The main feature of American radio and television "culture" is advertising. Radio and television are two important modern media, influencing public opinion. The right to them is licensed out to private companies, the major of which are the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), and the National Broadcasting Company (NBC).
Advertising agencies and TV networks together commission1 and choose programs suitable for advertising. The money for the programs is provided by the manufacturers of cars, soap, cigarettes, spaghetti, cosmetics, etc. For example, automobile companies commission special shows for the time of year when their new models are first put on sale. Commercials appear at 5-10 minute intervals. Every performance, except the sacred baseball match commentaries, is interrupted by commercials. Even the News is shown in parts. It makes you believe that the man or woman who is successful, attractive to the opposite sex, has a happy marriage, raises children well, etc., does so thanks and only thanks to the advertised products.
Advertising largely depends on viewing times. It is important for a sponsor and his advertising agency to know as exactly as possible who is likely to watch TV at what time. An automobile manufacturer would not want to buy a program for children, no matter how good the show and how large its audience. He will have his program broadcast at a time when most men will be watching.
Radio as well as television in the United States is free and production costs are also covered by money from advertising. Roughly 20 per cent of the broadcasting time is given over to commercials. In the most popular programs one-minute commercial costs about 500 thousand dollars. And you can't escape from the radio here. Radios are switched on early in the morning and go on all day as a permanent background noise. So you listen in wherever you go — in houses, cars, restaurants, taxis, railway stations
Advertising is a fine art in the USA. Advertisements are often short plays with actors and minimoviemakers, who command top talent, famous actors and actresses, Hollywood producers. One American said about it: "The best brains in our country go into salesmanship. Any fool can make a thing. What takes real brains is to sell it when the customer has got one already and doesn't want another."
In a TV commercial the advertiser is trying to persuade you to go out and buy something. He wants to make you feel that you really must have it. He can use a number of different effects to do this:
The snob effect. This tells you that the product is most exclusive and of course rather expensive. Only the very best people use it.
The scientific effect. A serious-looking man with glasses and a white coat, possibly a doctor or a professor, tells you about the advantages of the product.
The words-and-music effect. The name of the product is repeated over and over again, put into a rhyme and sung several times: in the hope that you won't forget it. The sung rhyme is. called a "jingle".
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The ha-ha effect. The advertiser tries to make you laugh by showing people or cartoon figures in funny situations.
The VIP (Very Important Person) effect. Well-known people, like actors, or football-players, are shown using the product.
The super modern effect. The advertiser tries to persuade you that his product is a new, sensational breakthrough.
The go-go effect. This is suitable for the teenage market. It shows young people having a party, singing, laughing, having a wonderful time, and, of course, using the product.
By skillfully using advertising baits2, representatives of big business are quite able to exert3 a substantial influence on the content of TV and radio programs.
commission1 - подготавливать; bait 2 – приманка, наживка, искушение
exert3 one’s influence – оказывать влияние
Task 1. Answer the questions.
1. What are very important modern media for influencing public opinion?
2. What are the major broadcasting networks in the USA?
3. How much of TV and radio air time is given to commercials?
4. What is the function of commercials?
5. What is the importance of viewing times?
6. Why advertising is called a fine art?
7. What effects do TV commercials use?
8. Can you analyze the use of effects in any TV commercial you have seen?
Task 2. Tell about the effects.
Propaganda Techniques
Vocabulary:
| to persuade | убеждать | claim | заявление |
| to influence | влиять | merits | достоинства |
| to quote | цитировать, ссылаться | endorse | подтверждать |
| favorable | благоприятный, подходящий | detergent | очищающее, моющее средство |
| statement | заявление, утверждение | dazzling | ослепительный |
| to transfer | переносить | to be tired of | уставать |
| admiration | восхищение | greasy | сальный, жирный |
| to arouse | пробуждать, вызывать | scouring | чистить, оттирать, мыть |
| preference | предпочтение | torture | пытка, мука |
| free | свободный | harsh | грубый, жесткий |
| bandwagon | грузовик с оркестром | gritty | песчаный |
| testimonial | свидетельство, рекомендация | bid farewell to | попрощаться |
| transfer | перенос | dirge | погребальная песнь, панихида |
| textual | текстовой | restrictive | ограничительный |
| pure | чистый | excesses | крайности, излишества |
| reluctant | с неохотой | denigration | клевета |
| offer | предлагать | рut off | отбрасывать |
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Advertising is persuasive communication, it is used to persuade people to be for or against something. This is done by using different kinds of propaganda techniques.
Propaganda is the spreading of ideas, information, or rumors for the purpose of influencing people to be in favour or against something or someone. Much of the advertising is propaganda, for its major purpose is to influence you to buy something. What are these kinds of techniques?
| "BANDWAGON" | When using this technique, the advertiser tries to influence you to buy something because a great number of other people are buying it. For example, “Thousands of people all across the country have switched, to DAZZLE TOOTHPASTE. Shouldn’t you switch, too?” The writer of that ad hopes to convince you that you should switch to DAZZLE TOOTHPASTE because thousands of other people have. But before you run out to buy a tube of DAZZLE, you should consider these two things: 1) Is the advertiser being truthful? You cannot be sure because he offers no evidence to support his claim. 2) Even if his claim is true; it does not necessarily follow that you should switch to DAZZLE TOOTHPASTE. |
| “TESTIMONIAL” | In using this technique the advertiser tries to get you buy the product being advertised by quoting a favorable statement made about the product by some famous person.Often a picture of the famous person whose statement is being used is shown in the advertisement. For example, “Even in damp, windy weather my hair always stays in place. That is because I use STAY-IN-PLACE I have tried many other hair sprays but STAY-IN-PLACE is the only one that works.” STAY-IN-PALACE may actually be an excellent hair spray, but the fact that the famous person uses it and likes it does not guarantee the quality of the product. Your decision to buy a certain product should be influenced by the merits of the product itself and not by the fact that a famous person endorses it. |
| "TRANSFER” | This technique also makes use of the famous person.Unlike the "TESTIMONIAL", however, the famous person does not make any statement about the product. Instead,he or she is pictured together with the product being advertised. The advertiser hopes that people who admire this or that famous person will transfer their admiration to the product and buy it. |
| "REPETITION" | The advertiser repeats certain words several times. In fact, counting the number of times they are repeated, those words make up one-fourth of all the words used in the ad.By repeating them again and again the advertiser hopes that you will remember them particularly when you are shopping for a detergent. For example: “ At last! Here is a detergent you can count on! For greater cleaning power, DEPEND ON POW! For dazzling brightness, DEPEND ON POW! For brilliant colours, DEPEND ON POW! For all your cleaning jobs, DEPEND ON POW!” |
| "EMOTIONAL WORDS" | Emotional words are words which advertisers think will arouse your emotions so that you will feel strongly for or strongly against the subject they write about. Advertisers are particularly skillful in this technique. For example, “TEMPTY'S MARGARINE is the most mouth-watering, taste-tempting margarine available today! You will love its soft, creamy texture and deliciously delicate flavor. So unbelievably good, yet so unbelievably inexpensive, - that is TEMPTY'S MARGARINE!” In the following ad, the advertiser uses "Emotional Words" to make people feel strongly against something. It is hoped that by arousing unfavorable attitudes towards the thing, he will make people want to buy the product that is being advertised. “Tired of facing that pile of dirty greasy dishes every night? Tired of scouring those unsightly pots and pans? Tired of subjecting your hands to the torture of hot water and harsh, gritty detergents? Then buy a NO-HANDS AUTOMATIC DISHWASHER and bid farewell to your daily battles at the kitchen sink.” The advertiser hopes people will feel strongly against dishwashing. By selecting words that make dishwashing seem even more unpleasant than it probably is, the writer hopes to influence people to buy a NO-HANDS AUTOMATIC DISHWASHER. |
| “COMPARATIVE” or “COMPETITIVE”, or sometimes called “KNOCKING COPY ADVERTISING” | This kind of advertising is one in which a manufacturer takes some qualities of his product and runs them against those of a competitor.It is often aggressive. Its witty use by Pepsi-Cola in its battle with Coca-Cola is one of the best American examples. In that advertisement rap artist Hammer starts to sing "Feelings" like a dirge after a slug from a can of Coke, and he as if by magic recovers his form when a fan hands him a Pepsi. The European comparative advertising is much more restrictive, its code forbids many of the US excesses, particularly the denigration of a competitor' product It also requires advertisers to be accurate in information used and fair in selection of comparisons The manufacturer can highlight only those qualities which are scientifically verifiable, and comparisons based simply on taste are not welcomed. That is why much of it is related to car advertising. But you are more likely to see a knocking copy in press than to see it on TV, as Television Commission is reluctant to allow competitive advertising because it is, in a sense, biting the hand that feeds. They do not want to put other advertisers off using TV as a medium. |
| “TEXTUAL” | "TEXTUAL" technique is based on pure information; it is free from any emotional words. Most businessmen give their preference to this kind of technique |
Persuasive Advertising
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