E. Fieldwork

Report to the class on advertising strategies used in newspapers and magazines in your area.

• Find several examples of ads for food or other products.

• Discuss the ads in terms of achievement, affiliation, power, fear, sex, and any other strategies used.

• Compare the cultural values expressed in these ads to those expressed in the Perdue Farms chicken TV ads described in the unit.

WRITING

Part I

Below you’ll read about some techniques used in adverstising. Decide which appeal to you and which don’t.

1. Repetition. The simplest kind of advertising. A slogan is repeated so often that we begin to associate a brand name with a particular product or service.

2. Endorsement. A popular personality is used in the advertisement.

3. Economical appeal. Advertising often appeals to basics such as motherlove, sex, manliness, femininity.

4. Scientific authority. Sometimes the adverts show a person in a white coat i.e. a scientist telling us about a product. More often it mentions “miracle ingredients” or “scientific testing” to persuade us.

5. “Keeping up with the Jones’s.” An appeal to pure snob value. You want to appear to be richer or more successful than yor neighbors.

6. Comparison. The advert lists the qualities of a product in direct comparison with rival products.

7. An appeal to fear or anxiety. This type is similar to 3, but works on our fear.

8. Association of ideas. Cigarette advertising, for example, should be attractive: healthy people smoking in beautiful rural situations (Usually it is accompanied by the words “Smoking is harmful for your health”)

9. Information. If a product is new, it may be enough to show it and explain what it does.

10. Special offers/free gifts. This is a very simple and direct appeal – it’s half price!

11. Anti-advertising. This is a modern version which appeals to the British sense of humour. It makes fun of techniques of advertising.

Part II

Make up advertisements of your own. You may use any of the above mentioned techniques. Remember that you have to persuade and inform, and are not supposed to say anything misleading or untruthful – although of course in this case you are free to invent the name of the company, the details of its service, and so on. The advertisement that follows can serve as an example.

Every Day ups Are Trusted To Reliable Deliver 12 Million Shipments Worldwide

Our aircraft takes over 123.000 vehicles to put our customers’ trust into operation and a fleet of over five hundred aircraft world wide. But it’s our staff that make sure every package arrives safely with an attention to detail that has made UPS the world’s largest package delivery company and a service that people trust, especially with our new Worldwide Express guarantee. This ensures on time delivery from key cities throughout Central and Eastern Europe. At UPS we don’t just deliver your packages safely, we do it with a passion and that means all 12 million of them as sure as taking it there yourself.

TRANSLATION

A. Translate the following text from Russian into English

Слово реклама происходит от латинского слова reclamo (выкрикивать). Реклама – это информация о свойствах потребительских товаров и различных видах услуг с целью их реализации и создания спроса на них. Современными средствами рекламы служат печать, радио, телевидение, а также витрины, упаковка, товарные знаки и т.д. Убедить покупателей выбрать тот или иной товар – это основная задача рекламы. Реклама должна быть легко различима в средствах массовой информации. B aнглийском языке реклама обозначается терминами advertising и publicity. Оценивая и выбирая наилучшие изделия, некоторые люди полагаются на рекламу. Убедить покупателя выбрать тот или иной товар – это основная задача рекламы. Эмоциональный отклик на рекламу может быть связан с личными надеждами, страхами и предрассудками человека. Реклама не должна неправильно информировать или обманывать покупателя, а также дискредитировать другие изделия прямо или намеком. Рекламируя товары или услуги, необходимо соблюдать принципы честной конкуренции.

B. Translate the following text from English into Russian.

Radio advertisements and their relationships to their surrounding entertainment programs were exactly the opposite of their modern counterparts, television commercials. In the 30s a company hoping to draw attention to its product was not simply responsible for creating a fifteen-second commercial; it had to provide the entertainment as well, usually fifteen, thirty, or sixty minutes worth of it. About one third of all radio broadcasts were sponsored ones, but they were often more memorable because they were under considerable pressure to uniquely stand out and to increase sales of their products.

Today, the most popular television shows, news programs, and, in particular, sporting events command extraordinary fees for commercial time. Television advertisers attach their products to entertainments with wide audiences and therefore hope to benefit from the large numbers of viewers. Тelevision and radio have one extremely important characteristic in common: both reach enormous national audiences that most print mediums cannot even approach.

LISTENING

Listen once to the three radio commercials, which come from music-based radio stations in London.

What are the products and services being advertised?

Now listen again to each of the commercials in turn, as many times as necessary to answer the questions which follow.

Commercial 1

1. Which three aspects of the service are emphasized?

2. What, according to the ad, will be the effect of the first two of them on the customer?

3. Why do you think these three aspects were chosen, and why does the ad use these particular verbs?

4. What is the short, last sentence of the ad?

5. What else does the ad use apart from words?

Commercial 2

1. What is the horror story here, and why?

2. Unusually, the listener is not expected to understand everything that is said in this ad. Why not?

3. The ad mentions home entertainment systems. What other terms does it use instead of the more common stereo, radio, television and recorder?

4. Do you find this ad amusing?

Commercial 3

1. How does the ad give an Italian ‘flavour’? Can you think of any other way in which this could have been done?

2. Which of these three ads do you prefer, and why?

SPEAKING

Dwell on the following issues:

1. What is the role of advertising?

2. How do you understand the difference between commercial and image-advertising?

3. Make comparison between advertising and public relations. Do they have anything in common? How are they different?

4. What means of mass communication are used for spreading advertising in society? What is the peculiarity of each of them? When is it better to use one means and when others? Why?. Which of them do you find the most effective?