1.2.3 Language of ads – differences according to channel of distribution
Although in all type of media ads serve the main goal- induce people to buy peculiar product or service the method of doing it differ according to medium.
In press when advertisement are written down the receiver of the commercial can read the text carefully and contemplate the real meaning of this ad – ‘perhaps finding inconsistencies and untruths’ (Cook, 2001). The addresses have a lot of time for reflection and it is less likely that they purchase advertising goods under the immediate influence of ad. In written advertisements advertisers exploit the written paralanguage. Simple speaking they create text but the letters have different, attention-catching shapes to ‘create parallel iconic and indexical meaning quite separate from linguistic ones’ (Cook, 2001). Wojtaszek (2002) points out that press advertisements are full of uncommon metaphors, catchy slogans and amusing puns.
Radio and television advertisements focus on the written language but receivers cannot see the text, only hear it. In TV the text is boosted by pictures. These two media enables advertisers not to put all their efforts on creating the appropriate text but they need to built a good situation which combine with a good dialog (text) make a persuasive commercial. The receiver of radio and television’s ads does not have time to read, hear the text one again, to analyze the message cover in the ad. These advertisements have immediate impact on receiver and can persuade more people then written form of, even the same, advertisement. Voice can transmit the emotions of the speaker, usually the positive feelings. People are more willingness to buy good when they associate it with a good emotion (e.g. happiness).
The youngest medium – World Wide Web is ‘commonly referred to as ‘interactive’ ‘ (Cook, 2001). Ads presented on Internet are more like face-to-face interaction. People click on some fragments of the ad to continue the ad. The interactive advertisements force receiver to focus, maybe not directly on the advertising product or service but on action, steps which have to be make to move forward ad. Advertisers indirectly present people their products by inviting them to various interactive games.
1.3. Car advertisement
1.3.1 Car market
Ordinary people do not buy a car every day, usually they change their old vehicles after 4-7 years. What is more, cars are rather expensive type of good so the purchase is made after hours of careful and deep thoughts. People compare, analyze, count and opt for the most suitable and financial acceptable car. But sometimes customers decide to buy car after watching ads, see vehicle passing them or face with their future car in any other way. They do not analyze carefully materials given by car dealer but make decision based on their feelings, experience or taste. Advertisers have to put a lot of efforts to persuade ‘second group’ of car buyers to purchase this peculiar vehicle even if the other is cheaper and has a better specification. According to The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Limited’s (SMMT) survey (Int 2) average British family changes car after 6,8 year. On the British roads about 30.600.000 vehicles move every day. During last five years (1999-2004) number of new cars registered in The United Kingdom is estimated on 2.000.000 a year. The biggest market share belongs to supermini class cars – 32,7%. Second piece of this cake goes to lower medium class cars and it is about 28,7% big. One fact in this SMMT’s survey gains my attention - in Great Britain, very rainy country, people purchase more convertible cars then in southern Europe countries – France, Italy, Spain. The best-selling car in 2004 was Ford Focus (141.021), second place went to Vauxhall (Opel) Corsa (101.625) and the third was Ford Fiesta (89,295). In the United Kingdom diesel engines still have not got so much share in market as in other European countries, but popularity of these type of motor in previous year went up 18,5% and now almost 45% British cars are fueled by diesel fuel. Thanks to news type of economical and fast direct-injection turbo-charged engine the popularity of this engine is rapidly growing. The best selling diesel car in 2004 was Ford Focus, second place went to his bigger brother – Ford Mondeo.
1.3.2 Language of car advertisements
Cars were traditionally advertised for men, now the situation has being changed, although still the majority of ads are addressed towards men. Usually the small cars are aimed at woman (e.g. Suzuki Swift ad,2005) or for couples (e.g. Chrysler Voyager ad, 2005). The car commercials are full of various technical details but they are usually placed as disclaimers. These ads present a vast number of reasons for purchasing this vehicle in a short period of time (usually 30 seconds). Specification, motor details and all other given information unable people to memorize and later recall this ad after watching it once. That is the reason why car companies are ‘slow-drip’ (Cook,2001). People need time to remember given data, analyze it and make in mind some questions to ask when they will be visiting car dealer. Myers (1994) says that in car ads there is no a word of mouth about selling a car. He suggests that advertisers try to present their vehicle in every day conversation or in a short, sometimes funny scene ( e.g. Toyota Avensis ad (2004/2005) in which mother-in-law complains about everything until she gets to the car. After taking place on back seat in the car she is quiet because Avensis has not got weak points.)
In section 1.2.1 I described items around the language of ad – music and picture. Contemporary in almost all television, radio or Internet ads people face one or both of them. Pictures are one of the most important in car ads, because they, as Myers (1994) says carry information in which people do not believe when they hear them ( e.g. ‘This car will never stick in traffic’). Instead of saying this sentence, advertisers present a car which cruising alone in the vast highway. The same information is presented but picture does it in more indirect way, which people cannot argue with.
Earlier in this paper I mentioned indirect advertising in general. Now I would like to concentrate on this style of advertising in car commercials. In 2005 it was very popular ad presenting new Peugeot 407. This car was the one ‘real’ vehicle, others were toys or made from paper, wood. The slogan of this ad said: ‘ new Peugeot 407 – again you can talk about cars’. Advertiser informed people, of course indirectly, that before 407 there was no good, real car to talk about, now appear the real vehicle which is great and worth talking about. Subconsciously Peugeot wants to be perceived as the only factory which could produce ‘real’ cars. Int 3 suggests that Peugeot do not persuade people to buy model 407. People do not understand the indirect message hidden in this commercial. Instead of this most of receivers think that company is very selfish and treat the commercial described above as a boasting activity.
Advertisers try to avoid situation presented above so they decide to compare their product to competitive one. Comparison is made because advertisers desire to present their good as a better, higher, quicker, more economical then the other one. In car ads vehicles are compared to the previous model, generation of the same company (e.g. ‘more Sunbird’ Geis, 1982). Here we could observe not only comparison but also ellipsis. People do not know from what this car is quicker, more spacious, more ‘sunbird’ etc. Car manufacturers compare cars not only by word ‘more’ but also ‘less’( in almost all cases less described money people have to pay for the advertising vehicle. Geis (1982) presents an advertisement of Cherwolet Chevette from 1978 in which receiver heard ‘a lot more car for a lot less money’. People believe that Chevette 1978 costs less then Chevette 1977, but Geis(1982) gives us the prices of both cars and we are sure that in this case advertiser tell untruth using ‘more for less’ phrase. These comparisons often appear in car advertisements because they are the most efficient method of persuasion customers to look at, test and maybe purchase advertising vehicle.
Another lexical device uses in car ads is pun. According to Macmillan Dictionary (2002) pun is ‘a humorous use of a word that has two meanings, or of words with the same sound but different meanings’. Puns use in very clever way may be humorous. ‘A joke has a special value in advertising, particularly if it is short, succinct and ends on an unexpected note’( Murdoch, 2005). Such a funny usage of this lexical device usually is memorized by receivers and it is the first step towards changing their attitude to advertising goods. Murdoch (2005) gives us an example of clever pun in Range Rover ads – ‘ It’s how smooth take the rough’. Range Rover desire to be perceived as a company which makes very comfortable vehicles which could drive not only on vast highways but also on terrain where no other vehicle could get to e.g. a swamp.
1.3.3 Name of a car
Car makers cannot called their car as they want. It must be carefully a planned name and should fit car’s performance, look, customer expectation. Cook (2001) provides us an example of Jaguar. The name is associated with dangerous animal, so people believe that this vehicle is fast, luxurious and comfortable. Jaguar’s company cannot manufacture small, slow, two- cylinder hatchback because of association mentioned above. Such associations have also the other side of a medal. Cook (2001) suggests that word ‘jaguar’ ‘always allowing for imprecision and personal variation’. For somebody Jaguar is associated with rarity, other compare jaguar with ‘superiority, aggression, violence, sexuality, devouring smaller animal, and so on’ (Cook, 2001). We observe that there is a huge responsibility for giving name to a new car model, because in most cases people associate certain mark with peculiar quality.
In English cars have neuter gender. In other languages (e.g. Polish) different brands have different genders It is because in Polish we have grammatical, not natural gender. Bralczyk( 2004) wonders if Renault has masculine or femine gender. He is certain that Peugeot has masculine one, so it can be easily associated and compare to dangerous lion in commercials. Volvo has neuter gender, so advertisers have very difficult task to associate car with anything which is alive. In Polish ads cars which have masculine or femine gender can by without any obstacles advertise compare to living creature. Cars belong to this category of products which inherit a neutral name (Cook, 2001), a trade name – Ford, Renault, MG Rover, etc. In car ads there is a tendency to use longer name of a model – Toyota Corolla 1,4 litre VVT-i instead of Corolla. Advertisers create a fusion, they associate peculiar good with some extra features. Cook (2001) gives us an example of using fusion in BMW 5 ads. The car is compare to human body, ‘each part of the car was equated to a feature of a fit and healthy human body: the seats are its flexible spine, the warning devices its alert ears, the dials its eyes’ (Cook, 2001) . Saab driver is associated with a fighter pilot who has many innovative, sophisticated computers when he/she drives the Saab. We could easily notice that in described above ads potential vehicle owners are told to have some extra features which appear only in this model. These devices help them in every day usage of the car. Another example of using fusion in contemporary car advertisements is Peugeot 307 commercial in which the most important element is jealousy. The new Peugeot 307 is pecking by birds, other drivers do not allow it to drive, everybody want to destroy it – in one commercial the piano was thrown on the car. People and birds do all these things because they are envy. Fusion in this commercial is shown in very amusing way. Advertisers decide to present beauty of this car in very clever and untypical way (Int 3).
As I mentioned above, some o cars are aimed for women, men or couples. That is why in Suzuki Swift ad (2005) people could see a nice, young lady who has not only nice looking car but also fast and able to park in tight places. Cook (2001) says that there is some fusion which is presented in ads. Advertisers try to convince people that they not only purchase a car but also certain type of behaviour, certain features which often make them better then they were before buying this vehicle. Int 3 presents one ads in which some Hindus after ‘making’ Peugeot 206 from his old vehicle, doing some body work using an elephant. He was noticed by a girl whom he fells in love with. Before ‘designing’ a 206 she did not notice him.
Advertisers use various advertising methods to persuade audiences to purchase peculiar vehicle, some tricks are very smart and most of us do not even realize that we are manipulated by car companies.
2 Analysis of the language of car advertisements
2.1 Analysis
In this section I am going to analyze the advertisements, show all described above functions of car ads in every day newspapers or TV commercials. The material was gathered from various sources – mostly newspapers, some ads ( all TV advertisements) were taken directly from manufacturers’ official Web sites. The data for analysis has been collected from October 2005 to March 2006. Most printed ads were taken from newspapers such as ‘The Independent’ or ‘The Mail’, some were published in automotive magazines e.g. ‘Car Magazine’. The total amount of all collected advertisements is 43. I decide to analyze these ads by dividing them into several groups in order to make the analysis more approachable and understandable. The divisions have been made according to described item of language of car advertisements. The main groups deal with: addressing the audience, items around the language, persuasion and words used in ads. The first category explains differences between direct and indirect addressed advertisements. The second group deals with items which make commercials more related to the audience. The third category describes different type of persuasion use in ads. The fourth division concentrates on words used in ads, function of peculiar types of sentences.
In order to make the analysis clear all advertisements have been coded. In the appendix you could find the list of all commercials in accordance to the code given for the purpose of this paper.
In few car advertisements peculiar item of persuasion, untypical feature of language of car ad which cannot be found in other commercials has been observed. That is why I present these special items when presenting these untypical ads. The groups mentioned above have been composed to explicitly present the most often used items to convince ads’ receivers to purchase peculiar vehicle.
In my work a special section devoted to luxurious cars (e.g. Jaguar, Lexus, Mercedes etc) has also been included. Here I wish to focus on some differences in this type of ads, although the general principles for advertising luxury brands are identical.
2.1.1 Addressing the audience
Advertisements present their message using two channels of communication. A vast number of ads are addressed directly to receivers and others presented their content in a more indirect way - they are addressed indirectly to receivers. I decided to classify as ‘direct address’ those advertisements where I found sentences with word you, those where imperative form occurs and ads where the questions appear. On the other hand, I chose to call ‘indirect address’ advertisements where no one of direct addressed items could be found. People do not receive such advertisements in a personal way, do not fell that this ad is aimed directly at them.
Direct addressed elements appeared in 75% of all gathered advertisements. Only 25% of them were not aimed at ads receivers. These figures show that contemporary most commercials are composed to convince people by using direct addressing items.
2.1.1.1 Direct address
As I mentioned in the preface to this section I enclose to this group all ads where the second person singular or plural pronoun appears Also commercials which contain rhetorical questions or imperative forms are classified to direct address advertisements. These items, in my opinion, build the invisible link between the receiver and the advertiser. The ad becomes more personal to its hearer, reader, viewer who believes that this peculiar commercial is addressed directly to her/him.
We have been taught not to use imperative forms because they have been seen as impolite one. In ads using a specific amount of these forms could create a closer relationship between the receiver and the advertisement. Imperatives in commercials are seen as an item which make a distant ad and its message closer and more approachable to ad’s receivers. People who face imperative forms in advertisements notice that commands enable them to treat the ad more personal, fell like somebody standing next to them tell the content of this ad. This item could be observed in MF 13 and MF 09 advertisements . The big slogan, the main sentence of the first ad told Come and marvel at the new Grande Punto. This one utterance made the whole ad closer to the receivers because imperative forms, as it was said before, enabled receivers to treat the ad in a more personal way. ‘Come and marvel’ sounded like an order but in Punto advertisement we received them like words which somebody standing next to us told addressing directly to our person. Although it has been command we have not felt offended but advertisement built a personal relationship between receivers and ad – people who were saying these words in Fiat commercial. Nissan at the end of its magazine’s ad told Go anywhere, see everything. Similarly to Punto’s advertisement imperative forms made the ad addressed directly to the receiver. The type has been very small and text has seemed to be overwhelmed by the big picture of two SUV Nissans. However, command has been noticeable because receivers believed that this advertisement has been aimed directly at them. Imperative forms changed the ordinary, distant commercial into a peculiar, directly addressed and establishing personal attitude one. If we analyzed Nissan ad without the small text at the bottom we would get an ordinary, boring, SUV advertisement but when we would add 6 lines text into it, the commercial became attractive to the receivers and probably most of them would notice it and read the whole information carefully.
Nissan used also the second item which I found to be ‘direct address’ feature. It has been the word you. It creates a personal relationship between the written text, the content of the advertisements and the person who reads, watches or hears given ad. This word is not only use in English to describe second person singular or plural. It has more universal feature. Advertisers exploit it to address the commercial to anybody, to the audience not particular person, although each ads’ receiver would fell like this specific advertisement is aimed at him/her. The word you became one of the most important item used in MF 09 ad. . Let us analyze the sentence where you has been used – So just where YOU take them is between YOU and well, the satellite. Go anywhere and see everything. The cars were shown in a background where volcano was erupting, which created a felling that if you wanted to go there, the Nissan Pathfinder or X-trail led you to the center of erupting volcano even if it was dangerous. The word you could be associated by the receivers with themselves. So let us analyze the sentence once again replacing word you by I. - So just where I take them is between ME and well, the satellite. Probably in that way the advertisement’s receivers would understand this utterance. Advertiser addressed directly to the ad hearer, viewer, and reader to make the commercial more efficient and persuading. The advertiser encouraged receivers to purchase these vehicles, because only ‘you’ could decide where you would drive. Nissan established a false belief - other cars cannot drive whenever we want to, but we have to stick to previously programmed routes which is, obviously, not true.
MF 05 ad contained utterance with word you which, as I said earlier, helped advertisers to create personal attitude toward concrete ad. The main sentence of this ad told Change the way YOU think about cars. Advertiser forces receivers to think for a while about the way they consider cars. Advertiser achieved the main goal – persuaded people to concentrate on this ad. Maybe receivers started to puzzle because they did not consider this issue before. Advertiser believed that people who had doubts were prone to suggestions so maybe they would think about cars considering Seat Ibiza as the ideal example of the vehicle. The advertiser suggested that I demand the best of the best, so Ibiza had to be a perfect vehicle to be treated as the ideal model of the car, the way people think about cars because Ibiza has been the best.
MF 12 ad also contained word you – YOU could get something nearly as nice for nearly as much; YOU want an A-Class. Mercedes wanted to address directly to ad’s receivers because this ad contained some figures, numbers which might discourage receiver from focusing on this commercial. The appliance of word you enabled advertisers to focus people attention and created desire to find out more about the new A-Class using a question - the third item which, in my opinion, created direct address advertisement. Questions made the commercial closer to its reader, hearer and viewer. People have tendency to give answer to stated questions so even when they notice them in ads they subconsciously respond to them. Advertisers took advantage of this tendency and by simple, short, usually rhetorical question, they created a personal relationship with ads receivers. Mercedes composed the word you and question in the one utterance. Mercedes wanted to be sure that these two direct addressing items put together in one sentence convinced every receiver to analyze, read once more A-Class ad.
MF 03 ad contained 4 questions in 8 lines of text. One of them has been very simple but the three others have been a bit difficult. We had to gain some knowledge about hydrogen and car fueled by this untypical kind of petrol to answer to these questions. 4 questions! Advertiser had to be very determining to force receivers to read this ad which was peculiar because although it was car advertisement we did not notice any car. It was only a tap with letter ‘H’ on it. The tap was an eye catching item which forced us to stop and questions made this ad address directly to its receivers.
Direct addressed items are used to persuade the audience to analyze the given commercial. They help to establish a personal relationship with the receivers and what is the most important these elements are one of the most efficient items used to convince people to purchase the advertising car.
2.1.1.2 Indirect address ads
As I mentioned earlier in this paper, indirect addressed advertisements are those which do not contain items aimed at the receivers, a single word which is addressed directly to audience. These advertisements do not establish the personal relationship with the receivers, they do not force readers to contemplate its content.
MF 02, MF 11, MF 14 ads, in my opinion, belonged to this group. In MF 02 we could observe an advertising vehicle on the white background and only 5 words describing this car. This ad did not contain any direct address elements, no a single item which forced receivers to take a closer look at this commercial. Contemporary receivers do not notice such commercials because they believe that advertisements must be aimed at them, show what advantages the advertising good would give to its owner, purchaser. MF 02 did not establish a personal relationship with audience, did not contain any item which we could call direct addressed element. Nevertheless, the usage of untypical eye-catching item forced the audience to spot this advertisement.
MF 14 ad also could be classified as indirect addressed commercial because items which build personal relationship, make the advertisement aimed at receiver could not be found. However, lack of these elements did not make MF 02 uninteresting. The audience could notice the sport-looking hatchbacks, mountains and snowboarders doing sophisticated tricks. All those factors made the advertisement exciting and noticeable. MF 14 presented two Vauxhall cars – Corsa Sxi+ and Astra III SXi – models which the manufacturer wanted to be perceived as sporty ones. The combination of these vehicles with sportsmen – snowboarders – was acceptable and convinced people to view, analyze, read carefully this advertisement although it did not contained any direct addressed items.
MF 11 commercial also could be classified as indirect address advertisement. The commercial showed the advertising car from 4 different sides – front, back, side and top. Advertiser did not even tried to address MF 11 to audience, she/he created an advertisement which seems to be indirect addressed one. Receivers could not find in this commercial any elements, a single word or sentence structure aimed directly at them. What is more, the ad was printed as black and white which made the situation worse. Receivers would certainly omit MF 11 ad because it enclosed neither attention catching items nor relation building elements.
Although such type of advertisements do not contain elements which build a personal relationship with audience it could gain receivers attention but commercials have to be composed in a very smart and carefully planned way.
2.1.2 Items around the language (Cook, 2001)
Typical advertisement consisted of two most important elements: language of commercials (words) and items around the language. I want to concentrate on the items around the language. In section 2.1 in the previous chapter, it was mentioned that those elements produced emotion in advertisements. They help to make commercials more related to the audience, evoke receivers feelings and, what is the most important, meaning of items around the language is not fixed and everybody could understand the peculiar picture, music theme, etc differently. Advertisers take advantage of those specific feature of items around the language and apply them in almost every advertisement. In this section commercials with those items will be discussed. Cook (2001) classifies also music to items around the language but in this paper music elements will be skipped.
- Eye catching elements
Nowadays, people try not to consider advertisements. That is why, authors of commercials have to do everything, use all available items to catch audience attention. Eye catching elements could be seen in almost every ad, they play a crucial role in contemporary commercials. We often receive only those advertisements which contain some attention-gaining items and those ads are considered to be most effective ones.
The typical – horizontal or vertical - shape of ad do not focus receivers. MF 01 commercial was composed in both vertical and horizontal dimension. What is more, the text was also fitted into this peculiar ad shape. So in order to read the text we had to turn the newspaper. To follow the information, read the whole text we needed to change once again the newspaper’s position. This untypical style of composing MF 01 advertisement combined with yellow background of it and its size made this commercial eye-catching. Receivers would certainly notice this peculiar advertisement and its authors fulfilled their mission – they formed attention-catching, effective and persuasive commercial which might convince many people to buy advertising vehicle.
MF 02 ad attempted to catch audience’s interest since they turned the newspaper page. Readers noticed the trace of wheels on the article. The size of this advertisement, although has been limited to right bottom corner, spread out to the neighboring announcement’s section. What is more, the trace was curved in many ways to catch audience attention. Readers wanted to know where the trace led to, so they followed it since the advertising car was spotted. Those efforts made MF 02 commercial eye-catching and even the white background of its did not discourage receivers. This advertisement certainly gained newspaper readers attention and some of them – most curious ones – wanted to know where the trace led. Toyota formed customers’ interest catching ad although its background was white and commercial contained only 5 words (include make Toyota).
Red colour is one of the most eye-catching paint. Probably this conviction forced advertisers to use red pigment in MF 05 and MF 42 ads. The background of MF 05 was red, the advertising vehicle also, which caught audience attention, although the commercial did not cover the whole page. What is more, the red car on the red background was hard to notice, so receivers needed to focus on this ad to spot the car. The simple eye-catching item – red colour usage – served its function appropriate.
MF 42 ad was simple – the background was white, filled with text written in a very simple and small type. The car also was very simple – ordinary, small 3 doors hatchback without any sport looking extras but it was red and also one word below it remained this paint. The car was at the central point of this commercial, so it gained receivers attention. If advertisers decided to paint the car black or gave any other paint to it probably most of newspaper readers did not notice this commercial.
MF 06 advertisement consisted of a red, sport-looking car and its background was full of flames and various shades of red paint. This all elements combined together with new Vectra VXR evoked desire to purchase this vehicle. MF 06 was not only eye-catching advertisement but it also created craving to drive fast and above all limits. Receivers were keen to answer a smart constructed question : Are you VXR enough? The ad’s slogan VXRed hot made this advertisement eye-catching and provoked audience to immediately buy this car. Red colour is an eye-catching item in commercials and all described above examples showed that there are many ways of composing this pigment into the advertisement.
Epitomizing, eye-catching elements are used to focus receivers attention. In order to buy the advertising car the potential customer must first spot the given commercial. That is why, eye-catching items appear in car advertisements.
- Iconicity
Iconicity deals with describing some properties, features using fixed symbols or creating new ones. MF 03 and MF 04 ads contained this item. The symbol used in first advertisement was letter ‘H’ on the tap. It symbolizes the hot water – if we turn on the tap with H letter on it we are been sure that the water would be warm or even hot. In this commercial the association was different – the ‘H’ letter did not stand for hot water but for hydrogen. Advertiser decided to present in this untypical way, using iconicity and well known symbol, new vehicle which was fueled by hydrogen. Letter ‘H’ is a chemical symbol to present this type of fuel, so in my opinion, that was the main reason why advertisement’s author chose to present the advertising vehicle applying iconicity. Iconicity worked perfectly in this example, because it allowed advertiser to present in very interesting and puzzling way the most important feature of the advertising car.
Another example of iconicity in commercials is MF 04 advertisement (Presented below as Figure 1). In this commercial we could see two cars faced each other. Below a text could be noticed Great cars, Great offers, Make a date to Test Drive. The last two words were put into a red shape of heart. Because this advertisement was printed soon before the Saint Valentine Day advertiser decided to use iconicity connected with lovers day. The heart shape embraced the Test Drive, author wanted the audience to associate it with a date, something pleasure, which could deliver them information about the second side, in this case a vehicle. Iconicity in this advertisement were used to evoke a feeling of a date during a Test Drive Challenge, which were organized by Peugeot in February and March 2006. What is more, the picture of two vehicles face each other, almost sticking together with the front lights and bumpers symbolized the kissing. Also in this case advertiser chose to use iconicity, as a perfect item to create a good, warm feeling connected with a test drive, with one of advertising vehicles. All these efforts were used to persuade customers to visit their local car dealer, and fixed a test drive which is a good as a perfect date.
Figure 1 –iconicity in ads, MF 04
Iconicity is used to create a peculiar emotions, show some specific features without mentioning them. Advertisers could provide some important information using iconicity.
- Persuasion
Advertisements are being constructed to persuade receivers to purchase the advertising goods. In order to achieve this aim commercials’ authors use certain tricks, peculiar items and try to show the audience that this product fulfils all their needs, is necessary in everyday usage. Considering persuasion we could say that car advertisements are unique. Receivers do not buy the new vehicle every day. According to SMMT’s survey an average British family change their car after 6,8 years. The advertisers have to change slightly the items of persuasion use in car commercials. All persuasion elements must be aimed at the advantages of the advertising vehicle, its reliability and must encourage the audience to purchase and drive it for the next 7 years. What is more, cars are rather expensive type of goods so potential buyer carefully calculate all advantages and disadvantages of buying a peculiar vehicle. The advertisers need to convince such person to purchase the advertising car because it has a lot of technical devices and many other items which make the drive more comfortable.
- Presentation of price
Similarly to other markets in car market potential customers need to know the price of the products. Purchasers usually decide to buy cars on credit because vehicles are rather expensive goods. In my work the two types of persuasion through the presentation of price will be discussed. The first type deals with the presentation of full amount of money which needs to be paid for the advertising vehicle. In such commercials the audience notices the price of the vehicle. The second group of ads presents the detailed calculation concerning the costs of purchasing car on credit. Receivers are informed about the costs of credit, the value of monthly payment etc. The third type of persuasion by presentation of price has been observed but these advertisements were addressed to business users only and I decided to skip this group of commercials.
MF 22 and MF 24 ads could be classified to the first category mentioned above. MF 22 advertisement informed the audience that the advertising car cost only ₤9,999 OTR. Advertiser wanted to present this sum of money as an attractive one so he/she chose to show the full price of this vehicle. What is more, to make the offer a real bargain he/she decided to print it using the bigger, eye-catching type, in comparison to the whole ad’s text. Receivers would feel that this offer was really interest-worthy, because very rarely you could pay less then ₤10,000 for a family saloon. Advertiser’s efforts concerning price of the advertising vehicle have been, in my opinion, persuasive and encouraged the audience to purchase the advertising car.
MF 24 commercial presented the two Jeep’s models parked in the dirty, desolate place, parking. At the back we could notice the beautiful graffiti on the wall presenting snowy mountains. The vehicles were black and the whole background, except the graffiti, was in similar shades. The scenery and colours were chosen to emphasize the new Jeep’s range – Predator. Also this advertisement presented the full price of the advertising cars. Although the prices were written using a small type I think that advertiser found them very attractive and he/she decided to present them. In both advertisements the prices contained a lot o 9s. It is a typical item use to present how much something is worth. Let us consider MF 22 ad. The audience could get an impression that they could purchase a good, family saloon for less then ₤10,000. Most of them would not mind that the vehicle cost only ₤1 less then this magic price barrier but everybody would spot the ₤9,000. The same situation was observed in MF 24 commercial. The Jeep Grand Cherokee did not cost ₤30,000 but ₤29,990. Almost every shop and car dealer use this very persuasive technique. They put the price of peculiar good below the magic boundary - ₤10, ₤100, ₤1000, etc. Customers usually did not notice that they save only 1p, 10p, ₤1, ₤10, etc. This is an item which works on customers’ minds. They thought they have spent a ‘good’ sum of money for the product. This very persuasive item will be used as long as people will want to save some money, buy goods cheaper.
As it was said earlier, the second group of ads presents in a detail all expenses customer have to cover when purchasing a peculiar vehicle on credit. MF 15, MF 21 and MF 12 ads are role models of this type of advertisements. All those commercials showed the audience a detailed calculation concerning all expenses customers had to cover. These calculations enabled receivers to make comparisons, compare the credit facilities, the value of monthly payments, etc. This method of presentation of price was very persuasive, because the audience gain all necessary information, the real costs of purchasing vehicle on credit. Advertisers using this item of presentation of price could encourage those receivers who want to know what the real price of the car on credit is, how much money they have to spend if they decide to buy a peculiar vehicle on credit instead on paying the whole sum immediately.
Summarizing, persuasion through the presentation of price is one of the most effective method because people usually pay a lot of attention on the price of a given car. Customers do not change the car every week, so they carefully plan what kind of vehicle buy, what costs they could cover and think of other stuff connected with money. That is why, persuasion by presentation of price is so effective and so popular among advertisers.
- Presenting awards
We usually want to posses something that specialists have awarded because we believe that we purchase a product that is good. The audience would believe that specialists are omniscient and cannot make mistakes. Advertisers take advantage of this belief and enclose in their commercials statements which inform that the advertising cars have been granted awards.
MF 29 ad presented the beautiful, black saloon, the background was also black. At the top of the advertisement receivers could notice the solar system planets. The only sentence in this commercial told The Audi A6. World Car of the Year 2005. Below there was an additional information: 48 automotive journalists – experts – made this decision. Advertiser exploited Audi A6 prize to persuade the audience that given vehicle was excellent because specialists from all over the world – 21 countries – have granted it the award and according to receivers’ belief they could not make mistakes. This information persuaded the audience to purchase the advertising car.
MF 18 commercial presented the big, MPV vehicle which did not have an attractive, up-to-date shape. The advertiser informed the audience that the advertising car has been granted the awards 2 years running. He/She contained in the one sentence information about the comfort and the prizes. The news about the award evoked in the audience desire to purchase the advertising vehicle because it has been good, reliable and very, very comfortable. What is more, the phrase 2 years running boosted this desire. Only the real marvelous vehicles could get the prize year after year. Advertiser used this data as a very persuasive item. In MF 18 and MF 29 ads the same persuasive element ha been used. Advertisers created commercials which persuade receivers to purchase the advertising cars. The audience was convinced to buy them because the vehicles were granted awards, symbol of being good and worth buying.
Sometimes people do not believe specialists’ opinion because they think that manufacturers paid for the awards, good opinion about the given vehicle. MF 17 commercial also contained information about the award but the prize has been given by the advertising vehicle users. According to J.D. Power and Associates 2001-2005 UK Customer Satisfaction Studies the vehicle has been given a Gold Award. Advertiser have known that the peculiar car users are the best experts to decide whether the advertising vehicle deserves the prize or not. Car users are driving this vehicle almost every day, they know all strong and weak points of it. If they decided to grant Lexus a Gold Award they must be right. The audience was persuaded to purchase Lexus IS by this method of showing that people who have been driving Lexus’s cars for at least 2 were satisfy. This persuasive item encouraged ad’s receivers to purchase the advertising vehicle.
Epitomizing, presenting awards is a very effective persuasive item which would be efficient in every type of advertisements. The audience believes that specialists granting awards are omniscient and make only the good decisions, choices.
- Fusion
Advertisers use fusion to associate peculiar vehicle with some extra features directly connected with it. They create an impression that the customer does not only purchase a car but she/he also buys a certain feature, style of life. That is why, Saab drivers have been compared to fighter’s pilots. Advertisers want to convince the audience that they do not buy a vehicle but also some unique, amazing feature which cannot be purchased with other cars.
MF 36 ad presented new Land Rover Freelander. In the commercial we could see the car at the seashore, its driver who is standing next to it and gazing at the stallion which is so unbound and so free that it is standing at his back feet. Advertiser wanted to associate the car with the freedom, the state of having no responsibilities. Only the advertising vehicle owners could unbound from all duties, only they could feel free and enjoy this freedom. The advertiser persuaded the receivers to purchase not only this SUV car but to buy also the extra feature – freedom – which could not be ‘installed’ in other vehicles. Only the new Land Rover FREElander helped the audience to escape from reality, every day duties and feel free. Special feature connected with the advertising vehicle – especially so unique as in MF 36 ad – is a very effective method of persuasion because the customers get the impression of purchasing an unique car with inimitable feature.
MF 07 advertisement could be divide into two major parts. One of them – the upper one – presented the face of a beautiful but distant lady. It contained also the text Gorgeous can’t be ordinary even if it tries. The second part of this commercial presented the front of the advertising vehicle. Advertiser probably wanted to show that this car has been as beautiful as this woman. The sentence in this ad suggested that the MF 07’s vehicle purchaser would get not only the very comfortable an excellent equipped car but also the extraordinary gorgeous. The special feature was created to inform the audience that the advertising car was beautiful beyond belief. Extraordinary gorgeous was a very persuasive element which would certainly convince receivers to purchase this vehicle because people want to be unique, have products which cannot by copy, get out of the crowd of ordinary vehicles owners and become somebody untypical, important, noticeable.
MF 15 ad was created to inform the receivers about the advertising car safety. That was the main feature to focus on when designing this commercial. Advertiser wanted to show the audience that when buying this vehicle they would get also the tremendous safety, car with one of the highest mark in EuroNCAP’s tests. Nowadays people desire to have a safe car. MF 15 ad’s author exploited this trend and emphasized in this commercial the protection value of the advertising vehicle. Fusion works perfectly in this advertisement – car was associated with the safety. What is more, the slogan The Renault Safety Zone suggests that this feature is unique and available only in Renault’s vehicles. The audience was persuaded to purchase the advertising car and drive safely every day.
Summarizing, fusion can be presented with combination of various vehicles and different features. The good composure of those two elements could create a very persuasive advertisement which would convince almost every ad’s receiver that the advertising car has a specific, unique feature.
- Presenting car’s equipment
Contemporary vehicles are similar to each other. In order to make them more individual and more adjusted to their users manufacturers have decided to create a list of extra equipment, devices which could be installed into cars. The most important devices for the customers have been listed in advertisements.
We could divide ads showing car’s equipment into two groups. The first category contains advertisements which enumerate these extras and the second category includes commercials which inform about devices using sentences.
MF 14 and MF 15 ads could be classified to the first group. In both commercials advertisers listed the extra equipment of advertising cars. Receivers could contemplate the whole ad and focus on the list of optional devices. In my opinion, advertisers decide to enumerate these extras when the amount of them is very big and the receivers could omit some devices while reading long sentences. What is more, the audience could use these commercials as a data to make comparisons concerning cars equipment because the most important devices are presented. This persuasion is aimed at these receivers who put a great attention on the car equipment and like to compare vehicles without necessity to visit the car dealer.
The second group of advertisement formed sentences describing the cars extras. MF 33, MF 34 and MF 16 commercials could be classified to this category.
MF 33 and MF 34 presented the same vehicle, what is more, the identical text was written on these advertisements. Although the information below the pictures contained a lot of words, it consisted only of two sentences. The advertisers presented only the four major, in his/her opinion, devices installed in the advertising car. The audience would not memorize the vast number of extras composed inside sentences because such utterances are difficult to follow. The large amount of nouns – car’s extra equipment - in the one affirmative construction, in my opinion, makes the content incoherent. Of course such constructions follow grammatical structures and rules but the audience could not get the key idea of the given sentence. Receivers would probably skip such sentences. That is why, advertiser presented only the 4-5 major extras equipped in the advertising car.
MF 16 ad informed only about the one extras of advertising vehicle. Advertiser wanted to emphasize the importance of this device, so he/she decided to form an advertisement describing it. The commercial presented a man’s legs – left had a lot of muscles and right was a ‘normal’, ordinary man’s leg. The text below the picture was composed to inform only about the one element – DSG Automatic Transmission. The information provide also the data concerning the number of clutch depressions that ordinary car user makes every hour. The figure is up to 200. That is why, the picture presented the muscular left leg. The whole ad is one big advertisement of DSG Automatic Transmission, so probably that is why the advertising vehicle’s picture is so small and hard to notice. The audience would certainly remember this untypical commercial, the number of clutch depressions and the extra device which helped your legs to have a rest. Although the advertising car was so hard to notice the audience would associate it with the DSG Automatic Transmission. Advertiser persuaded receivers, certainly people who drive a lot, to purchase the peculiar vehicle with the advertising extras.
- Extra options, gifts
In order to encourage receivers to visit the car dealers, take part in a test drive or even to purchase a vehicle, manufacturers have decided to give potential customers some small gifts, extra options for free. These have been items of encouraging people used by cars’ makers which were presented in advertisements as an item of persuasion.
MF 23, MF 09 and MF 15 commercials presented the extra equipment installed without payment in the advertising vehicles.
MF 15 and MF 09 ads offered the same device for free, although the commercials advertised two different vehicles, car from various brands. Both advertisements attached adjective free to the extra option which was offered. This simple adjective encouraged the audience to take a closer look, consider buying the advertising cars. Receivers would like to purchase one of those vehicles because they would like to have something without necessity to paying for it.
MF 23 ad also contained word free but it presented the value of freebies. Receivers would know how much money they could save if they decided to purchase MF 23’s vehicle. Sometimes this persuasive item, in my opinion, works so well that people choose to buy the new car although their old vehicles have only 2-3 years. The desire of getting something for free is so strong that some ad’s receivers do not think clearly and decide to purchase the advertising car on impulse. MF 09 commercial also presented the value of the device for free. In this case the price was presented as a disclaimer.
MF 22 and MF 42 offered some gifts for people who will visit the peculiar car dealer. MF 22 offered two free cinema tickets just for taking a test drive. Advertiser wanted to encourage receivers to visit the car dealer and drive one of the dealer’s test cars. Some receivers would do it only because they would be given two cinema tickets but other might feel desire to purchase the advertising vehicle after taking it for a test drive. Advertiser persuaded the audience to visit the Mitsubishi’s dealer and get a gift.
MF 42 ad informed its receivers about a luxury gift which they would receive if they show this ad on their drive test. Similar to MF 22 ad the audience was encouraged to take a test drive because they would receive a luxury gift. Probably the gift would be just a pen or a badge but receivers want something for free. Both MF 22 and MF 42 advertisements persuaded the audience to visit the car dealer and get a gift.
Manufacturers know that people like to get something for free and they take advantage of this. Car dealers offer various, small freebies which persuaded some potential customers to look at the cars and maybe even decide to purchase these vehicles. Even if people only take this gift and leave the dealer they will consider these manufacturer’s vehicles when purchasing the new one. The free gifts could be treated as an obligation to consider this brand when buying a new vehicle.
- Time and quantity limitations
People have tendency to purchase a peculiar good when the volume of it is limited or when the period of availability of this commodity is limited. Advertisers create such commercials in order to persuade the audience to buy the advertising product as soon as it is possible. In car industry advertisers used 2 types of limitation. One is connected with time limitation and the second one deals with the certain amount of vehicles available at the given conditions, specification, etc.
MF 14 and MF 05 ads exploited the first type of limitation. Both advertisements presented a sport model of the given car, with the interesting extras. What is more, the price of the MF 05’s vehicle was very attractive. Receivers would notice these advertisements because they were eye-catching and their contents were interesting. Probably the audience would watch, read these commercials and contemplate whether purchase or not these cars. They would think carefully and some of them might defer buying one of these vehicles. Advertiser put a pressure on the audience by application of time limited item. Offers available until 31 March 2006, Offer ends 31st March – were used as an item mentioned above. The first quotation came from MF 05 ad and the second from MF 14 commercial. Coincidently the both manufacturers chose the same day as the end of their special offer for advertising cars. Advertisers decided to limit the period of time for the sport range of advertising vehicles because they wanted to persuade the audience to react immediately on these commercials. Ads’ authors exerted the pressure on receivers, did not give them time to think carefully about advantages and disadvantages of these cars. The audience was persuaded to purchase these vehicles because MF05 and MF14’s cars were the great offers (ordinary offers was not time limited but were available all the time). What is more, people who would decide to purchase these vehicles would be extraordinary because not everybody would have these limited edition cars.
As I mentioned above, the second type of limitation deals with the limited volume, the special version of the advertising vehicles. The MF 27 and MF 07 ads could be classified to this category.
MF 27 presented the new Ford Focus ST, sport version of the most famous car in The United Kingdom. The background of this advertisement is black and we could see only the shape of the advertising car and the text attached to its trunk. The text was curved and combined with the Focus ST created the picture of the devil. Advertiser wanted to perceive this vehicle as the demon of speed, so he/she used this association. The text below the picture informed that only first 1500 Focus ST buyers would get the chance to test it on the racetrack during a Prodrive day. This utterance persuaded the audience to immediately visit Ford dealer and purchase the advertising vehicle because the opportunity to unleash the 2,5 litre, 5 cylinder turbo-charged Duratec ST engine would be given to the fastest Focus buyers. The limitation of amount used in this commercial has been a very persuasive item which would encourage a lot of ad’s receivers to visit the car dealer and take a closer look on the advertising vehicle.
MF 07 commercial informed about Limited Edition Jaguar S-Type XS. There was no a single word about the limited volume of the advertising car or about period of time when we could purchase this vehicle. The one word attached to name of the car – limited – persuaded the audience to take a closer look at this car because it was not an ordinary Jaguar S-Type. It contained some extras which would not be installed in any other S-Type vehicles except limited XS range. The text above the picture of the car told Gorgeous can’t be ordinary even if it tries. This sentence suggested that the XS was a limited, extraordinary edition of Jaguar S-Type. The purchasers of such expensive vehicles usually want to be perceived as somebody uncommon. That is why they desire to purchase a vehicle which is not an ordinary car. They need to buy a limited edition vehicle, so MF 07 commercial persuaded them to buy the advertising car.
Summarizing, limitations force the potential customers to react immediately at the given advertisement. They are used to boost the audience’s action, to encourage them to purchase the given car as soon as it is only possible because such offers are unique and worth buying.
- Comparison
Advertisers compare various products together to persuade the audience that their goods are better then competitors’ ones. In automotive commercials cars are not compared to other vehicles but usually to the previous model, generation of the advertising car. Vehicles could also be compared to any other things – e.g. aquarium – which will be discussed below in this section.
MF 26 and MF 33 commercials used the second, less popular type of comparison. The advertising vehicles were compared to things which were completely irrelevant to car industry.
MF 26 ad looked for similarities between the advertising vehicle and aquarium. At the first glance we could not spot any similar points but after reading the long and discouraging description we notice that the comparison was carefully planned. Advertiser wanted to focus receivers’ attention on the big sunroof and the enormous windows of the advertising vehicle. The total glassed space is 7,4m2. This comparison suggested that receivers would feel in this vehicle like in aquarium or in a room which had glass walls, floor and ceiling. This untypical comparison could persuade the audience to take a closer look and check if the advertising vehicle gives you so much sun and light as it has been said in MF 26 advertisement.
MF 33 presented the new Volkswagen vehicle. The looks and the costs were compared to the English Football Leagues. The looks was compared to the Barclays Premiership teams and the costs to the Coca-Cola Football League Two teams. In England a lot of people are interested in football so this comparison would persuade a vast number of receivers to visit a car dealer and check whether the advertising vehicle really looks so great and costs so small amount of money.
Figure 2 comparison MF 33
MF 28 and MF 30 ads followed the typical for car industry comparison to previous generation of the advertising car. MF 30 ad told Bigger boots, more welly Receivers could only suppose that this comparison has been used to describe the difference between the old and the new BMW 330d and 532d . The owners of the old generation of these vehicles would probably want to verify this statement and visit the nearest BMW’s dealer. The audience did not know from what the advertising car is better. Here we could observe not only comparison but also ellipsis.
Figure 3 - Slogan from MF 30
Similar situation could be noticed in MF 28 commercial. The text told The bigger car from Fiat. Receivers did not know whether the car wasn compared to the Fiat vehicles or to the competitors one. We did not have enough knowledge, sufficient information to be sure if the car was bigger from other vehicles or only from Fiat’s models available on the market. The audience was persuaded to check these vehicles because advertisements suggested that they were bigger, better etc.
Summarizing, people want to develop, upgrade their devices so they would like to know whether the advertising cars are really better or only pretend to be the next generation of vehicles. That is why, they would probably visit the nearest car dealer. Advertiser successfully used persuasive item described in this section, because they created desire to check from ‘what’ the advertising cars are better.
2.1.4 Words used in ads
The audience usually focus on words, written text because it could be analyzed and memorized easier then picture or some hidden meaning of the advertisement. That is why advertisers compose their commercials putting a great effort on written content of ads. As I said earlier in this paper, sentences in advertisements have to be carefully planned and avoid any accidental ambiguity. Of course some texts do not have fixed meaning but this is a deliberate item use be ads’ authors.
2.1.4.1 Puns, word play
In section 3.2 in the first chapter of this paper I described example of pun in car ads – Range Rover advertisement – It’s how smooth take the rough. This slogan contained two antonyms - smooth and rough. The similar situation appeared in MF 19 ad where we could read There can only ever be one winner. So Mazda made two of them. If only one vehicle could win how Mazda managed to make two winning cars? The answer was simple but it have not been the point of our discussion. In MF 19 commercial advertiser used a pun which consists of two words which have opposite meaning - one and two. The strong association in society divided almost everything into single (one) and pairs (two) enabled us to establish a statement that one and two for the purpose of this study are antonyms. This pun forced audience to stop, analyze, think for a while about the content of the advertisement, convinced them to read the small text written at the bottom of this MF 19 ad to find out the secret of the pun – both advertising cars – Mazda MX-5 and RX-8 have won the award in different category. Receivers could feel that if those Mazda’s vehicles got the prizes, all Mazda’s cars were so good and awardsworthy. The main goal of advertisement – persuaded people to spot your ads and convinced them to purchase advertising good was fulfilled.
Figure 4 –slogan from MF 19
The MF 36 and MF 37 ads presented the same vehicle. It has been Land Rover Freelander. The word play in those commercials cooperated with pictures. On the first advertisement, car was seen at the seashore, its driver watched the free horses, one of them, probably the stallion, was standing on its back feet. The horses felt completely free, unbound, picture which ideally fit into the car’s name Freelander. The second ad also presented the advertising vehicle, but this time, it was standing at the middle of the frozen lake. The driver looked at the hole in the ice, probably he wanted to jump into the water - fell free - although it was very cold. At both advertisements we could observe the pursuit towards freedom, the desire to break all rules, go beyond them. The best car to drive towards this freedom was Land Rover Freelander. The backgrounds of both commercials boosted this feeling. The funny disclaimers were also part of word play. They informed that Freelander was ₤2500 discounted but this promotion did not include lasso (in ad with horses) and trunks( ad with frozen lake). Audience would certainly memorize those advertisements because they presented the endless pursuit towards freedom. What is more, the funny word plays made ad’s receivers laugh what boosted them to remember the content of these commercials because people have tendency to memorize things which made them laugh.
In MF 41 advertisement we could observe another example of word play. The one, main utterance of this advertisement told True luxury whispers. It suggested that there were other expensive vehicles but they showed their luxury. MF 41’s car was classified, by advertiser, as true luxury car which did not need to make so much noise around itself. What is more, the ad’s author wanted to present by this word play the new quiet diesel engine which was the best-in-class noise and vibration reduction. Of course, there could be described in details how the engine worked, what innovations were introduced in this motor but advertiser decided not to do this because audience was not interested in this data. The word play was used in a very tricky way in this advertisement. Why? The receivers had to decide whether true luxury whispers was connected with new diesel engine or maybe the Jaguar’s conviction that the luxury brand did not require any form of extensive advertising actions.
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Figure 5 word play - MF 41
MF 21 commercial presented a moving, blue sporty-looking car and a description of all its advantages. The one of sentences told The Mazda 6. Now that’s zoom-zoom. The last two words were written with a type which resembled that this text was moving fast. You could see this utterance in Figure 5 below this description. What is more, the sound made by these two words was similar to the sound of moving Mazda 6. The audience was bombed by a lot of information about this car compressed to these zoom-zoom words – the car was able to move very fast, so it had a powerful engine, the noise that it made was brilliant. It was the perfect example of word play. But in MF 21 we could also find other. Inside the description of vehicle’s advantages we could notice the words wow-factors on wheels. This utterance suggested that the advertising car was marvelous. The funny, untypical way used to tell the audience about the Mazda gained their attention. Nobody would probably believe if MF 21 ad said Mazda 6 is marvelous. But this wow-factor on wheels created positive feelings in advertisement’s receivers. The audience like word play which are easy to memorize and that one fulfils this requirement and what is more, the meaning of this word play is obvious and almost everybody would understand the advertiser’s intention.
Figure 6 word play- MF 21
2.1.4.2 Slogan
According to Macmillan Dictionary (2002) slogan is a ‘short phrase used for advertising something’. This definition showed in a very narrow and simple way the most important feature of a slogan. It advertises something. Slogans have been creating from the beginning of advertising industry. Since ages they had to developed, changed their form, contained hidden meaning because audience did not believe in the simple statement as Our car is the best. That is why, contemporary advertisers create a lot of interesting and puzzling slogans which gain receivers attention.
MF 35 ad contained a simple but a tricky slogan: Today, Tomorrow, Toyota. It informed us that there is present, there would be future and Toyota was beyond these periods of time. Advertiser wanted to tell the audience that advertising vehicle would be running after 15 or even 20 years due to Toyota’s legendary reliability. We could also understand this slogan as the hidden promotion of manufacturer’s technological advance. Today dealt with technological devices used in vast numbers of cars. Then Tomorrow stood for all devices equipped in expensive, new, technologically advanced vehicles. Toyota was seen as the most developed cars’ producer which installed in its cars all innovative equipment. In MF 35 ad the slogan was split into 3 parts. Today stood for credit facilities when purchasing the new Toyota, Tomorrow showed the value of the advertising vehicle after 3 years and Toyota was used to present the advertising car and its extra equipment.
Figure 7 slogan from MF 35
MF 15 commercial gained audience attention since the first spot. It was surrounded by black and yellow stripe used by construction companies and to mark danger. The advertisement’s slogan told The Renault safety zone. Below it was written Protecting you, protecting your pocket. The slogan was composed to inform audience that the advertising car was awarded one of the highest rank in the Euro NCAP tests. Author wanted to show that we could safely drive this vehicle because it was designed to protect us and our passengers. Car buyers put a lot of effort on car security, all life-rescuing devices and stars granted in tests mentioned above. Advertiser took advantage of it and formed a slogan which told the receivers how safe the new Megane was. The statement below the slogan suggested that it not only protect your life but was available at the reasonable price. Advertiser told audience that Renault Megane II was not as expensive as it looked like because of high Euro NCAP’s mark.
MF 32 commercial showed a beautiful, sporty-looking hatchback. The background was grey and also the vehicle was covered with similar pigment. The slogan told Elegant but do not provoke. It suggested that the advertising vehicle was created as an elegant car but it also had enough power to be treated as a sport one. The audience could observe the beauty and dignity of this car but they had to, or not, believe that new Alfa 147 not only looked good but also drove fine. Receivers looked at the advertising vehicle, its sport ‘fast’ shape and remembered the association with Alfa’s cars – fast and magnificently beautiful – would certainly believed that new 147 did not have only the astonishing look but also the marvelous power. The audience desired to visit the nearest Alfa’s dealer and purchase one of 147s. MF 32 commercial convinced receiver to buy advertising good – the primary goal of ad was fulfilled.
MF 11 and MF 03 advertisements contained the same slogan – The Power of Dreams. In the first commercial it was used in its typical way – at the right upper corner of the ad, just below the Honda mark. In the second commercial it was composed as a question – Do you believe in the power of dreams?. In MF 11 ad slogan was been too small, the grey background made it almost impossible to read. The Power of Dreams was a very good slogan, because it arose many connotations. The audience might think that Honda’s vehicles were fueled by dreams, or that the power, ability to make those cars came from dreams, people hidden desires. The second association was observed in MF 03 ad. There, we could read about the innovative technology of fueling cars which was introduced in Honda FCX. The last question – Do you believe in the power of dreams - claimed that only people who were not afraid to realize their dreams could build such vehicles. Honda’s engineers belonged to this group because they realized their dream – transferred a concept car fueled by hydrogen into an ordinary, assembly line vehicle. Honda’s cars were manufactured for those people who wanted to realize their desires, who knew that these mark’s cars were manufactured to grasp Honda and their customers’ dreams.
Slogans are used to advertise something. Nowadays they inform about the features of the advertising vehicles. They are composed in a very tricky way and that is why a lot of ads’ receivers memorize them.
- Disclaimers
Disclaimers are used to rectify information mentioned in commercials. The purpose of them is to avoid ambiguity and false impression which might be caused by the content of the advertisements. On the other hand in several cases ads’ authors want to maintain this false impression but this is not a point of our discussion. Advertisers decide to put some data as disclaimers because it does not fit to the ad’s main body. Sometimes disclaimers are used to show the source of some information, opinions of some automotive magazines or car’s specialists.
The last mentioned feature of disclaimers was observed in MF 35 commercial. Its author mentioned that the advertising vehicle will be worth ₤675 more than Vauxhall Zafira after 3 years. This information was unclear, the audience wanted to know on what basis the sum was calculated. So asterisk was inserted here. The disclaimer rectified this information, told that this figure was taken from CAP Monitor. What is more, it also gave us information about what kind of Zafira model the advertising vehicle was compared to. The disclaimer helped to advertise this car, because it showed that the value of the new Toyota’s vehicle was calculated by specialists, not Toyota itself. The ads’ receivers have tendency to believe in specialists’ opinions because, as I said earlier in this paper, they believe that specialists are omniscient.
MF 14 ad presented two vehicles and snowboarders at the background. On the right we could notice the car’s equipment list. Receivers would notice that the manufacturer is offering a free comprehensive insurance for a year. But to this information an asterisk was attached. The disclaimer informed about the condition under which the customers could get the comprehensive insurance for free. Various different requirements have to be fulfilled to get this insurance. Disclaimers give us all necessary information, the data which we might require but it could not be attached to ad’s main body because it would make the whole advertisement illegible. The audience would see too much information and skip this commercial.
MF 06 ad used disclaimer to rectify facts mentioned it the ad. It was used to inform that although the advertising vehicle could reach 161mph manufacturer did not condone speeding on public roads. In my opinion this disclaimer was inserted to meet the harsh British regulations concerning speeding and advertising fast vehicles. Advertiser created the commercial which perfectly advertise how fast new Vauxhall Vectra VXR is but, on the other hand, advertiser must inform that speeding is a crime and the audience could drive this vehicle 161mph where the law permits to do it e.g. Isle of Man. In this advertisement the disclaimer was been used to meet the regulations. Its author was obliged to attach the disclaimer.
MF 10 commercial also contained the main issue of this section – disclaimers. Receivers could read that job satisfaction starts at just ₤249* a month. As you can see an asterisk was attached to this figure. It explained that this offer was addressed to business users only and enumerated requirements which have to be fulfilled to get this vehicle paying only ₤249 a month. In MF 10 advertisement the disclaimer was used to get all information necessary to potential customers. If all these facts would be mentioned in the ad main body probably nobody would consider this offer as attractive one. Advertiser encourage of lot of people to view this ad by putting those discouraging information – requirements – as a disclaimer.
Summarizing, disclaimers are used to rectify some facts, give the potential customers further information about the advertising car. Disclaimers can be also used to justify some statements, opinions mentioned in the ad’s main body. They are those elements of advertisements which people usually do not focus on when glancing the given commercial.
- Rhetorical questions
Rhetorical questions are used in advertisements to force the audience to contemplate the given commercial and try to find the answer to the stated question. They also help to establish a personal relationship with the ad’s receivers because, as it was said in section 1.1, they are direct addressed item. The majority of such constructions are rather simple questions but some of them are composed in a very tricky way so the audience requires additional information to answer on them.
MF 12 and MF 21 ads’ authors decided to form simple rhetorical questions enabling everybody to answer on them. Simple questions would be understood by vast number of receivers so much more people would treat these ads as they were aimed at them, stop to watch, analyze these commercials. In MF 12 advertisement only one important question – Are you a nearly person? – appeared. We could also notice the answer to this question – No, you’re not. This interrogative construction was written in a bigger type in comparison to the answer. Even without the reply to the question the audience could respond to it immediately. This interrogative construction established receivers’ personal attitude toward this advertisement and the advertising vehicle. The audience was forced to contemplate MF 12 commercial and maybe some of them would be convinced to purchase the advertising car.
MF 21 advertisement did not give receivers answer to the stated question but the whole description before the last interrogative sentence could be treated as a reply to it. Advertiser asked receivers What better reasons to award yourself a bonus?. The audience could read before this utterance about all bonuses the advertising vehicle would certainly give them: spine tingling power that comes to 360Nm; level of refinement you’d normally expect from petrol engines; sporty look; exhilarating drive; astonishing price and legendary reliability and service. As we could see all advantages of purchasing this car could be used as arguments for somebody who decide to answer to question stated in this commercial. The interrogative contained also word yourself which suggested that all these bonuses were given directly to us, we could feel the power, the acceleration and exhilarating drive properties. The audience would certainly decide to take a closer look on this vehicle and maybe purchase it because the question suggested that Mazda 6 is the best reason to award yourself a bonus.
The simple questions are used to arise interest and create desire for the advertising vehicle. Such interrogative constructions are used to avoid discouraging people from the careful analysis of the given advertisement.
MF 03 and MF 06 ads contained a little bit more complicated questions. MF 03 commercial consisted of 8 lines of text which contained 4 questions. The first interrogative was quite simple. The second and third questions dealt with the idea of manufacturing concept cars and bring the to ‘real’ ones. The audience had to think for a while what happen if those magnificent, technologically advance vehicles would be assembled. These interrogatives evoked desire to get the new information about the concept cars and the advertising vehicle which was produced although it could still be called a concept car. Readers needed to contemplate about the matter described above and gave an answer which would be more complex then those given in MF 12 and MF 21 advertisements. People who have managed to respond to these questions would be proud of themselves because they achieved to answer to difficult interrogatives which required some extra knowledge and consumed a lot of time. The last interrogative developed from the Honda’s slogan – The power of dreams. It was changed into Do you believe in the power of dreams? It was not a simple question because people beliefs are consider to be taboo topic. Advertiser wanted to ask receivers whether they believed that the new hydrogen fueled car was a real, not a concept car.
MF 06 also contained interrogative which was formed in a very tricky way. Are you VXR enough?. What has VXR meant? What ability has this kind of person? The audience has known that VXR is a symbol used to mark sporty model of Vauxhall Vectra but what has it meant when describing the human? The new Vectra is fast and furious so maybe VXR people are the same? Or... Interpretations of the phrase used in this question are almost endless. In my opinion, advertiser stated this interrogative to get to the certain group of receivers which desire to purchase a quick saloon. Only those people would understand the adjective – VXR – and would be able to give an answer to this question which sounded Yes. This group of customers wanted to drive with dignity from home to work and unleash the power on highways or race tracks.
Summarizing, difficult, tricky questions have been composed to enable the limited number of people – advertisements target receivers – to stop for a while, analyze and give a reply. Such interrogatives give the audience satisfaction because they could be the chosen ones, belong to the limited group of people who know the answer to these questions.
- Imperative forms
Imperatives were described earlier in this paper because they were classified as direct addressed item. Commands are used in advertisements not only to establish a personal relationship with the audience. They are used as elements which could carry the hidden meaning of the ad, which could be also interpreted in a more abstract way.
MF 22 commercial enumerated the detail equipment of the advertising vehicle. We could also spot two vehicles – Mitsubishi Lancer saloon and the same model but in estate version. The big text informed the audience that the new car was available at less then ₤10000. The red arrow showed us the utterance: There must be a mistake!. Receivers could interpret this sentence directly but nobody would believe that in MF 22 advertisement was a mistake. The advertiser combined a hidden meaning into this imperative. He/She wanted to inform the audience that the price of the advertising vehicle was a real bargain. Receivers could also understand this imperative as an invitation to go to the Mitsubishi’s dealer and check if the advertising car’s price was so attractive. Advertiser evoked a desire to purchase the family saloon with very good equipment for so small amount of money. What is more, the advertising vehicle has been known for its brilliant performance and magnificent results of EVO8 model in Car Rally Championship. The audience would probably crave to own such vehicle for so attractive price.
MF09 also contained a command. It told: Go anywhere, see everything. This utterance suggested that the audience had to visit each place on Earth and see all famous, brilliant but also unknown places. Receivers knew that it was impossible. Their subconsciuous told them they could obey this command by purchasing the advertising vehicles. Advertiser formed imperative which contained a hidden message, meaning. He/She used imperative to aimed the ad at the audience but, on the other hand, he/she combined a hidden meaning in it. Receivers would understand that Nissan X-Trail or Pathfinder could lead them anywhere and enable to see everything. This irrelevant imperative - nobody could see everything and go anywhere – was composed to persuade the potential customers, to create a false impression that the advertising cars would be able to drive everywhere.
To sum up, imperatives are used not only to establish a personal attitude toward the advertisement, force the audience to look carefully at the commercial. They are used to communicate the hidden message cover under the simple construction of commands. They could persuade a lot of people about the artificial properties of the advertising cars.
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Luxury vehicles
Generally luxury car advertisements evoke the audience’s feelings. They are created to convince receivers to purchase a peculiar vehicle by bringing a particular emotion into their minds. Although the major principles are identical I want to show some differences in this group of car advertisements. I decided to enclose to luxury cars following brands: BMW, Jaguar, Lexus and Mercedes. ‘Sports’ brands like Aston Martin, Ferrari or Porsche were not taken into consideration in this analysis. I’m going to present the advertisements described above by composing them into several groups according to brands because certain differences were observed according to this division.
MF 40 and MF 17 ads presented Lexus cars. MF 40 commercial described SUV model and MF 17 advertisement 5-door liftback segment C car. Both advertisements were created to inform the audience about innovative, technological devices installed in the advertising vehicles. MF 17 commercial dealt with the first diesel engine equipped in Lexus car. This motor was revolutionary because it was cost in weight-saving aluminum, the diesel delivers strong performance and running smoothness and low fuel consumption and as you expect from Lexus it’s quiet. Very quiet. These words were addressed to the audience minds. This description evoked desire to posses the new Lexus IS with the revolutionary engine. People who usually purchase such vehicles do not care about the expenses – low fuel consumption. They want to acquire all things, include cars, which have latest available upgrades. The technology in Lexus’s engine is so innovative that people described earlier would crave to purchase this vehicle.
MF 40 advertisement also presented new engine but this time that was not diesel engine. This commercial advertised Hybid Synergy Drive – combination of petrol engine and electric motors. Although people who decide to purchase such cars do not care about the expenses also in MF 40 ad the cost saving properties of this engine were mentioned. Similarly to MF 17 commercial, the MF 40 ad described the features of this revolutionary drive system. The audience would know almost everything about this combination of engines. This detailed description was aimed at receivers’ minds. It evoked in the audience desire to purchase the advertising vehicle and be one of the first people who drive Lexus RX 400h with revolutionary Hybrid Synergy Drive.
This type of advertisements focuses the audience attention on the technical often revolutionary devices. People who buy luxury vehicles want to be unique, posses goods which ordinary people do not have, so that is why some luxury car advertisements present innovative devices and emphasize the inimitability of them. These advertisements bring a particular emotion to the audience’s minds – desire to acquire a unique car.
MF 12 and MF 38 commercials presented Mercedes cars. MF 12 described the smallest model of Mercedes, A-Class. MF 38 presented the most popular, one of the Mercedes limousines, E-Class. Although the advertisements show the luxury cars advertisers decided to emphasize the price and free upgrades.
MF 12 advertisement attempted to evoke the audience’s emotions. The advertiser established a personal relationship with ad’s receivers. This ad is aimed at the audience’s feelings because the question stated in this commercial is rather personal and addressed to people’s emotions not mind. The advertiser described the value of that car, the price and all credit facilities. It was emphasized that the audience could posses such a luxurious vehicle for so small amount of money.
MF 38 commercial described that the advertising car looks better on a driveway than on a shortlist. W could see the beautiful vehicle, so everybody would wonder, according to the utterance mentioned above, if this vehicle looks so good on this ad, how marvelous it would be on a driveway. This advertisement was also aimed at audience’s emotions. What is more, advertiser informed the potential customers about the free upgrade to the better car version. People who usually purchase such vehicles do not put a great attention on the money. Nevertheless, Mercedes decided to advertise its cars focusing on money and extra upgrades. Maybe Mercedes wanted to convince people with lower income to consider its vehicles when purchasing the new car. There is a pitfall and the manufacturer has to be very careful because bringing the brand downmarket usually causes drop in the number of prominent clients which do not want to posses vehicle which could be bought by everybody.
Even though the rich people do not care about expenses in some luxury car advertisements we could observe the presentation of the price. It has been one of many persuasive item which boost the emotions evoked by the given ad. It helped to convince the audience to purchase an advertising car.
MF 30 commercial presented two BMW cars – BMW 330d and BMW 535d. The audience could see the bonnet (front) of the one and the boot (rear) of the second vehicle. Cars were presented in these positions because advertiser wanted to emphasize that both BMWs were fast and had big boots. This commercial was aimed at receivers’ emotions. The audience would desire to feel the tremendous power of this unique diesel engine which has been the most powerful in its class. They also would think about all things they could put into those spacious boots. The first sentence of the description of those vehicles told Two big, powerful car and not compromise in sight. This utterance perfectly described the target users – BMW owners and people who would like to purchase those cars. Those people have a lot of money, are big, powerful, and want to posses everything what is the best – no compromise. The advertiser boasted about engine and devices installed in the advertising vehicles. He/She did it because he/she wanted to boost the audience’s positive feelings connected with these cars. BMW wanted to be perceived as sporty but luxurious vehicles. That is why, it decided to combine good engine – 6,6 second from 0-62mph – and comfort – spacious, ultra-precise steering and other devices. This combination evoked the potential customer feelings and convinced them to perceive BMW as the manufacturer which made luxurious and fast vehicles, cars which have no compromise in sight.
MF41 and MF 07 advertisements presented Jaguars vehicles. MF 41 advertised Jaguar XJ Twin Turbo Diesel and MF 07 limited edition of Jaguar S-Type, XS range. Both commercials are role models of luxury car advertisements. They evoked the audience’s emotions do not use tricks and others persuasive items.
MF 41 ad could be divided into 2 parts, pages. The first page showed us the big picture of the front of Jaguar XJ. The second gave us information about the engine. Advertiser used metaphor to describe how quiet this engine works – True luxury whispers. Jaguar knew that there was no necessity to boost advertising campaign because people would buy its car anyway. Jaguar is a symbol of wealth in Great Britain. That is why, true luxury whispers, only new players on that market e.g. Lexus, need to advertise extensively to persuade Jaguar’s customers to change their habits and purchase only the luxury car instead of purchasing the true luxury one. Of course manufacturer could spend a lot of money and explain in this ad how this new engine works but the target audience did not want to know it. They would like to have an extraordinary car which emphasizes their status and wealth.
Jaguar took advantage of this selfish attitude described above and in MF 07 commercial showed the extraordinary features of advertising car. The main sentence of this advertisement told Gorgeous can’t be ordinary even if it tries. This utterance evoked desire to posses S-Type XS because it was unique. Rich people would certainly purchase this car after viewing, reading this ad. It was aimed at rich people’s vanity, their constant desire to acquire extraordinary and beautiful things. Advertiser combined those two elements together and offered them extraordinary gorgeous in one product – Jaguar S-type XS We could see how this commercial evoked emotion – desire to purchase the unique version of the advertising car, stand out of the crowd and fulfilled rich people’s vanity.
Summarizing, although there are some differences in advertising the luxurious vehicles the main principle is identical. All such commercials evoke feelings and persuade receivers to purchase the advertising vehicles putting a great effort on the audience’s emotions. Price is usually not important in this group of ads, that is why, it is often skipped. Advertisers need to emphasize the unique features of the advertising car, sublimity of them because the target audience wants to get out of the crowd of ordinary vehicles users.
- Conclusion
This analysis described explicitly above has led me to following conclusions which are stated below. In order to enable you to focus on every single conclusion they are presented in points. The main observations concerns:
- Direct addressed advertisements are commonly used in contemporary car advertisements because they convince the vast number of people.
- Indirect addressed commercials do not focus the audience’s attention, so they must use some eye-catching elements to gain the receivers’ interest.
- Eye-catching items are used to force the audience to spot the given ad, take a closer look on it.
- Iconicity in advertisements is used to present some feature of the advertising vehicle. It evokes the audience’s emotions.
- Persuasion is used through many different channels. Presentation of price is one of the most effective items of persuasion.
- Fusion elements persuade the audience to buy a unique car because it establishes a belief that the advertising vehicle has been equipped in some inimitable feature.
- In order to encourage the receivers to buy the given car advertisers present the devices installed in it. They also inform about some options which are offered without necessity of paying for them.
- Limitation persuades the audience to react immediately at the given commercial. They must be quick because special, limited offers do not last long.
- Comparison in car advertisements is untypical. It does not compare competitive products but looks for similarities in the previous generation of the advertising vehicle. Sometimes the audience does not know the second side of this comparison, so it is ellipted.
- Slogans, word plays and puns are used to inform in a very tricky way about the properties of the advertising vehicles.
- Interrogatives establish a personal attitude toward the ads. They also arise people interest and encourage some of them to purchase the vehicle.
- Imperatives are not only the direct addressed item. They also contain a hidden meaning, information which advertiser wants to present using some associations, beliefs and commonly know truths.
- Luxury cars are generally advertise in the identical way – evoke customers’ emotions but the slight differences appear in accordance to the make of the luxurious vehicles.
Summary in Polish
Tematem mojej pracy jest Język reklam samochodowych. Jako reklamy samochodowe rozumiemy wszelkiego rodzaju prezentacje, spoty, plakaty przedstawiające jedno z największych osiągnięć XX wieku – samochód. Dostrzegając specyficzny charakter tego typu reklam zdecydowałem się napisać pracę na w/w temat. Praca została podzielona na dwie części – teoretyczną oraz praktyczną. W pierwszej części zdefiniowałem pojęcie reklamy, przedstawiłem formy jej przekazywania. Omówiłem także cechy języka reklamy oraz przedstawiłem szczególne cechy i funkcje języka reklamy samochodowej. Druga część pracy poświęcona jest analizie 43 zebranych reklam samochodów. W tej części swojej pracy przedstawiłem różnice w formie adresowania treści spotu, plakatu itp, omówiłem także pozajęzykowe formy prezentacji danego pojazdu. Bardzo dużo miejsca poświęciłem perswazji w tego typu reklamach, przedstawiłem różne rodzaje przekonywania potencjalnych klientów. Słowa odgrywają ważną rolę w naszym życiu, dlatego też zdecydowałem się na przeanalizowanie struktury języka używanego w zebranych przeze mnie reklamach. Ze względu na specyficzny sposób przedstawiana ekskluzywnych marek samochodów osobną sekcję poświęciłem na przeanalizowanie tego typu reklam, dostrzeżeniu pewnych różnic mimo ogólnie przyjętych reguł dotyczących reklamowania ekskluzywnych produktów.
Webiography and bibliography
Webiography
Int 1 - http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?ParaLanguage, access on 30.12.2005
Int 2 - http://lib.smmt.co.uk/articles/sharedfolder/Publications/Facts%202005%2 0-
%20final.pdf, access on 28.12. 2005
Int 3 - , access on 29.12. 2005
Bibliography:
Barthes, R. (1977) The Rhetoric of the Image, News York: Hill and Wang
Bralczyk, J. (2004) Język na sprzedaż, Gdańsk : Gdańskie Wydawnictwo Psychologiczne
Cheshire J. and L. M. Moser (1994) ‘English as a cultural symbol: the case of
advertisements in French-speaking Switzerland’, in: Journal of multilingual and
multicultural development, vol 15(5): 451-69
Cook, G. (2001) The Discourse of Advertising, London: Routledge
Geis, M.L. (1982) The Language of Television Advertising, New York: Academic Press
Jones, J.P. (2004) Jak działa reklama, Gdańsk: Gdańskie Wydawnictwo Pedagogiczne
Leech, G. N. (1966) English In Advertising, London: Longman
Murdoch, A. (2005) Modern Advertising, Warszawa: Oficyna Wydawnicza Szkoły
Głównej Handlowej
Myers, G. (1994) Words in Ads, London: Arnold
Russell, J. T. and R. Lane (200) Reklama według Ottona Kleppera, Wydawnictwo Felberg
Werner, U. (1999) Podstawowa wiedza o reklamie, Warszawa: Thaurus
Wojtaszek, A. (2002) Deciphering Radio Commercials – a Pragmatic Perspective,
Katowice: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Appendixes
List of coded advertisements
MF 01
MF 02
MF 03 MF 04
MF 06
MF 07 MF 09
MF 11
MF 14 MF 15
MF 18
MF 21
MF 22 MF 23
MF 23
MF 26
MF 27 MF 29
MF 30
MF 33
MF 36
MF 37
MF 38
MF 38
MF 41 MF 05
Paralanguage is communication that goes beyond the specific spoken words. It includes pitch, amplitude, rate, and voice quality of speech. Paralanguage reminds us that people convey their feelings not only in what they say, but also in how they say it.-(Int 1)
more details could be found in: Cook, G.(2001),The Discourse of Advertising, London: Routledge, (pages: 55-8)
tern introduced by Cook (2001)
words which have identical form but different meaning, e.g. bank (place where people keep their money), bank(a raised area of land along the side of a river)
for more details see Cook, G.(2001),The Discourse of Advertising, London: Routledge, (pages: 65-98)
cars like: Vauxhall( in Poland known as Opel) Corsa, Ford Fiesta, Peugeot 206, Renault Clio, Ford Ka.
cars like: Ford Focus, Renault Megane, Vauxhall( in Poland known as Opel) Astra, Peugeot 307, Volkswagen Golf.
For more details see Geis, M.L. (1982) The Language of Television Advertising, New York: Academic Press, pages 97-103
term introduce by Cook (2001)
SUV – Sport Utility Vehicle
discussed in section 1.2.1.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Limited – Int 2
MPV- Multi Purpose Vehicle
according to SMMT survey – Int 2
European New Car Assessment Programme; ,more details: http://www.euroncap.com
