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A Stylistic Analysis Of Bank Advertisements In Nigerian Newspapers
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1.3 The Language of Advertising
Language has a very powerful
influence on people and their behaviour. This is especially true in the
field of advertising. Advertising is a powerful communication force and a
vital marketing tool that helps to sell goods and services, images and
ideas. Therefore the choice of language to convey specific messages or
ideas with the intention of influencing people is very important. Brown
and Yule identify two functions of language; the transactional and
interactional which is used to convey factual or preparational
information. Hence, language plays an important role in advertising
because a breakdown in communication can occur if the speaker and the
hearer are not on the same “wave lengthâ€.
Visual content and design
in advertising have a very great impact on the consumer, but it is
language that helps people to identify a product and remember it.
Leech
(1966: 25) says that the structure of language in advertising has a
peculiar form and many factors predispose the copywriter (i.e. one who
writes advertisements) to chose his vocabulary. Hence, the copywriter
puts into consideration language variation as regards the target
audience and also ensures that his choice of language and content meets
the four basic characteristics outlined by Leech (1966: 25) which are
necessary for successful advertising. These are:
Attention value:
This refers to the unorthodox use of language to provoke the consumer’s
attention and curiosity by presenting something surprising and
unexpected.
Readability: The advertisement must be easy to grasp and assimilate.
Memorability: An advertisement gains nothing unless the name of the
product is remembered. In fact, it is desirable that part of the
stylistic message should memorised. This includes brand names, slogans,
key phrases, snatches of songs, etc.
Selling power: One of the
most striking features of the language of advertising is an extreme
infrequency of imperative clauses aimed at attracting potential buyers
to goods and services being advertised.
The language of advertising
must be informative, instructive, distinctive, alluring and persuasive
(Okpaleke 1992:21). This has been so since the time of oral hawking.
Advertisements are to conceive and disseminate information about the
product on sale to people in a competitive market.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]Stylistics is the study of linguistic and non linguistic aspects of style in spoken and written text. Advertising is a form of communication used to help sell products and services. Adverts are not just to fascinate, but rather, they are used by advertisers to achieve their persuasive goals. This study reveals the manner in which language is used in Bank advertisements for conveying messages to the public and the effectiveness of the choice of language. The stylistic elements employed in the ana ... Continue reading---
