Advertising language
As advertising language refers to the specific linguistic problems, through which advertising texts appear as advertising. Advertising language always pursues specific goals. It has addressees ( target groups ) and senders (advertisers). Large companies use specialists called copywriters to create them . In a broader sense "of advertising language" all verbal and nonverbal with communication to mean agents that in the advertising be used.
Historical development
The history of advertising began in ancient times at the time of Christ . In progressive cities like Pompeii , which had a high literacy rate , inscriptions were found with which z. B. was advertised for politicians and restaurants:
- Choose Bruttius Balbus, because he will spare the city treasury.
- Ex hinc viatorriens ante turii XII inibi. Sarinus Publii camponatur. Ut arires. Vale. (Wanderer, go from here to the 12th tower. Sarinus keeps a wine bar there. Visit the same. Farewell.)
After the invention of the printing press in the 15th century and the emergence of the press in the early 17th century, it became easier to reproduce and distribute advertising. In the 18th century the so-called intelligence papers , which specialized in advertisements, were created. The first advertising agencies emerged as external sellers of the advertising spaces in the newspapers, who received a commission from the newspapers. They even levied their own tax on these ads. Around 100 years later the newspapers discovered the possibility of financing themselves with the help of advertising and thereby reducing the price for the readers. The influence of the economy increased. In the course of the industrial revolution , mass production emerged . Now advertising was no longer controlled by the traders but by the producers of the goods.
Function and structure of an advertisement
AIDA
The stylistic devices of advertising language come from general rhetoric . Its promotional character is particularly evident from the fact that the advertising almost always over-emphasizes the positive aspects of the offer, for example through the accumulation of positive adjectives or superlative expressions. The legislator therefore had to set limits to advertising communication with Section 5 of the Act against Unfair Competition (UWG). Advertising language must therefore be recognizable as such and the statements made must not mislead consumers.
In an advertising campaign, the advertising language is generally used to induce target groups to purchase a product, service or subscription. Advertising texts often have to take four aspects into account, which are described in the so-called AIDA model . The AIDA model is used by many product managers and advertising agencies as a criteria model. The abbreviation results from four terms:
- Attention: First of all, the advertising language should help to generate attention for the advertising material.
- Interest: Second, the interest of the target groups should be aroused, for example through statements that appear important to them.
- Desire (strong desire): In the third step, consumers should have a strong desire to own the advertised product or service.
- Action: Fourth, the advertising language should ultimately induce consumers to act, i.e. to buy.
From an economic point of view, advertising language can contribute to transparency and the development of markets. If several manufacturers offer a qualitatively comparable product, advertising can not only be a success factor for the company, but also an information factor for consumers. In many cases, for example, consumers can only find out about the existence of competing products through advertising. However, since more and more consumers are getting information about products and services online, the information function has become more and more important on the one hand, and increasingly pre-structured by search engines and comparison portals on the other.
Criticism of the advertising language
Advertising language is often critically analyzed in German lessons in schools. The criticism of advertising language (" advertising criticism ") is directed towards the rhetorical means that appear manipulative and "seductive" and are made responsible for the commercialization and the fueling of consumer wishes. Furthermore, the disregard for consumers is criticized, which is seen in the excess of advertising and repetition as well as in general in the flooding with advertising messages. A third point of criticism often concerns the quality of the advertising and the advertising language. Anglicisms (“Denglish”) and sexism are criticized again and again .
Text and image
A successful advertisement takes these difficulties into account. In general, it can be observed that the proportion of text elements has decreased significantly over the course of history. While the advertisements in the intelligence sheets consisted exclusively of (rather long) texts, nowadays there are only a few advertisements that do without visual elements.
Images are perceived faster. A picture can, but does not necessarily have to show the advertised product. It can also serve as an eye-catcher (e.g. an attractive woman) or create general positive associations that are associated with the product (e.g. a cowboy as a symbol of freedom in cigarette advertising). It should be noted, however, that the perception of a picture can be different for each viewer, as it depends on the origin, education and psychological factors such as motivation . Particularly original images are inextricably linked to a certain product, e.g. B. the Milka cow or the HB male .
An advertisement is particularly understandable and promising if image and text appear together. The combination options are basically unlimited, as the viewer automatically searches for a meaning. A clear discrepancy between text and image can even have a positive influence, since in this case the recipients are particularly active in the ad and then remember the content more easily.
The text of an advertisement can be divided into three parts.
- In addition to the picture, the headline is the most important eye-catcher and important for attention control. Ideally, it consists of five to eight words and supports the visual representation.
- The running text is intended to provide additional information on the advertised product. However, it is only read by about 5% of the recipients because it is too detailed in most cases, given the selective perception.
- The slogan usually only consists of a few words and forms a unit with the product name. Thus it relieves the memory and supports the recognition of the product.
In addition to nouns, the most common parts of speech in advertisements are adjectives or adverbs that describe the properties of a product. Some of them just express positive reinforcement (extra, active). Also popular are neologisms that are formed by composing several nouns and adjectives / adverbs, such as B. the five-minute terrine or the technopolymer . When it comes to verbs, one can distinguish between action-oriented terms such as taking from those relating to perception, e.g. B. feel , experience or enjoy .
If you compare lists of the most popular words from different years, you can also draw conclusions about the respective society. In 1968, terms such as purity , enjoyment and nature were popular, whereas today beauty , future and time dominate. The term security rose from eighth to fourth.
rhetoric
Advertising uses many stylistic devices known from rhetoric. Texts that use elements such as alliteration , parallelism , anaphor , ellipse or rhyme are easier to memorize than a sober description. With a superlative , your own product is set apart from the competition. A personification ensures that a complicated technical product (e.g. a car) appears human and personable. Work in a similar agent -forms like the rinse aid .
Another popular stylistic device is the use of quotations or phraseologisms . One can differentiate between different forms of intertextuality . In the case of direct quotations, part of the reference text is taken over completely and unchanged and marked (with quotation marks or reference ) or inserted unmarked into the advertisement. In other cases only some lexical elements or the syntactic structure are copied. Allusions can also be made figuratively; a princess stands z. B. representative of the genre fairy tales . Awareness of the reference text is important for success. If the recipient does not recognize the reference, the advertising will fail.
A good advertisement is characterized by a recognizable structure and clear wording. She uses concise and familiar vocabulary . The most important thing, however, is the effect. This can also - as already indicated - arise from a conscious deviation from the norms.
Advertising as a dialogue
Since advertising is a dialogue between producers and customers, appropriate strategies that are known from communication analysis are also used. The customer should be moved to buy by more or less direct requests. This can be done through imperatives or rhetorical questions . The impression is created that the customer would not be able to lead a comfortable life without the product X. This is why advertising is criticized for promising more than a product can do. Such allegations are particularly common in political advertising (election posters).
Product name
The product name is used to identify a product and to differentiate it from the competition. The customer should associate a product with a certain brand as much as possible . In certain cases, this connection can even lead to so-called deonymization . The product name becomes the designation for the item ( generic name ). Examples of this are Tempo for a paper handkerchief, Tesa for an adhesive tape or Nutella for the nut-nougat cream. In English , verbs were even derived from the product names Xerox and Hoover ( to xerox "photocopying"; to hoover "vacuuming").
From a linguistic point of view, product names have a special position.
- Product names occupy an intermediate position between proper names and appellants , since on the one hand they identify individual objects like proper names [...], but on the other hand, like appellatives, they also name entire classes of objects with certain properties [...]. ( Lit .: Janich, p. 51)
When choosing a product name, it's not just the effect that is decisive. If the goods are to be marketed internationally, cultural and linguistic taboos must also be observed. In addition, only those product names that meet the requirements of the Trademark Act are permitted .
Several principles can be distinguished when forming a product name.
- Lexical elements or proper names (also from foreign languages) are adopted unchanged as product names (e.g. Golf or Brigitte ).
- Lexical elements serve as the basis for a product name. This also includes complex formations, e.g. B. Sinalco from sine alcohol (without alcohol), and partial sentences (e.g. you may ). Sometimes there is a deliberate deviation from the orthographic or grammatical rules. So z. B. for Yello Strom advertised with the color yellow, although the w of the English word yellow is missing in the name. The same applies to the slogan the king of beers .
- It is a newly created word ( neologism ), e.g. B. Kodak . This creativity is not limited to the product name, but is also used in the description. Examples are unbreakable and april fresh and the Fleckenteufel .
- Some product names also provide information about the product. One example is the acronym Haribo , which refers to the manufacturer ( Ha ns Ri egel from Bo nn).
Foreign language, dialect and technical language
When it comes to foreign languages , widespread and well-known languages are preferred. That is why linguistic elements from English dominate . French follows in second place . There are no restrictions on the parts of speech. Nouns and adjectives to describe the products are taken over as well as verbs.
English can be found almost everywhere. It is associated with modern technology (computers) and the internationality of global corporations. Since the language is well known, elements adopted from it are hardly integrated; H. adapted to the German language. Changes are therefore noticeable, such as B. at the already mentioned Yello Strom . Another example is the slogan Do you yahoo? . The English noun that represents an insult (Yahoo: English for Saukerl) becomes a harmless verb. But even with a widely used language such as English, the effect of the advertising depends on the extent to which the recipient understands the message. Otherwise you could z. B. misunderstand the slogan Come in and find out due to the parallelism (come in and find your way out).
Other foreign languages are specialized in their application. They are mainly used for individual groups of products that are associated with the respective country. You will find French elements especially when it comes to fashion ( haute couture , prêt-à-porter ) or culinary specialties ( haute cuisine ) . Sometimes the manufacturer is also emphasized, e.g. B. in cars. BMW advertises with joy of driving , Rover with A class of its own and Renault with Créateur d'automobiles . In seldom used languages, lexical elements are usually not used, but foreign proper names, e.g. B. Giotto or Villarriba and Villabajo . The last two names translated mean nothing else than lower or upper town. The content is less important in these cases. Instead, the strangeness and otherness are emphasized.
In contrast, the use of a dialect signals a bond with home. Since it is a regionally bound variety of the (German) language, the recipients in the corresponding area feel particularly addressed. However, a less pronounced form is often chosen in advertising, which is closer to the standard language , in order to find a compromise between the broadest possible dissemination of the product and regional identification. It should also be noted that there is no binding orthography for dialects . In order to avoid possible comprehension difficulties, the dialect is mainly used in audiovisual media ( radio , television ) or limited to regionally appearing print media (e.g. the local daily newspaper). Dialect advertising is often combined with testimonials . Celebrities from the respective region speak their dialect and thus reinforce thoughts of home.
It can be problematic if a manufacturer uses a technical language from the vocabulary . Because when used in advertising, it is an external communication situation. Laypeople have to deal with terms that are otherwise reserved for experts in the respective subject area. If the developments and results are thematized in the public media and are thus part of the general discourse , technical terms can be adopted into the advertising language all the more easily. In addition to this linguistic closeness to everyday life, the social prestige of the subject is a decisive selection factor. Special rules apply to pharmaceutical advertising. The drug advertising law prescribes certain mandatory information and expressly forbids misleading statements and false promises.
Often, however, the exact meaning of a term is not important. Rather, external elements should signal credibility and scientific accuracy (e.g. coenzyme Q 10 ). The probiotic foods are a controversial topic . Pseudo-technical terms are created specifically for this purpose (AHA complex). The specialist language texts are often combined with appropriate graphics and tables to reinforce the impression.
literature
- Nina Janich: Advertising language. A work book. Narr, Tübingen 2001 (2nd revised edition), ISBN 3-8233-4974-0 .
- Nathalie Klüver: Advertising language as a mirror of society. Ad copy and advertising over the decades. Diplomica, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-8366-6928-3 .
- Christoph Platen: Economics. On product name linguistics in the European single market. Niemeyer, Tübingen 1997, ISBN 3-484-52280-1 .
- Ruth Römer: The language of advertising. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1980 (6th edition), ISBN 3-590-15604-X .
- Bernard Sowinski: advertisements and mailings. Oldenbourg, Munich 1979, ISBN 3-486-03931-8 .
- Bernard Sowinski: Advertising. Niemeyer, Tübingen 1998, ISBN 3-484-37104-8 .
