Language in Advertising

Language has many different meanings explanations, and interpretations. These variations make it necessary to understand language and communicate effectively, especially when trying to persuade an audience to act. The mass media are among the most discussed and scrutinized of all language purveyors. In this essay I will discuss and analyze the language of the media and the many ways it is used.

Advertising has always been a part of modern capitalism as it shapes the way individuals and companies persuade audiences to purchase or take part in their endeavors. The words used in advertisement have changed the most in modern history. Among the changes we have seen advertisers try to reach the audiences that are hardest to concisely target: young adults and minorities.
Since the emergence of mass advertising in the latter half of the 19th century, a growing awareness among marketers of the diversity of American consumers encourages advertising managers to pay attention to ethnic, racial, and cultural differences. Multiculturalism has emerged as one of America's most important social agendas in the 21st century. Special attention is directed to certain "niche" markets because of their size, buying power, and cultural differences. Hispanic (or Latino) and African-American consumers represent the two largest niche markets, which is causing many advertisers to tailor their messages to the particular interests, market behaviors, and sensitivities of these groups. Great strides have been made by advertising managers to target the African-American and Latino consumer. The language used to reach these audiences is typically vernacular of said cultures. Advertisers jobs depend on the return of investment dollars via sales. Because of this focus marketing managers are often concerned with sociolinguistics: they way language takes on the characteristics of a culture. Diglossia plays a role in the selection as well, Diglossia: being the accents, dialects and languages encompassed in a country of this size. All of these influence the way advertisers choose a medium and tone for an ad.
The role of the advertising manager in regards to minority marketing is to make sure that the interests of the target audience are taken into account and the message content adjusted accordingly. With the number of Hispanics in the country having surged nearly 60% since 1990 to 35.3 million, according to recently released Census data. African Americans, with a population of over 34 million make up 30% of the total U.S. population and are projected to grow at twice the rate of the rest of the population in the next 50 years. Not only that according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia estimate that black buying power of $799 billion in 2006 will be $1.1 trillion in 2011. Right now, of the nearly 1 trillion dollars that African Americans spend as a consumer group, African-American women alone spend 300 billion dollars and influence much more. With number like these it is no wonder their interests are foremost in most advertising manager’s minds. “They are an incredibly lucrative market, with great rewards for businesses that get it right. Ethnic consumers are incredibly loyal, both African-American and Hispanic, and once you have them; they'll stay with you for life. It's a worthwhile investment to make as a marketer.
In the movie “Czech Dream” a group of students form a makeshift company to advertise a supermarket. The store was the American equivalent to Wal-Mart with everything in one location, the first in the Czech Republic. The pair of students set out to show the world what could be done with advertising as they created a jingle marketing campaign and a mock store-front.
The filmmakers then released the floodgates on their supposed opening day and the masses of people that had gathered to see this new store were allowed to walk the distance only to come up on a wall with nothing behind but metal supports….no supermarket.
The filmmakers showed us the power of advertising especially to the class of people that these advertisements went out to. When the people realized there was no store some were irate while some saw the message and understand the message, for they had not been falsely led the received exactly what they were promised a dream. Ethically some felt this was a scam but in hindsight I think we can learn a few valuable lessons from this movie.
First we can learn about the way advertising companies draw up campaigns, by using focus groups, observing people in everyday life, and forming tactics to reach those people.
When reaching minorities or simply people who have never seen what you are proposing, sociolinguistics, social networks and communication schemata comes into play. You must understand what language can reach your target audience and how they will contextually interpret said language. You must also understand modern social networks and how your message will propagate throughout them. Lastly how people communicate ideas and conjugate them with their own understandings and norms.
Most advertisers understand that visual elements are powerful but coupled with rhetoric there are unlimited opportunities to influence people.

Green Zone

The media has also had an incredible influence on the public when informing of war and terror. The language used in governmental media and publications is one of the most scrutinized in the modern world. To understand the way language is used we must analyze the media triangle. The media triangle refers to a shape that shows us the flow of text from the producer to the audience intended. This figure has space for cultural influence but no empirical summation of influence and in turn the context by which audience receive messages.
Consider the following text “by making attack unreal, industrial warfare ceased to be that huge funeral apparatus, denounced by moralist and eventually became the greatest mystification of all: the apparatus of deception the lure of deterrence. Already in the Great War, the industrialization of the repeating image illustrated this cinematic dimension of regional scale destruction, in which landscapes were continually upturned…” (lewis 2005 pg96) Analyzing the text we see many action words and imagery of a poet in hopes of invoke a fear in the audience. This is the understanding of sociolinguistics, realizing the cultural fears and using language to perpetuate the feelings in action words.

To truly understand what language invokes we must understand the motives to communicate. Companies aim to influence audiences through advertising, while the press attempts to inform audiences through television a print mediums. Although the press is said to simply inform we must look at the rewards for informing audiences. What keeps newspapers, news channels, and other informative mediums financially stable? Advertising! Advertising is the driving force behind the press, which then dictates the way the press conveys the truth, the way it is worded and when it is released.

The media hold great responsibility in informing the public of newsworthy press and those that are influenced by the financial support of powerful entities disrespect the way press is supposed to report the truth.

In the movie “Green Zone” Matt Damon is prevented from doing his job, which was to find weapons of mass destruction as a member of the 101st airborne division. His character was sent various time to find the weapons they had been sent over to ind however, their efforts went without explanations or the satisfaction of finding twhat they needed to. When the questions were raised about whether or not the weapons even existed the powers that be moved around the questions not answering and even reprimanding him for asking.

Eventually he was connected with someone that was truly interested in the truth and wanted to help him out. The CIA agent that wanted to help Roy Miller (Matt Damon) was there to find out why the intel they were receiving on the weapons kept turning up incorrect.

This movie was received with mixed feelings in America because to some it seemed anti-war at a time America was at war with an enemy. The message however, in the film was the media and powerful people that control them have placed themselves in the gatekeepers’ position thus no information, true or not escapes without them knowing what and exactly when it is brought to light.

This aspect of media is what frustrates me because we as people cannot trust what we are being told on a daily basis and have to guard ourselves for no reason. In the movie Matt Damon’s divisions were met with enemy opposition but the most astonishing thing in the movie is that he is faced with opposition from his country. When it is discovered that he is close to finding out the truth about the leader there are looking for he is shut down and almost hunted as adamantly as the Iraqi dictator he was looking for. The reason for this was that the truth is there are no WMD’s and there never were. Miller’s immediate superiors knew this however his superiors wanted Iraq to be invaded at all cost so he claimed there were weapons of mass destruction. This story seems all too familiar to be purely speculation of Hollywood conjecture.

It is a common criticism of George W. Bush that there were never any WMD’s in Iraq but because of oil needs or other financial reason bush ordered the invasion. Although the movie may not be completely accurate it shows us some interesting ideas and thoughts. Firstly the thought of our own forces trying to stop the truth from getting out at all cost simply to save face for someone not on the front lines of combat is disgusting: although had they been on the front line it would not have been any better. Secondly the fact that we would send someone into combat, knowing that they were heading for a immensely dangerous situation with no solution being remotely able to be given is again disgusting. There are many different ways are armed forces are used but I do not think saving a politician from embarrassment should be one of them.
Freedom of speech be it the press or a guy walking down the street should be protected and furthermore the truth whether its embarrassing or not is a the duty of the media. Because we allow people to dictate what we can and cannot say we are forever bound by expectations or face financial ruins. It is sad however that media outlet cannot operate on a large scale absent the financial backing of a large corporation and autonomously from the government.

I suppose it is only a dream to think that one day censorship will be completely abolished and we as a democratic people with supposed freedom of speech will know as much as we can investigate and report freely.