The Language of Advertising

Advertising is one of the many forms of human communication. It works almost the same as any other; the sender transmits information to be understood by the receiver, but it can also be more complicated than that, because besides transmitting a message, it also tries to persuade the receiver in a specific way with any information sent. To do that, it has had to develop its own language that as any other, presents rules, slang, and different interpretations. Advertising has a special, interesting but also dangerous language that can influence every person in one way or another. It´s a language that requires everyone to be their own interpreter of the message, and when the receiver doesn’t know how to discern it, the language of advertising can become very dangerous.

Throughout seven entries in this blog I will present and discuss the various, different techniques that advertising uses to communicate with the audience. Techniques used directly in ads, like images, symbols and cultural meanings will be explained, as well as indirect forms of advertising to influence the public’s decisions, as social advertising. I will also explore different ways or options that advertisers are taking to seek people’s attention, which every day seems to be decreasing with traditional advertising.

In the same way, throughout the seven different blog entries I will present how people are being influenced in many aspects by all the advertising techniques. It is also going to be analyzed more deeply how children are being the most negatively affected by harmful advertising, and that if there is no interest in this issue future generations will grow up having even more serious problems with consumerism, stereotyping and low self esteem. So, to be able to react positively against some dangerous content, it is important to first analyze and understand the way in which advertising works to make an impact and influence the audience.