The Peculiarities of Advertising Language

General overlook of definition of advertising language. New agencies such as newspapers, radio, television. Features of the using linguistic devices in advertising texts with functional expressive features, stylistic devices and stylistic features.

Рубрика Иностранные языки и языкознание
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Язык английский
Дата добавления 15.04.2011
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Persuasion is the changing of attitudes by presenting information about another attitude. This information is then processed one of two ways: centrally or peripherally. If it is processed centrally the attitude change is more likely to have permanence. If the information is processed peripherally it will be more susceptible to later change.

The Elaboration Likelihood Model is a theory that states that there are two routes to persuasion. These two routes may alter a person's belief structure based on the cognitive processes that occur at the time of persuasion. The two routes are defined as the central and peripheral routes. The central route is an active and conscious process in the determination of the merit of a persuasive argument. During the cognitive processing in the central route, people make favourable and unfavourable thoughts in response to the advocated position. The outcome of this favourable and unfavourable thought processing will determine whether the position that has been advocated holds any merit. The other route, the peripheral route, has to do with the fact people can not exercise careful and effortful analization of every message that they come upon. There simply are too many messages in the environment for there to be a central processing route. There are many variables which affect the likelihood of thinking about the merits of a message and thus the route to persuasion. These variables affect a person's motivation to think about issue-relevant information and the ability to do the cognitive processing. While, other variables affecting motivation are part of the person and the situation. Some variables affect the direction of thinking (favourable vs. unfavourable) and others affect the overall amount of thinking a person does.

One commonly used technique of persuasion is that of authority. Everyone has seen ads where "2 out 3 doctors recommend..." This is based on the idea that people will respect the opinions of someone who is assumed to have a lot of knowledge about the product. People feel better knowing that someone with authority has recommended what they are about to buy. Of course, the authority person has to have expert knowledge in that particular field. Would you buy a certain toothpaste because a car salesman recommended it?

First and foremost an advertisement has to catch your attention. One way in which it does this is by appealing to your emotions. It can arouse feelings of fear, love, pleasure, or vanity. Scarcity is the fear that you may miss an opportunity to purchase a product. "One day sales" and phrases such as, "For a limited time only" or "Limited supply" are common uses of this technique. Health advertisements often utilize fear to get the audiences' attention. Once this is accomplished they hope to "scare" the audience enough to produce an attitude change, be it buying their product, changing your lifestyle, etc. Beer and cigarette advertisements appeal to peoples' desires for fun and pleasure. The people in these ads are portrayed as having a good time, leading to the belief that if you purchase these products you too will have a good time. Many advertisements employ more than one technique in attempting to persuade the audience. Plastic surgery ads are a perfect example. They attempt to persuade by appealing to peoples' vanity/egotism by exposing their fear of aging.

7.1 Advertising: Appealing to Fun and Pleasure

The main goal of the persuasion in advertising is to change/strengthen one's attitude toward a certain product or service. An attitude refers to the general evaluations that people may hold of themselves, others, objects, and issues. Many advertisers of beer, cigarettes, and vacation products and leisure services use the products appeal to a person's desire for fun and pleasure. There are many examples of advertisements that use this sort of appeal. One such campaign is the recent "Joe Camel" series of ads. Another by the cigarette company Newport has had a successful long running campaign called "Alive with Pleasure." The pictures in these ads depict young men and women as horsing around and having fun (Supplement 1, fig.1, p.64). This ad uses the peripheral route to persuasion in that it tries to avoid the active and conscious cognitive process of the central route. The advertisers focus on the peripheral route so that their audience, the consumers, will overlook the real task of the ad- to sell cigarettes. The advertisers would like the consumer to associate the fun that the characters are experiencing with Newport cigarettes. Peripheral route processing ignores the facts of cigarette smoking which would be more noticeable during central route processing. Many people fail to realize that there aren't any cigarettes in the ads even though these ads are cigarette ads. Since the emphasis is taken away from the cigarette itself, peripheral route thinking would fail to recognize the dangers of smoking, especially cancer. Instead, the ads try to induce the consumer to identify or attribute the people having fun with Newport cigarettes.

The self perception theory can explain this phenomenon. The self perception theory reasons that people assume that the behaviour of other people and the context in which it occurs provides information about the presumed attitudes of the people. So, according to the self perception theory a consumer would identify the behavior of smoking Newports as being indicative of people with fun loving attitudes. The problem that advertisers need to overcome with using the peripheral route is the strength of the attitude change via the peripheral route. According to recent studies, attitudes formed are more resistant to change when it involves issue relevant thinking (active and conscious thinking) which involves the central route. What can advertisers do to combat weak attitude strength when using the peripheral route? One method is to continually pair the message cues (i.e. Alive with Pleasure) with the product (Newport cigarettes). The Newport ads are consistent in pairing their slogan "Alive with Pleasure" with the scene of men and women having fun. Advertisers may also take advantage of the effect of recency and frequency of viewing ads. A person is more likely to relate to a product or advertisement that they have just experienced because it is still fresh in their memory. Mere exposure explains the effect that exposing consumers to the product several times will increase the liking of that product. This explains why commercials run for an extended length of time until a new advertisement is used.

Many particular products and advertisements can be analyzed and explained via the peripheral route of cognitive processing using the attitude strengtheners of frequency and recency. Ads for alcohol, cigarettes, and vacation products and services are the most commonly found ads using this type of persuasion strategy. Advertisers who are unable to use the appeal to fun and pleasure may use other appeals with different advertising strategies. Other appeals may be an appeal to health and fear or the advertisers may appeal to a person's need to be unique or vain.

7.2 Advertising: Appealing to Vanities and Egos

Advertisements that appeal to peoples' vanities or egos are typically used with expensive or conspicuous items such as jewelry (Supplement 1, fig.2, p.64). These are high profile items that people sometimes buy to make themselves feel important or better. It's almost as if the product is part of that person's identity or at least they strongly identify with the product. Producers of these items also know this and it is the reason why they will display their logos or brand names in conspicuous places on their products. For example, Chanel purses with the double C logo (Supplement 1, fig.3, p.64) or Ralph Lauren shirts have the Polo horse on the left breast.

Advertisers will try to create a certain image that a consumer with a particular personality can identify with. For example, BMW cars are yuppie and TAG Heuer watches are for someone reckless and daring, yet refined. All the consumer has to do to become like the portrayed image is purchase the product. By purchasing the “right stuff”, we (the consumer) enhance our own egos and rationalize away our inadequacies.

Arguments in advertising to people's egos need not be strong if the advertisement puts the consumer in a good mood. They will want to identify with the product and may already have preexisting ideas and beliefs. When people are in a good mood they can not concentrate very well, central processing declines, and therefore will not be able to distinguish between a strong argument and a weak one. Therefore, ads for luxury items seldom contain convincing information to purchase the product or will try to highlight the product itself, distracting from the text in the ad. Just the image that the product evokes is generally enough to convince the consumer.

Another obvious market to people's vanity is that of plastic surgery. Many plastic surgeons try to lure customers with the hope of looking younger into their office. There seems to be a fear of aging that is becoming more pervasive in society today. It is seen as disadvantage to look older in some professions.

This also leads to how important appearance is in our society. There are also many people who go to surgeons for breast implants, tummy tucks, nose jobs, and other "reconstructive" surgeries. It is, in part, because of advertising that people have this surgery. Advertising in media can give us an "ideal" image of what people are supposed to look like. When people look in the mirror and they do not fit that image then they go to doctors who help them attain that look. We need to realize that it is not possible for everyone to look like the models in these advertisements. They represent a very small fraction of the population. Instead, what needs to happen is for the people who make the advertisements to use average, everyday person. This would lead to less concern over appearance and possibly higher self-esteems for those who feel self-conscious of their appearance.

7.3 Advertising and hypnosis

We often enter a hypnotic trance while watching a movie or TV. Advertising executives know the value of communicating with viewers in this condition and often try to give suggestions to our subconscious by linking their products to messages that appear to be quite different than what the commercial mainly seems to be saying. For example, beer commercials often say very little about the quality, taste, or cost of their products. Instead, they show a group of very attractive young people having fun, laughing, and bonding with each other, along with images of the label, logo, and packaging colors. Through the effective use of indirect suggestion, the message the beer companies are sending to the subconscious is simply this: if you want to look good, stay young, and have a great time with good friends, drink our brand of beer.

While viewers are in a hypnotic state, their critical-thinking ability is suspended and their critical-thinking conscious mind does not evaluate the messages. They may believe they are not paying attention to the ad or that it has no real effect on them. They may not even remember the brand name; however, the next time they are in the store and about to buy beer, they find they are attracted to the same brand and packaging shown in a commercial and will begin to experience some of the same good feelings they were exposed to in the ads.

That is crazy, you say. It is interesting that the entertainment industry claims that movies only reflect our social values but do not set or influence them. It defends its right to portray violence and other widely unacceptable behavior as entertainment because, it claims, the movies in no way influence the viewers to engage in similar activities. It states that the reason an American citizen is five to ten times more likely to be murdered than a European has nothing to do with the larger number of violent TV shows or movies Americans watch.

This same industry has successfully sold product placement in the James Bond movie Die Another Day for over $100 million. James Bond drove an Aston Martin in his older movies but switched to a BMW for GoldenEye in 1995. BMW claimed their sales of that particular sports car, the Z3, skyrocketed. Ford, which now owns Aston Martin, brought it back as Bond's car of choice in 2002, with numerous Fords in place as the co-stars' cars. In each movie, Q gives Bond a special new Omega watch, his shirts are Turnbull and Asser, his razor is a Spectra, he flies only British Airways, and he still likes his martinis shaken, not stirred - though now with a different brand of vodka. Recently, Smirnoff stated that the demographics of Bond fans no longer fit its customer profile, so Bond changed his vodka to Finlandia, though he still enjoys his old favorite, Dom Perignon champagne, served at 38 degrees Fahrenheit.

The list goes right down to his sunglasses, the soft drinks served, and the makeup the Bond girls wear. Why are these companies spending millions of dollars to have their products appear in these movies? The answer is simple. In a hypnotic state (relaxed and focused), you are open to indirect suggestions and will link one thing with another. When a viewer sees James Bond using these products, the message that is being linked is that in order to have an exciting life and have beautiful women throw themselves at you, drink Finlandia vodka, drive a BMW or an Aston Martin, wear what James wears, use what James uses, consume what James consumes. The entertainment industry has obviously convinced large companies to part with millions of dollars because they believe the power of suggestion really works when it comes to selling products - although it will not make viewers move violent or antisocial.

If you are male and have ever watched a movie with a good car chase in it, you will remember how hard it was to drive sensibly when the film was over. Did the movie have a hypnotic effect on you? Which of the industry's opposing stories do you believe?

Equally important is what hypnosis is not. As it has been stated, hypnosis is not mind control. Many classic movies feature an evil villain with shifty eyes, a handlebar moustache, and a pocket watch who takes control of the pretty heroine's mind and keeps her under his spell using hypnosis. This may have made a good story, but it is not possible, for two reasons.

First, if you will recall, all hypnosis is self-hypnosis, so you will only allow yourself to be hypnotized if you want to be hypnotized. No one can hypnotize you against your will.

Second, extensive research and experiments have shown that people will not carry out suggestions under hypnosis that they would not carry out consciously. In cases in which subjects are given a suggestion that is in conflict with their morals or ideals, they normally terminate the trance. This is one reason the industry feels it is not shaping our culture bur only reflecting it. However, many experts argue that any message repeated often enough will eventually be accepted as the truth. Repetition is that much more powerful in hypnosis, and so the child who watches the eight thousand murders on TV that he is exposed to buy the time he finishes elementary school can be influenced into believing violence is an acceptable reaction.

The subconscious mind remains a mysterious thing, but we know it is capable of incredible feats. We understand how we can change the beliefs held by the subconscious mind through hypnotic suggestion and thereby change results.

Research supports the argument that proper hypnotic techniques are the keys to unlocking the incredible power in our subconscious minds. It is the forming and delivery of an effective suggestion while they are in the hypnotic trance is the challenge.

The key to achieving successful change is in the message the subconscious mind hears, not only while in a hypnotic state but any time our conscious mind is giving it orders or instructions, either verbally or mentally.

7.4 Emphasizing Particular Properties

Manufacturers use colour signals to help customers to find the way in the world of products with different properties and different prices. This approach of colour emphasizing particular properties definitely makes the process а buying easier. Particular colours attract particular customers.

Emphasizing important properties saves customers time and helps to avoid crush in narrow aisles between shelves. But this is useful not only in supermarket, the same stands for all production. Suppose you want to buy a vacuum cleaner. Usually people prefer buying the lightest model, so that it was easy to carry. And vacuum cleaners manufacturers have lone ago understood that the customer believes that light objects weighs less than a dark one. That's why vacs are very often white, beige or other pastel colours. And they really seem lighter, that's how the colour influences our brain. The other important characteristic is power. Graphite-gray, dark-gray and red are the colours that arouse respect and confidence in reliability and powerfulness of the device.

If you need sports good note how often there are neon-bright orange and yellow strips on sportswear and sports footwear. Why? Because these colours emit energy - that's what we go jogging or training. Manufacturers of sports goods know perfectly well that new clothes won't add strength but will mobilize our mind. Certain colours and hues supplies us with energy and one glance at bright colours makes eye movements faster and improves reaction.

Many firms possess a great variety of resources for emphasizing goods properties especially important for customers. And then they do all they can to make customers believe that their products have these properties. They often use for the purpose colour signals not only in the products themselves and in packaging but in the advertisements too.

When it comes to emphasizing certain properties you need to be very careful or you can make a mistake, which can bring about more mistakes. For example, if you change the packaging of cheap popular product to more advanced in respect of colours, customers will stop feeling that they have bought what they need.

The tone of the advertisement should reflect the nature of your target audience as well as your firm's personality and orientation.

For example, if you are trying to attract physicians, your message should be written the way doctors think and speak. If you are trying to attract clients in a particular industry, you should use phrases, images, and language that are germane to the businesses comprising that field. Try to let your advertisements speak from your clients' perspective. They are the people to whom you are trying to promote your service and these potential clients should know that you speak and understand their language.

Conclusion

We have investigated linguo-stylistic peculiarities of advertising language and now we can make the conclusion.

The first printed advertisements appeared in newspapers. Nowadays advertising is so popular in the modern world that it is possible to investigate advertising language separately from the newspaper style.

The usage of different means and devices on phonetic, morphological, lexical, syntactical and graphic levels make the advertising style individual.

1)Phonetic peculiarities are alliteration, assonance, anaphora, epithora, repetition of the sound and rhyme;

2)morphological peculiarities are abbreviation, neologisms, the degrees of comparison of adjectives, different categories of pronouns, apocope, the possessive case;

3)lexico-phraseological peculiarities are figures of speech (metaphor, metonymy, epithet, periphrasis, personification, allusion and others), polysemantic words, language game, alien words, phraseological units, one-syllable and simple verbs and emotive adjectives;

4)syntactical peculiarities are simple sentences, question-answer unities, elliptical sentences, rhetorical questions and imperative sentences;

5)graphic peculiarities are changing of a graphic word form, numerical and symbol marking. Scientific and technical advertising has special peculiarities. Its main difference is the domination of the special terminology, neologisms, the syntactic compression, and complex sentences.

Advertising claims have the aim to attract the audience's attention to the product and persuade to buy it. There are such kinds of claims: weasel claim, unfinished claim, “we're different and unique” claim, “water is wet” claim, “so what” claim, vague claim, endorsement or testimonial, scientific or statistical claim, “compliment the consumer” claim.

Puns are very popular with advertisers and there are three types of them: “nonsense” puns, puns depended on the context and puns with two communicated meanings. The initial meaning of the first type of puns is nonsensical and has to be rejected in favour of another interpretation. Sometimes the rejected interpretation may help in some way to obtain additional contextual effects which are intended by the speaker. It is the second type of pun. At last, there are puns which have two communicated meanings and so more than one interpretation is intended by the communicator. The extra processing efforts needed to solve the pun helps to sustain the audience's attention for longer and makes the advertisement more memorable.

Along with different linguo-stylistic peculiarities of advertising language it is necessary to take into account psychological peculiarities of the audience and the usage of psychological tricks then we will get an excellent advertising which increase the volume of sales.

List of sources

1. Давыденкова О. А. - Рекламный текст и использование феномена прецедентности как фактор воздействия на адресата//Международный конгресс по когнитивной лингвистике. - 2006, с. 402-404.

2. Дюжикова Е. А. - Развитие метафорических значений сложных существительных в англ.яз.

3. Goddard, Angela - The language of advertising: Written text, London, New York Routledge. - 2001, p.134.

4. Clift, R - Irony of conversation, 1999, volume 4, p.499-513.

5. Шидо К. В. - Рекламный слоган как особый жанр английских рекламных текстов. - 2002.

6. Заиграева Е. С. - Структура и содержание рекламных объявлений в сфере высшего образования США//Язык в пространстве и времени. - 2002, с. 143-146.

7. Fowler, Roger - Language in the news. British library, Cataloguing in Publication Data, Discours and ideology in the Press. - 1991.

8. Clift, R. - Irony in conversation//Language in society London. Ирония и механизмы ее взаимосвязи с др. формами речи. - 1999.

9. Goathy, A. - The language of metaphors. London, New York. - 1997, p. 360.

10. Oaks, D. D. - Historical roots of structural ambiguities in English: a survey of some selected grammatical features//General linguistics University Park, 1998.

11. Sherzer Y. - Puns and jokes//Handbook of discourse analysis, London, 1985.

12. Available in the Internet

13. Ученова В.В., Старых Н.В. История рекламы или метаморфозы рекламного образа. М., 1999. С. 10.

14. Edwards Ch. Mundy. Retail Advertising and Sales Promotion. N. Y., 1981, P. 3.

15. Wells W., Burnett J., Moriarty S. Advertising: Principles and Practice. Prentice Hail Int., 1989-1998. [На рус. яз.: Уэллс У, Вернет Дж., Мориарти С. Реклама: принципы и практика. СПб., 2001.]

16. Wells W., Burnett J., Moriarty S. Advertising: Principles and Practice. Prentice Hail Int., 1989-1998. [На рус. яз.: Уэллс У, Вернет Дж., Мориарти С. Реклама: принципы и практика. СПб., 2001.]

17. Бове Кортлэнд Л., фон Аренс У. Современная реклама. М., 1995.

18. Указанные задачи отражены в известной формуле - AIDA (attention - внимание, interest - интерес, desire - желание, activity - действие).

19. Розенталь Д.Э., Кохтев H.H. Язык рекламных текстов. М., 1981. С. 59.

20. Словарь лингвистических терминов / Под ред. О.С. Ахмановой. М., 1969. С. 79.

21. Долгова О.В. Синтаксис как наука о построении речи. М., 1980. С. 132.

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