Santalka: Filologija, Edukologija / Coactivity: Philology, Educology 2015, 23(2): 108–118 ISSN 2351-714X / eISSN 2335-7711 DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.3846/cpe.2015.275

LINGUISTIC CHARACTERISTICS OF COMMERCIAL AND SOCIAL ADVERTISING SLOGANS

Pavel SKORUPA1, Tatjana DUBOVIČIENĖ2

1Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Saulėtekio al. 11, LT-10223 Vilnius, Lithuania 2Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences, Studentų g. 39, LT-08106 Vilnius, Lithuania E-mails: [email protected]; [email protected]

Received 10 November 2015; accepted 08 December 2015

The current paper presents the analysis of linguistic characteristics of commercial and social advertising slo- gans. There is no uniform definition of the advertising slogan in the scientific literature, therefore, an attempt to provide the definition of a slogan in the context of marketing communication was made. One of the main functions of both social and commercial advertising is to provide information to the target audience and make it act in a way desired by the advertisers. As language, either spoken or written, has a powerful influence over people and their behaviour, the article analysis the language of advertising from the linguistic point of view and focuses on the phonological and semantic characteristics of slogans for commercial and social advertising campaigns. The analysis of 110 English slogans (55 commercial and 55 social advertising campaigns) showed the frequent use of both sound techniques and figurative language in commercial advertising slogans, which make the slogans more memorable, attractive and highlighting the advertised brand in a positive way. In contrast, the sound techniques and figurative language are scarce in slogans for social advertising campaigns.

Keywords: advertising slogan, sound technique, figurative language, advertising language, social adverti- sing, commercial advertising.

Introduction communication channels (advertising in mass In this day and age, advertising has probably media, streets, etc) to reach target audiences. become one of the most powerful commu- Advertising shapes the society’s attitude to a nication tools used by marketers to commu- number of various issues, influences people’s nicate their message to the target audience. thinking and behaviour (Išoraitė 2013: 169). Advertising performs an important role in Nowadays, it is almost impossible to imagine today’s informational society, which is charac- our world without advertising as people are terized by a heavy competition. Commercial exposed to hundreds of advertising messages on and non-for-profit organizations use both the daily basis and usually tend to ignore them personalized advertising messages and various (Clow, Baack 2012: 132). Being a part of consu-

Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by VGTU Press. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 ­(CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The material cannot be used for commercial purposes. 108 Coactivity: Philology, Educology 2015, 23(2): 108–118 109 mer society, people are exposed to advertising 2. The descriptive method was used to defi- everyday, i.e. they see it in newspapers, magazi- ne, explain, and clarify the communica- nes, streets, television, public transport, hear it tive functions of advertising and meaning on the radio, etc. Advertising is not something of the advertising slogan. separate from but is rather a part of us, a part of 3. The phonological and semantic analyses something that we belong to (Cook 1996: 182). were used to identify the linguistic cha- Therefore, one of the most important tasks for racteristics of slogans. marketers is to ensure that their advertising message reaches the right audience, is catchy and remembered for good. Theoretical background Advertising slogan is an important part of any marketing campaign and has been used by Advertising as means of communication various organizations for more than a century. The market today is characterized as being These short and memorable phrases catch a over-competitive, therefore, companies need potential customer’s attention as well as help to to ensure that their advertising messages differ distinguish products and services in the satura- from others and highlight the advertised brand. ted market. Slogans are the most effective means The purpose of any advertising campaign is to of drawing the attention of the general public make the target audience remember the trans- or consumer base to one or more aspects of a mitted message, which will eventually change product, while visual or audio materials, only the consumer’s buying habits due to the impact help to consolidate the slogans in the customers’ the advertisement has on their thinking, fee- minds. lings and behaviour. The object of the research is English adver- Kenneth Clow and Donald Baack (2012) tising slogans of commercial and social adver- point out the following functions of adverti- tising campaigns. sing: to promote the awareness of the brand, to The material of the current research is a inform, persuade and promote other marketing body of 110 slogans of 55 different commercial attempts, as well as inspire to act (Clow, Baack brands, each of them covering one segment of 2012: 143–145). First, the main purpose of any products that satisfy everyday needs, and 55 organization is to make its brand and corporate slogans of social advertising campaigns. The image strong and known. The development of slogans were sampled for the analysis on the brand image starts from brand awareness, the- random basis from the Internet sources, TV and refore, it is important inform people about the radio commercials, newspapers and magazines. brand and company before they choose what The aim of the present paper is 1) to discuss to buy. Second, advertising provides informa- the importance of advertising as a means of tion to both consumers and business clients, communication, 2) to define and explain the which facilitates the purchasing process. Third, meaning of advertising slogan, pointing out its function according to Clow and Baack, is to characteristics, and 3) to identify, analyze and persuade people that one brand is better than compare linguistic characteristics (phonological another. and semantic) of slogans in English commercial The main function of advertising is infor- and social advertising campaigns. mational/communicative function, as adverti- The following methods were used for the sing has always been used primarily as a means current study: of communication between the advertiser 1. Theoretical literature analysis was used and the target audience. According to Rita to provide some theoretical background Mažeikaitė (2001: 5), the purpose of advertising to the problem. has always been to inform the society. Typical 110 Pavel Skorupa, Tatjana Dubovičienė Linguistic characteristics of commercial and social advertising slogans information conveyed to the consumer is the of which is the customer’s decision to buy the working hours and location of a company, so- advertised product or service. metimes – details about a product or service. As the advertising message is usually limi- The communicative function is also typical ted by space and time, it is very important to of social advertising, which does not inform advertisers to use effective language to attract the audience about a particular brand, but their target audiences and make them react to accentuates certain social issues, causes, or the the advertisement in a positive way, as “langu- necessity to donate and participate in charities age has a powerful influence over people and (Clow, Baack 2012: 144). their behaviour” (Kannan, Tyagi 2013: 3). Some Advertising is a means of communication scholars (Myers 1997; Cook 1996, etc.) com- that informs the prospective customer about pare the language of advertising to the poetic products or services in a visually or verbally language, which is used by authors to create a attractive way and helps them to make the in- special effect. Thus, the language of advertising, formed decision. Advertising uses persuasive and especially of slogans, can be called a special techniques to explain potential customers what language that helps to grab attention and make is the best for them. a person remember the slogan and the brand In Torben Vestergaard and Kim Schroder’s it advertises. view advertising is “verbal/non-verbal, public, one way communication” (1985: 14). The com- Advertising slogan munication process requires at least two people, There is no uniform definition of the adver- i.e. the addresser (transmitter) – the one who tising slogan in scientific literature as various sends the information – and the addressee authors simply present its synonyms or define (receiver) – the one for whom the information the advertising slogan taking into consideration is intended to. The transmitted information its specific characteristics. (a code message or meaning) is transmitted In his book “English in Advertising: A through the communication channel. In the Linguistic Study of Advertising in Great Britain”, context of advertising, the addresser is a compa- Geoffrey N. Leech (1972) states that the slogan ny that wants to advertise a product or service, is a short phrase used by the company in its while the addressee is a person (a prospective advertisements to reinforce the identity of the customer) who wants to satisfy their needs and brand. In his point of view, slogans are more po- make the informed decision when choosing werful than companies’ logos and can be easily from the variety of goods and services available remembered and recited by people. Moreover, in the market. the scholar maintains that slogans have to clear- However, advertising as the means of ly state the main idea of the advertisement, i.e. communication is usually very restricted by they have to be easy to understand. both space, as in print advertising, and time, David P. Rein defines the advertising slogan as on TV and radio. In print advertisements, as a “unique phrase identified with a company the non-verbal features of communication are or brand” (Rein 1982: 49). He asserts that the limited to pictures, quotations marks, size/ slogan, which is kind of a presentation of the bold letters and other visual stimulations. The main idea of the advertising campaign, has to message of the advertisement, encoded into “command attention, be memorable and be symbols, pictures, text and sound, is sent to the brief” (Rein 1982: 54). addressee, who decodes or interprets and reacts Some scholars (Smetonienė 2001; to it. The customer’s either positive or negative Dowling, Kabanoff 1996; Kohli et al. 2007) reaction to the advertising message is the end of define the advertising slogan by its function the communication process, the intended result and place in the advertising copy. Graham Coactivity: Philology, Educology 2015, 23(2): 108–118 111

R. Dowling and Boris Kabanoff, affirm that Discussion and results: linguistic advertising slogans are a few words that “ap- analysis of commercial and social pear beneath or beside the corporate name advertising slogans at the bottom of a print advertisement and are separated from the body copy for easy Phonological characteristics of slogans recognition” (Dowling, Kabanoff 1996: 64). Mihaela Vasiloaia (2009) claims that adverti- According to these authors, the advertising sing language can be compared to poetic texts. slogan is not only memorable itself, but is also Similarly to poems, the so called mnemonic a great tool that helps a customer to identify devices (rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, assonance, and memorize the brand or company. etc.) are used in slogans. These devices have the In her article, Irena Smetonienė presents mnemonic effect on potential customers of the a very similar notion of a slogan and claims advertisement. This helps receivers to remem- that advertising slogans can help memorize ber and also later recall the text. The sound the advertisement itself, because “they remind techniques which are the most frequently used of and consolidate ideas presented in the in- in English advertising slogans are the following: troduction” or “clearly express the main idea rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, assonance, conso- of the advertisement” (Smetonienė 2001: 83). nance and onomatopoeia. Similar idea is expressed by Clow and Baack Examples and description of the most com- (2012), who affirm that the advertising slogan monly used phonological devices of English is an easily remembered catchy phrase that social and commercial advertising slogans will makes a key point about the company’s image to be provided in the following section. the customer, and Kristen Hamlin, who in the article “The Importance of Ad Slogans”, defines Rhyme the advertising slogans as “catchy, declarative One of the dominant sound techniques in phrases that use devices such as metaphors, English slogans is rhyme which is believed to alliteration or rhymes with simple, vibrant be one of the best techniques in advertising. language” (Hamlin 2014). Even without menti- According to John A. Cuddon, rhyme is “the oning the company‘s name or product they help formalized consonance of syllables” (1999: people remember the brand. 750), i.e. the correspondence of sound between The next scholar Seth Godin (2005) refers words of endings of words, especially when to the advertising slogan as a “scenario”, which these are used at the end of lines of poetry. In attracts a potential customer. Leech’s (1972) point of view, rhyme makes the Chiranjeev Kohli et al. (2007) present a de- slogans and headlines appear striking and easier finition of the advertising slogan as one of the to remember. Similarly to Leech, the scholar three elements of brand identity. Xiaosong Ding (2003) considers rhyme as a Although there is no uniform definition means of better memorization of the slogan, that would include all the characteristics and as it resonates in one‘s mind. Moreover, the functions of the advertising slogan, all the above function of rhymes in slogans is to transmit the mentioned definitions share a common idea – simple information. the advertising slogan is a phrase that relates the As an example from the tourism industry advertised product or service with a particular can serve travel agency’s slogan: “Don’t just brand or company. Thus, we would define the book it, Thomas Cook it”. The rhyme introduces advertising slogan as a short catchy phrase rela- the brand name of the company Thomas Cook. ted to a specific brand, which defines, presents, Another example is from a social shocking and helps customers remember the key concepts advertisement: “Drinking kills driving skills” of a brand or advertising campaign itself. (the City of Sydney Media Center with Roads 112 Pavel Skorupa, Tatjana Dubovičienė Linguistic characteristics of commercial and social advertising slogans and Traffic Authority). The information is pre- which consonants, especially at the beginning of sented in a simple way by rhyming the words words, or stressed syllables, are repeated”. Greg “kills” and “skills” thus catching the receiver’s Myers (1997) claims that in slogans alliteration attention. When rhyme is used in the slogan with its similarity in sound often plays against it is vital when it also reflects the brand name. dissimilarity in meaning and makes the listener The brand name should be part of the rhyme. more aware of the contrast. Rhyme normally refers to sounds, not spelling. The vivid example of alliteration that was incorporated into the brand name itself is Rhythm Coca-Cola. Instances of the advertising slogan The rhythmical arrangement is constantly used with alliteration can be found in Jaguar slogans by advertisers in advertising slogans. Rhythm “Grace, Space, Pace” or “Don’t dream it. Drive is “the movement or sense of movement com- it!” and in Toyota slogan “Today, Tomorrow, municated by the arrangement of stressed and Toyota”. The repetition of the first consonant unstressed syllables and by the duration of the sounds of the words makes the information syllables” (Cuddon 1999: 753). According to conveyed attractive to receiver. several scholars such as Leech (1972), Vasiloaia Alliteration is infrequent in social adverti- (2009) and Cook (1996), rhythm is perceived sing slogans. Two slogans of the bulk of analy- on a subconscious level without noticing it zed data exemplify alliteration: “Stop one. Stop thus making slogans a memorable, repeatable them all” (World Wildlife Fund) and “Are you sentence. The scientists are unable to explain pouring on the pounds?” (New York’s anti-soda the phenomenon of an attraction of rhythm campaign). and repetition. Several assumptions have been made either it may recall the regular sound of Assonance the mother’s heartbeat in the womb or it can be Assonance “consists of the repetition of similar compared to the ritual magic dances. However, vowel sounds, usually close together, to achieve all of these are highly speculative (Cook 1996: a particular effect of euphony” (Cuddon 1999: 120). Regularity of rhythm, which is called me- 58). Sometimes assonance is referred to as ter, also contributes to the attraction of rhythm “vocalic rhyme”. In Encyclopaedia Brittanica in slogans. There are different types of metrical assonance is defined as “repetition of stressed feet and the most frequent meters are the iamb vowel sounds within words with different end (an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed consonants, as in the phrase ‘quite like’. It is syllable), the trochee (a stressed syllable follo- unlike rhyme in which initial consonants differ wed by an unstressed), and the dactyl (a stressed but both vowel and end consonant sounds syllable followed by two unstressed). are identical, as in the phrase ‘quite right’” Consider the following example of a com- (Encyclopaedia Brittanica 2015). mercial advertising slogan: “Live your life, love Assonance is rare in advertising slogans your home” (IKEA). The variation of stressed and is hard to identify. However, a few exam- and unstressed syllables attracts the attention ples of assonance were found in commercial of the potential customers. The examples of slogans: Canon’s slogan “See what we mean”. As rhythm were not observed in the data of social an example from social advertising can serve advertising. the slogan of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA: “After a stroke Alliteration from smoking, get used to losing your inde- One more dominant sound technique used in pendence”. One more instance is New York’s advertising is alliteration. According to Cuddon anti-soda campaign slogan “You just ate 16 (1999: 23), alliteration is “a figure of speech in packs of sugar”. Coactivity: Philology, Educology 2015, 23(2): 108–118 113

Consonance Semantic characteristics of slogans Cuddon states that consonance, is “the close One of the most common appeals used in both repetition of identical consonant sounds be- commercial and social advertising is emotional fore and after different vowels” (1999: 176). appeal, i.e. visual contents that aims at people’s Some of the analyzed slogans exemplify the either positive or negative emotions, such as consonance sound technique: “Washing ma- love, friendship, patriotism, fear or security chines live longer with Calgon” (Calgon) or Clow ir Baack (2005, 2012). Knowledge of “Ariston...and on...and on...” (Ariston). The Semantics is of a vital importance when creating examples of consonance was identified only in slogans for the advertisements targeted at the one social advertising slogan for goodparent. emotions of audiences with various cultural pl campaign: “You can lose more than your background, as words and phrases acquire patience” (goodparent.pl). different meanings that depend on a context The above mentioned sound techniques: they are used in. Let us consider two adjectives alliteration, assonance and consonance perform “cheap” and “inexpensive”, which are quite often the function of attention-grabbing. They make a used in advertising. Both adjectives mean “low piece of writing memorable and provide the slo- cost of something”. However, “cheap” has a ne- gans with the strong beating rhythm. Moreover, gative connotation to a possible poor quality of as Ding (2003) claims, the following devices something, whereas “inexpensive” may imply have an emphatic effect of the meaning. something of a good quality but affordable. Therefore, connotative meaning of words is Onomatopoeia important in advertising and has to be taken Cuddon maintains that onomatopoeia is based into consideration when creating advertising on “the formation and use of words to imitate messages, as rhetorical devices, or figures of sounds. It is a figure of speech in which the speech, used to convey a certain meaning and sound reflects the sense. As a rule it is delibe- achieve a special effect. According to Leech: rately used to achieve a special effect” (Cuddon “Figurative language also has a striking and 1999: 614–615). memorable quality which suits it for slogans The examples of onomatopoeia were un- and headlines” (1972: 183). common in the bulk of analyzed slogans for In this section the following semantic cha- commercial advertising campaigns and were racteristics of English social and commercial not identified among the sampled slogans for advertising slogans will be discussed: personifi- social advertising. One of the two identified cation, simile, metaphor, hyperbole, metonymy, instances of onomatopoeia in commercial euphemism, polysemy and homonymy, and advertising slogans could be taken from the au- apostrophe. tomobile industry: “Zoom-Zoom” (Mazda). The repetition of the word “zoom” in the slogan and Personification especialy its pronunciation reminds the sound Personification is a rhetorical figure, which produced by the car engine when the acceletator means “the impersonation or embodiment of is pressed. Another example is “WASSSSSUP?!” some quality or abstraction; the attribution of (Budweiser), in which the prolongued “s” sound human qualities to inanimate objects” (Cuddon reminds of the sound typical of carbonated 1999: 661). In many languages this rhetorical drinks when the bottle is being opened. This figure is inherent through the use of gender. sound technique makes the idea of the adverti- Advertisements can often use personifications sement more interesting, expressive and effects when advertised objects are endowed with the readers’ senses. human qualities to make it more dramatic, interesting, more attractive, and familiar to 114 Pavel Skorupa, Tatjana Dubovičienė Linguistic characteristics of commercial and social advertising slogans the potential customer. This is done so that the “Spare parts for humans are not as original as customer can better relate to the advertised per- those for cars. Don’t drink and drive”. In this sonified objects and memorize the slogan or the slogan protheses for people who have lost their advertisement. Thus, the brands are turned into limbs in car accidents caused by drunk drivers something real and identified a real life figure are compared with the original parts for cars. by the customer. Two examples of personification were Metaphor identified in the sample of commercial adver- The analysis of social and commercial adverti- tising slogans: “Imagination at work” (General sing slogans identified metaphor. As opposed Electric) and “The first creme that renews your to simile, metaphor usually presents an implicit skin during the night” (Nivea). In the first comparison and contributes to the aesthetics example an abstract concept and in the second of the message as well as emphasizes the main slogan an inanimate substance are impersonali- idea, describing one object in terms of another. zed and attributed with human abilities to per- When using a metaphor, two seemingly unre- form certain actions. Only one example of per- lated things are compared by stating that one sonification was identified among the sampled is the same as the other; this helps to see the social advertising slogans. This is the slogan for similarities or connections which would re- Prostate Cancer Foundation “Prostate cancer? main unrevealed if not by the metaphor. Leech A blood test will tell you”. In this example it is maintains that metaphors are valuable in the obvious that not a blood test will tell a person advertising language as they “suggest the right whether they have prostate cancer or not, but a kind of emotive associations for the product” doctor who would test the blood of a patient. (Leech 1972: 182). Consider the following examples: “Open Simile Happiness” (Coca Cola), “Put a tiger in your Simile is a figure of speech whereby “one thing tank” (Esso) and “It gives you wings” (Red Bull). is likened to another, in such a way as to cla- The Coca Cola slogan associates a bottle of coke rify and enhance an image” (Cuddon 1999: with happy and carefree leisure time of a person 830). As opposed to the metaphor, where the who consumes this beverage; Esso international comparison is always implicit, simile presents trademark’s slogan implies that the fuel that an explicit comparison and is instantly made their customers fill their car tanks with give recognizable by the use of words such as “like” their vehicles extra power and reliability, also or “as”. This is an imaginative and descriptive the word “tiger” in the slogan incorporates the comparison of two objects. According to Ding brand name of the company into it, as the tiger (2003), simile is used to emphasize some posi- has been the logo and symbol of ExxonMobil tive characteristics of the advertised product/ (Esso) and its related companies for a long service and/or highlight and strengthen the time; while Red Bull’s slogan implies that the emotional representation of a certain aspect in consumption of the beverage will give the con- an imaginative way. sumer physical strength. One of the examples of simile in commercial Metaphor is infrequent in social advertising advertising slogans comes from the IT industry: slogans and only one instance of metaphor was “Easy as Dell” (Dell), another is from the deter- identified in the sampled slogans. In the slogan gents manufacturer Fairy: “Now hands that do for controltonight.com anti-drinking campaign dishes can feel soft as your face” (Fairy Washing “She’s got a date with a porcelain prince”, the Liquid). Also, one instance of the use of simile “porcelain prince” refers to the water-closet. was identified in BMW car manufacturer’s soci- In contrast to the commercial brands, the only al advertising campaign against drunk driving: identified metaphor in the sampled social Coactivity: Philology, Educology 2015, 23(2): 108–118 115 advertising slogans is used for humorous effect look after it for the next generation” (Patek and is also used to cause negative emotions in Philippe watch), “I like Volvo” (Volvo). Here, the target audience, especially when the slogan “bunny” stands for Energizer batteries, Patek is accompanied with a powerful visual in which Philippe brand name stands for Patek Philippe a drunk young woman is depicted with her face watch, and Volvo brand name stands for any in the water-closet. of the cars produced by Volvo. The analysis of social advertising slogans showed no use of Hyperbole metonymy in them, but rather in the visuals Hyperbole is “a figure of speech which contains used for advertising campaigns. Thus, for ins- an exaggeration for emphasis” (Cuddon 1999: tance the dipiction of a one-off syringe stands 406). According to Wales (2001: 190), hyperbo- for the issue of drug addiction, the images of les are often used for humorous purposes as well a bottle or blood stand for alcoholism and as to create strong impressions and emotional killing, respectively. responses. In the following examples hyperbole is used to emphasize the best features of the Euphemism advertised objects and dramatize the selling Euphemisms are used by advertisers to avoid point: “Fight wrinkles! Renew collagen in just harsh or unpleasant words or expressions in 48 hours” (Lancôme); “Takes You Miles Away in the advertising copy or slogan and replace them Seconds” (Lexus). In contrast to the commercial with the mild or more pleasant expressions/ advertising, hyperbole in social advertising slo- words. This figure of speech is so “common in gans is used to highlight the drama and enormi- officialise; also in broadcasting and newspa- ty of certain social and environmental issues, as pers” that “it frequently becomes a form of in the slogan for Friends of the Earth Germany Newspeak” (Cuddon 1999: 292). campaign: “Every 60 seconds a species dies out” There are many examples of euphemism (bund.net). in advertisements of the products that fall under legal regulations, for instance products Metonymy that have some sexual context or any “taboo” Cuddon defines metonymy as “a figure of products. One of the most telling examples is a speech in which the name of an attribute slogan for Wingman Condoms “Don’t be silly, or a thing is substituted for the thing itself” wrap your willy”. In this slogan a less direct (Cuddon 1999: 510), i.e. a word or a phrase is slang word “willy” is used to refer to the male substituted for another that is closely related genital organ. This slogan is the only example to the original one. According to Wales (2001: that contains euphemism in the sampled cor- 252), metonymy is “an indexical sign: there is pus of the commercial advertising slogans. In a directly or logically contiguous relationship contrast, the slogans for social advertising cam- between the substituted word and its refe- paigns avoid using euphemisms in order to have rent”. Although Myers states that metonymy the most direct effect on the target audience’s is commonly found in advertisements “where emotions and feelings. The following slogans in the product is associated with some person social campaigns could have used euphemisms or surroundings” (Myers 1997: 127–128), to avoid the straightforwardness: “God hates this figure of speech is not very common in fags” (France ADOT), “Real men get raped” advertising slogans as compared to the before (SurvivorsUK), “After you have a lung removed, mentioned figures and is present only in 3 out take short breaths” (Center for Disease Control of 55 commercial advertising slogans: “Do you and Prevention, Atlanta, USA). This is done to have the bunny inside?” (Energizer), “You ne- immediately draw the audiences attention and ver actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely take actions against certain social issues. 116 Pavel Skorupa, Tatjana Dubovičienė Linguistic characteristics of commercial and social advertising slogans

Polysemy and homonymy Apostrophe Polysemic puns are often used in advertising as A number of the analyzed advertising slogans they rely on lexical items with more than one for both commercial and social campaigns use meaning thus capturing the attention of the the figurative language device called apostrophe target audience. Pun or play on words is based in which “a thing, a place, an abstract quality, an on ambiguity, although, according to Leech, idea, a dead or absent person, is addressed as if in advertising language ambiguity “hinges on present and capable of understanding” (Cuddon the orthography rather than on pronunciation” 1999: 51). Consider the following examples: (Leech 1972: 184). The majority of the analyzed “I’m lovin’ it” (MacDonals’s); commercial advertising slogans are based on “Because you’re worth it” (L’oreal); pun that involves a play on words, which occurs “After a stroke from smoking, get used to in case of homonymy, i.e. when the different losing your independence” (Center for Disease words: 1) have the same spelling, but a different Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA); pronunciation and meaning – homographs; 2) “If you don’t pick it up they will” have the same pronunciation and spelling, but a (Endengered Wildlife Trust). different origin and meaning – homonyms; and To sum up, advertising slogans, especially 3) have the same pronunciation, but a different for commercial marketing campaigns, often use spelling and meaning – homophones. a variety of figures of speech and sound tech- To make puns, a number of the analyzed niques, which make both slogans and adver- slogans used homographs to draw the audi- tising messages memorable and emotionally ence’s attention: “Get TIME, ahead of time” coloured. They draw the audience’s attention to (TIME Magazine); “Better gas mileage. A Civic the advertisement and make it stand out from responsibility” (Honda Civic). In the TIME other forms of writing. The use of figurative magazine’s slogan the word “time”, which me- language and sound techniques in slogans for ans “something that is measured in minutes, social advertising campaigns is scarce and was hours, days, etc”, is a homonym of the brand identified only in several sampled slogans. name of a magazine. In the slogan for Honda Civic the pun occurs in the meaning of the phrase “civic responsibility”, which means Conclusions “responsibility of a citizen” and also means the responsibility of Honda Civic manufacturers 1. Advertising slogan is an important part of any before their customers. Also a number of the marketing campaign. Although the definition analyzed slogans used homophones. Consider of advertising slogan differs from author to the following examples: “Nothing runs like a author, all of them include an idea that the Deere” (John Deere); “Because the Citi never advertising slogan is a short catchy phrase sleeps” (Citibank). However, no homographs related to a specific brand and defines, presents were identified in the sampled commercial and helps potential customers remember and advertising slogans and no polysemy or ho- distinguish the key concepts of a brand or monymy examples were found in the sampled advertising campaign in the saturated market. social advertising slogans. 2. The basic function of advertising is in- According to Cuddon (1999: 711), puns are formational/communicative function, as often used for humorous effect. As it is maintai- advertising has always been used primarily ned in Ding (2003), puns “can work miracles”, as a means of communication between the especially when advertising slogans help build advertiser and the target audience. The main brand identity by using the brand name as a functions of commercial slogans are as fol- part of word play, which interests and impresses lows: to promote the awareness of the brand; the audience with its novelty and smartness. to provide information to both consumers Coactivity: Philology, Educology 2015, 23(2): 108–118 117

and business clients; to facilitate the purcha- Ding, X. 2003. Stylistic features of the advertising sing process and persuade consumers that slogan [online], [cited 10 January 2014]. Available one brand is better than another. However, from Internet: http://www.translationdirectory. com/article49.htm the purpose of social advertising is not to present a particular brand or service but to Dowling, G. R.; Kabanoff, B. 1996. Computer-aided inform the society and accentuate certain so- content analysis: what do 240 advertising slogans have in common?, Marketing Letters 7(1): 63–75. cial issues, causes, or the necessity to donate Netherlands: Kulwer Academic Publishers. and participate in charities. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00557312 3. The linguistic analysis of slogans demonstra- Encyclopaedia Britannica [online], [cited 25 April ted that the most often used sound techniqu- 2015]. Available from Internet: http://www.britan- es in commercial advertising slogans are rhy- nica.com/art/assonance me and alliteration which help to transmit Godin, S. 2005. Purpurinė karvė. Pertvarkykite savo the simple information and make a piece of verslą būdami išskirtiniai. Vilnius: Rgrupė. writing memorable, while rhythm, assonan- Išoraitė, M. 2013. Reklamos poveikio tyrimas ce, consonance and onomatopoeia can be kolegijų atveju, Socialinių mokslų studijos/Societal considered the rarest sound techniques used Studies 5(1): 165–176. in slogans. The analysis of social advertising Kannan, R.; Tyagi, S. 2013. Use of language in slogans exhibited that phonological devices, advertisements, English for Specific Purposes World e.g. alliteration is infrequent, while cases of 37(13): 1–10. both rhythm and onomatopoeia are absent Kohli, C.; Leuthesser, L.; Suri, R. 2007. Got slogan? in slogans for social advertising campaigns. Guidelines for creating effective slogans, Business 4. The figurative language is one of the means of Horizons 50(5): 415–422. Indiana: Elsevier. making advertising messages memorable and http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2007.05.002 emotionally coloured. Commercial adverti- Hamlin, K. 2014. The importance of Ad slogans sing slogans demonstrated rather frequent [online]. Demand Media [cited 15 February 2014]. use of puns, simile, metaphor, personifi- Available from Internet: http://smallbusiness.chron. cation, hyperbole, and euphemism, which com/importance-ad-slogans-31343.html is used in slogans for products and services Leech, G. 1972. English in advertising: a linguistic under the legal regulation, while the usage of study of advertising in Great Britain. English Langu- metonymy and apostrophe is very rare. The age Series. London: Longman. analysis revealed that the use of figurative Mažeikaitė, R. 2001. Reklamos pradmenys. Vilnius. language in social advertising campaigns slo- Myers, G. 1997. Words in Ads. London: Hodder gans is very scarce – only a few examples of Arnold. personification, simile, metaphor, hyperbole, Rein, D. P. 1982. The language of advertising and and apostrophe were identified. merchandising in English. New York: Regent. Smetonienė, I. 2001. Reklamos tekstų sintaksė, Lituanistica 1(45): 80–92. Vilnius: Lietuvos mokslų References akademija. Clow, K. E.; Baack, D. 2005. Concise encyclopedia of Vasiloaia, M. 2009. Linguistic features of the lan- advertising. New York: Best Business Books. guage of advertising [online]. Economy Trandisci- Clow, K. E.; Baack, D. 2012. Integrated advertising, plinarity Cognition. No. 1. Bacau: George Bacovia promotion, and marketing communications. Harlow: University. [cited 15 February 2014]. Available Pearson Education Limited. from Internet: http://www.ugb.ro/etc/etc2009no1/ s0804%20%282%29.pdf Cook, G. 1996 [1992]. The discourse of advertising. London: Routledge. Vestergaard, T.; Schroder, K. 1985. The language of advertising. Oxford: B. Blackwell. Cuddon, J. A. 1999. The Penguin dictionary of li- terary terms and literary theory. London: Penguin Wales, K. 2001. A dictionary of stylistics. Harlow: Books Ltd. Longman. 118 Pavel Skorupa, Tatjana Dubovičienė Linguistic characteristics of commercial and social advertising slogans

KOMERCINĖS IR SOCIALINĖS REKLAMOS ŠŪKIŲ KALBINĖS CHARAKTERISTIKOS

Pavel SKORUPA1, Tatjana DUBOVIČIENĖ2 1Vilniaus Gedimino technikos universitetas, Saulėtekio al. 11, LT-10223 Vilnius, Lietuva 2Lietuvos edukologijos universitetas, Studentų g. 39, LT-08106 Vilnius, Lietuva El. paštas: [email protected]; [email protected] Straipsnyje analizuojamos kalbos priemonės komercinės ir socialinės reklamos šūkiuose. Mokslinėje litera- tūroje nėra universalios reklamos šūkio apibrėžties, todėl šitame darbe bandoma apibrėžti reklamos šūkio sąvoką rinkodaros komunikacijos kontekste. Viena pagrindinių komercinės ir socialinės reklamos funkcijų – tikslinės auditorijos informavimas siekiant paveikti auditorijos elgesį. Kalba daro didelį poveikį žmonėms ir jų elgesiui, todėl straipsnyje žiūrima į reklamos kalbą lingvistiniu aspektu, analizuojant fonologinius bei semantinius komercinių ir socialinių reklamos kampanijų šūkių ypatumus. Išnagrinėjus 110 angliškų (55 komercinės ir 55 socialinės reklamos) šūkių paaiškėjo, kad komercinės reklamos šūkiuose labai dažnai var- tojamos garsinės ir vaizdinės kalbos priemonės, kurios padaro reklamos šūkius patrauklesnius ir lengviau įsimenamus bei teigiamai pabrėžiančius prekės ženklą. Socialinės reklamos kampanijų šūkiuose minėtos priemonės beveik nenaudojamos.

Reikšminiai žodžiai: reklamos šūkis, garsinės priemonės, vaizdinė (perkeltinė) kalba, reklamos kalba, so- cialinė reklama, komercinė reklama.