The following is the beginning of a language research report – not on Oratory! – that shows how easy it is to get started. This student then went on to write four more main paragraphs on different language features he found in car adverts. He attempted to answer all of his questions in each main body paragraph. (He SHOULD have said as he went, or referenced, which adverts he found the particular examples in…)It is not Excellence level (yet) but is a sound start.
The Language of Car Advertising
Car advertising has sky rocketed from the 1950s to the twenty-first century as the production of cars has rapidly increased. The language used in car advertising has become very sophisticated as people move into a modern world with ever-changing advances in technology. I have chosen to look at advertisements from 50 years ago until modern times. I gathered information from car magazines (for example ‘NZ Autocar’) and lifestyle magazines (for example ‘NZ Listener’), and also from TV ads from the 1950s. These were mainly accessed via the internet (YouTube in particular).
The questions I have used to focus my research are:
1) What are the terms / language techniques used to promote cars in advertising today and 50 years ago?
2) What is the intended effect of these terms / language techniques on society today?
3) To what extent do the changes in the language of car advertising reflect a changing consumer market over the past 50 years?
My hypothesis is that the language of car advertising will have changed as car companies will be competing against each other to see who has the most eco-friendly car, the most powerful, the most stylish or the most fuel efficient
One of the main language features used in car advertising in the modern era is jargon. Listing of this jargon is also common, with phrases like, “…accommodating split tail gate, active stability control… 6 airbags” common across many adverts. Technical jargon including “V6 engine” and “ABS braking system” is used in particular for sports car and SUV advertising. The jargon reinforces that the particular car is leading edge, with the latest features, and appeals to the predominantly male audience that these cars are aimed at. The jargon also creates an air of expertise and exclusivity, allowing the reader to feel part of a particular group who know what these terms mean. Safety jargon is used a great deal for sedans and hatchbacks, for example “ABS braking system” and “multi-airbag system”. These examples are found mainly in car advertisements in lifestyle magazines, aimed mainly at middle class families or parents, who have safety as one of their priorities in buying a car that their family will use. The intended effect of the use of this safety jargon engenders a feeling of trust in the reader, knowing that the brand of car they are reading about invests money in the latest safety technology. Compared to car adverts of 50 years ago, the amount of jargon used has increased hugely. 50 years ago, the only jargon used was really the difference between “petrol” and “diesel” and that a car had two front “seat belts”. Although these terms could hardly be considered jargon now, perhaps 50 years ago they would have been seen as specific terminology related to cars. People these days are much more interested in technical information about their cars and are more savvy about what technical terms mean. This is due to people being concerned about safety, performance and reliability when they make such a big investment as buying a car.
Another example of a language feature commonly used in car advertising is the use of adjectives with positive connotations, often superlatives. Many adverts features words like “powerful”, “class leading”, “world leading” or “dynamic”…