You are viewing a free preview of this lesson.
Subscribe to unlock all 10 lessons in this course and every other course on LearningBro.
Advertising is one of the most linguistically creative and manipulative forms of communication. Advertisements are designed to persuade — to make the audience buy a product, adopt a belief, or take an action. The study of advertising language is particularly relevant to AQA A-Level English Language because advertisements deploy the full range of language levels (lexis, grammar, phonology, graphology, pragmatics, discourse) and are rich in representation choices. This lesson examines the key persuasive techniques, analytical frameworks, and language features of advertising.
Advertising language serves multiple functions simultaneously:
| Function | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Informative | Providing factual information about the product | Specifications, ingredients, prices |
| Persuasive | Convincing the audience to buy or act | Emotional appeals, rhetorical techniques |
| Phatic | Establishing a relationship with the audience | Friendly tone, conversational register |
| Poetic | Drawing attention to the form of the language itself | Rhyme, alliteration, wordplay, unusual syntax |
| Conative | Directly addressing and influencing the audience | Imperatives, second person pronouns, direct appeals |
Subscribe to continue reading
Get full access to this lesson and all 10 lessons in this course.