Advertising

Introduction and basic elements

Rank these according to what you would be more/less likely to consider/ call (an)
advertisement
 Advertising
• the promotion of goods or services for sale through impersonal
media (?)
• Any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of
ideas, goods or services through mass media such as
newspapers, magazines, television or radio by an identified
sponsor
 Classifications of Advertising
• by medium:
• Print advertising (newspaper, magazines, brochures, flyers)
• Electronic advertising (television, radio: commercials; Internet)
• Outdoor advertising (billboards, kiosks, public transport, events)
• Direct-mail advertising (through the Postal Service and by e-
mail)
• POP (point of purchase) advertising
Specify the type of advertising according to the medium for all of these
 Aims of advertising
• get us to register the producer’s (!) communication
either for purposes of immediate action

• make us more favourably disposed in general terms to

the advertised product or service
 Medium as a crucial factor
• means of mass communication (e.g. the printed book, TV,
radio, newspapers, magazines)
• (dis)advantages (in mutual comparison)?

• Distinctions:
– situational
– Functional (cf. books vs. newspapers vs. magazines)
Compare these two ways of advertising concerning the same vendor in
situational and functional terms.

• Can you think of any other media (and ways of ) promoting the same (type of) vendor for the
same purpose? Discuss and compare the (dis)advantages of these.
 Participants in advertising
• writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . reader
• sender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . receiver
• producer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . consumer
• addresser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Addressee
• performer (actor) …………........ Audience ?

First, second, third person narrator?

First, second, third person addressee?
Consider and compare the use of person(al pronouns) and addressing
practices in these ads.
The (r)evolution of L’oreal slogan
 Attention seeking strategies

• images/ paralanguage

• layout and other graphological devices

• verbal language
Startling/ shocking images
 Startling/ shocking images
• …and/or topics
Watch this collection of banned videos and for each, specify the domain
intended to provoke a startling/ shocking effect.Elaborate on the intended
audience, the ad maker’s intended effect, and the reason for banning these.
Paralanguage
 Typography
• Choice of font type, its spatial layout
– and … features of punctuation?
– and - features of punctuation!
– and: ‘features’ of punctuation;

suggest (and are aimed at):

– a different effect
– a different type of audience
Typography
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Linguistic puzzles/ wordplay
Cross- cultural differences

http://www.oddee.com/item_93544.aspx
 Intertextuality in past and present

Can you think of any similar examples of commercials that either draw upon some ‘household’
advertising slogans/ jingles/ concepts?
Who is the target audience of these?
Watch the commercials and see if a soundtrack comes to mind.
 Comparative advertisement
• advertisement in which a particular product, or service, (specifically) mentions a competitor
(by name) for the express purpose of showing why the competitor is inferior to the product
naming it
• Can you think of (types of products) particularly prone to such advertising?

• ‘bandwagon advertising’
 „Cola wars”

http://www.oddee.com/item_98476.aspx
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/advertising-war-campaigns-between-rivals/
 Advertising Appeal
1) Rational Appeal
2) Emotional Appeal

c) Fear Appeal

f) Positive Appeal

g) Negative Appeal

d) Humor Appeal

3) Moral Appeal
 Rational Appeal

 focus on the consumer’s need for practicality and functionally

in a product.
 These ads tell consumers , the benefits associated with the
purchase of a product.

– High quality appeals

– Low price appeals
– Long life appeals
– Performance-minded appeals
– Easy-to-use oriented appeals
• The Horlicks advertisement below shows the
necessity of a child to consume it in order to
grow tall, strong and sharp.
• Colgate – "It cleans your breath while it
cleans your teeth”
Emotional Appeal
• related to an individual’s psychological and social needs for
purchasing certain products and services
a) Fear Emotional Appeal
Fear has been found to force individuals to “to break from routine and pay
close attention to the external world,” including persuasive messages .
Advertisers sometimes use fear appeals to evoke this emotional response
and arouse consumers to take steps to remove the threat.
 Positive or negative emotional appeal
• Positive Emotional Appeal
Positive emotions like- humor, love, care, pride, or joy are shown in ads to
appeal to audience to buy that product

Negative Emotional Appeal

includes fear, guilt, and shame to get people to do things they should or stop

http://video.dailymail.co.uk/video/mol/2016/10/25/7866485951642776931/640x
360_MP4_7866485951642776931.mp4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIyqcST29wQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKvKXGMDc5E
 Moral Appeal
• directed at the consumers’/ recipients sense of what is right/proper
• often used to exhort people to support social and ethical causes, e.g.

– Social awakening and justice

– Cleaner and safe environment

– Equal rights (e.g. women, LGBT…)

– Protection of consumer rights and awakening

Consider the types of appeal targeted by these ads supporting two different and opposing initiatives.
Analyze the strategies used to appeal to the audience in terms of the elements we have covered so far.
Which of these do they share? Are some favoured by one or the other (and to what effect)?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0pQUoc1mtU
 Target audience
• A case of gender and/in advertising
• Intertextuality

Could you reverse the situation?

Which prototypically ‘female-oriented product’ would you advertise in this
way, for it to appeal to women
Work in pairs and make an advertisement (poster or vidio) for the product
you got assigned, aimed at the consumer category you were assigned. In
doing so, think of, and try to include the elements we covered in class,
including:
• attention seeking devices

• images/ paralanguage,

• layout and other graphological device (typography)

• Linguistic devices

– Appropriate slogans (think in terms of puns/ wordplays)

• Appropriate intertextual references

• Types of appeal you should aim for with respect to your product type and the
intended audience