This term-paper is – among other things - meant to present the role adjectives play in the whole
process of advertising. With a restriction to written advertisement, the following questions are to be answered: Can adjectives accomplish to attract a consumer? Can they initiate interest, desire or the action of buying the product?
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Adjectives: characteristics, functions and occurrence in advertising
3. Adjectives in different fields of advertising
4. Adjectives in cosmetic and beauty treatment advertising
5. Conclusion
Objectives and Research Focus
This paper examines the role and usage of adjectives within written advertising. It investigates how different types of adjectives function to attract consumer interest, establish product associations, and contribute to the overall process of persuasion, with a specific focus on the cosmetic and body care industry.
- The linguistic functions and characteristics of adjectives in advertising.
- A comparison of adjective usage across general advertising and specific product sectors.
- An analysis of a corpus of advertisements from Glamour and Cosmopolitan magazines (2004–2007).
- The impact of adjective placement (attributive vs. predicative) on consumer perception.
- The distinction between positively and negatively connoted adjectives in marketing strategies.
Excerpt from the Book
2. Adjectives: characteristics, functions and occurrence in advertising
The first and fundamental question to be answered before examining the use of adjectives in advertising in detail is: what actually are adjectives and what function do they fulfill?
In her text, MacFadyen defines the function of adjectives as “describing, identifying, or quantifying words” (MacFadyen, 1).
Similar to this statement, the OED considers an adjective to be “a word standing for the name of an attribute, which being added to the name of a thing describes the thing more fully or definitely”. Applying this characteristic to advertising, this would mean that adjectives are basically used to describe or evaluate the respective product or service.
This can either be done by underlining what the respective product is and can do or – as opposed to this – what the advertised product is not.
That is to say the product is presented either together with approbatory adjectives such as 'good' and 'fine' or together with disapprobatory adjectives like 'bad' or 'worse' (Leech 1966, 31 & 153).
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: This chapter outlines the prevalence of advertising in modern society and introduces the research objective of analyzing the role of adjectives in the persuasion process.
2. Adjectives: characteristics, functions and occurrence in advertising: This section provides a theoretical framework for defining adjectives and their various forms, including base, comparative, superlative, and intensifying categories.
3. Adjectives in different fields of advertising: This chapter reviews historical lists of common advertising adjectives, highlighting the dominance of base forms like 'new' and 'good' across different industries.
4. Adjectives in cosmetic and beauty treatment advertising: This chapter presents a corpus-based analysis of the most frequent adjectives in cosmetic advertisements, such as 'new', 'natural', and 'smooth', and discusses their syntactic placement.
5. Conclusion: This chapter synthesizes the findings, noting that while adjectives are essential for product evaluation, advertisers increasingly avoid exaggerated superlatives to maintain consumer trust.
Keywords
Advertising, Adjectives, Linguistics, Consumer Behavior, Persuasion, Attributive Position, Predicative Position, Cosmetic Industry, Corpus Analysis, Superlatives, Marketing, Product Description, Semantic Classification, Branding, Consumer Trust
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary purpose of this research paper?
The paper explores how adjectives function in written advertising to influence consumer behavior and how they are strategically used to persuade potential buyers.
What are the central thematic areas covered?
The core themes include the linguistic classification of adjectives, their syntactical roles, their distribution across different advertising sectors, and their specific impact in beauty and cosmetic marketing.
What research methodology was employed?
The authors utilized a combination of literature review from linguistic scholars and an empirical analysis of a custom corpus comprising advertisements from Glamour and Cosmopolitan magazines.
What is the significance of the "attributive" versus "predicative" position?
The study notes that attributive placement is common for categorization, while predicative placement is often used for syntactic emphasis of a product's specific characteristics.
Why are "disapprobatory" adjectives used in advertising?
They are primarily used to define what a product is not, or to highlight a specific negative condition (like "dry" skin) that the product is designed to solve or avoid.
What characterizes the most frequent adjectives found in the cosmetic corpus?
The most common adjectives, such as 'new', 'natural', and 'smooth', act as descriptors to categorize products or to create desirable promises that appeal to the consumer's self-image.
How does the usage of superlatives impact consumer perception?
The authors argue that excessive praise through superlatives can reduce brand credibility, leading modern advertisers to favor weaker, more realistic forms.
Are there specific adjectives linked to particular product groups within cosmetics?
Yes, the study identifies that while some adjectives are general, others like 'dry' show a strong correlation with hair-related products, whereas 'natural' is predominantly associated with skin-care.
- Quote paper
- Patrick Schmitz (Author), Sebastian Meß (Author), 2008, Adjectives in Advertising - an Analysis, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/190611
