Language and Advertising

By Brandon H.S.3.10.11

Visual Language

• Visual Language is a way of communicating in a visual way. People think the best way of communicating is by talking to each other, but there are other ways of getting the message across. Body language is probably one of the main forms of visual language. Surprisingly, over 90% of communication is body language. Other forms of visual language include pictures, colours, charts and diagrams.

Visual Language

• Advertising visual language will include posters, billboards, print-based advertising, AD-breaks and logos. Visual language is absolutely key in advertising. The whole point of using visual language in advertising is to persuade the audience to buy the product.

Visual Language• Here are a few examples of

visual language advertising. There is a poster of “Halo 4”, a toilet sign for male or female, a map of the London tube and below is a video of a “Cravendale” advert (which is probably their best known advert).

Semiotics

• Semiotics is about the use of symbols and signs, and how we react to them. For example: When we see a red light on the traffic lights we know that colour means “Stop”, and that the green light means “Go”. A lot of these signs and symbols are recognizable around the world. However, some countries have a number of differences for their semiotics.

Semiotics• For advertising, semiotics will often

use a slogan, logo or colour of the product being advertised. A product’s slogan is probably the most used semiotic for advertising. On the right is a page that contains a number of well-known logos for products.

• “Cultural Icons” are used for advertising to attract people to the product and persuade the audience to buy them, e.g. David Beckham will be used for Sport adverts because he is best-known for playing football.

Examples of Signs

Product Branding• Branding is used to make products

recognizable by using logos, colours, slogans and even sounds/music. It’s important for a product to have it’s own brand to attract the audience. All of the most successful companies around the world have strong brands, e.g. Apple computers, Pixar, Xbox 360, Disney and more.

Product Branding• McDonald’s is a massively strong

company with a strong brand. The logo of the golden “M” is recognized world-wide, they have a very catchy slogan, “I’m lovin’ it!”, the colour red is recognizable for the company’s colour and McDonald’s even has it’s own mascot “Ronald McDonald” (top right).

• Xbox 360’s brand include the colour green, the slogan “Jump in” and it’s characters, e.g. Master Chief (bottom right) from the “Halo” series.

Product BrandingBrand Slogan Logo Products

McDonald’s I’m lovin’ it!

Xbox 360 Jump in.

Cadbury’s A glass and a half full of joy.

Product Advertising• Print Print-advertising can be seen in many

different ways, including magazines, newspapers, flyers, billboards and posters. Print-based advertising has to be eye-catching for audience to grab their attention. The adverts in magazines and newspapers vary because they can be targeted for different audience, for example: “Metal Hammer” music magazine could advertise music-based products, where as a gardeners magazine could advertise garden tools or slug repellents.

• TVAdverts on TV are shown everyday in between films and TV shows. Creating an advert on TV is more expensive than other types of advertising and can cost a lot. Adverts on TV are targeted to a specific audience that would be watching a certain programme, e.g. children’s adverts will be shown between children’s TV shows.

Product Advertising

• Radio Advertisements on the radio cannot be seen, instead they can

only be listened to. All radio advertisements try to be catchy with a jingle, in order to catch someone's attention.

• Internet Websites have adverts called “Banners” or “Pop-ups”. E-mails

about products can be sent to your e-mail which is called “Spam”. One of the most popular way to advertise on the internet is by “Viral Marketing”, which is when people spread the word about the product. Advertisements on website can be viewed across the world.

Examples