Advertisement Terminology

For English A Language and Literature Paper 1

Visual narrative

Advertisements usually feature a photograph, image, or drawing which tells a story. This is called a “visual narrative”.

Copy

The text or words in the advertisement.

Tagline

The catchphrase that leads the specific advertisement.

Should be memorable (may use literary/stylistic devices for this purpose).

Signature

The product’s name and logo

Slogan

The phrase used for a product or brand for all its marketing purposes.

Advertising techniques

A method marketers use to attract attention to their advertisement (and thus their product)

Appeal to fear

Advertise through appealing to the audience’s sense of fear and common fears of the target audience.

If you can make people scared, they will believe or buy anything.

Bandwagon effect

Advertising technique that suggests one should do something because everyone else is doing it.

Used for many decades, for wartime propaganda or cosmetic ads.

Argumentation fallacy (popular does not equal good, smart or necessary)

The target audience want to experience what the consumers depicted in the advertisement experiences and connects this to buying their product.

Shock advertising

A technique used to gain attention, as controversial advertisements often gain more (and free) publicity. Leads to brand awareness.

These advertisements often don’t even depict the product.

Focuses solely on creating a memorable impact on their audience, good or bad.

Conflict in advertising

Technique of including a conflict situation in an advertisement to help sell a product or idea.

Relies on the audience’s interest in seeing the conflict resolved.

Can be a form of shock advertising if the conflict is controversial enough.

May include unanswered questions regarding the depicted conflict that leads the consumers to searching for the company.

Testimonial

Technique where a celebrity recommends a product and speak of their personal experiences with it.

Appeals to the audience’s sense of ethos → they trust the celebrity. When they approve of a product, they are believed.

The audience may even identify with the spokesperson through similar backgrounds, etc. Therefore the celebrity is picked from the same demographic as the target audience.

Problem/solution technique

The advertisement aims at convincing the audience that they have a problem in order to sell them the solution (their product).

A persuasive technique.

If the audience identifies with (parts of) the problem, they can be persuaded to buy into the solution.

Anti-advertising

A technique which makes the audience aware of the conventions of advertising.

Seems to affirm the audience’s intelligence by awarding them for seeing through advertising tricks.

Breaks the rules of advertising and thus advertises even more efficiently

Advertorial

Advertisement that has the appearance of a news article or editorial (to increase ethos)

Target audience

The intended market and consumer for an advertisement, usually defined in terms of specific demographics (e.g. age and gender) and psychographics (e.g. interests and behaviors).

Targeting

The action of defining and delivering an advertisement to a pre-selected audience based on various attributes such as location, demographics, web browsing behaviors, preferences, etc.

Banner advert

Embedding a static, video or interactive advertisement into a web page, often above or beside the webpage’s content.

Common form of online advertising.

Bleed

When the image or artwork of an advertisements extends beyond the normal margins of a printed page.

Layout

The way the different elements of the advertisement are placed.

Can be traditional, creative, etc.