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Role of Verbal Information in Advertising

Natalie Goh (449869)

Class: Consumer Behavior

Dr. Klassen

November 20th, 2009

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Introduction

Verbal information about a product is very important when we want the consumers to

recognize the product and associate it with good attributes. Advertisers face the great

challenge of deciding the final most attention getting and memorable copy or script that should

be implemented in their advertisements. A simple three words copy require months of research

behind the scenes. In this article, it would explore the role and effects of verbal information in

advertising, how consumers respond to verbal information and what kind of message helps

create an effective advertisement.

The function of advertising is to identify the maker of goods and create a demand for

the advertised product. The questions to be asked would include: How influential is verbal

information to consumers, what makes advertising with the application of verbal information

effective? How would verbal information rank compare to the other communication medium

that advertising could utilize. We are investigating solely on the words (data) transformed into

useful information that could trigger an effect for the consumers. Nonverbal cues could be as

important as verbal cues are. Most of the time, many factors are taken into account in order to

determine how much weight of importance that should be placed on either nonverbal or verbal

cue. The discussion about consumer memory is also essential to understand how knowledge of

a product is represented in a consumer’s mind.

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Body

The basic goal of most marketing communications is to present information about a

product to potential customers. In advertising, the goal is narrowed down to presenting the

right message to the right consumer at the right time. Since this research is dedicated to

explore the role of verbal information, it is focused on the portion of creating the right message.

When designing a print ad, two main decision areas are addressed: the ad content and the ad

style. (Carroll, 2008) The ad content includes the verbal statements of attribute possession and

the visual depiction of objects, people and setting. In other words, the ad content is what we

say in an advertisement. The ad style consists of the method or manner by which the ad

content is expressed, or in short, how is the message presented.

The verbal message that advertisers chose to deliver to their target markets is so

important that it could determine whether the entire course of an advertising campaign

succeeds or fail. The verbal content of an ad, could determine if the ad was attention-getting,

memorable for the consumers to recall, and able to influence consumers to take a positive

attitude towards the product advertised. At such, the body of this research is dedicated to

explore the variations that a verbal content takes place in creating advertising. The content of

the body would be categorized into different topics.

Language: Text-Processing

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Language plays an important role in influencing the effectiveness of an advertisement.

Indeed, this article is focused on advertising within the United States, therefore it is assumed

that the language English is used. There are many researches done on effects of language in

advertising to bilingual audiences. The same content of an advertising that is displayed in

different languages could derive huge differences in meaning, and audience’s view of the

advertisement. This topic of different language variables can influence communication and

persuasion in advertising is crucial for marketers since most of the world’s population speaks

more than one language.

Language itself is a complex form of communication. The usage of a word in and

advertising content could result in the inference of many different meanings. On such factor

could be due to the generation gap of consumers, where new ‘urban’ words are used by the

younger generation. Myths also emerge from the concrete level of language. For example,

people tend to believe that roses signify passion, or that detergents liberate dirt. Language as

well as images from advertising could form myths of different sorts and impact the behavior of

consumers. (Adaval, 2007).

As the meanings of a word could bring about various meanings, a verb description could

present another form of abstractness to the content of a message. The usage of verbs that

describe actions are typically interpreted as more inclusive than verbs that describe states. For

example, the statement “Michael Jordan buys Nike shoes” is inferred as lees likely to generalize

over time and situations if compared to the statement “Michael Jordan likes Nike shoes” The

action verb (buys) usually implies that Michael Jordan likes Nike shoes. However, the states

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verb (likes) elicits a stronger consumer response. Action verbs are likely to activate an agent-

focused schema. In other words the actor (Michael Jordan) becomes the cause of event

described. On the other hand, state verbs activate object-focused schemas (Nike Shoes).

“Michael Jordan buys Nike shoes” is attributed to the character of Mr. Jordan himself. While,

“Michael Jordan likes Nike shoes” is attributed to the characteristic of the shoes. Therefore, we

see that state verbs are more likely than action verbs to elicit beliefs about attributes of a

product. State verbs are more likely to stimulate inferences that the relation described

generalizes over time and situations. (Wyer, 2002)

A reader or viewer’s comprehension of a message delivered could also be explored from

the aspect of cognitive elaborations. In many cases, cognitive elaboration of a message may

result in the receiver of information to refute its implication or to interpret it for a purchase

decision. How the messages are elaborated or interpreted would depend on the linguistic

structure of the communications that elicit them. Receivers of a message could construct an

interpretation of information based on a general knowledge structure such as a schema. Take

for example the following statement: “John pounded a nail into the wall”. Preexisting schema

would assist audience in interpretation that a hammer was used in that situation. John was

perceived to have used a hammer to pound the nail into the wall. This form of comprehension

based elaborations could also assist in the explanation of misleading or deceptive advertising.

Consider a brand that claims their products taste better. This statement could be

comprehended in terms of preexisting knowledge structure, but audience could each interpret

a different meaning. Audience could interpret it as tasting better than other competitors or

tasting better than they did 10 years ago.

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For the following section, the discussion of language would focus solely on the verbal

text and sentence, and how they should be created. How could an advertiser derive the best

attention-getting, memorable, and lasting verbal information that their targeted audience

would care to listen to? This section also explores the twists and turns of playing with the words

of a language that could have the same meaning but different effects when used in an

advertisement.

First, the evaluations of how an advertisement should lay out its verbal information

would start from the perspective of text-processing. The creation of information would have to

start from scratch, its data, and in this case it is the words that would form sentences, and

sentences that would form paragraphs, episodes and so on. This perspective pulls out some

topic of psycholinguistics models to help examine text processing in advertising. Most of the

print ads utilize the content of texts to connect or communicate their message to the

consumers. The understanding of how consumers integrate the texts could help advertisers

create a more effective advertisement. This knowledge does not account for print ads only as

TV commercials; radio, internet or any other form of advertising would need to understand the

text processing in order to produce a well written “script” or storyline for their advertisement.

The focus of text-processing in an advertisement is on two elements, which are

coherence and referential continuity. These two elements are taken from the psycholinguistic

models which could help examine how individuals integrate information from advertising copy

into accurate mental models or representations. Both elements are crucial in order to influence

the mental representation of an ad’s content, comprehension and evaluations. Coherence and

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referential continuity are used to create a link between ad copy characteristics, and ad

responses from consumers.

First, a coherent or consistent text is when individuals could readily mix the verbal

information from an advertisement into a causal, intentional, or temporal structure. There are a

variety of coherence relations models. The examples are relations of causation, problem-

solution, intentionality or a mere list-additive relation. These relations represent the

presentation format or structure of the text which could influence the degree of coherence. For

this research, it would take on the example of problem-solution relations to demonstrate its

effect on creating a coherent ad. Problem-solution texts can be considered a highly coherent

structure for the audience to interpret the text. The reason is that it fosters faster processing

and greater recall of the information. To illustrate it, consider an ad for an electric toothbrush:

Initial ad: What’s holding back your smile?

Conclusion ad: Turn on your smile. To turn on a cleaner, healthier smile, use the only

brush with brand name. Get the brush that helps you protect your smile as you clean.

The problem is identified and presented at the beginning of the ad, and ends by providing a

solution to the problem. (CITE?)

The second element of text processing is the referential continuity. Referential

continuity is related to the continuity within the text. Throughout the text, there must be an

ongoing overlap in the concepts that are being discussed. Referential continuity provides a

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basis for coherence relations to be imposed by individuals. The repetition of verbal cues could

also activate key elements from previous materials, reactivating the necessary knowledge to

build the mental model of the whole text. One example could be taken from the problem-

solutions relations model. Take for example, and advertisement about using digital cameras to

film in dark conditions. In the initial ad, it presents a problem where a group of friends are

trying to record a video while camping outdoors at night. At the conclusion of the ad, when the

solution is given, it also repeats a phrase used at the beginning. The repeated phrase is used as

a cue to access elements in long-term memory. That is because the repeated phrase could

resonate with representations in memory that contain the same phrase or a similar one that

was registered from the initial advertisement. When a concept in memory resonates strongly,

its likelihood of being activated increases. The amount of resonance increases with the

similarity of the meaning of a concept in long-term memory to the meaning of concepts in the

text that is currently being read.

The effect of sentence-level context

Further on, this article will look at the effects of sentence-level context. The role of the

sentence has become a key persuasive linguistic unit in predicting responses to marketing

communications. (Bradley & Meeds, 2007) Advertisers often face the challenge of placing a

word or vocabulary that readers or viewers have not heard of before. Psycholinguistic research

indicates that people could understand complex vocabulary better when provided with

explanatory context. In other words, when a new technical term is used, people can have a

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partial knowledge of a word through the connection of the word with a sentence. Related

context may help a reader understand the meaning of the word as it relates to other known

words. When readers come upon a new word, they could use the potential linguistic domain to

which the word belongs to narrow down the closest meanings. Sentence-level context appears

to make unfamiliar words more understandable to the reader. Words or texts that are

surrounded by more contexts may also further engage and enhance the cognitive capacity of

the individual. (Meeds, 2004)

Sentences could help in the derivation of meanings to a word unknown to consumers

especially in the introduction of new technical terms. However, consumer’s level of word

knowledge could have an effect on the processing of the verbal content. The actual terms used

in an advertisement could have a different response depending on the viewers’ knowledge of

those terms presented. Comprehension of the advertisement’s meanings would be lower for

those low in word knowledge. Low comprehension could also happen if viewers are of different

cultures, countries, and generation. Similarly, those that are high in word knowledge would

have a better comprehension.

It is important to understand the cognitive processing of new or unfamiliar technical

terms and how consumers remember information and are persuaded by them. When

companies introduce new products into the market, they are interested in the diffusion of

information. The knowledge about the company’s product information has to be able to make

it into mainstream society. Explanatory contexts could help establish a powerful impact for the

new product. Ad writers should not avoid using the technical terms that describe their products,

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in fear that consumers could not comprehend them. Avoidance of the technical terms could

only result in the suffering of consumer memory about that product. Through sentence-level

context, comprehension of verbal information would increase. Readers were able to learn more

about the products, think more positively about them and be persuaded more easily. In this

case, consumer’s level of word knowledge does not matter. The way the technical terms are

presented in an elaborative processing way, is more relevant to the consumer learning ability.

Typography

Typography is a major executional element that is related to a word-driven form of

advertising. Typography could significantly influence motivation, opportunity, and ability to

process advertising messages. Research findings show that typography is capable of affecting

consumer ability to process ad-based brand information, and the effects of typographic

characteristics are highly interactive as well. Typography is closely related to the form, spacing,

and layout of words and sentences in the text of a written or displayed communications

message. Typography stands out as a dominant influence in print advertising as it could

enhance ad effectiveness. There are three typographic dimensions that affect the functions of

how the texts are presented. They are typeface characteristics, spacing characteristics, and

layout characteristics. Typeface characteristics deal with factors that affect the appearance of

the actual letterforms and include other factors such as style, color, size and so on. Spacing

characteristics describes the distance between words, between letters within words, and

between lines of text. Layouts are the positioning of words and text blocks and include the

justification and length of text. (CITE?) (McCarthey, 2002)

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High complexity of a text might seem to be considered as a threat for advertisers. The

majority of advertising is not designed to convey a complicated set of information. Instead, the

objective of a portion of advertising is to increase brand awareness, and to inform consumers

of new attributes. Even when complicated information is conveyed, it is typically done in the

simplest terms possible. Advertisers or copywriters typically strive to write advertising copy that

is easily understandable to the targeted market. Advertising copywriting guidelines include a

straightforward appeal, which is simple is best. The number one concern when conveying a

complex set of texts is the readability and memorability of the ad for consumers. Readability

relates to the linguistic complexity of the text and centers mostly on words (the familiarity,

frequency, abstractness, and length), sentences (length, syntactic complexity) and texts (density,

number of new concepts)(Chebat, 2003). Psycholinguistic models show how motivation and

ability affect readability. According to Kintsch’s integration theory, text comprehension follows

a two-stage process. The first stage is called a construction stage, where a reader constructs

meaning progressively in short-term memory. When a word is visually processed in a text, its

associates are activated. (Chebat, 2003)

Complexity in print or any other form of advertising has an impact on memory. High

complexity in texts presented, could have negative effects on both recall and recognition of the

shown advertisements. The more complex a script is, the less likely it is that important

elements of the ad will be recalled or recognized. Even so, studies conducted by Lowrey suggest

that the level of involvement in the advertised product category could also influence

consumer’s memory when they encounter complex texts. If a text is hardly readable, individuals

with low linguistic ability show poor comprehension of verbal cues. They also tend to allocate

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most of their cognitive resources to the comprehension processes and significantly less for

storage. If the message is excessively complex, motivation has neither cognitive nor persuasive

effects. The influence of text complexity in an ad’s verbal content should be considered when

attempting to promote brand name recall or recognition. Even though high complexity in texts

arrives at a negative effect on ad recall, copywriters should not be constrained to write the

easiest script (Lowrey, 2002).

Verbal Information Processing

Remember your childhood vacation to Disney land, -- Cinderella’s castle glistening,

cartoon characters laughing, taking of group photos, smell of freshly cooked food, and Bugs

Bunny shaking your hand? As you are recalling your experience in mind, you may feel like you

are reliving your childhood experiences again. The way human memory works are actually from

reconstructions of bits and pieces of information we have obtained over time. Sometimes,

those reconstructions of our old memories are very similar to what we did experience. Some

other times, we could be tricked by our own recollection, of how it actually happened. It should

be noted here that Bugs Bunny is not a Disney character, yet some people remember him as

being part of their childhood after first hearing the suggestion. Advertisers have always been

interested in ways that they can ‘alter’ or ‘transform’ the nature of consumer experience by

setting expectations that influence the way consumers attend to information.

In relation to the study of human cognition, the process of verbal coding includes

proponents that verbal coding is important to perceptual processing. Another approach to

cognition is dual coding theory, which explains that visual information and imagery information

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processing evoked by visual stimuli are superior to verbal counterparts. Even though this is a

discussion about the role of verbal information, it would still be inadequate not to mention the

effects of visual information, as both stimuli could be integrated to influence each other. Dual

coding theory views cognition activities as a result of two mental subsystems, a verbal system

and an imaginal system. The verbal system facilitates sequential processing whereas the

imaginal system facilitates parallel processing of information. When a person encounters a

verbal stimulus such as texts, the verbal code will be activated. (Kim, 2008) There are three

distinctive way for the processing of incoming stimuli. The first basic level of processing is

classed representational processing. This process involves the direct activation of either the

verbal or imaginal system, depending on the incoming stimuli. The next level of processing is

referential processing, which involves the building connections between the verbal and

imaginal system. The third most complex processing is called associative processing, which

occurs when verbal and visual stimuli are associated with other verbal and visual stimuli. The

dual coding model assumes that the verbal information is processed sequentially, whereas

visual information is simultaneously processed and encoded as both images and verbal traces.

Linguistic information can be assigned semantic meaning and verbal information can

stimulate the construction of mental images for consumers. The medium may not be the entire

message, but it is an important part of it too. (Wyer, 2007) Brand names could be considered

linguistic symbols associated with a set of new meanings. Brand names are the label and

identity that could identify a brand from competitors. They play an important role as they are

part of the actual product or services. The social psychological views that brand names can be

emotion-laden identities. A brand name’s linguistic attributes such as differences in name types,

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perceptual features (color, size and so forth) could have a huge impact on consumer’s

inferences of the product offered by the brand. (Gontijo & Shi Zhang, 2007)

Free recall is primarily influenced by the accessibility of information in memory and the

ease of retrieving it. Free recall occurs when consumers have an a priori need to purchase a

particular type of product. They will consider the brands of which they wish to acquire

information before entering a marketplace. The brand names that they could recall are likely to

be strongly associated with the product category (beer) and the brand name (Budweiser). On

the other hand, recognition processes are more likely to operate in a supermarket where

individuals are faced with numerous brands on the shelf. In these conditions, recognition of a

specific brand name is more likely to be independent of its prior association with the product

category. The novelty or distinctiveness of the brand is one such example. Therefore, it could

be speculated that the more novel or distinctive a name is, the more thought will be devoted to

it at the time it is first encountered. In the matter of recalling brand names, brand names that

are made of words with relations to the product category are better recalled than non-words

(brand name that have no relevance to the product) recall. This is due to the reason that

information is typically better recalled if it can be comprehended in terms of preciously

acquired bodies of knowledge.

The role of affect and cognition in verbal information processing

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Human beings view things in many different ways; one such example will be the

judgment of beauty. Everyone has their own perception and criteria of what beauty means. A

painting could be regarded as beautiful for one artist but it could be total gibberish for another

person. Words may evoke beautiful images to some people; pictures may be preferred for

others. (Sojka & Giese, 2006) Research has shown that a person’s preference for visual

information over verbal information or the other way round, could affect the way they respond

to the types of information they receive. Studies have found that there is a connection between

affective processors with visual stimuli, and between cognitive processors and a preference for

verbal stimuli.

Affective processor is an approach that uses feelings and likes of a product. Audience

that uses this processor has the tendency to make decisions by relying on the affects; whether

the object evokes good feeling. Affective processors with high affect/ low cognition rely on

affect to make decisions. Cognitive processors are people that have a high need for cognition.

They prefer taking rational and logical approaches in solving problems and rely on their

thoughts to make decisions. Cognitive processors with high cognition/low affect provide

contrast to affective processors. Even though this article is centered on the discussion of verbal

information, the role that visual information played for consumers should not be disregarded.

As shown later on, the need to understand the approaches of cognition or affect would be able

to help advertisers identify the weight and focus on verbal input in an advertisement.

Visual information is processed differently than verbal information. From the knowledge

about cognitive and affective processors, theoretical conceptualizations suggest that affective

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processors (high affect/low cognition) would respond more positively to visual information than

would cognitive processors. Likewise, cognitive processors (high cognition/low affect) would

prefer verbal stimuli more than affective processors. People with a high need for cognition

(cognitive processors) as opposed to low need for cognition preferred verbal information and

enjoyed problem-solving challenge presented in verbal symbolism. Besides that, they (high

cognition) have been shown to demonstrate a preference for detailed, logical, rational

information to make judgments. These individuals who have a high need for cognition also

perform better on cognitive tasks such as doing arithmetic and solving anagrams, compared to

low need-for-cognition individuals. Mathematical images would become a form of verbal

information that is similar to words. These mathematical images would be harder to deliver to

high-cognition-need people if they were presented in a picture or visual format. Individuals

high in cognition prefer logic and rational data, their response towards visual ad and brand

would have a lower expression compared to those high in affect. If high-affect individuals prefer

pictures, it is likely that they would not like words because the visual and verbal stimuli are very

different.

Individuals that have a high need for cognition results in a greater message recall and

attitudes that are more sensitive to argument quality than people that has low need for

cognition. High need for cognition allows those individuals to have a high intrinsic motivation to

undergo elaborative processing. If explanatory context is added for these individuals, it makes

them better able to process the messages, and thus, their attitudes should increase too. When

people have a higher ability to process, they are influenced by the quality of arguments

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contained in a communication; while people that are likely to be influenced by peripheral

criteria such as pictures, their motivation or ability to process are low. (Meeds, 2004)

In a relatively short range of time, children’s lives have been transformed by the easily

accessible moving images of television and video, which have blurred the lines between reality

and fantasy, between fact and fiction. This small section would focus on the advertising role for

children and how children’s literacy and learning behavior creates a certain response towards

advertisements. First, we must understand that implicit and explicit memory is a distinction for

children’s perceptions of promotional material. Implicit memory is not affected by increasing

maturity; whereas explicit measure may fail with children they are not capable of the retrieval

by the task. Because children have fewer knowledge pegs about products, their low knowledge

base would affect their memory performance. With less knowledge about the varieties of

products, children’s product perceptions from films and TVs will be at a preconscious level

which would lead to an implicit memory. In conclusion, children use implicit processing skills to

construct a “languge” based on the peripheral and unanalyzed information acquired from their

viewing for use in an implicit script of everyday behavior. In this case, children acquire feelings

(affect processing) about the way things are done that contribute to their learned behavior,

such as consumer choices. Media advertising such as product placements would be most

effective in young children, because they have a preconscious processing. This allows affect

without cognition to occur. (Shrum, 2004)

Rhetorical Figures

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Further on, this article will continue exploring the variations of text structure and

its effect on advertising. Consumers are constantly bombarded with thousands of stimuli every

day. For marketers to convey information about products, they could resort to pictorial, graphic,

numerical and verbal modes. The verbal information presented to the audience whether in a

form of a TV script or a copy for a print ad, the structure of its text in one way or another

becomes a causal agent. The text structure tends to shape or direct consumer response. The

audience approaches advertisements as a set of complex texts that needs to be interpreted.

During their process of interpretation, these ads might be ignored or engaged, disregarded or

enjoyed, critiqued or approved. The discussion below emphasizes on rhetorical figures and its

application in changing the presentation of verbal content in advertising.

A rhetorical figure is a stylistic variation similar to the figure of speech found in language.

Familiar examples of figures of speech include rhyme and metaphor. Rhetorical figures are

considered an artful deviation; therefore they would not be viewed as errors or mistakes. The

most significant purpose of rhetorical figures is that it functions as a stylistic device and adds

interest to an advertisement. For example, a cigarette ad that proclaims “Today’s Slims at a

very slim price” would sound more engaging to the consumers than one that reads “Today’s

Slims at a very low price.” (McQuarrie, 1999) The advantage of utilizing rhetorical figures is that

they can be added to an ad without disrupting the attribute claim. The claim in the example

above is that the product is offered at a low price. Changing low price to slim price still

communicates the low-price positioning for the brand but does something more as well.

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Research has shown that rhetorical figures insert two primary effects on consumer

response. The first is increased elaboration and the second is a greater degree of pleasure.

(McQuarrie, 1999) A re-inquiry research was carried out by McQuarrie concerning verbal and

visual rhetorical figures. The end results show that rhetorical figures can have a positive impact

on consumer response, independent of instructions to focus on advertising or on the editorial

matter that surrounds the advertisement. Even within a single-exposure design placed within a

cluttered magazine, a surrounding that has several interesting articles and many filler ads;

rhetorical figures could still present an enhanced ad recall and ad attitudes. This result indicates

that rhetorical figures have the capability to motivate additional processing of ads. Verbal

rhetorical figures could enable elaboration processing because these figures are based on artful

deviation, which are swerve from expectations. This increase in elaboration processing is

presumed to create multiple cognitive pathways that draw the memory back to the originating

message. This could then increase the probability of recalling the advertisement. (McQuarrie,

2003)

One such example of rhetorical figure is the use of metaphor. Metaphors could be used

to convey meanings, and presumably describe an analogy between targets. To illustrate this,

evaluate the following two phrases: “love is a waltz”, and “love is war”. The first phrase, love is

a waltz triggers an image that life with love is like gliding and dancing gracefully in a beautiful

surrounding with your partner. The second phrase, could elicit a different image of what love is.

Love is war could be associated with aggressive acts, fights, hardships and misery. From these

examples, it is shown that metaphors could elicit vivid images and stimulate cognitive

elaboration. Besides this, metaphor could also influence the attention to and elaboration of

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other aspects of the communication in which the metaphor is embedded. When the metaphors

that are used have greater association with the attributes of the audience, the message will

have a stronger argument effect. The following example uses sports metaphors to associate the

message with sports enthusiasts. “If students want to play ball with the best, they should not

miss out on this opportunity”. As a comparison, the next statement conveys the same meaning

but without using the metaphor. “If students want to work with the best, they should not miss

out on this opportunity.” If this message was targeted at sports enthusiasts, they (target market)

would be more persuaded by the stronger argument presented with the metaphor of ball,

compared to the statement that did not use the metaphor.

Marketing online- internet advertising.

The internet is changing every aspect of our daily lives, from communication, learning,

playing to consumers’ purchasing and shopping. Advertising online would be a different and

important focus for businesses, such as retail sales. There are still many consumers that are

reluctant to purchase via the Internet. One of the primary reasons is that consumers could not

physically examine items prior to purchase. Consumers need appropriate product information

in order to make a purchase decision. Shopping cart abandonment during the Internet shopping

process, especially during the time prior to check out has been common among would-be

customers.

Product information becomes an important factor in consumer purchase decision on the

Internet. Due to the fact that consumers are limited in the ability to physically evaluate

products when shopping on the Internet, product details and presentation offered online

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becomes a critical role in satisfying consumer needs for proper product information to make a

purchase decision. Verbal information had significant effects on cognitive attitudes toward

products and purchase intention. Detailed product descriptions are critical to positively

influence consumer shopping experience on the Internet. Product descriptions on the Internet

could be viewed as equivalent to a salesperson’s service at the actual retail stores. Those

people that are exposed to more verbal information will have more positive attitudes toward

the product. Besides that, both visual and verbal information often interact to influence

consumer responses to the product.

Experiments done by Kim and Lennon suggest that verbal information had a significant

effect compared to visual information. In regards to cognitive attitudes, both visual and verbal

information influenced cognitive attitudes, but verbal information had a stronger impact on

cognitive attitudes. Regarding consumers’ purchase intentions, verbal information had a

significant effect only when small pictures were presented. Verbal information in an

advertisement makes specific claims about product attributes or performance, which make

possible the inferences about unknown information of a product. (Kim & Lennon, 2008)

Effect of Advertising Play

In everyday life, advertising catch phrases could be found circulating in social

interactions among people of all ages. The content of advertisements has become a common

topic of conversation for people and to some extent has been integrated or even replaced in

our everyday speech. This section is devoted to the understanding of advertising play that

consumers have been implementing in their daily lives. This game that consumers ‘play’ with is

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an effect of advertising that advertisers should be aware of. According to Stephenson, play is

conceptualized as “free time used for largely unproductive and potentially self-satisfying

activities.”(Alperstein, 1990 ) The advertising play that this research is interested in is the

language play that utilizes verbal expressions to transform the content of advertising into the

content of social discourse.

If observations are made of how an individual act or talk, it would reveal the high level

of advertising language used. Advertising can foster sociability by promoting participation or

shared interaction because people could relate to or are familiar with the content of the

advertising. An effective advertising has to be able to tell a story or construct a meaning that

consumers are already highly familiar with in their everyday’s lives. In order to capture

consumers’ attention, advertisements have made it unique and memorable compared to all

other forms of mass media. Most Americans have become ‘advertising educated’, automatically

imitating some advertising in the context of social discourse. When consumers derive meaning

from an advertisement, it becomes personal. The viewer of the advertisement integrates his life

experiences and expectations of the stimuli he is receiving and interact them with how the

viewer perceive the message of the advertisement. “It is not the message itself that

communicates meaning, but rather its relationship to the audience…” Sometimes these catch-

phrases that originated from the advertising itself might not even be the first source for all

people using it. These phrases could be learned from others through interactions and when

that person watches the ad with that catch-phrase for the first time, they understood it

immediately.

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Next, this research investigates how the audiences transform the verbal content seen on

commercials or any other advertisements into the language used in everyday life. This

transformation of advertising’s verbal content is needed to allow the meaning of a particular

catch-phrase to be applied in a real social situation. This transformation strategy involves four

simultaneous steps. First, there must be perception or awareness that the verbal content is

right for such use in a social discourse. Second, it is important to understand the audience

receiving the advertising language and the appropriate social situation of use. Third, the

individual has to draw on his or her memory to recall the phrase. And, fourth, the individual

must transform the meaning of the ad into a purposeful use. ( Alperstein, 1990 ) This process

could take place in an instant and it depends on the individual whether they ‘play’ it better than

others. Sometimes, the catch-phrases can be twisted and turned in order to fit a particular

context.

As noted before, advertising content provides a topic of conversation for people to talk

about. In Alperstein’s research, the verbal content found in advertising could also be used as a

tool to temper with potentially awkward situations. To illustrate this point, Alperstein gave an

example of a dance class with twenty women. In the middle of a dance lesson on a very hot day,

everyone was really sweaty. The instructor said to the class ‘Aren’t you glad you use Dial?’ and

the class replied in unison, “Don’t you wish everybody did?” This brings people together in

laughter, and especially in awkward situations.

Advertising messages could in some way empower an individual when they use it in

social relationships. Individuals involved in this verbal play could be anyone of any age. Knowing

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the content of a commercial and transforming the content into useful meanings in real life

could be learned since childhood and refined in adulthood. The verbal content in advertising is

an element found in our mass-mediated community. People often participate in a give-and-take

situation with the media, such that the content becomes much like mass-produced product.

Advertisers could take this knowledge about verbal play and implement it into their creation of

an effective and memorable advertisement. From another perspective, this verbal play could

become the Word-of-Mouth among communities. Whether the use of an advertising content in

a social situation could last for a long time, it would have to depend on the purpose and

meaning of the content.

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Conclusion

Advertisements are social communications, and just like other communications, the

purpose of advertisements is persuading recipients to adopt a certain attitude or behavioral

disposition. What lies behind the success of persuasion includes the understanding of consumer

behavior, and the variations of advertisements that advertisers could modify. Information,

whether presented in visual and/ or verbal form is a fundamental element of the consumer

information environment. This article has dwell into the category of communication,

psychology (cognition and memory), social studies, linguistics, anthropology and of course the

industry of marketing in order to understand the role of verbal information in advertising.

This study did not put weights on either aspect, whether visual or verbal information

should be emphasized in an advertising content. The discussion shows that the understanding

of the factors and the objectives of an advertising message would imply on which verbal or

visual information that should be emphasized. There are strong advantages of utilizing verbal

information and at the same time disadvantages as well. The compilation of studies and

research in this article could hopefully benefit the readers in understanding the role of verbal

information in advertising.

25

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