Pinali Vadher

The Language of Advertising: A Critical Study

Pinali Vadher

Abstract:

Advertising is a form of communication, an art, used to influence or persuade individuals to purchase a product or a service of a particular brand. Language plays vital part in any form of communication. It is the language that plays a major role in advertising. In the journal Nature, Pullum and Scholz (2001) points out, ―at every level language has a level of creativity that allows it to be ever-expanding, ever-changing. Even the idea that there is a stock of words which constitute the English language cannot be upheld, because it is always possible to invent new words and new names in particular. Thus, here is my new invention: I call it X is strategy in everyday English which advertisers can take advantage of when they state ―Introducing all new Y‖.

The researcher has done Discourse Analysis of 50 fairness commercials targeted to both men and women in India. The use of English, bilingualism or code-switching, the persuasive element of the language, the concept of fair skin in India, the psyche of the audience and convince them to buy the product, are the issues explored by the researcher in the paper.

Key Terms: Advertisements/Commercials, Language, Discourse Analysis, Communication

It is impossible to imagine human world without advertisements. The moment our day begins with sipping a cup of coffee, we are purposelessly pushed into the world of advertisements on television, radio, internet, mobiles, newspaper, etc. While walking on the street, in a traffic jam, in shopping malls, at bus stations, railway stations, airports, seeing stickers on apples in supermarkets, at all these places and various other places we come across various kinds of advertisements every now and then. Each and everything that we use in our day in and day out target us with a message ranging from hi-fi electronic items up to small scale grocery products that we use in our home. We never realize how smartly these ads/commercials penetrate deeply into our mind. Thereby, shape our attitudes, beliefs, perspectives. Thus, change our lifestyle and become an integral part of our life.

In the world of trade and commerce, advertising is a form of communication, an art, used to influence or persuade individuals to purchase a product or a service of a particular brand. No communication is complete without language. Language is a vital part in any form of communication. Language holds powerful influence over our thoughts and behaviour. And, since, advertising is a form of communication; language plays a major role in the inception of its meaning. To put it simply, advertising can be seen as a language of its own, meaning, advertising English is very different from other styles or varieties of English that is used by mature speakers and readers. This is because advertising plays abundantly with words at liberty; it uses words or language in its own way on the basis of its requirements. It breaks, coins, and moulds the words elastically in the attempt of creativity at its own terms and conditions without bothering about the rules of structure and meaning. In the journal Nature, Pullum and Scholz (2001) point out that,

At every level language has a level of creativity that allows it to be everexpanding, ever-changing. Even the idea that there is a stock of words which constitute the English Language cannot be upheld, because it is always possible to invent new words and new names in particular. Thus, here is my invention: I call it X is strategy in everyday English which advertisers can take advantage of when they state ―Introducing all new Y‖. (p.367)

English language is well known for its extensive vocabulary and its growing use in media world (music, movies and ads). When it comes to ads, it includes more word-play or wordmagic in order to create desirability for the product in the mind of the audience. The language also serves many purposes of the advertiser or the brand. In this context, the researcher will try to explain the role of language in the propagation of the stereotype and the concept of fairness with the help of the ads that have been analysed. For instance, look at the following logos of the fairness skin creams.

According to the norms of English, these words are not written in correct English and therefore might be considered as un-English because of the use of lower case letter ―e‖ in the former word (garnier) and ―z‖ in the later (menz). When we write about possession it is /s/ not /z/, so in English it will be men‘s rather than menz. Advertisers, sometimes, make use of phonetic script in the names of the product. At the same time, the word-play is done deliberately by the advertisers as it is one of the attention-seeking devices employed by the advertisers towards their target audience. Adhering to the rules of syntax is not important for the advertisers than the coining of the message in a fashionable language which will in turn forcefully strike and appeal to the mind of the audience. And here comes, the persuasive element of the language. The demarcation line when the information becomes persuasion is very difficult to identify in these ads/commercials. The propagation of the concept of the fairness and strengthening of the stereotype is very subtly done in a persuasive manner. For example, the following analyses of the text of L‘oreal commercial of fairness cream for women endorsed by Sonam Kapoor with the help of AIDA (A=attention, I=interest, D=desire, A=action) formula will explain this better.

Ad: L‘oreal White Perfect

Endorser: Sonam Kapoor (SK)

Attention (A)

S.K.: What could be more precious than a pearl? A skin care cream that gives you flawless complexion like one. New White Perfect Day cream from L‘Oreal Paris like a pearl it is one of a kind. Interest (I) VO: Micro pearls instantly brighten the skin, the melano-block reduces dark spots, and UV filters protects skin from further darkening. Desire (D) S.K.: My skin looks radiant, perfect. Go get that perfect skin. After all you are one in the million. Action (A) VO: New white perfect from L‘Oreal Paris. S.K.: Because You worth it.

On reading the text one can find that the beginning of the ad tries to catch the attention of the audience by the question about pearl. Then, gradually, once the attention is sought, the VO (voice over) informs the audience about the product. And, by the time the VO tries to hold the interest of the viewers, i.e. in the third part of the ad, the endorser takes over. She tries to create a desire about the product into the mind of the audience by speaking about her ―radiant‖, ―perfect skin‖. Thus, the commercial creators try to draw their attention and consciousness towards ―The Skin‖, especially, ―the facial skin‖. As if, they are awakening their audience from a trance and knocking at their cognitive door in an evocative manner. Finally, inspiring, telling, or ordering the audience to take an action- to use the product (get that perfect skin) by giving them a feeling or a sense of importance and uniqueness by saying, ―you are one in the million, because you worth it‖, as if, this product has been made specially and exclusively for ―you‖. Endorsers who are celebrities from the entertainment industry as well as experts lay stress mostly on the words like ―skin‖, ―fairer‖, ―fairer instantly‖, ―face‖, ―long-lasting fairness‖, ―anti-dark spots, anti-wrinkles, anti-dullness, anti-tanning‖ in antiaging and fairness skin creams commercials.

In this way, advertisers and endorsers try to convey or build up their message into the mind of the audience that serves their dual aim. Firstly, communicating their ideas and thoughts and secondly, persuading audience to buy and use the product. It is not only the message and the endorsers that help in this process of propagation of the concept of fair skin as the epitome of beauty and status. But each and every part of advertisement or commercial is targeted towards the same aim. For instance, slogans in ads and names of the product are also composed in such a manner that it echoes the stereotype. Let us look at few slogans and the product names of the famous fairness skin creams brands which have been analysed:

Name of the Brand

Slogan

Garnier ―Take care‖ - friendly, warm, and affectionate slogan L‘Oreal white perfect ―you worth it‖ - makes you feel special Olay ―love the skin you‘re in‖- imp. To skin Nivea visage ―get fair, stay fair‖- use/stress on fair Pond‘s ―mere white or pinkish white you choose‖- again emphasis on white and you Lacto-calamine ―discover skinsurance with lacto-calamine‖ - again stress on Skin

Recova ―the science of beautiful skin‖ - stress on beautiful skin.

Product Names

The German brand has derived its name from the Latin word ―Nivius‖ meaning ―Snow White‖.

The brand has been named after the French chemist ―Alfred Garnier‖ who first invented hair tonic made up of plant extract and milk. The brand has derived its name as a spin over the word ―lanolin‖ invented by Graham Wulff as a gift or sign of love towards his wife. The word ―lanolin‖ means ―oil that comes from sheep‘s wool and is used to make skin creams‖. Therefore, the brand name is a compound word of an exocentric type The brand name is a noun which means ―a thick soft clear substance that is used on skin to heal or protect it, or as a lubricant to stop surfaces from sticking together‖.

Certain names of the national brands directly support the concept of fairness such as, ―Fair & Lovely‖, ―Fair & Handsome‖, ―Fairever‖, ―Fair one‖, ―Fair glow‖, ―Nomarks‖ and ―Everyuth‖. All these brand names are compound words in English. In short, product names are made by either compounding or blending. The purpose is to make the word simple, easy to comprehend, remember and utter. At the same time, manufacturing company or media people while choosing or naming the product take utmost care that there should be symbolic connection between the name of the product and the emotive urge of the audience or consumer. Therefore, blends are highly preferred in commercials. They are hybrid words. The only difference between compounds and blends is that the only part of each individual word is used in the formation of the new word. Blends are very popular in advertising. Even blends are seen in fairness skin cream commercials. For example,

 Skinsurance= skin + insurance

 Lactocalamine = lactose + calamine

 Revitalift = re-vital + lift

 Vitalift = vital + lift

In linguistics, code-switching is the concurrent use of more than one language, or language variety in conversation. People who are multilingual use elements of multiple languages in conversing with each other. Thus, code-switching is the use of more than one linguistic variety in a manner with the syntax and phonology of each variety. In a country like India which is multilingual, code-switching is extensively used in advertising targeted towards bilingual as well as multilingual consumers. Almost all brands use this language technique to convey their message and persuade their target audience in fraction of seconds. Codeswitching works rapidly and instantly because of its potential for national appeal and ability to cut across people belonging to different class, culture and religion. It is one of the ways of coining the message in a more catchy and creative manner. The following text is the example of the use of code-switching in fairness skin creams commercials in India.

Ad: Vaseline men

Brand endorser: Shahid Kapoor

Text:

Shahid Kapoor: ―aam aadmi, the average indian male, saal mein 30 ghante brush karne main bitata hai, 76 ghante baal banana mein per bhul jate hai sabse important, unk achahera.‖ ―mein average nahi hu, mein bitata hu daily ek minute, Vaseline men lagake‖ Dhup se chahera na sirf savla nahi hota usme paach tarah ke daag dhabe bhi aa saketeh ai, Vaseline men main he vitamin B3 aur triple sunscreen jo chahere ko fair kare aur ghataye paach tarah ke daag dhabe. Humesha prepared rehna ho toh chahre ko dejiye daily ek minute. ―Vaseline men‖

Be prepared.

(Author’s translation in the following paragraph)

On studying the above text of the ad of Vaseline men, one can come to know the deliberate use of English words to emphasis the concept within the message. The actual message is that the average Indian male must give importance to his face and use this cream daily. But this message when coined with Hindi becomes more lengthy and colloquial. The text in Hindi in the above seems to suggest that mostly all Indian males spend their precious time in unproductive activities of routine like brushing teeth and combing hair. With the help of Hinglish, the entire message becomes extremely evocative with strong arguments put forward by the advertiser. The use of Hindi by the advertiser in the text very clearly indicates who the target audience is. The ad directly appeals the audience to use the product. Thus, one can say that code-switching serves the purpose of simplicity in expression or language, effective and easy comprehension which increases retention of the message in order to make successful communication with the most common audience. Hence, advertising English is a highly homogenous variety of English in which connotation of a word is more important rather than the actual meaning of the word.

To conclude, one can say that advertising or commercial language plays informational, expressive, directive, and aesthetic role depending on the function of commercials or advertisements. Commercial creators use simple words or language to win the heart of their audience/consumers by their exact, effective expression and the kind of proximity they build up through these words. With the help of celebrity endorsements/testimonials, gender appeal, the commercial creators create and propagate the stereotype fabricated in the language that helps to build up a pleasant picture in the mind of their audience where they feel ―we‘re different and unique‖. This feeling works at subliminal level which turns the audience into the consumer. The language of commercials, especially, fairness commercials give birth to the feeling which in turn becomes ―need‖ and ―craze‖ where the audience or the consumer gets trapped into the bold lies of the commercial, and is unable to figure out the demarcating line between truth and falsehood which are carefully constructed by the deliberate use of fashionable words and emotive language. The audience cum consumer fails to realise that these commercials are the bedrock for racism. Colour of the skin is the gift of the God and no cosmetic technology can change it. It is the inner beauty- beauty of virtues, personality, nature and character that matters not the beauty or colour of the skin which fades with the passage of time. It is impossible to escape the magic of advertisements/ commercials as we are living in the world of information and communication technology, where we need

information at every second. But one can be conscious while internalizing the information which is communicated. No matter what kind of words, content, language is used in the commercial, all of them serve the purpose of attracting audience/consumer, conveying information, urging them to buy their products. That is what all ads/commercials are for, and that is also the function advertising language performs. In his famous book entitled Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, Marshal McLuhan remarks, ―the historians and archaeologists will one day discover that the ads of our time are the richest and the most faithful daily reflections that any society ever made of its entire range if activities.‖ (p.232)

(Images Courtesy: Google Images)

References:

 Cook, Guy. The Discourse of Advertising. Routledge, 2001.  Goddard, Angela. The Language of Advertising: Intertext. Routledge, 2002.  McLuhan, Marshal. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. Routledge, 1994.  Potter, J. Media Literacy. Sage Publications, 2005.  Tellis, G. Effective Advertising: Understanding When, How, and Why Advertising

Works. Sage Publications, 2004.  Geoffrey Pullum, Barbara C. Scholz. ―More Than Words.‖ Nature 413 ( 2001): 367. 6th

September 2017.  Masci, Janet. ―Decoding Advertisements by Judigh Williamson.‖ 01 June 1982. http://www.jam.sagepub.com/. 07 September 2017.  Roy, Saberi. ―The Psychology of Advertising.‖ 08 August 2008. http://www.ezinearticles.com/expert/Saberi_Roy. 14 September 2017.