A discourse analysis of english commercial advertisements = phân tích diễn ngôn quảng cáo thương mại tiếng anh

reasons above, I decide to choose “A discourse Analysis of English Commercialadvertisements” to be the theme of my thesis.2.. Definition of discourse Since the appearance of new subject-

For the completion of this study, I have been fortunate to receive invaluable contributions from many people First of all, I would like to express my greatest

gratitude to M.A Tran Ba Tien, my supervisor, for his excellent suggestions,

valuable materials, unflagging encouragement, and detailed correction that help

me to fulfill this study.

I am also grateful to my teachers in the department of foreign languages for their helpful suggestions and encouragement which help me overcome difficulties in the process of my study.

My warmest thanks go to my loved family and my good friends who are willing

to help me and always by my side, encourage me to complete my work.

Table of content

Page

Acknowledgement………i

Table of content………ii

Introduction……….1

1 Rationale of the study……….1

2 Aims of the study……… 2

3 Scope of the study……… 2

4 Research Methods……… 2

5 Design of the study……….3

Development………4

Chapter I: Theoretical background………4

1.1 Discourse and discourse analysis……… 4

1.1.1 Definition of discourse……… 4

1.1.2 Spoken discourse and written discourse………4

1.1.3 Discourse analysis……….5

1.1.4 Discourse context……… 6

1.1.4.1 Context of situation……… 6

1.1.4.2 Context versus Co-text……… 7

1.1.5 Thematisation………8

1.1.5.1 Theme and rheme……… 8

1.1.5.2 Types of theme……… 8

1.1.6 Cohesion……… 9

1.1.6.1 Definition of cohesion……… 9

1.1.6.2 Types of cohesion……… 10

1.1.6.2.1 Reference ……… 10

1.1.6.2.2 Substitution……….13

1.1.6.2.3 Ellipsis……… 14

1.1.6.2.4 Conjunction………15

1.2 The discourse of advertising……… 17

1.2.1 Definition of advertising………17

1.2.2 Classification of advertising……… 18

1.2.2.1 Non-commercial advertising……… 19

1.2.2.2 Commercial advertising……… 20

1.2.3 Objectives of advertising………20

1.2.4 Role of language in advertising……… 21

Chapter II: An analysis of English commercial

Advertisements……… 22

2.1 The structure of an commercial advertisement……… 22

2.1.1 Headline………23

2.1.2 Body……… 24

2.1.3 Signature………25

2.2 Cohesion………26

2.2.1 Cohesive devices……… 27

2.2.1.1 Reference……….27

2.2.2 Substitution……… 32

2.2.3 Ellipsis……… 33

2.2.4 Conjunction………35

2.3 Thematisation……… 38

2.3.1 Unmarked theme……….39

2.3.2 Marked theme……… 39

Conclusion………41

1 Review of major findings……… 41

2 Implication for advertisement writers………42

References

Appendix

introduction

1 Rationale of the study

Since the appearance of advertising, it has become one of the most effective strategies of business in increasing their out-put The out-put of a product partly depends on the strategy of advertising This is proved in reality by thousands of products which are well advertised Although few people admit to being greatly influenced by advertising, surveys and sale figures show that a well-designed advertising campaign has dramatic effects Therefore, a lot of money is spent on advertising For example, in 1997, in the U.S alone, over $175 billion USD was spent on it Advertising can be seen as necessary for economic growth Developing an advertising strategy to achieve the objectives of a campaign requires that consideration be given in both the message which will be communicated and the media through which it will be sent However, apart from the used media, the message plays an important role in achieving the objectives

In order to do this, the language that is used to write advertising message must

be positive, attractive, beautiful, etc Thus, research on the language of advertising is very necessary

Moreover, Vietnam has been official member of the World Trade Organization which is considered as the opportunity for businesses in Vietnam to introduce their own products to the world If they want to introduce or sell their products, firstly, they have to advertise them to the customers in the world It is no exaggeration to say that advertising can lead to the success or failure of a product The fact is that many Vietnamese companies have not paid attention to how to advertise well or how to write an effective advertising message Specially, almost advertisements for foreigners are written in English For all

reasons above, I decide to choose “A discourse Analysis of English Commercialadvertisements” to be the theme of my thesis.

2 Aims of the study

Originating from the reasons above, the aims of the study are:

- To emphasize the important role of language in a advertising campaign tobusinesses

- To clarify some special features of the language used in advertisements

- To analyze the structure of an advertisement in magazine in terms of discourseanalysis

- To suggest some implications for advertisement writers in creating an effectiveadvertising message

3 Scope of the study

Due to time and resource limitation, this study only focuses on the analysis ofEnglish commercial advertisements Thematisation and grammatical cohesionprovided by Halliday and Hasan (1976) are used as the framework for dataanalysis Other types of lexical cohesion are out of the scope of the thesis Thedata analyzed in the thesis are advertisements in a magazine named

“Chatelaine”, which is chosen by many advertisers in order to advertise theirproduct because of the large number of readers who are mainly women

4 Research Methods

To achieve the mentioned aims, the following methods were employed:

The first is reviewing the theories related to the study in order to shape up aframework for the analysis

The next is collecting some advertisements in “Chatelaine” magazine to analyzetheir structure as well as their cohesion

Finally, based on the data shown from these advertisements, some conclusionsand recommendations will be made

5 Design of the study

This study consists of three parts:

Part one: Introduction

In this part, the rationale, aims, scopes, methods and design of the thesis areintroduced.

Part two: Development

There are two chapters in this part:

Chapter 1 Theoretical background

Chapter 2 An analysis of English commercial advertisements

Part three: Conclusion

In this part, major findings are reviewed and then some applications as well assuggestions for further researches are provided

developmentchapter 1: theoretical background 1.1 Discourse and discourse analysis

1.1.1 Definition of discourse

Since the appearance of new subject- Discourse analysis, linguists have neworientational point of view on the language They consider and study thelanguage in the relation to the context in which it is used This viewpoint isdifferent from traditional linguists’ one that only concentrate on phonological,lexical, and syntactical features However, the term “discourse” is defined indifferent ways The term discourse refers to the interpretation of thecommunicative event in the context A discourse, according to Crystal (1992:25)

is “a continuous stretch of (especially spoken) language larger than a sentence,

often constituting a coherent unit, such as a sermon, argument, joke or narrative.” The notion “discourse” is defined by Cook (1989:156) as “stretches

of language perceived to be meaningful, unified and purposive” that is the best

to apply in this study

1.1.2 Spoken discourse and written discourse

There are two forms of language: spoken and written discourse However,spoken language emerged before written one According to Halliday (1985:6),cultural changes which created new communicative needs resulted in theemergence of a new form of language-writing

Brown and Yule (1983:13) suggest that spoken and written discourse share somecommon functions The first is to establish and maintain human relationships(interactional use) and the second is to transfer information (transactional use).Also, David Nunan (1995) believes that they both perform an equivalent range

of broad functions, that is, it is used to get things done, to provide informationand entertain

However, there are some different points between written and spoken discourse.The major difference between them is taken from the fact that spoken discourse

is changeable and written discourse is permanent Written discourse is oftenedited and structured while spoken discourse is considered to be less plannedand orderly, more open to intervention by the receivers (Cited in To Viet Thu2001- MA thesis)

According to Raphael Sakies (1993), the contexts for using written language arevery different from those in which spoken language is used For example, in thecase of information, written discourse is used to communicate with others whoare removed in time and space, for those occasions on which a permanent orsemi-permanent record is required

To summarize, spoken and written discourse share some common points in theirfunctions, however, they are different in term of communicative need, the way ofproduction, and context and these differences are not absolute because thecharacteristics that we tend to associate with written language can sometimesoccur in spoken language and vice versa

This study uses the term Discourse for any written record of a communicativeevent in context Thus, the analysis of English commercial advertisement meansthe analysis of print advertisements in magazine

1.1.3 Discourse analysis

All traditional linguists-from the phonetician, through the grammarian, to thediscourse analyst-are concerned with identifying regularities and patterns inlanguage However, in different situation the same grammatical form can havedifferent functions The different situations will have different roles ofrelationships, different purposes and different settings that are the main factorsdeciding the function of a grammatical form Discourse analysis is interested inall these factors and tries to account for them in a rigorous fashion In otherwords, discourse analysis is interested in written/spoken discourses, but fullycontextualized both in terms of the surrounding text and of the key features ofthe situation (context) It is in this respect that discourse analysis adds somethingextra to traditional linguistics

Guy Cook (1989: 3) also claims that “discourse analysis examines how stretches

of language, considered in their full textual, social, and psychological context, become meaningful and unified for their users” The ultimate aim of this

analytical work is both to show and to interpret the relationship between theseregularities and the meaning and purposes expressed through discourse.Therefore, discourse analysis is concerned with the study of the relationshipbetween language and the context in which it is used, that is, it involves thestudy of language in use: written texts of all kinds, and spoken data fromconversations to highly formal forms of speech

This study analyzes the language of commercial advertising in the magazine

“Chatelaine” in the relation to the context of advertising

1.1.4 Discourse context

1.1.4.1 The context of situation

In discourse analysis, context of situation, or context is an important factor that

can not be dissociated when interpreting the discourse A context can support a“

range of meaning” (Hymes, quoted in Brown and Yule, 1983) According to

David Nunan (1983:7), context refers to the situation giving rise to the“

discourse and within which the discourse is embedded” He also divides context

into types: linguistic and non-linguistic The linguistic context is the languagethat surrounds or accompanies the piece of discourse under analysis The non-linguistic context includes the type of communicative event, the topic, thepurpose of the event, the setting, the participants and the relationships between

them and the background knowledge and assumptions underlying thecommunicative event.

This viewpoint of Nunan is much similar to that of Halliday and Hasan (1976)who claim that when responding to a spoken or a written passage (discourse ortext), the receiver employs not only linguistic clues, but also situational ones.Linguistically, he responds to specific features which bind the passage together,the pattern of connection, independence of structure, that we are referring to ascohesion; situationally, he takes into account all he knows of the environment:What is going on, what part of language is playing, and who are involved.(cited

in Dang Huu Phuoc 2006:7- Graduation Thesis)

It is undeniable that the contexts, both linguistic and non-linguistic contexts are

important to discourse interpretation as ‘there are good arguments for limiting

the field of study to make it manageable, but it is also true to say that the answer

to the question of what gives discourse its unity may be impossible to give without considering the world at large: the context’ (Cook, 1989:10)

As mentioned above, both linguistic and non-linguistic contexts do appear to berelevant to the analysis of English commercial advertising

1.1.4.2 Context versus co-text

It is obvious that context is different from co-text David Nunan (1995) holdsthat co-text is considered the linguistic element and context the non-linguistic

one Taking about context, Brown and Yule (1983) state that “any sentence

other than the first in a fragment of discourse will have the whole of its interpretation forcibly constrained by the proceeding text and the words” “

occur in discourse are constrained by their co-text ”

Both context and co-text take important parts in interpreting discourse but theyare obviously different The former involves non-linguistic elements and thelatter the linguistic one

1.1.5 Thematisation

1.1.5.1 Theme and Rheme

The term “Theme and Rheme” refers to a formal category Theme that Hallidaycalls a “point of departure” (1967:212) refers to the left- most constituent of thesentence Rheme is the remainder of the message which consists of what thespeaker states about that point of departure (Halliday, 1985:38) Mathesius also

claim that each simple sentence has a theme “the starting point of the utterance”and a rheme, everything else that follows in the sentence which consists of “whatthe speaker states about” In complex and compound sentences a separatethematic organization will be assigned to each clause ( Halliday,1967).

Theme, which refers to the initial element in a clause, is rearranged by means offronting devices What the speaker or writer decides to bring to the front of theclause is a signal of what is to be understood as the frame work within whichwhat we want to say is to be understood The rest of the clause can then be seen

as transmitting “what we want to say within this framework” Items brought to

be front-placed in this way we shall call the themes of their clause

1.1.5.2 Types of Theme

Theme is where the subject matter of the sentence is usually laid out for thereader Brown and Yule 91983:133) divide theme into subtypes like single andmultiple theme, unmarked and marked theme, predicated and not predicatedtheme However, unmarked theme and marked theme are mentioned in thisthesis

By unmarked theme we mean it strictly in the sense that “it is the most expected,

common, and unmarkable case” (Butt 2000:139); therefore, themes are

unmarked when they are conflated with subject (as identified and specified inD.Q.Ban 2001:45-147; N.V.Hiep and N.M.Thuyet 1998:119-128) If the firsttopical element of a declarative is also the subject of the clause, then the themechoice is a neutral or unmarked one, which gives the theme no specialprominence

By contrast, by marked theme we mean it in the sense that “it is unusual and

should be noticed because of the way it stands out” (Butt, ibid:140) When the

topical theme of a declarative is not the subject, it gains greater textualprominence Non-subject themes are “marked” theme and are often important instructuring the larger discourse Marked themes may draw the addressee’sattention to a particular group or phrase, but more often, it is to build a coherenttext easy to follow Skillful writers and speakers choose marked theme to addcoherence and emphasis to their text

1.1.6 Cohesion

1.1.6.1 Definition of cohesion

Cohesion is part of the system of a language and is known as links between theclauses and sentences of a text Halliday and Hasan view that cohesion is asemantic relation, it refers to relations of meaning that exist within the text, and

that defines it as a text In addition, a text is best regarded as a semantic unit: “a

unit not of form but meaning” (1976:2) They also claim that “Cohesion occurs where the interpretation of some element in the discourse is dependent on that

of another The one presupposes the other, in the sense that it can not be effectively decoded except by recourse to it” Here is a text displaying cohesive

repetition of “branch” and of “join”.

When the similar things happen, a relation of cohesion is set up, and the twoelements, the presupposing and the presupposed, are there by at least potentiallyintegrated in to a text

1.1.6.2 Types of cohesion

Cohesion is expressed partly through the grammar and partly through thevocabulary which are also regarded as “grammatical cohesion and lexicalcohesion” In this thesis, we adopt the division of Halliday and Hasan (1976)which is considered as the most comprehensive description and analysis ofcohesive devices They include 5 major types: reference, substitution, ellipsis,conjunction and lexical cohesion

1.1.6.2.1 Reference

There are words whose meaning can only be discovered by referring to otherwords or to elements of the context which are clear to both sender and receiver.They are called reference According to Halliday and Hasan (1976), there aretwo kinds of reference: exophoric and endophoric If it is endophoric, it may be

anaphoric or cataphoric Referring items refer to may be in or out of the text.Reference-in-text may be anaphoric (looking back) or cataphoric (lookingforwards) and out of context reference is called exophoric (looking outwards).Reference words are words which do not have a full meaning in their own right.

To work out what they mean on any particular occasion We have to refer tosomething else The following examples will describe clearly dementions ofreference

Anaphoric reference is the way in which the pronouns refer back to nounswhich have already appeared in the text In this type, it is necessary to lookforwards for the information necessary to identify the referent

E.g.: You are right The young man said Yes That is very true “ ” “

Isn t it, Julie? ’ He looked at the young woman next to him ”

(The Girl with Green Eyes- One-way Ticket Jennifer Bassett : 1)

The pronoun “he” and him“ ” refers back to the previously mentioned noun the“

young man” so it is called anaphoric reference

Cataphoric reference is the reverse of anaphoric reference and is relativelystraight forward Referents can be confirmed by look forward in the text To findout cataphoric reference, the reader has to read on and find the identity in thelatter sentence Cataphoric reference engages and holds the reader’s attentionwith a “read on and find out” message This is an example of cataphoric:

They pressed round him ragged fashion to take their money Andy,

Dave, Phil, Stephen, Bob.

(Graham Swift, The Sweet Shop Owner, Penguin Books Limited, 1983:13)

The word “they” refers not to just any person, but to Andy, Dave, Phil, Stephen,

Bob At the beginning, when we read, we may not understand what and who

“they” is but latter we know that “they” is rightly “Andy, Dave, Phil, Stephen,

Bob”

Exophoric reference is the type in which the information needed foridentification is outside the text With outward- pointing reference, the referencemay be not something in the immediate situation, but to something in a widercontext, knowledge of which is assumed to be shared by speaker or writer andhearer or reader Exophoric reference will often be a world shared by sender andreceiver of the linguistic message, regardless of cultural background, but equally

often, reference will be culture – bound and outside the experiences of thelanguage learner It is clearly shown in the following example:

Halliday and Hasan (1976) also identify three sub-types of referential cohesion,including personal, demonstrative and comparative

Personal reference is reference by means of function in the speech situation,through the category of person Its items are expressed through personal

pronouns I, you, he, she, it, we and they, along with their object forms (me, him,

etc.) and their possessive forms (my, your, etc., and mine, yours, etc.) In fact,

referring words used are not conjunctions, they function to make cohesion andavoid repeating a single word or a whole clause And the most common way tolook forwards or backwards to people or things within one sentence or of theprevious one is the use of personal pronouns Pronouns cohesive ties may beused in a way that “ties” them to certain nouns in the text For example:

Mikhail Gorbachev didn t have to change the world ’ He could have chosen to Rule much as his predecessors did.

(The Bulletin, 24 December 1991)

Here the pronoun refers back to a previously mentioned noun, so he“ ” refers to

Mikhail Gorbachev.

Demonstrative reference is reference by means of location, on a scale of

proximity and is expressed through determiners and adverbs (this/ these; that/

those; here/ there).

Last year we went to Devon for a holiday The holiday we had there was

the best we ve ever had.’

( Halliday and Hasan, 1976 :73)

Comparative reference is indirect reference by means of identity or similarity

and is expressed through adjectives and adverbs (same, equal, identical (ly),

similar, such, so, likewise, similarly, more, fewer, etc.) Most comparatives are

used for anaphoric reference For example:

There were two wrens upon a tree

Another came, and there were three

(Halliday and Hasan, 1976:31)

It is less common for a comparative to be used for cataphoric reference, i.e to tiethe comparative to a noun in the following clause or sentence

1.1.6.2.2 Substitution

Another kind of formal link between sentences is the substitution of words like

do or so for a word or group of words which have appeared in an earlier

sentence According to Halliday and Hasan (1976), substitution “is a relation on

the lexical grammatical level, the level of grammar and vocabulary, or linguistic form” A substitute is a sort of counter which is used in place of the repetition of

a particular item

Since substitution is a grammatical relation, a relation in the wording rather than

in the meaning, the different types of substitution are defined grammaticallyrather than semantically The criterion is the grammatical function of thesubstitute item In English, the substitute may function as a noun, as a verb, or as

a clause There are three types of substitution, including nominal, verbal, andclausal that can be consecutively exemplified in the following instances:

Nominal substitution

I ve heard some strange stories in my time But this ’ one was the perhaps

the strangest one of all.

(Halliday and Hasan, 1976:92)

Verbal substitution

Does Granny look after you yesterday?

She can t ’ do at weekends, because she has to go to her own house

(Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 114)

In each example, part of the preceding text has been replaced by one, do, so

respectively These words can only be interpreted in relation to what has gonebefore

1.1.6.2.3 Ellipsis

Ellipsis is a kind of substitution, can be defined as substitution by zero It occurswhen something that is structurally necessary is left unsaid In other words, it isthe omission of elements normally required by the grammar which thespeaker/writer assumes are obvious from the context and therefore need not to be

raised “Like substitution, ellipsis is a relation within the text, and in the great

majority of instances the presupposed item is present in the preceding text That

is to say, ellipsis is normally an anaphoric relation.”(Halliday and Hasan, 1976:

144) Ellipsis can be made for nominal, verbal and clausal those are clearlyillustrated in the following examples

Nominal ellipsis

Which last longer, the curved rods or the straight rods?

The straight <>are less likely to break.

(Halliday and Hasan, 1976:148)

Verbal ellipsis

Joan brought some carnations, and Catherine <> some sweet peas.

(Halliday and Hasan, 1976:143)

Clausal ellipsis

A: Why d you only set three places? Paul s staying for a dinner, isn t he?’ ’ ’

B : Is he? He didn t tell me ’ <>

1.1.6.2.4 Conjunction

The fourth and final type of cohesive relation that we find in the grammar is that

of conjunction It is “provided by those words and phrases which explicitly draw

attention to the type of relationship which exists between one sentence or clause and another.” (Guy Cook, 1989:21).

Halliday and Hasan (1976) suggest that conjunction is rather different in nature

from the other cohesive relations “Conjunctive elements are cohesive not in

themselves but indirectly, by virtue of their specific meanings; they are not primarily devices for reaching out into the preceding (or following) text, but

they express certain meanings which presuppose the presence of other components in the discourse.” (Halliday and Hasan, 1976:226)

Various suggestions could be taken up for classifying the phenomena which weare grouping together under the heading of conjunction In this thesis, we

adopt the classification of Halliday and Hasan which conclude four categories:additive, adversative, causal, and temporal Here is an example of each:

Additive

Today, only forty-four inhabitants remain join (on Pitcairn Island).

Conditions on the island have deteriorated, and their only contact with the

outside world is via an antiquated radio link with the British Consulate in New

Zealand and (weather permitting) two passing ships a year In other words the

Pitcairners are desperately in need of aid.

(Text and discourse analysis, Raphael Salkies, 76)

Adversative

Of the economists considered in section II above, the one who was

interested in the relation of firms to markets was Marshall, however, chose to

go in a different direction His contemporaries, on the other hand, though they

developed the theory of completive equilibrium, were interested in issues other than that of the relationship of the firm to the industry.

(Text and discourse analysis, Raphael Salkies, 76)

Causal

she felt that there was no time to be lost, as she was shrinking rapidly;

so she got to work at once to eats some of the other bit.

(Halliday and Hasan, 1976:256)

Temporal

Recently, interest in local government autonomy has revived in some countries.

But the question of how long this will last, before central control re-emerges on

the scene, has to be raise.

(Text and discourse analysis, Raphael Salkies, 76)

1.2 The discourse of advertising

1.2.1 Definition of advertising

Nowadays, we can see advertising everywhere; however, it is difficult to have aclear and accurate definition of advertising Firstly, some definitions ofadvertising in dictionary are introduced then we discuss some others in terms ofmodern usage of advertising.

In dictionary, advertising means “to make know, to inform, to attempt to

persuade”, etc The Reader’s Digest Great Encyclopedic Dictionary defines

advertising as “the act or practice of attracting public notice so as to create

interest or induce purchase; also, any system or method used for such purposes” Advertising is defined in “Webster’ dictionary as “the action of calling something to the attention of the public, especially by paid announcement so as to arouse a desire to buy” However, advertising is more

than to make know, to publish, to inform Dictionary definitions of advertising

do not tell us too much about the modern uses of function of business tool

Early advertising- the simple functions and much advertising still perform themidentify goods, services and ideals that they want to sell but modern advertisinggoes beyond the simple process of identification It not only presents idealsgoods and services but also promote them Therefore advertising is a messagedesigned to strengthen or sell them In modern usage, that is the basic function

of advertising: not only to categorize goods, services or to present them with alisting of their good points and bad, but also to promote them The Institute ofPractitioners in Advertising (IPA), the body which represents advertising

agencies, defines advertising as “the means of providing the most persuasive

selling message to the right prospects at the lowest cost”.

Another definition of advertising is that “Advertising is non-personal

communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services, ideals, by identified sponsors through the various media” (Bovee, 1926-7) So as to comprehensively understand about this

definition, firstly, we need clarify the word “non-personal” There are two basicways to sell anything: personally and non-personally Personal selling meansthat the seller and the buyer get together In this way, the seller directly givesinformation about product that they want to sell The seller can response allcustomers’ requirement and control customers’ attitude to persuade them to buy.However, this way costs a lot of money and only sells product individually Non-personal selling called advertising can solve disadvantages of personal selling

Advertising has, comparatively speaking, all the time in the world The salemessage can be rewritten; modified, injected that most greatly affects customers.Although advertising may not see the individual customer, it has greatly effect

on large groups of customers The most important thing is that advertising can befar cheaper potential customers than the personal selling Thus, it appears thatadvertising is an effective sale tool for business in strategy of product sale

1.2.2 Classification of advertising

In ancient times, the most common form of advertising was by word of mouth

As the economy was expanding during the 19th century, the need for advertisinggrew at the same pace Advertising became popular, filling pages of newspaperswith small print messages promoting all kind of goods Advertising transformed

in to a modern, more scientific approach in which creativity was allowed toshine, producing unexpected messages that made advertisements more attractive

to consumers’ eyes However, advertising is used not only for promoting goods,services but also for other purposes such as policy, education, etc Therefore,advertising is classified into two main kinds: non-commercial advertising andcommercial advertising

1.2.2.1 Non-commercial advertising

Non-commercial advertising is a popular kind of advertising which is used toinform, educate and motivate the public about non-commercial issues, such asAids, political ideology, energy conversation, religious recruitment anddeforestation, etc Advertising is a powerful educational tool capable of reachingand motivating large audiences Non-commercial advertising is sponsored by orfor a charitable institution or civic group or religious or political organization Itreached its height during World War I and II under the direction of severalgovernments The main goals of non-commercial advertising are to:

- stimulate inquires for information

- Popularize social cause

- Change activity habits

- Decrease waste of resources

- Communicate political viewpoint

- Improve public attitude

1.2.2.2 Commercial advertising

Commercial advertising is advertising that involves commercial interests ratherthan advocating a social or political cause It is connected with or engaged in orsponsored by or used in commerce or commercial enterprises The objective ofthis kind is to persuade the customers to buy the product Therefore, how topersuade them is extremely important to advertisers The fact is that almostproducers spend a lot of money on advertising which is a great part in thepromoting strategy The advertisements of this kind are special and various

Trial: The purpose of the trial objective is to encourage customers to make

an initial purchase of a new product If the company does not have any the firsttrial of product by customers, there will not be any repeat purchase Therefore,companies will typically use creative advertising strategy in order to cutthrough other competing advertising

Continuity: Continuity is a strategy to keep current customers using a

particular product Existing customers are targeted and are usually providednew and different information about the product

Brand switching: Companies adopt brand switching as an objective when

they want customers to switch from competitors’ brand to their brands Acommon strategy that companies often use is to compare product price orquality in order to convince customers to switch to its product brand

Switch back: This advertising objective is adopted when they want to get

back former users of their product brand A company might give new productfeatures, price reductions or other important product information in order to getformer customers of its product to switch back

1.2.4 The role of language in advertising

Developing an advertising strategy to achieve the objectives of a campaignrequires that consideration be given to both the “message” which will be

communicated and the “media” through which it will be sent Advertisingmessage is what is said about the information of products, services Anadvertising campaign, no matter how much money is spent no matter what mediaused will only be successful if the message appeal to the target audiences Asuccessful advertising message must stand out amongst the advertising clutter Itrequires being creative, imaginative and innovative.

Chapter 2: An analysis of English commercial

advertisements 2.1 The structure of an advertisement

As defined, an advertisement is a short message which promotes, advertises a product, service or an idea In an advertisement, we can find the most necessary information about product This information often answers for these questions: What is it? What is it used for? What are its outstanding‘

characteristics? How to buy it? In general, an advertisement includes 3 parts:’

headline, body and signature Here is an example about the structure of an advertisement.

Body

Signature

Cooking, baking or beverages

Lacteeze for all the pleasure and comfort milk is meat to bring to your life.

Try lactose reduced Lacteeze and you ll wonder why you ever’

thought that developing lactose intolerance would mean giving

up the great taste of milk Whether used in cooking, baking or beverages, Lacteeze products provide an excellent source of dietary calcium, taste great and can be enjoyed by all the family- so, there s no need to buy two kinds of milk! Partly’

skimmed 2%, 1% or skim milk, and five varieties of yogurt, are from Canada s own Lacteezze, the originator of lactose’

reduced milk.

LACTEEZE

For the current Lacteeze recipe collection, visit

www.gaylea.com or write: Lacteeze Recipes, P.O Box 192, Malton, ON l4T 3B6

(Chatelaine, February 2000)And any copywriting of an advertisement is usually structure around threeprinciples:

1 Revive or create a need The advertisers try to make people believe that

there is a problem using vocabulary which shows wants and needs like Do you‘

want, need ? Have you ever felt ?

2 Satisfy that need It means that producers tell their consumers: Do not‘

worry about the problem we are your friends and here to help solve it They of’

course highlight the benefits and features, give some facts and figures.

3 Call for action by using imperatives like: phone today, come and test drive it

before it s late (in a sense putting people under pressure to take action).’

2.1.1 Headline

The headline is a brief introduction about the message It also aims at attractingreaders’ attention and decides whether the readers continue to read or not Whenhaving a glance at the headline, readers can get the main idea of the message and

if it is of their interest, they may decide to read the rest of the text It is moreimportant to an advertisement which needs the number of readers as much aspossible Therefore, the headline of an advertisement is often about the