)
New word are also coined by using the brand name of an item as the basis for a word. Often non-standard spelling will be used to attract attention:
Ex. Zurich Insurance…Because change happenZ!
Each lexical choice must make a particular product or service more memorable because space in print advertisements and time for television advertisements cost money. The lexis must therefore convey the essential points in a concise and dramatic way. This make the language of advertising almost like a shorthand code- every word included has a specific function.
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