1

Text type: Advertisements

Advertising has been defined by the American Marketing Association, as “salesmanship, and it is

paid for by a firm, a person or a group with a particular point of view. The message advocates that

point of view, and its goal is to create awareness, attitude, or behavior that is favorable to that

advocacy position. The message attempts to inform and to persuade; it is intentionally biased, and

there is no intent to present a balanced point of view." Extracted from

http://www.health.usyd.edu.au/tob21c/resources/M11-1.doc

Functions:

Advertising is the professional execution of commercial communications. For example, it is to

promote consumer awareness, interest and desire, to place a brand in consumers' memories, or to

change consumers’ attitudes and images in various ways. As a result, it glamorizes the product and

its users, and induces purchase and consumption.

Context of use:

Advertisement in newspaper;

Advertisement in classified post;

Advertisement in magazine;

Advertisement on the Internet;

Advertisement in trade publication;

Advertisement in journals and periodical.

Linguistic characteristics:

1) The headline – The first three to five words serve as the headline.

a) Question headline: ask a provocative question to arouse the readers’ curiosity and force

2

them to start reading to get the answer;

b) Command headline: get the readers to do simply by telling them to do;

c) How-to headline: tell the readers how they can get what they want;

d) News headline: gain attention by stressing the fact that the product or service is new;

e) Benefit/promise headline: state the benefit the product offers the readers and promise them

a reward;

f) Provocative statement headline: gain attention by making a provocative statement, an

outrageous claim, or a dramatic challenge;

g) Hornblowing headline: brag and boast the product and service;

h) Testimonial headline: gain attention by putting quotations around it;

i) Reason-why headline: list the reasons why the readers should buy the product;

j) Emotional headline: appeal directly to the emotions of the readers;

k) Offbeat headline: arouse attention by describing something that has no relationship to the

product and service;

l) Name-building headline: emphasize the name of the product or the name of the company;

m) Label headline: give a label to the product such as collectors’ items;

n) Slogan headline: highlight the slogan

2) There are ways to write the body text:

a) Straight-line copy: the body text begins immediately to develop the headline and

illustration ideas, to sell the product using its sales points;

b) Narrative copy: the body text establishes a story or a situation which will lead to a

discussion of the product’s sales point;

c) Institutional copy: the body text sells an idea, a point of view, or the company instead

of the product’s sales point;

d) Dialogue and monologue copy: the characters do the selling in the own words like

testimonials;

3

e) Picture-and-caption copy: the body text uses a series of illustrations and captions

instead of words;

f) Offbeat copy: the body text uses devices like humour, poetry, foreign words, and so

on.

3) Clarity overweighs grammar. Advertisements must be understood immediately, it sacrifices

grammar when necessary;

4) Advertisements are easy to read. Short sentences, easy and familiar words, no words should be

wasted;

5) Advertisements stick to present tense and active voice;

6) Advertisements use fewer-syllables words;

7) Advertisements use personal pronouns, as talking to one friend;

8) Advertisements use singular “you” to achieve intimate and personal style;

9) When using a coupon, it should be written in the “voice” of the readers, such as “Give me…”;

10) Advertisements use colloquialisms and bright, surprising words to draw readers’ heart and keep

the readers reading;

11) Advertisements avoid clichés;

12) Advertisements avoid using “so” endings;

13) Advertisements do not over punctuate. Excessive commas should be avoided;

14) Advertisements use contractions whenever possible. They are fast, personal, and natural;

15) Advertisements treasure one-word transition. Adjectives, verb form, ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘yes’, ‘plus’,

‘because’, ‘best of all’ should be used before starting the second sentence;

16) Advertisements accept the use of ellipsis (…);

17) Advertisements use facts to increase credibility; thus include the results of tests, growing sales

figures, and "user" testimonials;

18) Advertisements use symbols and images to glamourize the products, services, and the users;

create a desirable scenario;

4

19) The point of view of the advertisement is from the narrator, the one who appears to address the

readers, not from the writer;

20) Advertisements use the primary attention-grabbing words such as (extracted on the Internet)

Examples of persuasive and attention-grabbing words

health family success power

easy convenient exclusive indulge

genuine advantages comfortable dependable

durable absolutely affordable economical

versatile efficient effective available

immediate instant want warning

no-nonsense sure-fire unique special

more biggest oldest original

the latest confidence solution recognized

IMPORTANT right now like magic receive

transform money benefits valuable

precision luxurious ideal quality

respected perfect compact explosive

delighted convinced improved authentic

Format and layout:

The layout of an advertisement refers to the arrangement of the various elements (headlines,

subheads, photos, pictures, coupon, logo etc.) on the printed page. Photos, graphics, ad artworks

convey the feeling of excitement and movement, but must not tire the eyes or disrupt the flow of the

message.

1) Standard layout:

g) Advertisements are mostly printed in blank ink against a white background;

h) Space is liberally between lines;

i) Headlines are usually set in boldface type or in large letters across the top of the page;

5

j) Subheads are smaller than the headline but larger than the body text; they are three or

four lines below the headline;

k) Body text is an extension of ideas conveyed by the headlines and illustrations. It is of

smaller size and it will be broken into masses if it is long;

l) The benefits of the product or the service are in a list. This is accomplished by using

bullets or numbers;

m) Captions are the small words used with illustrations, coupons, and so on. They are set

in type smaller than the body text. If they are put in boxes, they obtain greater

attention values;

n) Blurb or balloon are put from the mouth of the characters illustrated in advertisements;

o) Contact number is set in boldface type across the bottom of the page. It may be

introduced with the word “Call”;

p) Coupon is placed in the lower right-hand corner, surrounded by a heavy dashed line. It

should be large and bold enough to be noticed. The address, the offer, and the

instructions appear both inside and outside the coupon in full;

q) The company logo is placed in the lower right-hand corner;

r) The company slogan is placed directly below the logo;

2) Editorial layout: It assembles editorial matters in a publication; words are highly dominating

and illustrations are secondary.

3) Poster layout: It emphasizes the visual elements. The large illustration tells the whole story;

4) Cartoon layout: It utilizes a cartoon drawing at the top of the advertisement;

5) Comic strip layout: It utilizes a series of drawings to tell a developing narrative in which the

products and services play the heroic role;

6) Picture-caption layout: It pictures many features with short explanations accompanying each

picture;

7) Picture-cluster layout: It presents visual elements through several vertical and horizontal

6

rectangles. Occasionally, rectangles contain words as well. Lines are used to separate the

rectangles.

Way(s) of organizing information:

The sequence of advertisement is: Attention - Interest - Desire – Action.

1) Headline;

2) When the readers’ attention is got, the advertisement will tell the readers what the product and

service will do for them, how the product and service will improve their lives and provide them

with benefits they can see, hear, touch, smell, taste, count, and feel, emotionally. Generally,

these can fall into one of the following categories: Better health, more comfort, more

convenience, egotism, more money, more leisure time, more popularity, greater beauty, love and

sex, success and/or security;

3) Compare and contrast with other products and services if necessary;

4) At this stage, advertisements summarize everything, draw a mental picture for potential buyers,

let them imagine owning the product, enjoying the advantages, comfort, and happiness;

5) “Demand for action” – this is the part using such words as: Limited offer - Act now! Write today!

Only and/or just....A reward may also be presented to stimulate potential buyers to take action. A

time limit is specified here. It is to tell potential buyers to act within a certain time limit or lose

out on the reward, face probably higher prices, or even the withdrawal of the offer.

6) Guarantee will be presented after “demand for action”. It helps produce actions from potential

buyers.

7) Extra contact details such as phone number, address, etc. come last.

Other characteristics (if any):

1) The style of lettering (typeface or handwriting) can affect the attractiveness and readability;

2) Different typefaces and features of punctuations are used to mark the prosodic features, such as

7

the use of italics to signal stress, and question marks or exclamation marks to suggest the

respective intonation patterns;

3) The colour of words and photographs can maximize or ruin the effects;

4) Visuals compliment with words. They can be one large photo, a series of small and equal size

photos, appearing at the top, with the headline and the body underneath;

5) Bullet form delivers the message quickly.