I need essays on langage in advertising!

May 30, 2008 12:27 PM

Can anyone direct me toward an essay [preferably vetted] on the use of language in advertising/media?

I really enjoy the work of William Lutz so anything that is remotely similar would be great, however I do not have any restrictions.

Bring it on, please.

posted by 913 to education (7 comments total)

This question might be way to vague. "Language in advertising" is like "ingredients in cooking."

All advertising is communication using language. What exactly are you looking for, here?
posted by rokusan at 12:52 PM on May 30, 2008

...too vague...
posted by rokusan at 12:52 PM on May 30, 2008

This is a little more broad than you're looking for, but there's a half-hour CBC radio show called The Age of Persuasion about advertising, and they definitely talk about language every so often. You can stream the episodes from that link. There's also a Recommended Reading list that you might find interesting.
posted by pocams at 12:57 PM on May 30, 2008

I agree the question is a bit vague, let me focus in more. Basically, I'm interested in the way language is used (technically/grammatically) to persuade the public to buy goods and/or to convince them that the product they're reading a description of is really the product for them.

An example:

"Helps in relieving coughs" The word 'helps' implies that it can aid in relieving coughs but doesn't make any promises. When a consumer sees, "helps in relieving coughs," they are convinced that it will help them, etc.
posted by 913 at 1:59 PM on May 30, 2008

Here's a website for a Stanford course called "The Language of Advertising." It includes a list of references.

I read a few books on language and advertising for a thesis several years ago, but I don't really remember what any of them were like (and whether they were any good). Regardless, here's a couple of suggestions based on a cursory scan of my bibliography/lit review:

Lars Hermerén, English for Sale: A Study of the Language of Advertising (1999) -- Don't know how easy this is to find, but from scanning my lit review, I think it's right up your alley. He basically does an inventory of the various linguistic/rhetorical features of advertisements, and considers what purposes they might serve.

Torben Vestergaard and Kim Schrøder, The Language of Advertising (1985) -- also probably useful. Also probably hard to find. This one is a comparison of ads aimed at women and ads aimed at men. Combination of content analysis and semiotic analysis, focusing on the language of the ads.
posted by pluckemin at 3:58 PM on May 30, 2008 [1 favorite]

You might be interested in the works of George Lakoff and Michael Silverstein. Learning more about discourse analysis in general could also be helpful.
posted by bubukaba at 3:58 PM on May 30, 2008 [1 favorite]

I liked Attack of the Zombie Copy by Erin Kissane, a short, sweet, and wry piece that was the Halloween 2005 "issue" of the web design magazine A List Apart.
posted by XMLicious at 5:55 AM on May 31, 2008