Sold on Language: How Advertisers Talk to You and What This Says About You PDF
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Sold on Language Sold on Language: How Advertisers Talk to You and What This Says About You. By Julie Sedivy and Greg Carlson © 2011 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. ISBN: 978-0-470-68309-5 Sold on Language How Advertisers Talk to You and What This Says About You Julie Sedivy Greg Carlson Thiseditionfirstpublished2011 (cid:1)2011JohnWiley&SonsLtd. Wiley-BlackwellisanimprintofJohnWiley&Sons,formedbythemergerofWiley’sglobal Scientific,Technical,andMedicalbusinesswithBlackwellPublishing. RegisteredOffice JohnWiley&SonsLtd,TheAtrium,SouthernGate,Chichester,WestSussex,PO198SQ,UK EditorialOffices TheAtrium,SouthernGate,Chichester,WestSussex,PO198SQ,UK 9600GarsingtonRoad,Oxford,OX42DQ,UK 350MainStreet,Malden,MA02148-5020,USA Fordetailsofourglobaleditorialoffices,forcustomerservices,andforinformationabout howtoapplyforpermissiontoreusethecopyrightmaterialinthisbookpleaseseeourwebsiteat www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell. TherightofJulieSedivyandGregCarlsontobeidentifiedastheauthorsofthisworkhasbeen assertedinaccordancewiththeUKCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,or transmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recordingor otherwise,exceptaspermittedbytheUKCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,without thepriorpermissionofthepublisher. Wileyalsopublishesitsbooksinavarietyofelectronicformats.Somecontentthatappearsin printmaynotbeavailableinelectronicbooks. Designationsusedbycompaniestodistinguishtheirproductsareoftenclaimedastrademarks.All brandnamesandproductnamesusedinthisbookaretradenames,servicemarks,trademarksor registeredtrademarksoftheirrespectiveowners.Thepublisherisnotassociatedwithanyproductor vendormentionedinthisbook.Thispublicationisdesignedtoprovideaccurateandauthoritative informationinregardtothesubjectmattercovered.Itissoldontheunderstandingthatthepublisheris notengagedinrenderingprofessionalservices.Ifprofessionaladviceorotherexpertassistanceis required,theservicesofacompetentprofessionalshouldbesought. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Sedivy,Julie. Soldonlanguage:howadvertiserstalktoyouandwhatthissaysaboutyou/Julie Sedivy,GregCarlson. p.cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978-0-470-68309-5(pbk.) 1. Advertising–Language.2. Advertising. I.Carlson,GregN.,1948-II.Title. HF5821.S4462011 659.101’4–dc22 2010035847 AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. Setin10/12pt,MinionRegularbyThomsonDigital,Noida,India Printedin 1 2011 For my parents, Vera and Ladislav, who understood better than most the power of choice. —JS To sons Matthew and Geoffrey, in fondest hopes for their world. —GC Contents Aboutthe Authors ix Preface xi 1 The Power ofChoice 1 2 The Unconscious Consumer 15 3 The Attentional Arms Race 59 4 We Know What You’re Thinking 97 5 WhyAdsDon’t Say What They Mean (OrMean What They Say) 123 6 Acting Out 157 7 Divide andConquer 193 8 The Politics of Choice 245 Sources 291 Index 307 About the Authors JulieSedivywasformerlyanAssociateProfessoratBrownUniversity,andisnow an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Calgary. She has taught Linguistics and Cognitive Science for the past 15 years, and has authored and co-authoredseveraldozenarticlesonlanguageandthemind.Shecurrentlylives and writes in Calgary, and climbs nearby rocks. Greg Carlson is Professor of Linguistics, Philosophy, and Brain and Cognitive SciencesattheUniversityofRochester.Hehasauthoredorco-authoredmorethan ahundredarticlesonnaturallanguagesemanticsandpsycholinguistics.Heisthe authorofReferencetoKindsinEnglishandisco-editorofTheGenericBookwithF.J. Pelletier. Professor Carlson is a former editor of the journal Linguistics and Philosophy and is currently editor of Language, the journal of the Linguistic Societyof America. Preface Thisbookiswhathappenswhenacoupleoflanguagescientistsstarttalkingabout ads.Inourcase,theseedsforthisbookweresownmorethan15yearsago.Itwent likethis:Thefirstauthor(JulieSedivy)wasworkingonaPhDinLinguisticswith thesecondauthor(GregCarlson).Now,thethingaboutlanguageisthatonceyou startgettinganalyticalaboutit,youcan’tstop.Soresearchmeetingswouldoften trail off into discussions about language and meaning in everyday life. Since everydaylifehappenstobesaturatedbyadvertising,itbecameanaturaltargetfor all this analytical excess. Eventually, we decided we’d gathered enough material thatweshouldputittosomegooduse,sowedevelopedaclassonthetopic.Nature tookitscourse,Juliegraduatedandtookajobelsewhere,butbothofuscontinued to teach the class at our home institutions. In fact, over time, the ideas grew to preoccupyusmoreandmore,andaswecontinuedthinkingaboutthem,tookona seriousness that went far beyond their origins as interesting diversions. Asouroriginalobservationsaboutadvertisinghaverolledonthroughtheyears, they’ve picked up a great deal of material from fields that are outside of our immediateareasofresearch.They’vealsopickedupmanyinsightsandexamples fromstudentsovertime,anumberofwhomwritetousyearsaftertakingtheclass withjustonemoreexampleofanadthatremindedthemofsomethingtheylearned inthatlong-agolanguageandadvertisingcourse.Thesestudentshaveshownus thatteachingistheartofserendipity.Eachofushashadtheexperienceoffinding outthatsomethingweintendedasonlythemostcasualofremarks,orthestray example,changeswhatsomestudentthoughttothepointofchangingtheirlivesin someimportantway.Itisexperienceslikethesethatpropelledustotakethestep from the comfortable activity of teaching to the torturous activity of writing a book. You never know where that stray remark will land. A note on pronouns: Being linguists, we had lengthy discussions as to what “authorvoice”touse.Foraestheticreasons,wesettledonthefirstpersonsingular form “I,” even though two of us stand behind the pronoun. Just think of the referent as your favorite amalgamation of a short jazz-loving, rock-climbing, Canadian/American female of Czech descent and a six-foot-five Midwesterner withScandinavianrootswhooccasionallygoesdeer-huntingbuthasonlyeverhit onewithhispick-uptruck.Theresultwillnodoubtbemoreinterestingthaneither one of us. xii Preface As always, thanks are in order. First and foremost we’d like to thank and formallyapologizetothosepeoplewhoputupwithusinthefinal(trulytorturous) stagesofwritingthisbook.GratitudetoCraigChambers,KateSedivy-Haley,and IanGrahamforreadingsectionsofthisbook,sometimesatpointswhentheywere stillunreadable.AnespeciallywarmthankstowritersBradSomer,NancyHayes, ElenaAitken, andLeanneShirtliffeforhelpingusmakethestepfromacademic English into English English in the writing of this book. 1 The Power of Choice Atrilliondollarsis,astheysay,alotofmoney.Alot.Here’swhatyoudo.Youtakea house, yours will do fine, and remove all the furniture, rugs, dinnerware, everything.Onceeverythingisclearedout,packthehousefullofsand.Floorto ceiling. Make sure you open the closet and cabinet doors. Don’t forget the medicine chest. Every inch. Now, sharpen your tweezers and start counting the grains of sand, one at a time, until you have counted every grain of sand in the house. Let’s just ignore the fact it would take you maybe three or four thousandyearsat24hoursaday,moreifyouwantedtosleep,eat,havealife,etc. Done with your house? Good! Now persuade your neighbors to move all their belongings out, and pack their house with sand and count all of those grains. You’renotdoneyet.Gotothenexthouse,thenthenext,anddothesameforthree moredownthestreet.You’refinallydone—youhavenowcountedatrilliongrains ofsand,andifyoureceivedonedollarforeverygrainyoucounted,you’dbethe world’sfirst (andoldest) trillionaire. Your bank account now would hold as much money as is spent each year worldwideonadvertisingandmarketing.Actually,theamountspentisa“little” more,afewhundredbilliondollarsmore,butlet’snotsweatthedetails.Roughly 40%ofthisfigureisintheUnitedStates.Thecompaniestypicallywiththelargest advertising budgets, Procter & Gamble, Verizon Wireless, General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, etc., each spend in the ballpark of two billion annually on advertising.Twobillionisnothingtosneezeat.Ifyouhadthismoneyandinvested itunimaginatively,youcouldretireonanincomeofmaybe$100millionperyear andbuythatfleetofhelicoptersyou’vealwaysdreamedof.Cometothinkofit,if P&G didn’t advertise at all for a year, the execs there could just keep that two billion,investit,andgrabthatextra100milforthemselvestosplitwiththeirgolf buddies(andsincetheywouldn’tinvestitunimaginatively,probablyalotmore). But companies typically choose not to keep the money for themselves. That money spent is, like most other company expenditures, an investment. It’s expected to yield returns. If your company spends $10 000 on advertising your newjuicesqueezer,youexpecttogetinreturnmorethan$10000inprofitscoming Sold on Language: How Advertisers Talk to You and What This Says About You. By Julie Sedivy and Greg Carlson © 2011 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. ISBN: 978-0-470-68309-5 2 SoldonLanguage fromincreasedjuicesqueezersales.Likeinvestinginnewplantstoproducetruck transmissions,ornewmachinerytoputthetoothpasteinthetube,theexpectation is return on investment—you spend the money in order to make even more money.Andtheannualworldwideinvestmentofatrilliondollarspluschangeis expectedtoyield more than that in profits. Looked at this way, advertising is responsible for a great deal of economic prosperity. Just consider momentarily what might happen if all advertising suddenlydisappeared.Let’snotdwellontheunemployedadvertisingexecutives forcedtoretireearlytotheircondos,butlookatthepotentialbroadereffects.We knowseveralthingsforcertain.You’dhavetopayalotmoreforyoursuddenly much thinner newspapers andmagazines, and doubtless many would go out of business.You’dalsohavetopayalottowatchtelevision(thoughyou’dhavean extra 15–20 minutes per hour of actual programming to watch instead of commercials). Sales of existing products would plummet, and new products wouldbefewandfarbetween.Withfarmorethanatrilliondollarsindecreased profits, unemployment would soar, tax revenues woulddry up, and investment would lag. A worldwide depression would set in, one we would never recover from—except by reintroducing advertising. From this view, the presence of advertising is not merely a sign of prosperity—it’s a major cause of it. Raise a glass to Madison Avenue. Salvation Through Advertising Butsomepeoplegoevenfurtherthanthisinsingingthepraisesofadvertising.The greatestcheerleaderfortheadindustrymaywellhavebeennoneotherthanalong- ago president of the United States. It was the Roaring Twenties, a time of unprecedented economic growth and optimism in America. The stock market wasbooming,withnoendinsight—atleastforthetimebeing.Reigningoverthis euphoriawasPresidentCalvinCoolidgefromVermont,nicknamed“SilentCal” forhissparinguseofYankeewords.Butin1926,addressingagroupofadmenat theirannualconvention,Calwasfarfromsilent.Hegotdownrightlyricalabout the unparalleledvirtuesofthe advertising industry: Advertisingministerstothespiritualsideoftrade.Itisagreatpowerthathasbeen entrusted to your keeping which charges you with the highest responsibility of inspiringandennoblingthecommercialworld.Itisallpartofthegreaterworkof the regeneration andredemption of mankind. Thisisreligiouslanguagefullforce.Itmightappearsomewhatoutofplaceinour era.Afterall,he’stalkingabouttheverypeoplewhobroughtusRonaldMcDonald, theJollyGreenGiant,andthePillsburyDoughboy.Hardlyreligiousiconography. But Coolidgesaw in advertising’s fruits the salvation ofmankind:
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