O advertisement aims to present, to the general public, a certain product, brand or service, in order to attract and convince consumers to acquire or adhere to what is being presented. The language of this gender it is mixed, mixing verbal and non-verbal elements. To build a good ad, you need to be aware, and objectively keep in mind what is being presented. The form of presentation may vary depending on the brand's need.
Read too: What are argumentative operators?
What is an advertisement?
The commercial is a textual genre that has the function of presenting a certain product/brand for a wide audience, in order to attract them to acquire the object offered. Because it is a short text, but with the presence of character argumentative, this genre expands the possibilities of expression of the language and mixes the use of verbal and nonverbal language.
When a certain brand wants to present a new or already known product, what makes a consumer choose one product and not another? Quality may be one of the answers, but a great influence on our consumer choices is brand advertising, that is, the way it expresses, presents and sells its products.
In this context, the advertisement is the vehicle through which brands dialogue with a wide audience, presenting your products and/or services in a creative and thought-provoking way. Visual language — with the exploration of colors, textures, contrasts, light — and sound language can be significantly explored in advertising texts.
Verbal language, although it has its relevance in the genre, differs from its more common use, as it now has a more connotative value, so that all words, as well as the structure in which they are organized, become more symbolic and expressive, in addition to being available for the content you want to express.
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
Ad Types
Advertisements feature subgenres in their manifestation in the world. These subdivisions determine variations in the way texts are constructed. At first, there are two big categories in this differentiation: text/image ads and video ads.
You text/image ads frame all types of advertising texts that have a "static" form, consisting of verbal and non-verbal elements, that is, they do not refer only to writing, but mainly to the lack of movement. This category includes billboards, advertisements on the margins of websites, posters and even posts on social networks.
You video ads frame texts that present some scene or animation responsible for, through figuration, representing a state of mind, illustrating an advantage, presenting a transformation or exploring everyday circumstances with another perspective, in order to convince consumers that that product or brand is the best. In this sense, dialogues, music, dances and other artistic languages can occur as elements of language.
Characteristic and structure of the commercial
The advertisement is characterized and structured based on the content you want to express, that is, depending on the message decided, a textual form is elaborated, with language hybridism, able to draw attention and convince consumers to purchase the product/service. Thus, it is important to highlight that advertising texts have different forms and if so, that's positive.
Advertising seeks to work with the new, even if it refers to an existing product. The attempt of the texts is to present a differential aspect that can stand out and attract the public. To help in this process, the texts rely on the most diverse elements of languages (image, video, sound, dance, drawing, colors, textures, etc.), to produce something new, meaningful and attractive.
The importance of convincing power relates to the target audience of this textual genre. In this case, the advertisements fall under texts of mass, that is, texts that dialogue with a large number of people, in different places and with different realities and ideals of the world, so the language needs to embrace this diversity in a way efficient.
Regarding the message, the advertisement seeks to present ideal values of joy, youth, evolution, growth, that is, it works the content to express it as something positive, as a "higher step" in relation to something or someone. This way of expressing idealizes the concepts of “how they should and can be” and “how it will be”, if the product is purchased.
For your concise and short language, the texts use the word as a resource of strong expressive power, therefore they escape from its denotative and more “common” uses and become an “icon” of some part of the message. This also occurs with other elements, such as colors, which have a symbology, as well as the standardization of bodies, good and bad, beautiful and ugly, etc.
See too: Editorial – genre that presents the critical position of a certain media group
How to make an advertisement?
An advertisement always features something to be sold or served, so it's important think and choose what will be featured in the ad and what is the message you want to convey with the sale of this product. For example, instead of writing “wearing this perfume makes you attractive”, you should think of a type of context or image that represents this message.
You can choose a drawing, a scene or an animation to produce the ad. After this choice, the symbology of colors, words, environment, dialogues, sounds, lighting or any other aspect that helps to strengthen the impact of your ad and generate the desired feeling in the consumers.
It is important to consider that advertising is aimed at a mass audience, so it is necessary to be careful with linguistic prejudices, aesthetics and others, which can harm your message, by excluding an important part of the consumers. However, it is possible to explore the ideals desired by consumers, pointing to the effectiveness of the product/service.
Advertising Examples
Below are some examples of the textual advertisement genre.
The first example presents an advertisement for the new drink of “Café da Lu”. The name of the establishment is already placed in a superior position., something that can reinforce the bond between product, consumer and brand. There is also the game of colors that mixes the shades of brown, reminiscent of coffee and chocolate, while the black background contributes to a sense of seriousness or sophistication, which can even be an identity of the cafeteria. Mixed with these more closed tones, one sees the markings of green in the leaves and yellow, contributing to the “summer climate”, without denying the identity of the establishment.
The ad works with short and incisive sentences that present the doubts, needs, answers and solutions: “HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED?”/ “HERE YOU ARE IT”. Furthermore, although the price of the drink is not shown, it is stated that, when buying one drink, you earn another. These are some of the attraction and persuasion strategies that advertising can use to offer a product or service.
The second example is an ad by Secom, the sector responsible for publicizing the Federal Government's advertising materials. In it, we receive information from a government measure that reduces taxes on companies that provide internet access. In addition to verbal information, the ad explores photography, referencing the towers that allow the sharing data, and the sky itself, which has a very expressive coloration and can evoke sense of grandeur and expansion. The entire visual image contributes to the production of meaning in the verbal text, so that the message reaches the interlocutor in an impactful and meaningful way.
By Talliandre Matos
Writing Teacher
