It is no wonder that advertising is constantly being studied and analysed due to the constant speculation of ‘hidden meanings’ and underlying messages. Using semiotics in advertising can help to reveal the hidden meanings and messages in the underlying level.
Advertising tends to follow a basic format - a slogan or a striking image catches our attention, the body of the ad contains more factual information about the product, and a pack shot or logo reinforces the brand identity. The combination of these elements leaves the audience with an impression of the values that are attached to that brand, and a sense of who the target audience for the product is, for example whether the audience is male or female. The language used goes some way to create these perceptions.
2. Aim
The aim of this module is to apply knowledge of conceptual frameworks to a small research project in a chosen aspect of spoken or written English in use. I need to investigate the language area in detail, analysing and evaluating data meticulously.
3. Hypotheses
My hypotheses are as follows:
- Male adverts contain more jargon. Female adverts contain less specialist language. Male adverts are therefore based around a more hi-tech semantic field.
- Female adverts include more pictures depicting specific individuals that the audience will aspire towards, rather than the product
- Female adverts contain more metaphorical language. Male adverts contain more literal lexis.
- Female adverts contain more emotive lexis.
- Male adverts contain more complex sentences
- Female adverts contain more opinions
4. Method
I have chosen to explore this gender topic as it is a question that I have habitually mused upon. I set about collecting my data from magazines aimed at both men and women, in this case FHM and Cosmopolitan. I need to find adverts that can be directly compared. I will compare for example adverts for mens watches with adverts for womens watches. My choices of topic and data will be manageable and accessible.
I will gather print adverts which will allow me to conduct a contrast study. I will compare the language used in print adverts both aimed at a male and female audience. I would expect the language to bear some similarity to male and female speech, although this prediction may not always hold true.
The linguist Goodwin, for example, found that males use more direct commands in speech. He believed that boys and girls used different strategies in speech. Boys focus on power and are leader dominated. Girls are more inclusive in speech. I aim to find if companies use these strategies to reach the desired gender.
In order to produce a successful investigation I need to conduct a stylistic analysis of each advert. Hopefully I will discover that certain lexis and semantic fields appear more in different adverts. The results should directly relate to gender speech. I predict for example that more emotive adjectives appear in adverts aimed at women.
