The research question of this thesis is how sociodemographic variables affect the perception of English in German Advertising. "English seems to be surrounded by an aura that the German language is apparently missing". With regard to advertising in Germany, it becomes difficult to disagree with this statement by Schlüter. For several decades anglicisms and English expressions have been used for promotional purposes in television-, print-, and online-advertising. "Professional Hair Care for you", "Powered by Emotion" and "Driven by Instinct" are only a few of the many popular slogans in Germany.
The "aura" has been utilized by companies in multiple industries for many years resulting in a consistent growth in the number of anglicisms and English expressions used in the past. This quantitative increase has been exhibited by many researchers, most notably by Schütte. She concluded that from 1951 until 1991 the amount of anglicisms in the slogans, headlines and continuous texts of her corpus of print advertisements grew by over 400%. In her corpus Slogans featured an especially high increase of anglicisms, growing from 5 in 1951 to 153 in 1991. Meder came to similar realization, denoting a great increase of anglicisms used in selected German men’s and women’s magazines in the years 1983, 1993 and 2003. This trend of anglicisms and English expressions being incorporated into the German language – and also advertising – is presumed to continue with the number of expressions deriving from the English language increasing.
Hence, the quantitative presence of the English language in German advertising is virtually undeniable. However, advertising is a form of communication in which the advertiser’s objective is to generate a certain attitude within the recipient towards the advertising object. Thus, it is of substantial value to understand who perceives advertising containing English in the way the advertiser wishes it to be perceived. Past studies that have dealt with the perception of English and anglicisms in advertising oftentimes merely focused on the factor of comprehension. Researchers concluded that the positive perception of English correlated with the person’s command of English. Hence, the question remains who perceives the "aura" of the English language in advertising and which variables influence their respective perception.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Advertising Language
2.1 The Aim of Advertising
2.2 The Importance of Advertising Language
2.3 The Slogan
3. Why is English popular among Advertisers?
3.1 Pragmatic Reasons
3.2 Sociocultural Factors
3.3 Corporate Motivation for using English Slogans
4. Varying Language Attitudes towards the Influence of English on the German Language
4.1. Adolescents
4.2 Criticism of Anglicisms and Purist Movement
4.3 Studies on the Perception of Anglicisms and English in Advertising
5. Online-Survey: Researching the associative and connotative value of English in Advertising
5.1 Methodology
5.2 Results
5.2.1 Sociodemographic Characteristics of the Participants
5.2.2 The associative values of English and German Slogans
5.2.3 The Connotation of Anglicisms and English in German Advertising
6. Discussion
7. Conclusion
Research Objectives and Core Themes
This thesis examines how socio-demographic variables influence the perception of English and anglicisms within German advertising. The core research question addresses which specific characteristics of recipients (such as age, education, and regional origin) correlate with an associative and connotative preference for or aversion toward English slogans.
- Analysis of advertising language and the strategic function of English slogans.
- Investigation of pragmatic and sociocultural factors driving the popularity of English in German marketing.
- Evaluation of varying language attitudes, including adolescent openness and traditionalist purist movements.
- Empirical research using an online survey to test hypotheses regarding the associative and connotative values of English slogans among different demographic groups.
Excerpt from the Book
1. Introduction
“English seems to be surrounded by an aura that the German language is apparently missing” (Schlüter, 2012, p. 12).
With regard to advertising in Germany, it becomes difficult to disagree with this statement by Schlüter. For several decades anglicisms and English expressions have been used for promotional purposes in television-, print-, and online-advertising. “Professional Hair Care for you”, “Powered by Emotion” and “Driven by Instinct” are only a few of the many popular slogans in Germany. The “aura” has been utilized by companies in multiple industries for many years resulting in a consistent growth in the number of anglicisms and English expressions used in the past. This quantitative increase has been exhibited by many researchers, most notably by Schütte. She concluded that from 1951 until 1991 the amount of anglicisms in the slogans, headlines and continuous texts of her corpus of print advertisements grew by over 400% (Schütte, 1996, p.183). In her corpus Slogans featured an especially high increase of anglicisms, growing from 5 in 1951 to 153 in 1991 (Schütte, 1996, p. 183).
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Outlines the rise of English in German advertising and defines the research question regarding how socio-demographic factors influence the perception of this linguistic trend.
2. Advertising Language: Defines the strategic role of advertising language, its goals in a competitive market, and the foundational functions of slogans.
3. Why is English popular among Advertisers?: Investigates the pragmatic and sociocultural reasons—such as internationality and modernity—why companies incorporate English into their marketing strategies.
4. Varying Language Attitudes towards the Influence of English on the German Language: Examines societal reactions to the English influence, contrasting adolescent adoption with adult criticism and purist movements.
5. Online-Survey: Researching the associative and connotative value of English in Advertising: Details the methodology and results of an empirical survey conducted to analyze how participants perceive English and German slogans based on their backgrounds.
6. Discussion: Synthesizes the survey results, interpreting the associative and connotative findings in the context of the proposed hypotheses and existing research.
7. Conclusion: Summarizes key findings, confirming that socio-demographic variables significantly impact the perception and effectiveness of English in German advertising.
Keywords
Advertising, English, Anglicisms, Slogans, Socio-demographics, Perception, Language Attitude, Marketing, Consumer Behavior, Associative Value, Connotation, Comprehension, Purism, German Market, Online Survey.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this thesis?
The work investigates the perception of English and anglicisms in German advertising, specifically analyzing how socio-demographic variables like age, gender, education, and regional background influence consumer response.
What are the central themes discussed?
The central themes include the strategic use of advertising language, the sociolinguistic impact of Americanization on the German language, and the conflict between the modern "aura" of English and traditionalist purist perspectives.
What is the core research question?
The research asks how socio-demographic variables affect the way German consumers perceive and interpret English in advertising content, specifically focusing on associative and connotative values.
Which scientific methodology is employed?
The author employs a mixed-method approach, combining a theoretical analysis of existing literature on advertising language with an empirical online survey involving 136 participants to test five specific hypotheses.
What topics are covered in the main section?
The main section covers the functions of advertising, the popularity of English slogans, current language attitudes in Germany, and a detailed statistical breakdown of survey results regarding various German and English slogans.
Which keywords best characterize the research?
The research is best characterized by keywords such as advertising, English, anglicisms, socio-demographics, language attitude, marketing, and consumer perception.
How does the author define the "popmusiceffect"?
The author uses this term (borrowed from Samland) to describe a phenomenon where consumers find foreign-language advertising content appealing based on emotional associations, even if they do not fully understand the literal content.
What role does regional origin play in the findings?
The survey results indicate that participants from urban areas generally exhibit a more positive perception of English in advertising compared to those from rural areas, likely due to the higher level of diversity and foreign language exposure in cities.
What unexpected finding regarding education is mentioned?
The study found that while the connotative value of English generally increased with education, it peaked among bachelor's degree holders and surprisingly dropped among those with higher academic degrees, suggesting potential "unimpressed" attitudes among the most highly educated.
- Citation du texte
- Henry Quevedo (Auteur), 2018, An Analysis of How Socio-demographic Variables Affect the Perception of English in German Advertising, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/457533
