The language of advertising in the Ghanaian print media

Abstract

Advertising takes many forms, but in most of them language is of crucial importance (Vestergaard & Schroder 1985). Language has a powerful influence on people and the way they behave. This fact manifests in many human endeavours including the fields of marketing and advertising. Language is employed in advertising as a means of communicating specific information with the intention of influencing or persuading the consumer. Although visual images and design as well as audio techniques in advertising have a great effect on the consumer; nevertheless, it is language that enables people to identify a product and remember it. The language of advertising is normally very positive and it emphasizes why one product stands out in comparison with another. Commercial information in advertising is designed to entice the reader to explore the product or service being offered in greater detail. Advertising language is a style of immediate impact and rapid persuasion. The current study analyzed the use of the English language in advertisements in the Ghanaian print media. The method of the study was basically qualitative and the analysis of data was based on Fairclough’s (1972) three-dimensional model. The study revealed that the English used in advertising in the print media in Ghana is characterized by the use of rhetorical figures, tropes and grammatical items which serve as persuasive elements