Download Words in Advertising

Huy Cong Le
Prof. Teddy Chocos Dimitrakopoulos
ENGL 101
March 2nd, 2016
Words in Advertising
In this current dynamic and internationally integrated economy, advertising is growing more and more
strongly at a great speed. Advertising is one of the key conduits between the producers and the consumers.
Being at home or walking down the street; in the theatre, cinema, station, school or anywhere, it is easy to see
an advertising of any product. There are a lot of factors of advertising such as color, image, sound and
especially words. Words here are understood in a specific meaning. They are all the writings, characters
showed in an advertising with a certain strategy to reach one or many purposes which the advertisers set. Words
can be persuasive and deliver but also can make people upset, even in advertising. In addition, William Lutz, an
American linguist, also wrote a book “Doublespeak” about how words mask reality and make people misled in
advertising.
The features of these words are brief, easy to remember and make impression. They have not to be
complete sentences, but brief phrases or weasel words. “Advertisers use weasel words to appear to be making a
claim for a product when in fact they are making no claim at all” (With These Words I Can Sell You Anything,
William Lutz). Advertisers always try to use the best and most effective words for their advertising even though
these words actually means nothing. They will not only help the advertisers to communicate product’s
information, but also, they can make attention, impression to the consumers. There are a lot of weasel words
used in today advertising with many different purposes. It is easy to see some of them in any advertising such
as “help”, “work”, “new”, etc.
Two words “help” and “work” have a same purpose of using which is to bring the action to the product
and to the advertising claim, “make people think that this product really does something and maybe even
something special or unique” (With These Words I Can Sell You Anything, William Lutz). According to Lutz,
the word “help” simply means to aid. When this word is used in an advertising claim, it causes the advertising
to claim next to nothing. For example, when an advertising says a product “helps relieve pain”, we can see the
product aids in the relief of pain but may not relieve the pain all by it self. Also the degree to which it helps
relieve the pain is unknown.
According to Lutz, “works” function just like “acts” does. All it indicates is that it does something
without indicating what it does. For example, an advertising that says a product “works great” does not indicate
what it specifically does that is great. Therefore, “works” “is basically a word empty of any specific meaning”
(With These Words I Can Sell You Anything, William Lutz).
On the other hand, the word “new” is usually used to promise something that is not there. The
advertisers can trick the consumers by calling a product new if “there has been a material functional change in
the product”(With These Words I Can Sell You Anything, William Lutz). That means the change can be slight
and does not have to be a real improvement in the product. Instantly, new floor cleaner could simply be the
same cleaner with a different color dye added to it.
In addition, in the advertising poster of Sunsilk shampoo published in 2014, there is the image of two
bottles of shampoo with the phrase “Perfect Straight”. In this poster, there is not the word “shampoo” but the
image and phrase bring a clear content of the name as well as the biggest use of product, but it is important to
ask why “Perfect Straight”. The word “Straight” is used for showing a property of hair. At that moment,
straight hair is the kind of hair that most women like and want to have. Therefore, getting it out is a way to hit
the main demand of consumers at that moment. Absolutely, the product also has other different uses but they
are the traditional uses of shampoo ever such as anti-dandruff, make hair softer, smelling, or the uses those the
products of other companies also have. Therefore, the word “straight” ensures the new, special and outstanding
point of the product, makes consumers want to buy and try it.
However, everything always has the other side. What advertisers are doing today is to create an
advertising market exaggerated and overstated, where consumers losing confidence in the words describing the
products or services offered on market. The biggest consequences of saying false advertising is not paying fines
or stopping the production process, that comes from the backs of consumers. Advertising is a useful tool for
product marketing, brand building, but if not tightly control the content, manner of expression, it becomes
double-edged sword. For the advertisers, if they lost the confidence from consumers, that mean they also lose
everything.
The exaggerated advertising not only lie the consumers but also have a negative impact on society.
There were a lot of false advertising and led to bad consequences, especially food products, cosmetics, milk.
For example,in 1930, Lucky Strike cigarette company had launched an advertising which confirms smoking
helps relieve coughs, less harmful to the throat and especially helps to lose weight. Consumers trusted and
continued to use cigarette but after this advertising, “Worrying research carried out by London’s King’s
College predicts that female lung cancer rates will triple over the next 30 years, because incidences of the
disease are generally a sign of people’s smoking habits three to four decades earlier”. (10 Evil Vintage
Cigarette Ads Promising Better Health, Hadgirl)
Consumers are increasingly intelligent, they are wary of any information they receive and willing to
give up a certain brand if they feel a bit cheated. Especially in the current situation when there are hundreds of
businesses competing with each other to win customers, a step in the wrong will make consumers turn away
and use the products of another brand. Friendly and familiar image have to be built for a long time, maybe –five
to ten years, but to destroy it, just need one or two days, certainly no one wants this to happen.
For the consumers, they need to raise their awareness in the world of advertising because “The ad is
trying to get you to buy a product, so it will put the product in the best possible light, using any device, trick, or
means legally allowed.” (With These Words I Can Sell You Anything, William Lutz). Therefore, the
consumers have to be always on defense when shopping by paying attention to the advertising and to recognize
the weasel words. In other words, they have to know the difference between right and wrong, ask themselves
questions about what exactly the advertising is saying about. Only then, they will be intelligent consumers and
not become the victims of advertising tricks.
All things above show sort of the using way, purpose and meaning of words in today advertising. In
existence, words themselves always have variants, new ways to use. Words are a part, a very important element
and are almost indispensable in the advertising. They play a big role, are crucial to the effectiveness and
success of an advertising. Therefore, innovating advertising words becomes extremely important. However,
whether someone is a marketing services provider, an advertiser or a consumer, he/she needs to be aware of the
using of weasel words in advertising. Also it is necessary to have a standard in using words because only then,
the purity of words can be kept. Ultimately, advertising is not only to introduce the product to the consumers
but also conveys meaningful messages and sometimes carrying a value of a country's culture.
REFERENCE
Healthcare-administration-degree.net,. "10 Evil Vintage Cigarette Ads Promising Better Health". N.p., 2013. Web.