How Advertisement Is DoneThe Language of the AdvertiserWhen we choose a word we do more th

How Advertisement Is Done

The Language of the Advertiser

When we choose a word we do more than give information; we also express out feelings about whatever we're describing. Words point to facts but often link these to attitudes at the same time; they can also affect the beliefs and attitudes of other people.

These two remarks are much the same, or are they？ What's the speaker's feeling towards the same dog in each case？ And how would the different descriptions affect the listeners？

Here comes that pet.

Here comes that dog.

The fact that words can work like this is important and valuable, for it adds a richness to our communication with one another. Advertisers make use of it in a number of ways.

Brand names

The manufacturer needs a name that will do more than just label: he wants a name that brings suitable associations as well the ideas that the word brings to the mind will help sell the product.

If all were available at the same price, which coat or suit would you choose from this range of shades—Dark Tan, Brown, Mud Brown？

Which of these shades of eye-show, Black Diamond, Black, Coaldust？

Key words

Because words have these associations, the advertiser is very careful about the way he describes his product and what it will do. Almost every advertisement has certain key words(sometimes, but not always, in bold or large letters, or beginning with a capital letter) that are intended to be persuasive, while at the same time appearing to be informative. It's difficult enough simply to describe what a thing is and how it works, especially in a few words, but the writers who write for the advertisements also try to include feelings, associations and attitudes.

Some words seem to have been so successful in selling that the advertisers use them almost as if they were magic key to a certain sale. How often, for instance, have you come across the word "golden" in advertisements？

Association of ideas

One thing reminds us of another, especially if we often see them together. These reminders(called "associations") are sometimes more imaginary than real: for many people a robin suggests Christmas, for others silver candlesticks suggest wealth.

The tricks of the advertising business we have so far described are all examples of the advertiser encouraging us to associate products with those things he thinks we really want a good jog, nice clothes, a sport car, a beautiful girlfriend perhaps most of all a feeling of importance. The "image" of a product is based on these associations, and the advertiser of ten creates a "good image" by showing us someone who uses his product and who leads the kind of life we should like to lead. We buy not just the product but the sense of importance that goes with it. We drink Coca-Cola not just for the taste, but because we would like to be thought of as being as gay as the energetic people who drink it in the ads.

How scientific is the science？

In this age of moon flights, heart transplants and wonder drugs, we are all impressed by science. If an advertiser links his claim with a scientific fact, there is even a chance we can be science. The question is simply whether the impressive air of the new discovery of the "man-made miracle" is being used to help or just to deceive us.

"The camera never lies"

Maybe we can't always believe what we're told, but surely we must accept what we're actually shown. The trouble is that when we look at the photograph we don't know how the photograph was taken, or even what was actually photographed.

Is that delicious-looking whipped cream really cream, or plastic froth？

Is that marvelous loss a sheet of glass？

Are the colours in fact s

A．Y

B．N

C．NG