ISSN: 2321-8819 (Online)

Asian Journal of 2348-7186 (Print)

Impact Factor: 1.498
Multidisciplinary Studies Vol.4, Issue 10, September 2016

Discourse Analysis of Billboard Advertising Slogans

1
Faiza Abid , Sumera Shan Ahmad2 and Muhammad Iqbal3
1
Applied Linguistics, Lecturer University of Management and Technology
2
Applied Linguistics, Lecturer University of Management and Technology
Abstract: This paper gives information regarding the language used in billboard ads. It examines billboard
slogans with the application of Halliday’s theory of metafunctions. 50 billboard ads from Lahore (a city of
Pakistan) were taken for analysis. These ads were randomly captured from the city and included food,
clothing, mobile network, beverages, beauty soaps, shampoos and shoes ads. Results were analyzed with the
help of SPSS software which showed that linguistic devices like alliteration, simile, personification, adverb
and rhyme have seldom been used. Euphemism has not been located in any of these ads. Metaphor,
neologism and adjective have been used more frequently. It encapsulates that advertisers usually try to
resemble their products with something already considered valuable or use adjectives to qualify them and
also invent new words to attract attention of costumers. This study can prove to be very helpful for other
researchers, advertisers and for those who want to make their language beautiful and more meaningful to
quickly hunt for the attention of others.
Key Words: Slogan, Billboard, advertisements, discourse analysis, linguistic devices

Introduction: Here some questions arise that how language of

advertisements is different from common daily use
Current paper explores how advertisers attract
language. What are the linguistic elements which
costumers towards their brands with the help of
are helpful in catering the attention of consumers.
slogans written on billboards. They use to spend a
How advertisers remain successful in their purpose
huge amount on preparing the billboard slogans
of getting maximum number of customers just with
rather than improving the quality of their products.
the help of flowery language. It means most of
Cordon, Vollmann and Hald (2005) say that the
their business before usage of their products
performance of a company is directly dependent
depends upon the language of billboard slogans. So
upon satisfaction of its customers. Companies use
to explore about these issues, current research
different billboard slogans to gain the confidence of
endeavors to probe the question: How are textual
their customers. Though they already have TV
linguistic devices used in Billboard advertising as a
commercial ads but still they need billboards and
mode of persuasion? In order to find the answer of
slogans for better marketing.
this question we took 50 billboard advertisements.
Zaidi (2015) has discussed a few differences We checked different linguistic elements in slogans
between TV commercials and billboards. For of those billboards.
example, billboards cost less than TV commercials.
Research question
Billboards attract more people because of highest
reach. Jeong, Kim and Zhao (2011) have concluded How are textual linguistic devices used in Billboard
from their research that increasing lengths and advertising as a mode of persuasion?
numbers of commercial ads have a very negative
Literature Review:
impact on those brands. On the other hand,
billboards don‘t have such impacts. Actually they Billboard advertisement is a very common
assist each other in attracting more masses but observable fact. Billboards can be seen everywhere
without billboards it seems very difficult for the in urban and rural areas. Though people are very
advertisers to get maximum number of audience. familiar with advertisements but seldom anyone
might think about their nature and the way these
Customers visit different places in search of quality
advertisements attract consumers. However a few
products but before using any product they don‘t
researchers burnt their mid night oil to analyze
know about its quality. They cannot check every
billboard adds. Van Dijk (1995) comments that
product as well. Companies are already seeking for
actually there are ideologies behind these
costumers. The basic purpose of billboards is to
discourses and communications. Discourses and
magnetize customers‘ attention and interest. That‘s
communications may include verbal and non-
why billboards are shaped in more effective ways.
verbal messages like quotations, pictures and
It‘s the language of advertisements on billboards
photographs etc. Everyone has his/ her own
which attract their attention (Balkafl, Akbulut &
ideological constraints behind his/her decisions
Kartopu, 2005).
which can be influenced by the ideological
constraints of others. Billboard advertisers try to

Available online at www.ajms.co.in 45

Discourse Analysis of Billboard Advertising Slogans
take advantage and make efforts with the help of
their discourses to affect ideologies of costumers.
Different linguists analyzed billboards to
understand how advertisers change the ideologies
of common people. Balkafl, Akbulut and Kartopu
(2005) have concluded in their research that text,
figures and design methods all are very effective in
conveying the messages that advertisers want to
convey. For example advertisers develop the
feelings of happiness, fear, humor, excitement etc.
in viewers with the help of all these tools.
Vahid (2012) has analyzed six advertisements. He
applied the methods of CDA, Kress and Leeuwen‟s
grammar of visual design and Fairclough‟s 3-D
model for the analysis of these advertisements.
Observation of socio-cultural processes and their
changes was also part of the study. Analysis
showed that ad makers use their power and
ideology to reshape consumers‘ beliefs and
behaviors.
Skorupa and Duboviciene (2015) analyzed
commercial and social ads linguistically but they
focused just on the slogans of ads not on figures
and designs. They took into consideration 110
English slogans of ads. They spotlighted the
phonological and semantic characteristics of
slogans for commercial and social advertising
campaigns. According to this study, recurrent use
of figurative language and sound techniques make
slogans memorable and attractive.
Eldaly‘s (2011) research focused on the interaction
of language, image and layout, and inspects
advertising persuasive strategies. For this purpose
he used theories of sociolinguistics, pragmatics and
psycholinguistics. The study was conducted in
Arabic context and the ads were taken from
Egyptian media for analysis. He concluded that
texts build meaning with the help of other types of
discourse, and it cannot be separated from the
culture of the advertising text.
According to Cook (1992), advertisers make
advertisements to sway people to purchase their
products. But actually this is not their one and only
purposes rather these advertisements become a
source of amusement, information and sometimes
are misleading although these can be counted as
sub-functions of advertisements.
Bilal (2012) analyzed a piece of literature i.e. the
poem ―Thank You M‘am‖. For this purpose he
used the theory proposed by Halliday which is
about exploring metafunctions of language. Aim of
this analysis was better understanding of the text of
the poem. He wanted to understand deep meanings
embedded in the text, which are not apparent. Same
Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 4(10) September, 2016
theory has been applied on billboard ads in current
research to understand how advertisers use
language to achieve communicative goals.
Current research stabs to fill the gap of previous
researches. Its focus is on billboards of Lahore as
ads are context specific because billboard
advertisers want to attract audience of that area
where billboards have been displayed. Even
billboard slogans of same brand are not same in
different contexts. Secondly, it not only analyzes
English slogans but also Urdu slogans written on
billboards. Linguistic methods for analyzing
billboards and other ads which have been used in
above discussed researches have not been applied
on data of current research and methodology of
current research is different than them as discussed
in detail below. This study may prove to be
innovative in its nature as a very few researches
have been observed on billboards in Pakistani
context.
Methodology
In order to explore the language used in billboard
advertisement a mixed approach of study was
employed. Random sampling technique was used
to select billboard ads. For this, the researchers
used Halliday (1994) theory in which he points out
that, in order to make sense of a text, "the natural
tendency is to think of a text as a thing—a product"
while "see[ing] the text in its aspect as a process"
(p.xxii). The nature of text of the systemic genre
theorists is lucidly summed up by Kress (1985:18):
Texts arise in specific social situations and they are
constructed with specific purposes by one or more
speakers or writers. Meanings find their expression
in text—though their origins of meanings are
outside the text—and are negotiated (about) in
texts, in concrete situations of social exchange.
Sampling
The study used random sampling procedure. For
this, different ads were captured on billboards like
food, clothing, mobile network, beverages, beauty
soaps, shampoos and shoes etc. The sample size
consists of 50 billboard ads randomly selected from
different areas of Lahore city.
THE ANALYSIS
The analysis has been done keeping in view the
‗Ideational‘, ‗Interpersonal‘, and ‗Textual‘
functions of language according to Halliday‘s
theory of metafunctions, in order to get more
appropriate results, researchers used statistical
analysis. The table below demonstrates that how
frequently the figurative elements are used in
advertisements.
46
Discourse Analysis of Billboard Advertising Slogans

Table 1.
Statistics
Alliteratio Simil Metapho Personificatio Neologis Euphemis Adjectiv Adver Rhym
n e r n m m e b e
Valid 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 50
N Missin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
g
Mean .04 .02 .18 .02 .34 .00 .74 .08 .14
Median .00 .00 .00 .00 .00 .00 1.00 .00 .00
Std. .198 .141 .388 .141 .479 .000 .777 .274 .351
Deviation
Variance .039 .020 .151 .020 .229 .000 .604 .075 .123
Sum 2 1 9 1 17 0 37 4 7
Textual Functions its purpose is to serve three element of clarity, forth
and beauty in the language. Figurative language
Following tables were used to locate and identify
has some particular features which makes it
different figurative tools. Alliteration, simile
different from non figurative language.
metaphor, personification, neologism, euphemism,
association and rhyme by their frequency to Alliteration
understand which elements have been used more
It is one of the most overriding sound techniques
frequently.
used in advertising. Cuddon (1999:23) explains
Interpersonal Functions alliteration as a figure of speech in which
consonants, especially at the beginning of words or
Table shows the results obtained from 50 billboard
stressed syllables, are repeated. Its vivid example in
ads on the basis of the linguistic devices like
the collected data found was ―har dil har din means
alliteration, metaphor, simile, personification,
every heart every day‖ and the second example was
neologism euphemism, adjective adverbs and
from western union ―moving money for better‖.
rhyme used for analysis. The researcher found how
Table 2 shows the results for alliteration in the
frequently they have been used to persuade masses.
collected data. Number of frequency is two out of
The text analysis is based on figure of speech
50.
known as figurative language. Tajali (2003) defines
Table 2.
Alliteration
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Never 48 96.0 96.0 96.0
Valid Once 2 4.0 4.0 100.0
Total 50 100.0 100.0

Metaphor ―inspiration or design inspiration for life‖ – Royal

Furniture
Shaws 1972) describes metaphor as a figure of
speech in a word or phrase applied to a person, idea ― health and taste both together‖----- food chain tag
or object to which it is not literally applicable. A line
metaphor is an implied analogy which
―please do not eat billboard ―---- Mc Donald‘s
imaginatively identifies one thing with another. A
offering new Mc Arabia and representing it by
metaphor is one of the topes, a device by which an
image with this tag line
author turns, or twists, the meaning of a word
(Moeinzadeh, 2006:10). Eight metaphors in the ― great friendship starts with Nescafe‖
collected data found are described as follows;
―the name of trust and relation for life‖ ----------
―khusion ki eidi ― means happiness of Eid gifts local beauty salon in Lahore
(Muslims Event ). Tag line of ice cream but
The following table shows that nine metaphors are
metaphorical use for the religious occasion of
found in the collected data.
Muslims.
―share the joy with indigo ‖ used by Mobile
Network Company Jazz Indigo
―for petal soft skin‖ used by a famous soup
company known as LUX
―bite of spice‖ used for Mc Arabia a very well
known Mc Donald‘s Franchise‘

Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 4(10) September, 2016 47

Discourse Analysis of Billboard Advertising Slogans

Table 3
Metaphor

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative

Percent
Never 41 82.0 82.0 82.0
Valid Once 9 18.0 18.0 100.0
Total 50 100.0 100.0
Simile
According to Shamisa (2004) likeness of two things in one or two attributes is simile. In addition to that Gibbs
(1994) said that simile is fundamentally a figure of speech requiring overt reference to source and target entities,
and an explicit construction connecting them. In the above table one simile is found which is in pharmacy‘s
billboard with a tag line ―we care as we serve‖. They are representing their care by their service. Table 4 below
exhibits the frequency of simile‘s occurrence in the collected data is once.

Table 4
Simile
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Never 49 98.0 98.0 98.0
Valid Once 1 2.0 2.0 100.0
Total 50 100.0 100.0

Personification
Dodwin (1990) claims that it is a figure of speech that is used to give a human form, to humanize inanimate
objects, abstract entities, phenomena, and ideas. Here Sprite (beverage) ―pyas ki waat laga‖ means sprite kicks
off the thirst and is personified kick with thirst. It has been observed that personification is used once in the
sample data and is represented in the following table with its frequency and cumulative percent.

Table 5
Personification
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Never 49 98.0 98.0 98.0
Valid Once 1 2.0 2.0 100.0
Total 50 100.0 100.0

Neologism
Oxford Dictionary of English (2003: 1179) defines neologism as ―a newly coined word or expression that may
be in the process of entering common use, but has not yet been accepted into mainstream language. Following
words have been found as examples of Neologism:
Witribe, uniworth, fri chicks, jambini, ufone, Nescafe (nestle cafe), stylo (style) dostea (friendship tea).The table
below shows that the frequency of neologism in the collected data is 17 with the cumulative percent 66.

Table 6
Neologism
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Never 33 66.0 66.0 66.0
Valid Once 17 34.0 34.0 100.0
Total 50 100.0 100.0

Euphemism
According to Pavlenko (2006) one of the most significant functions of euphemisms is ―to protect speakers from
undesired emotional arousal‖ (p.260). No words for Euphemism found in the data so the frequency of
occurrence is never.

Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 4(10) September, 2016 48

Discourse Analysis of Billboard Advertising Slogans

Table 7
Euphemism
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Valid Never 50 100.0 100.0 100.0

Adjective numbers is represented as an adjective example:

Adjectives are words that describe or modify No.1. Attributive adjectives are further categorize
another person or thing in the sentence. Merrill (i)observation adjectives Clear, soft ,range,
(1965:75) states that ―they must be used with premier imported, free inspiration, forward, active,
extreme care or subjectivity will creep in and the fresh hygienic, safe and healthy, loving, love trust,
mere use of adjective will create a favorable or beauty, safe. (ii)size and shape adjective relates to
unfavorable impression‖. Words such as Clear, soft objective qualities including physical properties
,range, premier imported, free, No.1, first, like big great mega special.(iii)Age adjective that
inspiration, fashion forward, better, special, big, denotes specific age in number as well as general
mega store, active life, fresh hygienic, new step, ages example new.(iv)Qualifier adjectives are often
safe and healthy chicken, loving , great style this part of noun they use for highlighting the nouns
summer, love , love, trust, beauty, safe. Health full hygienic and safe chicken , spicy saucy crispy
off, spicy saucy crispy have been used in the chicken. According to the statistical analysis 20
sample collected. Types of adjectives were adjectives were found in the collected data. So it
prominent for making comparisons and promoting has been observed that adjectives were used more
the products. Like Demonstrative adjectives that frequently as compared to other figurative
is used to indicate particular person or thing style elements.
this summer. Number of adjectives in which
Table 8
Adjective
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Never 22 44.0 44.0 44.0
Once 20 40.0 40.0 84.0
Valid Twice 7 14.0 14.0 98.0
Thrice 1 2.0 2.0 100.0
Total 50 100.0 100.0

Adverbs
Adverbs use to modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. It answers the questions how?
Share the Joy with indigo, fashion forward, add new flavor. The table below demonstrates the frequency of
occurrence in the collected data.

Table 9
Adverb
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Never 46 92.0 92.0 92.0
Valid Once 4 8.0 8.0 100.0
Total 50 100.0 100.0

Rhyme
According to Leech (1972) rhyme makes the slogans and headlines appear striking and easier to remember. In
addition to that the scholar Ding (2003) believes rhyme as a means of better memorization of the slogan, as it
resonates in one‗s mind. Moreover, the function of rhymes in slogans is to transmit the simple information.
Har dil har din
Pait mehfoz sehat bharpor
The name of trust and relation in the beauty world
Inspiration for design inspiration for life
Imported suiting with free stitching
Health full off, spicy saucy crispy
The table below illustrates that the rhyme were found for luring the customers in seven different ads with the
cumulative percent 86.

Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 4(10) September, 2016 49

Discourse Analysis of Billboard Advertising Slogans

Table 10

Rhyme
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Never 43 86.0 86.0 86.0
Valid Once 7 14.0 14.0 100.0
Total 50 100.0 100.0

On the basis of these results it was observed that beverages, have been selected for the
the use of alliteration does not diffuse with the current research. As data was collected
passage of time. Furthermore, metaphors were used from Lahore city only so we didn‘t have
more as compared to simile personification. much choice to take brands as variables.
Euphemism was rarely used. Adjective with their
types were high up as compared to adverbs.
Conclusion:
Neologism is playing vital role in promoting
advertisement either by coinage or by code This paper has analyzed slogans of 50 billboard ads
switching. For this the researchers used statistical collected from Lahore city by applying Halliday‘s
analysis about the frequency of its occurrence. It is theory of metafunctions. That quantitative data
appeared 7 times in the data collected. were analyzed using SPSS software. Results
indicated that linguistic devices for example
Delimitations of Study:
alliteration, simile, personification, adverb and
This study has some delimitations as well along rhyme have been used in billboard slogans but less
with its practical implications. For example; frequently which means advertisers use rhyme
scheme to make their ads more attractive and
 This study was restricted only to the
charming. They also personify their products
billboard adds. It didn‘t talk about TV
sometimes. Euphemism was not found in any of
commercial ads.
these ads. Metaphor, neologism and adjective have
 Only slogans of billboards were focused.
been used in most of the ads which indicates their
Other elements like pictures, graphics,
trend that new invented words, adjectives and
colors etc used in billboards were not
metaphors have been focused more to beautify the
taken into consideration.
language. Usage of these three elements makes
 Billboards of only Lahore city were taken
them successful in achieving their purpose of
for analysis. Results may vary if
reshaping the thoughts of costumers with the help
billboards of other cities of Pakistan or
of these incomplete sentences (billboard slogans).
billboards of other countries would be
Thus the paper has some specific implications for
analyzed.
future researchers and for those who are interested
 Brands types have not been used as
in controlling the thoughts and decisions of others
variables or to differentiate in between
not only with their actions but more with their
results because a number of brands‘
flowery language i.e. advertisers, politicians,
billboards like tea, milk, ice-cream, cloths,
administration of educational institutions (with
shoes, restaurants, commercial areas,
slogans) etc. If they use these linguistic devices
chips, toothpastes, shampoo, cooking oil,
more frequently in their language, they can be more
burgers, furniture, calling cards, bakeries,
successful.

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