APPEALS AND TYPE OF
ADVERTISING
Presupposition
• Presupposition is a necessary
PRECONDITION for the processing of
communication
• It involves the existence of some objects or
ideas
Presupposition (2)
• Here we PRESUPPOSE
that there exists something
which is as juicy as a fruit.
• This promotes a kind of
ideology within the ad, i.e.
that juiciness is related to
shampoo and hair (cultural
value)
Presupposition (3)
• This advert
presupposes the
existence of leglines,
curves and
compliments AND the
fact that the three
elements are in some
ways correlated
Presupposition (4)
• The presupposition is about the sentence
introduced by ‘it is one’s fault that X
happens’.
• It is linked to what linguists call the
Negation test: if we negate ‘it is one’s
fault that’, X still occurs.
• symbols, indexes and presuppositions are
culturally bounded (cf. the media iceberg),
• => when we look at an image, the symbol,
index or presupposition it culturally
conveys can be explained in terms of
anchorage and relay
• The ideas of ANCHORAGE and RELAY
were introduced by Barthes.
Anchorage
Roland Barthes introduced the concept of anchorage.
Linguistic elements can serve to 'anchor' (or constrain) the
preferred readings of an image: 'to fix the floating chain of
signifieds'.
Barthes introduced this concept of textual anchorage
primarily in relation to advertisements, but it applies of
course to other genres such as captioned photographs, maps,
narrated television and film documentaries, and cartoons and
comics with their speech and thought 'balloons'.
Anchorage
• Anchorage is text (such as a caption) that provides
the link between the image and its context.
• It tells us in words exactly how the subject of the
visual should be read
• Images are prone to multiple meanings and
interpretations. Anchorage occurs when text is used
to focus on one of these meanings, or at least to
direct the viewer through the maze of possible
meanings in some way. Hence, its ideological
value.
Relay
• Relay is the reciprocal relation between
text and picture, or between a picture and
another in that each contributes its own
part of the overall message.
• Barthes used the term relay to describe
text/image relationships which were
'complementary', instancing cartoons,
comic strips and narrative films.
Anchorage, Relay (a remind)
• In an advert we have images that seem to have a
certain meaning.
• Per se, such images carry no specific meaning
• It is the text that guides the viewer to read the right
meaning of the image.
– There is, however, a difference between printed
advertising and TV commercial: tv commercial are
more relay-linked
• The relationship between the visual
and the text (=the anchorage) creates
the Advertising Appeal
ADVERTISING APPEALS
There exist seven different types of APPEAL:
FEAR
HUMOUR
SEX
MUSIC
RATIONALITY
EMOTION
SCARCITY
FEAR
• If a negative incident or behaviour occurs, then
there will be vulnerability and severity in the
damage
• => NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCE
– Insurance companies, shampoo, mouthwash, internet
service providers
HUMOUR
• Humour is effective in both getting attention and
keeping it.
• Humour, irony and nonsense have statistically
proven to be the best techniques for cutting
through clutter
• Humour helps people to adjust to situations they
cannot control and cope with life’s problems
HUMOUR (2/2)
• To be effective and successful, humour in
an advert must be related to the product’s
benefits
• Humour ties together
– the product features
– the consumers’ advantages
– other personal and positive values and feelings
SEX
• The sex appeals go from unconscious
innuendo to nudity to overt sexuality and
sensuality
• Sex and nudity do increase attention
regardless of the actor’s gender in the ad or
the audience’s gender
• Yet sex distracts the audience from the brand
name =>it is not loved amongst copywriters
MUSIC
• It helps to capture the attention of listeners
• It is linked to
– emotions
– memories
– experiences
• Music indexicalizes the product
RATIONALITY
• It assumes consumers elaborate a process of
rational thought when making purchase decisions.
• The goal of a rational appeal is to provide the
information needed to help & make the decision
– Automobile ads:
• info about gas mileages, warranties, price, delivery schedule,
etc.
EMOTION
• It is based on three ideas:
– consumers ignore most ads
– rational appeals go unnoticed
– emotional adverts can capture a viewer’s
attention and help to develop an attachment
between the consumer and the brand
SCARCITY
• It urges consumers to buy a particular
product because of a limitation
– McDonald adverts
Which Appeal?
Limit one voucher per household
Which Appeal?
Which Appeal?
Which Appeal?
Which Appeal?
Which Appeal?
Which Appeal?
Anchorage/Relay/Appeals
• The relation between the image and the text
in advertising (the anchorage) creates the
appeal by means of which an ad is meant to
target the audience.
• Irony and nonsense are the most exploited
forms of appeal.
NONSENSE
C. Pennarola, Nonsense in Advertising, Liguori, 2003
• It is a dichotomy between fantasy and logic;
imagination and reason.
• It is a sort of coming back to childhood
• It is an attempt of running away from the
constraints of logic and meaningfulness.
NONSENSE (2)
• It is characterized by the festive and
liberating spirit of carnival mocking
‘normal life’.
• With nonsense, all kind of boundaries
collapse.
NONSENSE (3)
• In language, the collapse of barriers corresponds to
the elimination of the borders given by the tragic (or
sublime) and comic (or ridiculous) registers.
• In advertising language, nonsense creates imaginary
worlds where the sublime (= the product) and the
ridiculous (= the price) co-exist.
• So, dogmatic and institutional discourses are no
longer serious, and language gains freedom.
Appeals and Type of Advertising
(Leech, English in Advertising, chapter 6)
•
The particular appeal (and therefore the
particular type of advertisement) to use
depends on the following :
1.
2.
3.
4.
products
media
audiences
aims
PRODUCTS
Leech, English in Advertising, chapter 6
• To advertise a product means to make a
choice in terms of:
• vocabulary
• syntax
Products (2): Vocabulary
Leech, English in Advertising, chapter 6
• Adjectives are much more used than substantives.
• Why?
– Substantive are usually very concrete
– Adjectives can be highly informative
– Adjectives can be evaluative => associate the product
to feelings => product added-value
• There are homogeneous set of adjectives for each
class of products
Products (3): vocabulary – adj.
Leech, English in Advertising, chapter 6
• Example of the most common used adj.s in
woman’s clothing:
New – Good – Soft – Warm – Free – Full – Lovely
– Wonderful – Easy – Light – High – Perfect –
Smooth – Luxurious – Slim – Smart – Fashionable
– Practical – Washable
Products (4): Syntax
Leech, English in Advertising, chapter 6
• High frequency of minor sentences
– (“when still warm, it is good”)
• They are used
– to emphasise illustrations and headlines
– to capture the imaginative appeal of the product.
• They describe in an impressionistic way the
qualities of the product.
• The text is thus emotionally descriptive
Media
Leech, English in Advertising, chapter 6
• We have different types of media:
–
–
–
–
TV commercials
Radio commercials
Printed advertising
(E)Mail
Layout of print advertising
Headline/Hook
Subhead
Caption
Body-text
Copy copy copy
Signature
Slogan/slogo
Audiences
Leech, English in Advertising, chapter 6
• We have different types of language
according to
–
–
–
–
AGE
SEX
SOCIAL STATUS
GEOGRAPHICAL AREA.
Audiences
Aims
Leech, English in Advertising, chapter 6
• Advertising may promote
– a product
– a service (bank, insurance)
– a commercial enterprise – the so-called
‘prestige’ advertising
Aims (2)
PRESTIGE ADVERTISING
Environment Introduction
Toyota cares of its environment
Toyota in Europe has a clear vision for the future, a
growing
market
share,
rapidly
expanding
manufacturing operations, an exciting range of
vehicles - with state-of-the-art engines - and a
proven track record of customer satisfaction.
However, our success in Europe does not affect the
attention we pay to the impact that our activities and vehicles - have on the environment and we are
strongly committed to reduce constantly these
impacts over the time.
(http://www.toyota-europe.com/environment/)
Prestige Ad (2)
clear vision for the future
growing market share
expanding manufacturing operations
a proven track record of customer
our success in Europe
• The words (taken from the Toyota advertisement)
are not only eulogistic in themselves but have
strong positive connotations
Aims
• The way we structure information also
depends on the aim of our discourse.
• Information => meaning is structured as a
genre
• A genre is a communicative event defined
by the participants, the topic and the type
of register used.
AIMS OF DISCOURSE
• There exist four main aims of discourse:
• Expressive
Literary
•
•
•
•
Conversation
Letters
Diaries
Blog texts
Novel
short story
Drama
Poetry
• Referential
Persuasive
• Exploratory
• Scientific
• Informative
sermons
Advertising
political speech
religious
PERSUASIVE DISCOURSE
• Persuasive discourse can be reached with
the following:



the ethical argument (testimonials)
the pathetic argument (emotions)
the logical argument (deductions)