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Summary - Foreign Languages in Advertising - LET-CIWB268-IBC
- Instelling
- Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen (RU)
Summary of the book for the course Foreign Languages in Advertising
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ContentsChapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 2
Chapter 2: Theoretical Perspectives........................................................................................................ 4
Chapter 3: Foreign Language Display .................................................................................................... 10
Chapter 4: English as a Global Language ............................................................................................... 18
Chapter 5: Ethnic Language................................................................................................................... 23
Chapter 6: Extensions and Complexities ............................................................................................... 28
Chapter 7: Conclusion and Implications ................................................................................................ 35
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,Chapter 1: Introduction
An Austrian sunglasses brand Silhouette used a French text despite the add being placed in a Dutch-
language beauty magazine. This strategy raises questions about the effectiveness and rationale of
using foreign languages in advertising. What role does foreign language comprehension play in
advertising? How do consumers evaluate foreign languages in advertisements? Why do brands use a
foreign language to communicate with their consumers? The book addresses these and other
questions about how and why brands use foreign languages in advertising, and about how and why
they can be effective in persuading consumers. To do this, insights from marketing and advertising
with theories, models, and empirical results from sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and
communication studies will be used
1.1 Academic Interest in Foreign Languages in Advertising`
This part provides a historical overview of academic interest in foreign languages in advertising.
Initially, early 20th-century research, such as that by Pound and Wustmann, focused on cataloging
foreign loanwords and analyzing their usage. Over time, the focus shifted from merely documenting
words to examining their role and impact in advertising discourse. Studies by Fink in the 1970s began
investigating how audiences perceived and evaluated foreign phrases, while Haarmann’s work in the
1980s explored how foreign languages evoke ethnocultural stereotypes and product associations,
such as French for luxury goods like perfume.
From the 1980s onward, academic interest expanded into multiple disciplines, such as marketing,
consumer research, and advertising. Researchers examined six key areas:
1. The frequency of foreign language use
2. Effects on audiences
3. Advertising standardization. Standardization means that advertising execution strategies
intended for one national audience are also used for a different national audience.
Westernization: Western advertising execution strategies (e.g. Caucasian models and the
English language) are applied in advertising in non-Western countries.
4. Connections with products and cultures, e.g. Germany with engineering quality
5. Foreign branding (e.g. French brand names lead to better evaluations when they promote
hedonistic products (e.g. nail polish) rather than utilitarian products (e.g. petrol))
6. Language choice for specific groups, like Spanish speakers in the US
This expansion demonstrated a broadening of topics and methodologies, reflecting a
multidisciplinary approach that encompassed both linguistic and marketing perspectives.
Despite the overlap between some areas, the research field became increasingly diversified in focus
and methods. However, a lack of integration between linguistic and marketing insights persists,
limiting the progress of research. This book aims to bridge this gap by integrating knowledge from
both humanities (linguistics) and social sciences (marketing and advertising), offering a
comprehensive framework to study foreign languages in advertising from a marketing viewpoint.
1.2 Starting Point: Consumer Culture Positioning
There are two significant studies in advertising and the role of language. The first study by Snyder et
al. (1991) explores the evolving national and international nature of advertisements in Western
Europe from 1953 to 1989. They analyzed 1,500 ads from France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and
West Germany, categorizing them based on the use of languages and cultural symbols into five
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,groups: local/domestic (only language of the country), foreign European (one other European
language than the one spoken), foreign non-European (one non-European language), pan-European
(at least two foreign European languages or one foreign European language and a non-linguistic cue
referring to another European country), and culturally neutral (no reference to European or non-
European countries). The findings suggest that language, along with other cultural markers, helps
convey the national or foreign character of an ad.
The second study is from Alden et al. (1999), which introduces three brand positioning strategies
related to globalization: Local Consumer Culture Positioning (LCCP), Foreign Consumer Culture
Positioning (FCCP), and Global Consumer Culture Positioning (GCCP). Each strategy uses language,
aesthetic style, and story theme to connect with the target audience. LCCP emphasizes the use of
local language and cultural markers, FCCP associates the brand with a specific foreign culture, and
GCCP employs global symbols, notably the English language, as a marker of international appeal.
Alden et al. (1999) analyzed over 1,200 commercials and found that LCCP dominated (70%), followed
by GCCP (25%) and FCCP (5%).
Alden et al.’s framework comprehensively captures the roles of language in consumer culture
positioning, extending beyond localness and foreignness to include globalness. The three strategies
provide a meaningful basis for understanding how languages contribute to brand identity in ads. This
aligns with other researchers like Kelly-Holmes (2005, 2014), who discusses foreign language
displays, English usage, and regional accents.
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, Chapter 2: Theoretical Perspectives
Chapter 1 establishes the academic interest in foreign languages in advertising, highlighting the
variety of topics studied since the late 19th century. It emphasizes the need to understand key
concepts, theories, and models from various disciplines like psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, social
psychology, and advertising to grasp how foreign languages function in ads. Researchers such as Luna
and Peracchio (2001, 2005) and others like Alcántara-Pilar et al. (2015) and Hornikx and van Meurs
(2015) have provided foundational theories.
Chapter 2 explores these insights further by presenting theories, models, and concepts. It discusses
different ways languages can be combined, theories on language processing in the mind, and socio-
communicative concepts like language attitudes. Each theory is explained in its original context and
then linked to the study of foreign languages in advertising.
2.1 Defining Advertising and Foreign Languages
2.1.1 Advertising
There are various forms of advertising, from traditional magazine ads to digital ads like Facebook and
online banners. Advertising is defined as any paid, non-personal communication by an identified
entity. The goal is to boost sales, but theories suggest that achieving this involves a hierarchy of
effects, where consumers must first become aware of and develop a positive attitude towards the
brand or product (Rossiter & Percy, 2017). Numerous theories have been developed to understand
how advertising impacts consumer attention, recall, attitudes, and purchase intentions.
Most advertising studies, including those examining foreign languages, rely on experimental
methods. These experiments compare different versions of ads, focusing on how a specific variable
(like language) affects consumer reactions. Researchers aim for high internal validity by controlling
other ad elements, which helps attribute differences in consumer response to the chosen variable.
However, these experimental ads often differ from real-world ads in their simplicity or heightened
focus on the variable. For results to be applicable, it’s crucial that the experimental material remains
ecologically valid, closely resembling actual advertisements (Geuens & De Pelsmacker, 2017).
2.1.2 Foreign Languages
In experiments on foreign languages in advertising, researchers often compare a foreign language
(L2) to participants’ native language (L1). The terms L1 and L2 are widely used in applied linguistics,
with L1 referring to a person's mother tongue and L2 to any non-native language. For bilinguals, L1
refers to their dominant language. In this book, L2 and foreign language are used interchangeably to
refer to any language other than the consumer’s native language.
The classification of a language as foreign depends on the audience. For example, Spanish in an olive
oil ad would be foreign to non-Spanish-speaking Germans, but not to Spanish-speaking audiences in
Spain or Guatemala. Experiments often define languages as foreign based on either the official
language of the participants' country or through self-reported language proficiency. For instance, in a
study with Dutch participants, languages like English or Spanish are considered foreign because they
are not official languages in the Netherlands. Some studies further evaluate participants' proficiency
through self-reports or tests.
The book adopts a broad definition of foreign languages, including those that vary in their
foreignness depending on how identifiable and comprehensible they are to the audience. These
range from, unidentifiable and incomprehensible (e.g. Swahili in advertising in Italy), identifiable but
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