Language of Advertising
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Advertising has a significant role in western society. It is advertising which informs individuals of the choices they have as a consumer, which funds most media, without which western society would be left in the dark, and which helps maintain western economies. Advertising exists within the media of television, cinema, radio, newspaper and magazines* and can generally be classed into three different categories: factual, semi-factual, and persuasive. Persuasive advertisements mirror and distort ideals and values existing within society using such techniques as: celebrity endorsement, cognitive deception, manipulation of desire, and personal connection, in order to create a need in the target audience to possess the promoted product. Imagery, colour, wording and product presentation, are also used to enhance the values a persuasive advertisement exploits.
Manipulation of human desire and vulnerability is the most common technique used in advertising. This technique can work for any target audience and is designed to create an emotional response in the consumer often prompting the thought process: 'why isn't my life that good?' The advertisement then, directly or indirectly, offers a certain product or service as a solution to this perceived inadequacy. For example, the image of an attractive and sensual woman in the Opium perfume advertisement plays on the need of its target audience to be attractive to the opposite sex and experience pleasure, offering Opium as a solution. Another illustration of this technique is in the egrance...