The Impact of Communication on Advertising

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The Impact of Language Variables on Communication And Persuasion in Advertising Introduction Advertising is a type of persuasive discourse that reflects the attempt or intention to change the behavior, feelings, intentions or viewpoint of another by communicative means (Lakoff, 1990). Since advertising is a specific discourse genre, we would expect to find some overall similarities in advertising discourse in different cultures. Nelson Mandela once stated: "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language that goes to his heart." To see how this notion can be practically applied, the goal of this research is to examine cultural aspects of advertising by focusing on advertisers` language strategies in relation to the social relationships established between advertiser and consumer. As Carroll (2004) concluded, language plays a vital role in our daily lives and is our most important resource in our attempt to communicate our thoughts and feelings. Language is our tool that both binds us to our friends and family and also enables us to exclude those who are not our peers (Carroll 2004). Understanding language, its comprehension, production, acquisition, and the effect it has on society in terms of cultural norms and expectations is a daunting task. Advertising is a public mode of communication; yet, the researcher will argue that in language in advertising should build a very personal relationship with the audience. However, previous language studies on advertising point out that the context of advertising communication is very impersonal, thus affecting the way advertisers communicate with the audience. Geis (1982), for example, notes that the social context in which advertisers talk directly to consumers is an impersonal, public context. Rationale of the
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