English for Specific Purposes
Wrld

Use of Language in Advertisements

Abstract

Advertising is the best way to communicate to the customers. Advertising helps informs the customers about the brands available in the market and the variety of products useful to them. Advertising is for everybody including kids, young and old. It is done using various media types, with different techniques and methods most suited. Advertisements in mass media are fascinating, exciting and creative in this world of globalization. They are part and parcel of our day to day’s life. It plays a vital role for a company to promote its sales and increases revenues. Almost all the ads use taglines to attract the customers. Everything matters in an advertisement. The kind of color, background, people who are appearing, the words used by the people are all matters in advertisements. Above all, the culture depicted in advertisements plays a crucial role in promoting the particular product of a company. It needs a lot of imagination and creativity. Those who work hard and smart can excel in this field. This paper critically analyses the language used in advertisements with reference to the products they shown in mass media, in papers and in journals.

The advertisements lure the consumers. By seeing those consumers tend to buy the products whether they are needed or not. Such is the power of advertisements. Vance Packard (1960) memorably said: "The cosmetic manufacturers are not selling lanolin, they are selling hope ... we no longer buy oranges, we buy vitality. We do not just buy an auto, we buy prestige."  In other words, advertising helps educating people. There are some social issues also which advertising deals with like child labour, liquor consumption, girl child killing, smoking, family planning education, etc. In short, advertising is the art of influencing human action and awakening of a desire to possess products and services. It is a mass persuasion activity duly sponsored by the manufacturer, retailer, or dealer for whom the advertising is done.

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