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WORDS AND ADS
asist.univ.drd. Monica Ariana Sim
Universitatea din Oradea, Facultatea de ŞtiinŃe Economice, Str. Armatei Române nr.5,
Oradea, telefon: 0259408276, e-mail: [email protected]
Advertising is possibly the most prevalent cultural form of the twentieth century and
will probably have the greatest longevity. Business needs to advertise. Language has a
powerful influence over people and their behaviour. This is especially true in the fields of
marketing and advertising. The choice of language to convey specific messages with the
intention of influencing people is vitally important. Visual content and design in advertising
have a very great impact on the consumer, but it is language that helps people to identify a
product and remember it.
In a sense, advertising began around 3200 BC when the Egyptian stenciled
inscriptions of the names of kings on temples being built. Later they wrote runaway-slave
announcements on papyrus. Signboards were placed outside doors in Greece and Egypt
around 1500 BC. Historians believe that outdoor signs above shop doors were the first forms
of advertising. As early as 3,000 BC, the Babylonians, who lived in what is now Iraq, used
such signs to advertise their shops. The ancient Greeks and Romans also hung signs
outside their shops. Few people could read, and so merchants used symbols carved in
stone, clay, or wood for the signs. For example, a bush indicated a wine shop, and a boot
advertised a shoemaker's shop. In ancient Egypt, merchants hired criers to walk through the
streets and announce the arrivals of ships and their cargo. By the AD 900's, town criers,
which called out the news, were common in European countries. They were hired by
merchants to direct customers to their shops.
Adverising had gone a long way and evolved so much. Still it was not until 1704 that
paid advertisements were printed in the United States (which is now the leading nation in
annual volume of advertising).The first modern advertising agency was N.W. Ayer and Son,
Incorporated, founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1869. Ayer introduced the
commission system in the 1870's by convincing newspapers to give discounts; the agency
then charged the client full price for the space used. This same concept later spread to
magazines, radio, and television. Commercial radio dates only from about 1920, when
Westighouse began to utilize the vast investment it had made in radio research and in the
manufacture of radio equipment during World War 1.
Advertising reaches people through various forms of mass communication. These
media include newspapers, magazines, television, and radio. Advertisers buy space in
newspapers and magazines to publish their ads. They buy time on television and radio to
broadcast their commercials.
The chief advertising media are newspapers, television, direct mail, radio,
magazines, and outdoor signs. Newspapers and TV receive the largest share of the money
spent on advertising. But the area of the present research will be the one of magazines due
to the fact that they feature advertisements with long texts and which, in their turn, are the
best samples for translation analysis. Magazines have a number of advantages over
newspapers as an advertising medium. They are usually read in a leisurely manner and are
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often kept for weeks or months before being discarded. Another advantage of magazines is
that they offer better printing and color reproduction than newspapers do. Advertisers can
thus show off their products to greater advantage in magazines. Full color is especially
desirable for food and fashion advertising because the color of these products is part of their
appeal.
According to the New Encyclopedia Britannica advertising is designed to inform,
influence, or persuade people. To be effective, an advertisement must first attract attention
and gain a person's interest. It must then provide reasons for buying a product and for
believing the advertiser's claims. Advertisers use a variety of techniques to create effective
advertisements. They start with a basic appeal, which is the main selling point, or theme, of
an advertisement. They then use certain specific techniques. The most commonly used
techniques include attention-getting headlines, slogans, testimonials, product characters,
comparison of products, repetition.
Advertisers rely on many kinds of appeals to persuade people to buy. In general,
advertisers may present their message either in a factual way or in an emotional way.
Advertisements that use a factual approach describe the demonstrable characteristics of a
product. Such ads tell what the product is, how it works or how it is made. Advertisements
that use an emotive appeal stress the ways in which a product will give personal satisfaction.
Such an ad might appeal to a person's need for love, security, or prestige and suggest that
the product will satisfy the need. Advertisers often use sexual themes that appeal to a
person's desire to be attractive to the opposite sex. For example, an advertisement for
aftershave lotion might suggest that the product would help a man attract women.
To persuade the largest possible number of people, many advertisements combine
factual information with an emotional appeal, or they use several appeals. In such cases, the
appeal is aimed specifically at a limited group of people, such as business executives or
young married couples.
Both the mass media, when reporting news items, and marketing and advertising
personnel have to consider the emotive power of the words they use. First, they make a
decision about what to communicate and what to withhold.
One way in which advertisers adapt language to their own use is to take compound
words and use them as adjectives. These compounds often later become widely used in
normal situations. Examples of these compounds which have become part of the English
language are: top-quality, economy-size, chocolate-flavoured, feather-light and longerlasting.
The language of advertising is, of course, normally very positive and emphasizes
why one product stands out in comparison with another. Advertising language may not
always be "correct" language in the normal sense. For example, comparatives are often
used when no real comparison is made. An advertisement for a detergent may say "It gets
clothes whiter", but whiter than what?
A study of vocabulary used in advertising listed the most common adjectives and
verbs in order of frequency. They are:
Adjectives: new, good/ better/ the best, free, fresh, delicious, full, sure, clean,
wonderful, special, crisp, fine, big, grea, real, easy, bright, extra, safe, rich.
Verbs: make, get, give, have, see, buy, come, go, know, keep, look, need, love, use,
feel, like, choose, take, start, taste.
Advertisers rely on many kinds of appeals to persuade people to buy. In general,
advertisers may present their message either in a factual way or in an emotional way.
Advertisements that use a factual approach describe the demonstrable characteristics of a
product. Such ads tell what the product is, how it works or how it is made. Advertisements
that use an emotive appeal stress the ways in which a product will give personal satisfaction.
Such an ad might appeal to a person's need for love, security, or prestige and suggest that
the product will satisfy the need. Advertisers often use sexual themes that appeal to a
person's desire to be attractive to the opposite sex. For example, an advertisement for
aftershave lotion might suggest that the product would help a man attract women.
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To persuade the largest possible number of people, many advertisements combine
factual information with an emotional appeal, or they use several appeals. In such cases, the
appeal is aimed specifically at a limited group of people, such as business executives or
young married couples.
Most often people believe in their immunity to advertising. The naives believe that
advertising is childish, dumb, a bunch of lies, and influences only the vast crowds of the less
sophisticated. Their own purchases are made purely on the basis of value and desire, with
advertising playing only a minor supporting role. Advertisers know better. Although few
people admit to being greatly influenced by ads, surveys and sales figures show that a welldesigned advertising campaign has dramatic effects. A logical conclusion is that advertising
works below the level of conscious awareness and it works even on those who claim
immunity to its message.
Ads can be studied to detect their psychological hooks, they can be used to gauge
values and hidden desires of the common person, they can be studied for their use of
symbols, color, and imagery. But perhaps the simplest and most direct way to study ads is
through an analysis of the language of the advertising claim. The "claim" is the verbal or print
part of an ad that makes some claim of superiority for the product being advertised.
The reason so many ad claims fall into this category of pseudo-information is that
they are applied to parity products, products in which all or most of the brands available are
nearly identical. Since no one superior product exists, advertising is used to create the
illusion of superiority. The largest advertising budgets are devoted to parity products such as
gasoline, cigarettes, beer and soft drinks, soaps, and various headache and cold remedies.
The first rule of parity involves the Alice in Wonderlandish use of the words "better"
and "best." In parity claims, "better" means "best" and "best" means "equal to." If all the
brands are identical, they must all be equally good, the legal minds have decided.
The second rule of advertising claims is simply that if any product is truly superior,
the ad will say so very clearly and will offer some kind of convincing evidence of the
superiority. To create the necessary illusion of superiority, advertisers usually resort to one
or more of the following ten basic techniques. Each is common and easy to identify.
The Weasel Claim
A weasel word is a modifier that practically negates the claim that follows. The
expression "weasel word" is aptly named after the egg-eating habits of weasels. A weasel
will suck out the inside of an egg, leaving it appear intact to the casual observer. Upon
examination, the egg is discovered to be hollow. Words or claims that appear substantial
upon first look but disintegrate into hollow meaninglessness on analysis are weasels.
Commonly used weasel words include "helps" (the champion weasel); "like" (used in a
comparative sense); "virtual" or "virtually"; "acts" or "works"; "can be"; "up to"; "as much as";
"refreshes"; "comforts"; "tackles"; "fights"; "come on"; "the feel of"; "the look of"; "looks like";
"fortified"; "enriched"; and "strengthened."
e.g. "Helps control dandruff symptoms with regular use." The weasels include "helps
control," and possibly even "symptoms" and "regular use." The claim is not "stops dandruff."
"Leaves dishes virtually spotless." We have seen so many ad claims that we have
learned to tune out weasels. You aresupposed to think "spotless," rather than "virtually"
spotless.
The “We’re Different and Unique”Claim
This kind of claim states that there is nothing else quite like the product being
advertised.
e.g."There's no other mascara like it."
"Either way, liquid or spray, there's nothing else like it."
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The”Water is Wet” Claim
"Water is wet" claims say something about the product that is true for any brand in
that product category. The claim is usually a statement of fact, but not a real advantage over
the competition.
e.g."Mobil: the Detergent Gasoline." Any gasoline acts as a cleaning agent.
"Great Lash greatly increases the diameter of every lash."
The “So What” Claim
This is the kind of claim to which the careful reader will react by saying "So What?" A
claim is made which is true but which gives no real advantage to the product. This is similar
to the "water is wet" claim except that it claims an advantage, which is not shared by most of
the other brands in the product category.
e.g."Strong enough for a man but made for a woman." This deodorant claim says
only that the product is aimed at the female market.
The Vague Claim - Ads that leave you hanging
The vague claim is simply not clear. This category often overlaps with others. The
key to the vague claim is the use of words that are colorful but meaningless, as well as the
use of subjective and emotional opinions that defy verification.
e.g."Lips have never looked so luscious." Can you imagine trying to either prove or
disprove such a claim?
"Winston tastes good like a cigarette should."
The “Compliment the Consumer” Claim
This kind of claim butters up the consumer by some form of flattery.
e.g."We think a cigar smoker is someone special."
"The lady has taste."
Ads are a social phenomena that can be found all around us, becoming a part of our
everyday life, so no one can ignore them. Everyone is influcenced by words and images to a
certain extent. The language of ads is both inventive and complex.
The style of advertisements is dependent upon the purpose of the advertisement.
The main stylistic features characteristic of all types of advertisements were presented and it
was stated that the advertisements of a logical nature, i.e. in order to be translated properly
they must be understood properly.
References:
1. Myers, G. 1994 "Words in Ads".Edward Arnold: London
2. Briggs, A and Cobley, P. 1998 "The Media". Longman
3. The Encyclopedia Americana, Volume 3, International Edition Groiler, Inc., Connecticut,
1993, p. 164-234
4. Turcu, F.1998 "Engleza in afaceri". Editura Uranus: Bucuresti
5. Jeffrey
Schrank,
"The
Language
of
Advertising
Claims",
www.olemiss.edu/~egjbp/comp./ad-claims.html, 1995
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