The Use Of Sex In Advertising

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ENGLISH IN THE NON-ANGLOPHONE COMMERCIAL CONTEXT

Scientific Advisor: DOCTORAL CANDIDATE:

SILVIA FLOREA , PhD POP (DAN-POP) MÃDÃLINA RUXANDRA

INTRODUCTION

As a dominant world language, English has influenced the coding and development of many other languages worldwide. It has become the core of communication across many fields of activity such as politics, science, advertising, business and many more. More importantly, the English language has penetrated our day-to-day language, regardless of our origins. In Romania, English words and expressions are being used to describe a variety of phenomena, emotions or facts. The interesting fact is that they have been integrated into the Romanian language easily and naturally, so that the majority of the individuals accept them without questioning their origins.

In the context of globalization, areas of activity such as advertising have become extremely important and the message they are transmitting is often created using English words and expressions. In a context of linguistic globalisation, it has become natural to adopt the features of the English language as if it were our native language.

The main consideration behind this choice of topic is that the English language has been naturally accepted as a communication tool in the advertising world and not only. It is important to observe and study the way a foreign language penetrates a territory with entirely different linguistics and origins and becomes generally accepted. Furthermore, it is essential to understand how the new language coding infiltrates into the social and cultural life of a society such as the Romanian one (Beck, 2011), giving the fact that globalization takes place when the unity between the national state and the national society breaks, causing other force reports to structure, as well as new conflicts and intersections between states and their actors on one side and other identities, transnational actors, social spaces and processes on the other side.

When looking at the evolution of fields such as advertising in Romania, it becomes easy to observe the subtle, yet permanent changes that have taken place over the years. This phenomenon is easier to comprehend nowadays than it was a few decades back, as the English language is studied by Romanian people of all ages and is included in the learning curricula of all learning institutions. According to the Statistical Year Book of Romania, in 2011, 95% of students learn English, starting at the age of 8 in average.

From a linguistic point of view, it is important to study and observe the way globalization is reflected in our everyday language, as since it has been declared lingua franca, English words and expressions have penetrated all levels of the Romanian communication. A variety of English words are present in the business communication, in personal interrelations, in journalism, in politics, social life, advertising and many more. English has been declared an effect of globalization with many occasions, as well as a hyper central language. This expression was used during the National Conference of Language, Literature and Universality in Braila (2008), when it was stated that there are approximately 10 super-central languages that gravitate around this hyper central language. During the same event, it was suggested that the avalanche of Anglo-Saxon terms and expressions appeared at the same time the technology and information exploded in the world.

The preservation of the Romanian language is one of the greatest concerns of linguists in our country, yet the rapid adaptation of the Romanian people and their desire to embrace globalization represents an obstacle and a great question mark at the same time. Should we stop this development? Should we try to preserve a language? Or it is natural to let it develop as the cultural, political and social barriers slowly disappear? These are remarkable questions that everyone should start asking, as the English language gains more and more field into our everyday speech. Moreover, it is important to ask ourselves if we should make a distinction between the prescriptive and the descriptive approach to language, by studying both the unconscious rules that individuals follow when speaking, as well as the rules that are imposed by a language’s schoolbooks and linguists.

Statistics of the Summer Institute of Linguistics in the year 2000 show that the English language is spoken by 478 million people daily, being on the second position in a global top, immediately after the Chinese language, which is being used by 1.2 billion speakers. On the opposite pole, French is only spoken by 184 million people, while Portuguese is spoken by 125 million. These facts show huge discrepancies, which is why linguists predict that 95% of the world’s languages will disappear in the next century. This statement is made based on the fact that 10 languages die every year on our planet.

The influences of the English language are more and more observable in the Romanian language, with every day that passes. Although Romanian is not one of the languages that are predicted to disappear, it is considered to be fluctuant and receiving. It borrows a large number of English words that are being used on a daily basis, especially by individuals below 18 years old. These changes take place due to the geo-political situation and the historical evolution, but also due to the technological advancements and economic developments.

The language reshaping is a natural phenomenon and just as the Greek, Turkish, Slavonic and Hungarian roots, words and expressions have influenced the speaking and writing of the Romanian language in the past, so are the English and American words today.

Mass media, especially advertising, plays a crucial role in promoting the new language, which has become extremely popular. The persuasive power of mass-media favours the quick change of how Romanians and other nations of the European continent speak and write (Johnson, 2009).

From this perspective, this paper has the main purpose of highlighting the integration level of the English language in the non-Anglophone commercial context of Romania, by looking at the history of advertising in this country, as well as at the features of the English language in advertising. To achieve this purpose, I have found very important to analyse the topic of the interlinguistic contact and the presence of Anglicisms in the Romanian languages, as they are subject to some of the greatest linguistic controversies.

The motivation behind the choosing of this topic is the current frustration of linguists, researchers and common people towards the language transformations that we are facing nowadays. Although no language has remained the same since it was first discovered, a high level of opposition is encountered among the Romanian people when it comes to integrating words of English origins in the everyday speech, in the professional terminology, business communication, interpersonal communication, social life, cultural life and more (Graur-Vasilache, 2003).

At the same time, I find this topic useful to analyse in the greater context of my doctoral thesis, The Linguistic Coding of Sexuality in Romanian Newspaper Advertisements. Currently, advertising is present in our everyday lives and guides our choices with every occasion. Advertising agents and copywriters create ad content with the purpose to persuade a wide, targeted public while appealing to sexual, yet subtle messages through advertising messages that are meant to unconsciously lead to the desired choice of product or service.

Therefore, I will analyse and present a short history of the advertising world in Romania and I will emphasize the features of the English language in the non-Anglophone commercial context, both in Romania and in an international context.

The history of advertising in Romania

Advertising, like many other fields of activity, has evolved in Romania based on the desire to imitate Western-European, as well as American countries that seemed to have the liberty and resources to explore, create and promote a variety of ideologies. It is impossible to discuss about the history of advertising in Romania without bringing into the scene the preliminary actions and events that took place in an international context, as certain actions that took place on Romanian soil were inspired from abroad.

Therefore, it is essential to mention that the Industrial Revolution has opened up the gates of advertising in the middle of the 19th century, when significant progress was made in the social and economic systems worldwide. V. Palmer was the first renowned advertising agent in the world, while John E. Powers is known to be the first American copywriter, renowned for introducing the concise news style into the advertising content (Petre, Nicola, 2009). V. Palmer founded three important advertising agencies in less than a decade in Philadelphia, Boston and New York.

The founding of several magazines represented the next big step after the foundation of some of the most important ad agencies in the world. The first magazine appeared in the United States of America in 1844. Southern Messenger, as it was called had Edgar Allan Poe as an editor.

Between 1900 and the World War I, the advertising world starts to develop as a mature field of activity and partnerships that were known as advertising clubs are born. In 1911, the first advertising campaign is started and from 1916 onwards, several professional associations are founded in the United States, as media structures, advertising agencies and companies that produced goods and services. They were militating for better professional standards that would stabilise the advertising activity. Between the two World Wars, there was an incredible demand of goods throughout the globe, which caused the field of advertising to explode. This has led to a chaotic way of advertising and has caused a tremendous consumer trend that represented the main reason of the great economic crisis in America between 1929 and 1931. This is the moment when the brand was born as a concept, in order to help individuals identify the desired products and services (Petre, Nicola, 2009).

After World War II, the advertising world went through a period of stabilization during which research became much more important. If, up until now, businessmen advertised everything and all products were advertised in the same way, new identification techniques and advertising strategies were developed in this period. As a consequence of the war, America won the world supremacy, as well as the market supremacy, which started new advertising trends.

Important characteristics of today’s advertising techniques are being shaped between 1950 and 1970, when specialized advertising agencies are founded, a new meaning is offered to the consumer concept and legal agreements are put in place in order to punish false advertising. David Ogilvy, the founder of the Ogilvy and Mather ad agency, brought his contribution to the development of the advertising world, by detecting the sense of boredom that the consumers expressed after a period of time of buying the same product. He introduces new concepts to this field, such as authenticity, originality and research.

Another important name in the world of advertising is Thomas Dillon, who introduces the concept of consumer loyalty, through which the buyer is placed in the centre of attention.

The 1980s prove that the advertising industry is not a rigid one, but a flexible field of activity that can adapt to all social and economic indicators that might appear over a period of time in a society.

In Romania, advertising played an important role from an economic point of view, as it was capable of creating needs by using the proper language and transmitting the right message to the right public category.

Romanian advertising in the Interwar period

According to analysts and practitioners of Romanian advertising, this field has only become authentic after the year 1990, being considered an imitation of the European advertising methods and means. Nowadays, there is evidence that the Romanian advertising was merely a copy of the French, while during the communist period, commercial advertising was almost non-existent (Petre, Nicola, 2009). However, the evolution of the advertising world after the year 1990 was explosive and recorded the highest development rate, along with the communications field, covering a few decades in an accelerated rhythm, in an attempt to retrieve the results that should have been obtained in such a long period of time.

The first Romanian commercial advertising was detected in the 1830s in the Mercur newspaper that was published in the city of Brăila and the first Romanian company to publish commercial ads belonged to David Adania (Petcu, 2002). In 1884, two Romanian editors, Constantin Brăiloiu and Tacid worked at the weekly advertising newspaper, “La Publicité Roumanie” and in 1886, the Advertisment Office of Romania (Oficiul de Publicitate România) is founded by George Albert Tacid, the same character that made the expression “the advertisement is the soul of commerce” popular among ad agents.

Other such newspapers quickly followed: “Românul” of C.A. Rosetti, the newspaper “Universul” of Luigi Cazzavillan in 1886, “Anunțătorul” in 1886, “Monitorul Reclamă” in 1907, “Reclama” in 1909, “Reclama Modernă” in Pitești in 1910. Slowly, various other cities from the country adopted the same advertising methods. In Brașov, “Reclama” was founded in 1933, while in Sibiu, “Reclama Sibiului” was founded in 1934. Following these developments, Romanian authors and intellectuals founded the first ad agencies (Petre, Nicola, 2009: 35).

In the meantime, international brands have begun to penetrate the Romanian market, leading the Romanian advertising world to a certain level of maturity, having foreign sources of inspiration and intellectuals, highly capable individuals that would put in practice everything that they have learned from across the border. By 1937, 23 ad agencies had already established names in Romania. Among the most successful were J.W Thompson, Siegfried Wagner and Rudolf Mosse.

The fact that most advertising inspirational sources were foreign and there were plenty of international agency branches present on the Romanian territory, made it very easy for the Romanian people to digest and adopt foreign words and expressions as if they were native words.

Significant Romanian figures were supportive of the new advertising methods and one of the best influencers of those times was Queen Mary of Romania herself. She accepts to become the face of the Pond brand campaign, in collaboration with the J.W. Thompson agency, marking the beginning of a new era in the Romanian advertising. What was then known to be an “endorsement” campaign was starting to catch shape in Romania for the first time in the history of advertising, which shows that the Romanian advertisers were constantly trying to create new forms of promotion and new methods of sending the right message to the targeted public (Petcu, 2007).

Fig. 1 – Romanian Advertisement from the Interwar period

Source: http://www.fishingtonpost.ro/advertising/14467-publicitatea-romania-interbelica/#.WH5JGxt9600

Romanian advertising in the communist period

The main and most unfortunate change that took place during the communist period in Romania, from an advertising perspective, was the disruption of the international relations with the foreign trends. The socialist governmental system had annulled all connections to the past methods of advertising and started presenting them as dangerous and old-fashioned mentalities (Petre, Nicola, 2009: 36).

Immediately after the 1950s, the commercial panels disappeared and illuminated ads have been prohibited by the system. Along with the freedom of expression on an individual level, a lot of other behaviours were banned. Advertising and promoting goods and services that were produced outside the country was completely banned. The only advertised products in Romania after 1958 were those produced strictly inside the country, putting the entire advertising system on hold. When looking back, the socialist system is described as the most restrictive of all times, allowing nothing but the classified ads to flourish. However, the advertising space was filled with political messages, as well as political marketing. The real advertising methods and purposes were annulled in the entire country during this time period, as all commercial ads were replaced by ads that promoted political leaders’ images and personalities, enhancing the personality cult that was so intense during the communist period on the Romanian territory (Petcu, 2007).

During the communist period, false and exaggerated patriotism was encouraged, a small range of products were allowed in the advertising magazines or newspapers and the concept of advertising was practically annulled. The general restrictions and isolation that were imposed to the Romanian people led to unexpected dimensions and poor business communication with foreign manufacturers, advertising agencies and international relations.

Fig. 2 – Nivea advertisement during the communist period

Source: http://www.curentul.info/2010/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=51239&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=119

Advertising after the 1990s

The transition from communism to democracy is Romania was not smooth, nor pleasant, but it opened up a lot of gates, especially in the commercial world and therefore, in the advertising field. As the liberty of expression was regained, the demand of goods and services grew exponentially and advertising started to rise again, as there was an intense need for promotion, as well as a need to differentiate businesses and services between them. The Romanian system had quickly readapted to the Western practices that were believed to be lost, but started to experience an overwhelming marketing transformation.

The fall of the communist leaders and the rise of democracy brought new thought and ideas about the Romanian advertising world. The freedom to create, the freedom of speech and expression were new for Romanian individuals across the country and thousands of voices exploded over night, in an attempt to recover so many years of silence.

In the early 1990s, advertising agencies began to flourish once more throughout the country and the specialized individuals who were eager to work in this field of activity received the “ad agents” labels, just like in America’s 19th century. Even so, despite the suggestive label that the ad agencies had received, the marketing strategies and the communicational competencies were far more primitive than the ones ad agents practice today (Petre, Nicola, 2009: 37). “Centrade” was the name of the first Romanian advertising agency that was founded after the year 1990, under the lead of Radu Florescu, followed by Graffiti Advertising Agency in 1991 under Cristian Burci. Also, Clip Advertising was founded in 1991 and Target Advertising in 1994. As it can be easily observed, these were not purely Romanian concepts, but international ones, meant to help local branches adopt new trends. Given the foreign names of the agencies, we can assume that this was the beginning of a long the path towards changing the advertising linguistics from purely Romanian to a combination of Romanian and English.

If the year 1992 was the stepping stone for a new age of fusion between the Romanian and foreign ad agencies, between 1995 and 1996 , a second generation of advertising methods, based on a new communication philosophy is born. Most agencies show their interest in being treated as independent and open to new marketing techniques. Ad agents of 1992-1993 are replaced by copywriters and art directors, as well as by strategists and new business people.

Larger budgets and multinational networks become available and are exploited widely in Romania between 1996 and 1998. The year 2000 is another milestone in the history of modern advertising in Romania. This is when new interesting trends are being discovered, along with an economic development and the financial empowering of local clients. The same trend has been followed until the present day, allowing the Romanian advertising field to naturally come to know a variety of communication services, strategies and processes. PR services, BTL services and media services are just a few of those that are worth mentioning in the commercial advertising context.

The advertising activity started to flourish and the agencies all over the country found a globalized way to develop brand identity, balancing the advertising industry between global and local, depending on the economy (Petre, Nicola, 2009).

Mădălina Moraru states that the evolution of Romanian advertising is deepdly connected to its identity on the European market, especially to being recognized as a re-born industry after the Communist era. […] Working in an advertising agency involves having a different perspective on brands and consumers compared to the external, non-professional one (emphasis added).

Today, the concept of advertising in Romania is similarly perceived as the international practice, with slight differences that refer to cultural differences. The fact that the Romanian market was submitted to communist practices for such a long time leaves us with a lack of opening when it comes to the colloquial language that can be observe in foreign advertisements, but since the English language has become a hybrid language that integrates in all of the world’s languages, there is high hope of linguistic development in the field of advertising, even if it comes with the price of reshaping such an old and complex language as the Romanian language.

Anglicisms in the Romanian Language

Globalization and Anglicisms

From a linguistics perspective, the change of a language is part of the evolutionary process and takes place along with the fusion of nations, cultures and globalization. In the globalization context that has shaped the Romanian language since the beginnings of the democracy in this country, the Anglicisms represented the main source of neologisms. The contemporary Romanian language is defined by several changes of great significance for the way future generations will perceive its origins, especially due to the presence of a large number of Anglicisms in the current vocabulary.

The use of Anglicisms is a consequence of globalization, as it was constantly suggested by linguists across the world. During the International Conference of Scientific Paper AFASES 2012 in Brașov, globalization has led to the shaping of a new linguistic concept that combines the Romanian with the English Language: Romgleza (Munteanu, Lupan, 2012). It is said that a language is a living organism that is constantly changing and that the lexicon of a language is the most mobile part of all. Furthermore, all languages are altered by words, expressions and elements that originate in the English language.

The use of Anglicisms has become more and more popular due to the wide access to information, due to the access to international music and movies, but also due to the large number of foreign companies that have penetrated the Romanian markets. Words such as “team-building, computer, scan, click, trend, hot, gadget, password, push, manager, corporate, fast food, catering, leader, mall, shopping, supermarket, are just a few examples of Anglicisms that are being used daily by Romanians of all ages (Munteanu, Lupan, 2012).

The phenomenon that defines the language fusion is not new, nor abnormal. Looking at the contemporary English language, we observe that 41,214 words out of 166,724 are Greek. Therefore, it is no wonder why Romanian individuals have adopted English words into their vocabulary so easily, using them as if they were native ones. Nowadays, words like finance, IT, film, weekend, sandwich and many more are being used in daily conversations, as neologisms and part of the Romanian language. This global language has obviously created habits among the Romanian people, in a subtle, but permanent way.

According to the author Mioara Avram, Anglicisms are a type of foreign words that are defined as linguistic units borrowed from the Britain and American English, without being absolutely necessary, nor adapted in any way to the Romanian language. Their form remains the same, as well as their pronunciation (Avram, 1997). Along with Anglicisms, the contemporary Romanian language is also shaped by similar words and expressions called xenisms, which are also known as foreignisms. These are words that are not adapted to another language, such as cash, jogging, show or summit.

Some of the most frequently used Anglicisms in today’s Romanian vocabulary are the following:

Table 1 – Frequently-Used Anglicisms in the Romanian Language

Anglicisms are also considered to be words that entered the Romanian language for their popularity and are continuing to be used because of their global use and not because they are truly necessary. Two types of Anglicisms can be detected from a linguistics perspective: denotative and connotative. They are categorized as such by their purpose. The denotative Anglicisms are considered to be necessary words or phrase units that do not have a Romanian correspondent. Such words are baby-sitter, broker, drive-in, duty-free, voucher, hard, soft, banner, grant or master.

Connotative Anglicisms are those words or expressions that have Romanian correspondents, but are still used in their English form, because of the way they make the language sound more special. High-life, boss, speech or sexy are examples of connotative Anglicisms.

In advertising, both connotative and denotative Anglicisms are being used frequently, as they are more attractive and tend to bring the attention of the young public who is aware of their significance. The deliberate acceptance of such words as being common and popular has both positive and negative aspects, but, more importantly, highlights the adaptability of the Romanian language.

The linguistic tendencies in the Romanian language clearly show that we are in the middle of a process in which English words invade our everyday speech, as well as the literary discourse. However, the extraliguistic realities that surround us in the contemporary context lead to linguistic developments that are inevitable. Terms like software, hardware, mouse, chat, computer or e-mail are being used every day by professionals and non-professionals and are not considered to be foreign words anymore.

Except for the natural necessity of using such terms, there is also a tendency of using foreign words due to the wide use of English on the Romanian territory. Unlike a few decades ago, more and more individuals work in the communications and Internet technologies fields, were most commands and activities are expressed in English. More than that, the majority of movies, music, sports and arts involve the use of English. Therefore, the invasion of English words in our language is not an unwanted, random phenomenon, but one that each individual brings with them, as they continue to learn, develop and adapt to a globalized system, in which English is universalized (Mureșan, 2008).

The contact between Romanian and English Languages

A language’s system is complex and involves linguistic synchronization, as it analyses isolated aspects, depending on the desired connections between language and society, culture and more. The constant changes that take place in a language occur due to the contact with other languages, in a systematic way and does not only involve its structure, but also its linguistic activity (Coșeriu, 1997).

The interlinguistic contact is a subject that was approached several times throughout history, as the linguistic loan is a real phenomenon that occurs continuously and in all languages of the world. Practically, this is what leads to the evolution of the world’s languages. Furthermore, it is a well-known fact that no language remains untouched by changes and no language stagnates over a long period of time. One of the consequences of the interlinguistic contact is the borrowing of a large number of words that are initially seen with a sceptical eye and categorized as xenisms.

The contact between languages exists since the oldest of times, as Ioan Lobiuc (1998) clearly suggests, as the languages are live organisms that are constantly innovated and transformed by the movement of people, by their behaviours and their travels. According to Lobiuc, new terms arise in a language inevitably, be it because of the contact with another language, or through the creation of new elements, derived from the same language. Either way, the linguistic innovations cannot exist if they are not accepted by the entire community and if they do not respond to the social need of communication.

The main causes of these changes are of extraliguistic:

The geographical spreading of a language’s speakers

The ethnic mix

The bilingualism

The linguistic loan

The author Hristea Theodor (1995) suggests the fact that it is difficult to make a difference between the Anglicisms and the Americanisms in the Romanian language, as they are practically one language, spoken on different territories, with slight differences. However, one can tell that the American words are more recently appeared in our language and have, almost always, an international character. A few of the most frequently used words can be seen below:

Jazz

Drugstore

Blue-jeans

Hamburger

OK

The Anglicisms and the use of American words in the Romanian language are generally accepted linguistic rules that stand under the transformations that the globalization imposes. More than that, we must place the contact between the Romanian and the English language in a historical context in which, after World War II, a remarkable military presence and an extended colonial domination has had wide influenced over all European languages.

After studying the contact between the two languages, Mihaela Buzatu (2007) has reached to several conclusions that are interesting to analyse in the contemporary context. These conclusions refer to the linguistic phenomenon that we are all witnessing. Looking from a historical perspective, we cannot help but notice that there were other linguistic influences than English over the Romanian language that were far more aggressive, such as the Hungarian or the Slavonic ones. Also, plenty of the so-called luxurious Anglicisms in the Romanian language are actually necessary, as they do not have the same meaning as their Romanian equivalents. It is equally important to understand that, as the English language belongs to the Germanic family, the English borrowings raise the graphic-phonetic adaptation issue, showing that this entire process could be a simple way of linguistic adaptation.

Therefore, we must conclude saying that the Romanian language is highly dynamic and that it has incredible adaptation tendencies. The contact between the Romanian and the English language is nothing but natural and it leads towards a slow, but permanent transformation.

The translation of advertisements

The translation of the advertisement content was never an easy task, especially when it came to slogans and successful headlines that have a particular meaning in the English-speaking countries. It is generally accepted, though, that the Romanian commercial world is rarely genuine and involves the promotion of foreign products much more often than it involved local products. Therefore, it is only natural for the advertisements of international products to be translated into the Romanian language and not the other way around.

Despite the rules of translation that state that the content should be precisely translated, without modifying the core message, in the case of advertisements the rules of the game are different. The faithfulness, in this case, must be directed towards the spirit of the ad, and not the content. If the advertisements would be translated mot-a-mot, they would sound at least ridiculous and they would lose their sense of logic. Moreover, in numerous cases, an ads’ message is meant to be ironical, sarcastic or funny. Therefore, translating the content from one language to the other without looking at these elements of style and expression, would damage the final message of the ad (Chelcea, 2012)..

An example of a slogan that was translated mot-a-mot from English to Chinese belonged to Pepsi: Pepsi. The Choice of a New Generation. By being translated word by word, the Chinese slogan became: Pepsi brings your ancestors back to life. Another example of a poorly translated slogan was that of Kentucky Fried Chicken: Finger Lickin’ Good. After translation, the slogan became Eat your finger (Chelcea, 2012).

In the Romanian advertising context, there were many cases in which the translation was only performed partially. For instance, the term cool, was introduced to the Romanian public after the year 1990, yet the Head & Shoulders ad prompted the public to be cool. From a wellbeing or a beauty angle, being cool was an easy to understand term, but it had nothing to do with respecting the laws of translation. Being cool can be translated in Romanian in many ways. First of all, it can mean being cold, calm, cold-blooded, indifferent, with a lack of enthusiasm etc. However, what the ad wanted to pass on was to feel excellent.

Ever since globalization has reached the borders of Romania, especially in the advertising field, the Romanian language has adopted a large number of Anglicisms, such as those mentioned in the previous subchapter.

In spite of the need to modify an ad’s content with the purpose to maintain its original meaning, there are ads that do not need any modification and, still, their meaning remains unchanged. Septimiu Chelcea (2012) offers probably one of the best examples when brining into discussion the Carlsberg slogan. When translated into Romanian, Probably the best beer in the world, keeps its logical meaning and its message: Probabil cea mai bună bere din lume. The author also cites professor Ioan Drăgan in the need of highlighting the fact that advertisements need to be adapted to the spirit of a certain people, as different people from different cultures can react differently when faced with a particular message.

In an advertisement, the slogan is probably the most difficult to translate, as it is the part that must be remembered by the public and the one that must remain as authentic as possible. Although, at its core, the ad slogan has completely different roots, nowadays it is defined as the phrase that is attached to a product, an ad or a campaign and it is different from the headline. In the Romanian language, the meaning of the headline, known as titlu or title (English), refers to the main line of a text. However, the term headline is frequently used in English with the same meaning as in Romanian, but also as a synonym to slogan (Chelcea, 2012).

The word slogan originates from the Scottish slaugh-ghaien and represented the old fight call of the Scottish soldiers. Nowadays, it is a combination of the words slogan and logo and it was first proposed by the Applied Linguistics professor of Newcastle University, Guy Cook (2001).

The slogan is similar to a motto and it should include no more than eight words, being the most important element of individualization. It is almost always present next to the logo of a brand or its name (Petre, Nicola, 2009). It is defined by the following characteristics:

It is easy to memorize

It reminds of the brand’s name

It includes a solution

It differentiates the brand

Its reflects the personality of the brand

It is credible

It is strategic

It is competitive

It is genuine

It is not utilised by other companies or brands (Chelcea, 2012)

The reason why efficient translation of advertisements is so important is that the final message represents the bridge between a business and the end consumer. The purpose of a slogan and an ad in its entire form is to promote a product, a service or a commodity and the consequence of a wrong translation can be the failure of the entire campaign. However, our focus is directed towards the linguistic mechanisms that are being used to perform an efficient, correct translation of the advertising message.

It is important to mention that the advertising communication is one of the types of mass communication and can define the way the public is targeted in a specific country, by looking at how the same message is translated in a variety of languages. The translation process can prove to be difficult, as an ad is comprised of elements such as images, text and design. Moreover, it implies the efforts of copywriters, editors, designers, photographers and researchers. When the original ad is created, everything falls into place perfectly, but when the same ad targets a different country with a different background and culture, as well as a whole new set of language variations, the message can be easily distorted. The tone of voice, the factual tone and the original message must be all kept the same in order to maintain an ad’s authenticity and purpose (Petre, Nicola, 2009).

In the context of translation, the main concern of linguists of all times was the establishment of correct communication between individuals from different communities. This is the main barrier that translators have attempted to overcome, yet have not succeeded in all cases. The target culture is one of the most important elements that the translator has to take into consideration in the case of advertisements. At the same time, the source text elements and the target text elements must be permanently compared (Nord, 2014).

A few translation examples can be observed below:

Table 2 –Translations of English Advertisements in Romanian Language

In the globalization context, we find that the advertising field does nothing more than adapting to a contemporary, general transformation, in which the English language is permanently present. The fact that the Romanian people have access to learning this language and that the barriers are open for them in order to explore and bring new ideas, concepts and developments with them, is another sign of adaptation and expansion of interests. In a world in which English is considered to be lingua franca, it is only natural to accept all English words and expressions that are penetrating the everyday language, as well as the advertising language.

However, we must offer special attention to the way the adverts are being translated. As it was previously showed, the cultural, social and political contexts have to be taken into consideration in order to perform correct, efficient translations that fulfil their initial purpose: to sell (Tungate, 2007) .

Features of the English language in Advertising

The English language is complex, resourceful and highly adaptable and its elements can easily be overtaken by any other language that is in need of new expressions and words. There is an infinity of features that make the English language easy to use in advertising. The fact that it is widely recognised as an international language could be one of the reasons why it is so adaptable and why native British and American countries are capable of interchanging words and expressions with other languages, turning contemporary English into a piece of art. In advertising, more than one language can be used and English is widely accepted, regardless of the country and the native language. In global advertising, it is used as a lingua franca and it is also considered to be default in global media. Furthermore, any brand or company that uses English content appears to be international and tends to inspire credibility and trustworthiness in front of its public (Piller, 2001).

To reach a better understanding of the advertising linguistics, it is crucial to emphasize the most important features of the English language that apply in this particular field. Although English has plenty of characteristics that make it easy to learn and use in most business environments, there are a few particularities that are worth mentioning when it comes to advertising. By analysing these aspects of the English language, we will also be able to understand the creation techniques of the advertising language in Romanian, as it is a non-Anglophone commercial context.

In order to achieve the aims of advertising, there are four major characteristics that must be taken into consideration. These were first mentioned by Leech in English in Advertising (1996).

The attention value is the first of an advertisement’s functions. According to Leech, the ad must arouse curiosity and this effect can be achieved, paradoxically, by breaking the rules of correct language. Wrong spelling, wrong use of neologisms, the intentional use of grammatical mistakes or semantic deviations are unorthodox pieces of content that can draw the reader’s attention.

The readability factor is the second function. In order to maintain the reader’s attention towards the advertised product, the copywriter must keep a simple, colloquial style and a familiar vocabulary.

The third function of an advert is the memorability and refers to the fact that the message must be remembered and recognised. The most frequently used technique that helps copywriters achieve this effect is repetition. Alliteration (the repetition of the initial sound), the metrical rhythm (the repetition of the same rhythm), the rhyme (the repetition of the same ending sounds) or grammatical parallelism (the repetition of a grammatical structure), are all potential repetition techniques that can be used to obtain the memorability function. Moreover, the repetition of slogans and brands equally contribute to this function.

The fourth function of a successful advert is the selling power and it refers to using imperatives in the ad text. Imperatives help prompting the targeted public towards the desired action and usually offer guidance with regards to the next steps (Leech, 1966).

Linguistic means of the advertising language

The advertising language is clearly much more creative than it is technical, which is why it can be compared to the poetic language. If looked at from this perspective, it can also be observed that it overcomes most of the classic writing rules of the English language. It is essential to understand that the mnemonic devices that lead to a mnemotechnical effect represent one of the greatest advantages of the advertising language. It helps the reader or the receiver of the message the benefit of memorizing the advert in a subtle, unconscious way.

The following linguistic means are often encountered in adverts (Vasiloaia, 2009):

Rhyme

The correspondence of the sounds between words or endings of words is considered to be crucial when trying to obtain an easy-to-remember slogan. Leech affirms that a slogan that is easy to memorize is one that will resonate into the receiver’s mind (Leech, 1966). Rhymes are patterns that refer to sounds, not to spelling and they are often found in headlines and slogans.

E.g. Pork you can cut with a fork.

Rhythm

An advert that has rhythm is easy to remember and draws a receiver’s attention immediately. Using intonation and stressing the lexical side of a text can have an emotional effect over the reader. Rhythmical arrangements are not always easy to obtain by copywriters, but they are one of the factors that can turn a simple slogan into a successful slogan. Just as in poetry, rhythm makes it easier for the reader to remember the entire content or the message.

E.g. Top off before take off

Alliteration

Being a literary technique, alliteration refers to the use of successive words or stressed syllables that begin with the same sound. The dominant sound technique is often used in advertising because, just as rhyme and rhythm, it helps the receiver remember the slogan more efficiently. Alliteration is often used in slogans, but also in the names of brands. Coca-Cola is one of the best examples of alliteration and makes it clear how easy it can be to remember its name.

E.g. Big. Beefy, Bliss

Assonance

Vowel harmony can be created with the help of assonance and it requires stressing successive syllables. Although it is not as obvious as alliteration, it is sometimes used when creating successful slogans, not only in English, but in languages across the globe. Assonance is also known as vocalic rhyme and it is rather difficult to identify in advertising content.

E.g. How long can you live?

Consonance

The repetition of identical consonant sounds before and after different vowels is known as consonance and it is frequently used as a technique for slogan creation, as it makes the message be easier to memorize. Just like assonance, consonance is not as easy to obtain as rhyme or rhythm, but it can lead to successful slogans.

E.g. You can lose more than your patience.

Transliteration

Transliteration is the transformation of foreign words into English ones, by using parts of words that are spelled in a different way in the original language but sound exactly like an English word. When used, it has a special effect over the reader or receiver who is not only intrigued by the product, but it is also impressed by the creativity of its name.

E.g. Be Cointreauversial (Cointreau – name of French drink)

3.2 The semantic features of advertisements

The success of a commercial advertisement or slogan stands not only in the linguistic structure and coding of the content itself, but also in its semantic features. Since the oldest times, the emotional factor has been decisive in the advertising and marketing fields. The more emotional an ad turns out to be, the more success it will have, as humans react best to emotions in which they can identify themselves. Therefore, the linguistic factor plays an important role in the creation process of an advertisement and, although, it is subtle, this part makes a significant difference between a successful and an average ad.

The appeal to human emotions has been known to be one of the triggering factors in many marketing strategies since the oldest times. The decision-making process is deeply influenced by the words used by a copywriter in the creation of an advert and the simple choices that consumers all over the world do, are influenced by simple and unconscious processes (Flemming, Christensen, 2007). The use of language and the way humans decode the messages that they receive rely heavily on unconscious processes. Ad messages and slogans can be deeply stored in one’s memory when copywriters make use of emotions.

The interesting fact is that each person can react differently to a piece of content that is meant to transmit an emotion. With the use of semantics, we can give a different meaning to an advert than a different person. Furthermore, we create specific relationships between words, using syntax and we understand a message in unique ways.

An advert’s semantics are highly important and cannot be ignored, as they imply the use of cognitive elements that create different networks in different individuals’ minds. As Flemming and Christensen affirm, it is important to use these cognitive elements by setting a purpose of the message, because they are interrelated and they have different identification tags for everyone.

Using strategic features in the language of advertising is crucial, as this determines how a sentence will be constructed. There is an important relationship between the semantic roles of and the grammatical relations. Davies and Elder explain in their Handbook of Applied Linguistics that many systems of semantic roles can be used and they give a simple example using the proposition The farmer is killing the ducklings, in which some of the more common terms are agent (the one who performs something, as the farmer above), patient (the one to whom things happen, the ducklings above), experiencer and theme (I and him respectively in I saw him, where I do not really do anything, and nothing actually happens to him), recipient, and source and goal (where something comes from or goes to respectively, as house and shops in she left the house for the shops).

The authors also explain that using semantic roles in the language description is not enough, as in the sentences The farmer is killing the ducklings, The ducklings are being killed, and I saw him, there is something in common between the first noun phrase of each sentence, even though they are respectively agent, patient, and experiencer. This noun phrase comes before the verb; if the verb is present tense it controls the form of the verb (e.g., is versus are); and if the noun phrase consists of a pronoun it has nominative form (I rather than me). For this reason we need grammatical relations such as subject, object, and indirect object. These grammatical relations are defined in formal terms, so that in English the subject is that argument which comes directly before the verb, has nominative form if it is a pronoun, and controls the verb form. Because grammatical relations are defined formally, different languages may have different sets of grammatical relations (Davies, Elder, 2004).

When it comes to advertising, the discussion about semantics can become even more complex, as the psychological factor intervenes. Here, we cannot solely discuss about rules and grammatical agreements, but we must also bring into discussion the creative factor, subliminal messages and subtleties that a certain public can perceive at a certain given time.

According to Judith Williamson (2002) , one can only understand advertisements by finding out how they mean something and analysing the way in which they work. Adverts play an important role in all societies and their meaning go way beyond the purpose of sending a message to the public with the purpose to sell a product, a service or a commodity. However, we should not forget that advertisements are often accompanied by images that have the immense power to distort a message, to give it a completely different meaning or to make it sound in a totally different way than it would sound if only the logical meaning would be taken into consideration.

Also, there are other significant factors that one has to take into consideration when analysing the semantic features of an advertisement. The cultural background and the cultural differences must always be taken into consideration in the process of ad creation. There is a high risk that the readers will not understand the references and connection that are being made if the knowledge in the textual system is not present in their culture (Goddard, 2002). Giving the fact that different cultures may have different attitudes about the way texts are written, about the structures of the texts and a certain people’s habit of breaking down and analysing the text, advertisers must be very careful about the semantics when writing ads that target an international public. Even when the ad is presented to a foreign public in the English language, some concepts can be misunderstood.

Angela Goddard offers probably one of the best examples when speaking about the 1990 Volvo’s advert that attempted to promote a car in the same way across all of Europe’s countries. The consequence was a lack of response. The company returned to the old traditions by promoting the car’s safety features in Switzerland and UK, while insisting on the car’s status in countries like France and on its performance when advertising it in Germany (Goddard, 2002). The author suggests that translators are the ones that know that the essence of a good copy is more than translating the words. It is about encoding the right concepts, as they may vary from country to country. The process called copy adaptation, is therefore crucial in the advertising world, in a semantics context.

In the context of linguistics, it is important to mention a few literary devices that can influence the way an advert is perceived:

Connotation

Denotation

Metaphorical meaning

Idiomatic language

Polysemy

Sound symbolism

All of the above can change the way an individual understands and remembers a message, depending on its background, the moment of releasing the advert, social and political factors and many more.

This entire discussion brings us closer to the conclusion that the English language is becoming a part of the Romanian language in one way or the other, but this processed takes place in a natural way. More than that, it is not a process that is forced upon the Romanian people, but it is a necessary change that aligns Romania to the international, unwritten standards of advertising.

Conclusions

The contemporary international influence that the English language has over the Romanian language is considered to be natural in the globalization context. Therefore, it is necessary for this phenomenon to become an element of the modernization of the language that expands into all of the fields of activity of a country.

In Romania, the field of advertising has exploded after the year 1990, after more than 30 years of suppression and submission to the communist rules. In the attempt to recover the lost advertising concept and advantages, Romanian advertising agencies have found a quick way to adapt the way they communicate with the public, to translate as accurately as possible the foreign advertisements and to borrow foreign terms for Romanian equivalents. This behaviour has led to the successful use of English in the non-Anglophone commercial context, in a country where the political influences were so powerful that this development could not have been foreseen.

In the present time, we are witnessing a linguistic transformation that will undergo for many more years to come. Anglicisms represent the main element that proves the speed and efficiency of this transformation, but this is not something that is encountered only in Romanian. The globalization and the language transformation process are found in all of the world’s countries, regardless of the continent they are located on or their distance from the English-speaking countries.

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