|
5.2 Personification
By definition, personification is a figure of speech that gives human form or feelings to animals, or life and personal attributes to inanimate objects, or to ideas and abstractions (冯翠华, 1997:177). The effectiveness of personification in English advertisement lies in its potency of giving products with emotion and liveliness. Most people agree that the personified products can foster more trust and affection in potential customers and therefore arouse more desire for the purchase. The following are some examples.
It may be your car, but it’s still our baby. (Ford Quality-Care)
Flowers by Interflora speak from the heart. (Interflora flower shop)
Thirty colors. Some so spectacular they send messages. (Ad. of dye)
Unlike me, my Rolex never needs a rest. (Rolex)
In these advertisements, the products are treated as human beings. The first one is specifically treated as a baby, since babies are always deeply loved and kindly treated by their parents and others. From the advertising slogan we can easily know that Ford Quality-Care workers love and care for Ford cars as much as they do their own children. The other three advertisements touch upon emotions of love, care and happiness. Flowers from Interflora are no longer emotionless plants but truthful messengers. The advertised dye can send messages through its thirty colors. The Rolex’s excellent quality is quite evident as it doesn’t need rest. They have good access to the would-be buyers. The advertisement composers succeed in establishing the affinity between customers and the advertised products with appropriate application of personification.
5.3 Pun
Advertisers usually play with words to make the advertising language interesting and attractive. Pun is an amusing use of a word or phrase that has two meanings which is called Polysemy or of words with the same sound but different meanings, which is called Homonymy. We often use puns to make jokes. Although pun is implicit, it gives the readers much food for thinking. For example:
To write with a broken pencil is pointless. (Polysemy)
Pointless means dull and blunt here. It also means meaningless. The meaning of this sentence is that a pencil without a sharp end can’t write well and meaningfully.
A bicycle can't stand on its own because it is two-tired (too tired). (Homonymy)
The one who invented the doorknocker got a No-bell (Nobel) prize.
Pun, the game of words, is used widely in our life. It will leave a deep impression on readers by its readability, wit, and humor. However, to make a successful and impressive pun is not easy. Except for its own meaning, the word used as a pun is usually closely related to the characteristics of a certain product or the brand name of the product in advertising language. Such coincidence doesn’t occur often. Here we present several classic pun-used advertisements. For example:
Coke refreshes you like no other can. (Coke-cola)
“Can” has two meanings. One is to be able to do something. The other is a closed metal container in which foods or drinks are preserved, called tin also. The two different meanings of “can” give rise to two different interpretations of this advertisement: Coke refreshes you like no other drinks can do; Coke refreshes you like no other can-packed drinks can do. Here is another example:
Give your hair a touch of spring. (a kind of Shampoo)
As a pun, “spring” means a place where water comes up naturally from the ground and it also means elasticity. This advertising slogan wants to promise the consumers that the product can keep your hair moist and your hair will have an active healthy quality through use of this kind of Shampoo. There are more examples:
Ask for More (More is a brand of cigarette)
A deal with us means a good deal to you. (a department store)
Filled with wit and humor, puns help the advertised product win favor from readers or potential consumers. Through use of pun, advertisements will be easily remembered by the readers. (More sentences are needed here!!!)
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
