Universität Rostock, Philosophische Fakultät
Institut für Anglistik/Amerikanistik
PS Advertising and Media Texts
WS 2005/06, 3. Semester

The AIDA model - Wrong spelling in advertisements
as an attention-seeking device

by: Juliane Behm

Content

1. Introduction p. 3

2. The AIDA model p. 3

2.1. Attracting attention and arousing interest p. 4
2.2. Stimulating desire and creating conviction p. 5
2.3. Persuading consumers to take action p. 8

3. Wrong spelling in ads as an attention-seeking device p. 9

4. Conclusion p. 14

5. Reference p. 15

6. Appendix p. 16

1. Introduction

Advertisements play an essential role in all capitalist societies where more products can be produced as people need and the main goal of producers is to sell their products to consumers in order to make profit. With a creative design of an advertisement they try to persuade customers of the special qualities which the advertised commodity delivers to satisfy not just material but also social needs of individuals like needs for membership of a particular social group or self-identification for example through clothes.

In general, advertising is defined as “a paid form of communicating a message by the use of various media. It is persuasive, informative, and designed to influence purchasing behavior or thought patterns.”¹ But the most important type of advertisements is the so called “commercial consumer advertising” defined by Leech as “advertising directed towards a mass audience with the aim of promoting sales of a commercial product or service”². It is also the form of advertising we are confronted with most of the time for instance on TV, in magazines and newspapers, on billboards or in the World Wide Web. Beside these commercial consumer advertisements there are also other forms like “trade advertising” through which a firm promotes its products to other firms especially in trade journals and “prestige advertising” which does not promote a product but an image “to bring about an alignment of public opinion with commercial interests.”³ In this paper the focus will be on commercial consumer advertising in print media, its functions in the advertising situation defined by the AIDA model and the role which language plays in fulfilling these functions. Therefore, I will give an analysis of chosen adverts including an unusual use of language in form of wrong spelling in order to compare their effects with those of advertisements using standard language.

2. The AIDA model

In our today’s affluent society the market for commercial products and services is full of different firms producing and selling identical goods. There are for example various producers for cosmetics like L’oréal, Rimmel London or Nivea Beauty who all claim that their make-up and lipsticks make women look more beautiful. But when every company wants to claim its superiority to its competitors all producers are required to create persuading advertisements making their product appear more attractively in comparison to other brands. With the help of their advertising campaigns they have to follow three main goals of advertisements. These goals are to inform the consumer about the commodity, the qualities making this product superior to equivalent brands and the special need it fulfills, to persuade him to buy it and to remind him in order to settle the brand-name or the advertising slogan in the consumer’s mind.⁴

The AIDA model as a “traditional conceptual model for creating any advertising or marketing communications message”⁵ describes in more detail how an ad has to be designed to reach these three goals successfully. Since the word ‘advertise’ derives from the Latin root ‘advertere’ meaning ‘to turn towards’ the etymology of the word already suggests that an ad has to direct one’s attention. Therefore, it is firstly important that an advertisement is perceived by the consumer for example, through eye-catching motives and colours or special vocabulary and interesting sentences. Thus, the first step described by the AIDA model is that the attention of the reader has to be attracted so that the advertisement is noticed at all. Secondly, the interest for the promoted commodity has to be aroused by convincing the reader that it will satisfy a particular need. Afterwards it is important to persuade him of the special qualities making the product unique and better as other ones in order to stimulate the creation of a desire in the reader. Finally, it has to lead him to go into action – in other words to make him buy the product. In the following paragraphs I will give a detailed description of linguistic means in advertisements used to fulfill the instructions of the AIDA model.

2.1. Attracting attention and arousing interest

Readers naturally do not intend to read a magazine because of its advertisements although half of an edition consists of ads all competing for the reader’s attention.⁶ For instance, in women’s magazines like “Cosmopolitan” one can find an advertisement nearly one every second page promoting perfumes, hair shampoo, and styling accessories or cosmetics. In this situation a very great creativity of the advertiser is required because the most important function is that the ad is noticed at first and the reader’s attention is caught and also held. Otherwise it would not be necessary anymore to give a detailed description of the product because the reader has just missed the ad before he is able to get more information at all. Consequently, a strong headline is indispensable if the advertisement has to be as attentionseeking as possible.

[...]

1 http://www.learnthat.com/define/view.asp?id=162 (02-09-2006)

2 Leech, Geoffrey. 1966. English in Advertising, London, p. 25.

3 Ibidem.

4 http://www.davedolak.com/advtg.htm (02-09-2006)

5 Ibidem.

6 Vestergaard, T. and Schroder/K. 1995. The language of Advertising, Oxford, p. 49.