Language in Use 63-64
This unit is concerned with the way we exploit the expressive power of language
to put over a particular point of view to a wide public. Its aim is to examine
the relationship between the language used in advertising in the widest sense-political,
polemical, humanitarian-and the nature of the expressive content of the messages
involved. Whatever is examined must be topical; consequently, examples are difficult
to give. In 1970, the following represented the range of publicity material
suitable for the unit:
(a) official: decimalisation
(b) political: Aims of Industry
(c) social: Shelter
(d) humanitarian: Oxfam
(e) public: British Rail
[1] For this session, the class need a large collection of all kinds
of material from those who want to reach a wide public through printed advertisement. The
aim of the session is to show that there is a wide range of very different messages
conveyed by these means, and that the impact sought by them is equally varied.
The class should work in groups and each group should prepare a short report
on what they have discovered, to deliver to the class in session [2]. Questions
such as the following can be suggested if the groups seem to need some initial
guidelines for their work:
(a) what is the nature of the message: official, political, social, humanitarian,
public, commercial?
(b) are there any obvious similarities or differences in the style of language
chosen for these types of
advertisement?
(c) what differences in language are there between advertisements in papers
and magazines intended for very different social groups?
(d) what is the relationship between words and pictures?
[2] The class should hear the reports and in the course of their discussion a picture should be built up on the board of what the range of possibilities seems to be and how different types of advertisement can function.
[3] In this session, working in the same groups as before, the class should be asked to produce a range of advertisements of their own. Each group must decide what source they intend to use and who their audience is. A large collection of old magazines is a useful source of raw material for pictures and even for letter press.
[4] If possible, the results of the work in session [3] should be displayed before this session so that the class arrive ready to discuss how successfully the advertisements match the demands of the chosen audience, the questions outlined for session [1] may be found useful.