Linguaggio advertising

COMPREHENSION

Exercise 1

According to the text, find the correct endings for the sentences below:

a) to offer a product or service.

1) Advertising language always seeks b) to catch our attention.

c) not to be plain and simple.

a) deviating from the rules of everyday language.

2) Copy-writers are generally good at b) giving orders.

c) Selling goods.

a) never rely on the visual image alone.

3) Advertisements b) rely only on the visual image.

c) may rely on the visual image alone.

a) to make the sales message sound better.

4) Rhythm, rhyme and alliteration are used b) to resemble songs or poems.

c) to make the ad more memorable.

a) may be less meaningful than the language itself.

5) The literal meaning of the words in the ads b) is fundamental in the understanding of an advertisement.

c) is fundamental when advertising foreign products.

Exercise 2

Match the slogans on the left with the products on the right:

SLOGAN PRODUCT

a. Cash if you die, cash if you don't. 1. Yellow Pages

b. The breakfast of champions.

1. Business Committee for the Arts
2. Lloyd's Life Insurance
3. Clairol Hair Coloring
4. Maxwell House Coffee
5. British Telecom
6. Wheaties Cereal
7. United States Army

Good to the last drop.

Be all that you can be.

Let your fingers do the walking.

What this commercial is trying to sell you won't make your breath any sweeter, your clothes any whiter or your acid indigestion any better. It'll just make you more human.

If I've only one life, let me live it as a blonde!

Make someone happy with a phone call.

Exercise 3

TRADE NAMES

Many British firms and shops choose a short name which attracts attention, is easy to remember and immediately identifies the service being offered. This name is often spelt in a kind of simple phonetic spelling to make it even more unique and memorable, e.g. EAZIWASH (easy wash) is a launderette and FIZEEK (physique) is a gymnasium and health club.

Match the names of the following British firms/shops with the services they offer:

a. EAZIWASH (easy wash) is a launderette

b. FIZEEK (physique) is a gymnasium and health club

U-DRIVE 1. photo processing shop b. SUPASNAPS 2. photo-copying firm c. KWICK KOPY 3. snack bar d. KWALITY FASHIONS 4. garage and repair shop e. FLITE CENTRE 5. women's clothes shop f. SNAX 6. hairdressers g. MOTOR KARE 7. car-hire firm h. LOOKRITE 8. travel agency Now match the name of each product with the kind of product it is: i. KLEENOFF 9. beds j. KATTOMEAT 10. cleaning fluids k. ANSAFONE 11. rucksacks l. RESTRITE 12. pet food m. KARRIMOR 13. telephone answering machines Exercise 4 Look at the advertisements below Now match the parts of the ads with their correct definitions: 1. Standing details a. The first sentence, designed to grab attention. 2. Headline or hookline b. A captivating image. 3. Payoff c. Details and sales pitch, written in smaller font than the headline. 4. Illustration or visual d. Brand name, trademark. 5. Signature line e. Slogan that summarises the overall significance of the message. It follows every ad for a particular product. 6. Body copy f. Address or other contact

Details of Firm

A rhetorical figure can be defined as an artful deviation in the form taken by a statement. Since antiquity dozens of figures have been catalogued, ranging from the familiar (rhyme, pun) to the obscure (antimetabole). Here a framework is developed, which classifies several rhetorical figures distinguishing among sound, word, and sentence levels.

Sound Level

• Alliteration: the repetition of an initial or medial consonant sound
• Top People Take The Times (The Times newspaper)
• Unstick your style (New Dove Anti-Frizz Cream)
• Assonance: the repetition of a similar vowel sound, preceded and followed by different consonants, in the stressed syllables of adjacent words.
• Gillette - the best a man can get (Gillette razors)
• Take the feeling of clean to the extreme (Aquafresh toothpaste)
• Rhyme: the repetition of ending sounds.
• A Mars a day makes you work, rest and play (Mars chocolate bar)
• Go well. Go Shell. (Shell Oil)
• Onomatopoeia: the use of words to imitate

natural sounds

Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is! (Alka Seltzer)

Snap! Crackle! Pop! (Kellogg's Rice Krispies)

WORD LEVEL

Metaphor: an implied comparison achieved through a figurative use of words

Perrier. Champagne of table water (Perrier sparkling mineral water)

Simile: an explicit comparison using 'like' or 'as' to show that it is not literal

Make your skin feel like butter (Olay soap)

Synecdoche: the use of a part for the whole, or the whole for the part

The wings of Italy (Alitalia)

Metonymy: the substitution of one word for another which it suggests

Every smile should be this polished (Pearl Drops Toothpolish)

Pun: a play on words having more than one meaning, or having different meanings but same sound

Precisely what you're looking for (Casio)

Book at any station (Penguin books)

I think, therefore IBM (IBM)

Ellipsis: the act of leaving out a word or words from a sentence deliberately.

It is. Are you? (The Independent newspaper)

We know

You're anxious to know. So we'll tell you in two words or less (e.p.t. Certainty pregnancy test)

Anaphora: the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses or lines

Twice the comfort, twice the value, twice the Hotel (Windsor Suites Hotel, Bangkok)