Study of Language of Advertisement.
CHAPTER ONE
Purpose of Study
This study will make members of the public understand that the language of advertisement has connotative meaning not just the denotative meaning of the expressions used. Also the construction of the sentences observes linguistic devices which feature prominently in expressions.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
In this literature review, an attempt is made to review the literature on advertisement proper and the linguistic devices used in advertising.
Advertising as an academic discipline has no generally accepted definition. Many have defined it in different ways according to the purposes of their studies. To the economist, advertising is a force affecting the allocation of resources in an industrialized economy. For the sociologist, advertising is a means of exercising social control.
According to Bovee and Arens (1994:7) “advertising is a deliberate management process of disseminating informative and persuasive messages through a paid non personal communication by an identified sponsor to a target mass of anonymous audience or individuals”. Advertising is about communication of information on products, services, ideas by an identified sponsor through the mass media to a target audience. Thus, the goals set for advertising are communication task to reach a defined audience to a given extent and during a given time period. Advertising therefore is any form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services.
Crystal (1995:175) states that “it is any of the various methods used by a company to increase the sales of its products or services or to promote a brand name. Advertising is also used by organizations and individuals to communicate an idea or image to recruit staff, to publicize an event or to locate an item or commodity”.
According to Nwosu (1990:289) “advertising is mass communication which is aimed at helping to sell goods, services, ideas, person and institutions or organizations. It is therefore a vital tool of promotions and marketing which are very essential for economic and broad national development”.
The above definitions point to the fact that advertising is the transfer of information about products, ideas, services and so forth, from an advertiser to the public via a medium. It is expected that once the members of the public decode the advertiser’s message, they will believe in a desired way. Advertisements are seen or heard in our bedrooms, sitting rooms, at motor parks, at market places, on the high ways, in the streets and in fact, almost everywhere. Okigbo (1990:25) says that “it has been observed that anyone living and working in any modern society today is under the influence of advertising. Everybody and for most of our lives we see and hear many advertisements”.
Rossiter (1987:4) sees advertising as “a process of relatively indirect persuasion based on information about product benefits which is designed to create favourable mental impression that turns the mind towards purchase”. Considering Rossiter’s view, the target of an advertisement is to make sales and what it is selling are the products. Hence, the success of any piece of advertisement is measured in terms of how many converts it was able to make to the product and to the sales record of the product. Ordinarily, if an advertiser uses words or expressions that are based purely on their basic dictionary meaning, there would be no effect created and the people would still see the product just as they have always seen it. There is no doubt therefore, that their feelings towards the product might remain unchanged, hence the aim of such an advertisement would be defeated.
CHAPTER THREE
- THE ANALYSIS OF RADIO ADVERTISEMENTS AND JINGLES The data will be analysed based on the linguistic devices used in the language of Its connotative meanings will be discussed equally. The devices to be dealt with include figurative language like hyperbole, personification, onomatopoeia, simile, alliteration, repetition. There are other devices like idiomatic expressions, rhetorical question, style, appeal, economy of words and nonce form etc. These devices will be illustrated using the advert pieces in the appendices.
CHAPTER FOUR
OBSERVATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
Observations
Man uses different styles of language to perform various functions in the different spheres of life. The style that is acceptable in one area tends not to fit in another. So, every profession has its own unique language. Advertising is not an exception. In advertising specialized terminologies enable advertisers to sell the products, services or ideas being advertised to the public. Advertising is carried out via the print and electronic media.
The advertisements studied show that, advertising has its peculiar linguistic devices which are used to get the attention of the audience to patronize the advertised products. Advertising has preference for short and condensed sentences, as well as catchy phrases and sentence fragments.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Advertising is germane to man’s existence. It contributes in no small way to the growth and survival of institutions, industries, factories, establishments, organizations etc, by selling their products, services or ideas to the members of the public. It is through advertising that the audience are informed about what they ought to know about their society as well as the products and services available in the society. Advertising has so much influenced man that it has become part of him. Consequently, the researcher recommends the following:
There is no gain-saying the fact that advertising, as a specialist area has its own specialized style. It tends to have its unique linguistic devices which enable the advertisers to capture the attention of the audience within a short period.
CONCLUSION
Advertising is a specialist area which deals with the marketing of ideas, products, and services to the members of the public. The goal of an advertiser is to send across his message about the advertised product to the public within the shortest time and space. Advertisement copies have linguistic devices which enable the advertisers to capture the attention of the audience within a short period.
Consequently, the advertisers use a lot of figurative language, idiomatic expression, appeal and styles to bring out the good qualities of the products and equally portray the conceptual and connotative meanings. Occasionally, they try to arouse curiosity in the minds of people by creating messages with contextual meanings.
The analysis reveals that certain devices are peculiar to advertising. So advertising has its own unique language and style which help to convey the intended meaning. This enables advertisers to meet the demands of their profession, which is to inform and (or) persuade the public to patronize their products, idea or services.
References
- APCON (2002). Principles and Practice of Advertising. Lagos: NELAG & Co Ltd.
- Bovee, C.L. & Arens W.F. (1994). Contemporary Advertising. New York: Richard D. Irwin Inc,.
- Crystal, D. (1995). The Cambridge Enyclopedia of the English Language.
- U.S.A: Cambridge University Press.
- Dale .W. (1994). The World Book Encyclopedia. London: A Scott Fetzer Company.
- Dominick M. (1990). The Dynamics of Mass Communication. New York: McGraw –Hill Companies Inc.
- Emblen, K. and Dresner D, (1999). The Hutchinson Encyclopedia. Italy: De Agestini Novara.
- Fayoyin, C. (1994). Public Communication. New York: Longman Publishing Group.
- Fletcher, G. (1979). The Discourse of Advertising. London and New York: Routledge.
- Hatch, R. (1983) Business Communication: Theory and Technique. USA: Science Research Associates Inc.
- Ikeme, M.N. (2004) A Stylistic Analysis. Unpublished Masters Project Uniport.
