Language and advertising – communication

Kyle Rawlins, JHU CogSci

28th January, 2019

1 / 31
Advertising and mass communication

What is the cognitive science of mass communication?

• How do acts of mass communication convey information,

manipulate, etc?
• Humans are wired for communication – how does this wiring
interact with mass communication?

2 / 31
Advertising and mass communication

What is the cognitive science of mass communication?

• How do acts of mass communication convey information,

manipulate, etc?
• Humans are wired for communication – how does this wiring
interact with mass communication?
• Particular focus: advertising, broadly construed.
• We will consider both commercial advertising and political
advertising.
• Particular focus: deception in mass communication.

2 / 31
Commercial communication: a car ad (genre: magazine)

3 / 31
Political communication: news headlines
Case study: headlines about Spicer press conference, Jan 21 2017.
(1) a. ‘You are wrong’: Trump & spokesperson blast media over
inaugural attendance figures (RT)
b. Spicer accuses media of ‘false reporting’ in fiery briefing
(Fox)
c. Trump aides, media spar over inauguration crowd size
(Newsday)
d. Trump spokesman: Inauguration had ‘largest audience in
history’ (Chicago Sun Times)
e. Trump Press Secretary berates media, makes dubious boasts
about inauguration crowd size (Business Insider)
f. FACT CHECK: Trump overstates crowd size at inaugural
(AP)
g. With False Claims, Trump Attacks Media on Turnout and
Intelligence Rift (NYT)
h. In 48 Hours, Donald Trump and His Team Have Already
Lied to the Public 3 Times (Teen Vogue)
4 / 31
What is communication? Some key questions:

• What is communication?
• What happens in communication?
• What are the components?

• How does advertising involve communication?

5 / 31
Nonlinguistic communication

6 / 31
Nonlinguistic communication

7 / 31
Linguistic communication

(2) A: How are you getting to the party?

B: I might borrow my friend’s car.

8 / 31
Linguistic communication

(2) A: How are you getting to the party?

B: I might borrow my friend’s car.

(3) A: Could you open the window?

B: Okay. [opens the window.]

8 / 31
Components of communication

• 1 or more people: an interpreter, and possibly others.

9 / 31
Components of communication

• 1 or more people: an interpreter, and possibly others.

• Representational structure:
• Nonlinguistic: sign, symbol.
• Sign (semiotics, Saussure):
• a signifier of some kind with a formal / arbitrary relationship
to some signified element.

9 / 31
Components of communication

• 1 or more people: an interpreter, and possibly others.

• Representational structure:
• Nonlinguistic: sign, symbol.
• Sign (semiotics, Saussure):
• a signifier of some kind with a formal / arbitrary relationship
to some signified element.
• Linguistic structure: utterance, words, syntax, morphemes,
phonemes, etc.

9 / 31
Components of communication

• 1 or more people: an interpreter, and possibly others.

• Representational structure:
• Nonlinguistic: sign, symbol.
• Sign (semiotics, Saussure):
• a signifier of some kind with a formal / arbitrary relationship
to some signified element.
• Linguistic structure: utterance, words, syntax, morphemes,
phonemes, etc.
• Linguistics: Context of communication.
• Setting: time, place.
• Discourse participants: speaker /author, hearer / addressee.

9 / 31
Components of communication

• 1 or more people: an interpreter, and possibly others.

• Representational structure:
• Nonlinguistic: sign, symbol.
• Sign (semiotics, Saussure):
• a signifier of some kind with a formal / arbitrary relationship
to some signified element.
• Linguistic structure: utterance, words, syntax, morphemes,
phonemes, etc.
• Linguistics: Context of communication.
• Setting: time, place.
• Discourse participants: speaker /author, hearer / addressee.
• Background assumptions of participants.
• Goals/intentions of participants.
• Sources of information.
• History of discourse/communication.

9 / 31
Speech acts

Searle: speech acts

Speaking involves performing a rule-governed “act” with language
as the medium.

10 / 31
Speech acts

Searle: speech acts

Speaking involves performing a rule-governed “act” with language
as the medium.
• Utterances serve 3 core linguistic functions (3 core kinds of
acts):
• Assert. (Make a claim, convey information about the world.)
• Question. (Request information.)
• Command. (Request or compel action.)

• All such acts are forms of goal-directed communicative

behavior.

10 / 31
Conveying information

• Assertions convey information in virtue of having a “meaning”.

• What is meaning?

11 / 31
Conveying information

• Assertions convey information in virtue of having a “meaning”.

• What is meaning?
• Meaning of an assertion:
• Conditions under which content of assertion is true.
(Truth-conditions.)
• Truth-conditions partly determined by linguistic form, partly
determined by context.

11 / 31
Conveying information

• Assertions convey information in virtue of having a “meaning”.

• What is meaning?
• Meaning of an assertion:
• Conditions under which content of assertion is true.
(Truth-conditions.)
• Truth-conditions partly determined by linguistic form, partly
determined by context.

(4) The classroom is full.

11 / 31
Conveying information

• Assertions convey information in virtue of having a “meaning”.

• What is meaning?
• Meaning of an assertion:
• Conditions under which content of assertion is true.
(Truth-conditions.)
• Truth-conditions partly determined by linguistic form, partly
determined by context.

(4) The classroom is full.

(5) It is raining.

11 / 31
Conveying information

• Assertions convey information in virtue of having a “meaning”.

• What is meaning?
• Meaning of an assertion:
• Conditions under which content of assertion is true.
(Truth-conditions.)
• Truth-conditions partly determined by linguistic form, partly
determined by context.

(4) The classroom is full.

(5) It is raining.
(6) There is a pink elephant on the roof.

11 / 31
Communication in advertising

• Advertisement as a communicative act.

• Form: complex, including linguistic & non-linguistic elements.
• Context? somewhat like a recorded message from an
individual.

12 / 31
Communication in advertising

• Advertisement as a communicative act.

• Form: complex, including linguistic & non-linguistic elements.
• Context? somewhat like a recorded message from an
individual.
• Setting: time & place of viewing.
• Participants: viewer, and (nebulous) creator of ad (company
being advertised?)

12 / 31
Communication in advertising

• Advertisement as a communicative act.

• Form: complex, including linguistic & non-linguistic elements.
• Context? somewhat like a recorded message from an
individual.
• Setting: time & place of viewing.
• Participants: viewer, and (nebulous) creator of ad (company
being advertised?)
• Background assumptions?
• Sources of information? Goals of discourse participants?

12 / 31
Example: a car ad (genre: magazine)

13 / 31
Example: a beer ad (genre: magazine)

14 / 31
Communication in advertising

• Advertisement as a communicative act.

• Communication may not be voluntary / at the level of
conscious control.
New question: What is the communicative effect of an ad in
context?

15 / 31
16 / 31
17 / 31
18 / 31
19 / 31
20 / 31
21 / 31
Communication in advertising

Nelson 1974 (‘Advertising as Information’, Journal of Political Econ-

omy)
Primary function of advertising is to provide consumers with a source
of information.
• One key insight: information extracted by viewer is not
necessarily the advertiser’s message.
• (What is advertiser’s message?)

22 / 31
Communication in advertising

Nelson 1974 (‘Advertising as Information’, Journal of Political Econ-

omy)
Primary function of advertising is to provide consumers with a source
of information.
• One key insight: information extracted by viewer is not
necessarily the advertiser’s message.
• (What is advertiser’s message?)
• What types of information? Some candidates:
• Search qualities: “qualities of a brand that the consumer can
determine by inspection prior to purchase of the brand”
• Experience qualities: “qualities that are not determined prior
to purchase”

22 / 31
Communication in advertising: what do marketers want to
convey?

• Search qualities
• Determine initial purchases (choices among competing brands).
• Easy to convey in ads.
• Viewers tend not to be skeptical.

23 / 31
Communication in advertising: what do marketers want to
convey?

• Search qualities
• Determine initial purchases (choices among competing brands).
• Easy to convey in ads.
• Viewers tend not to be skeptical.
• Experience qualities
• Determine repeat purchases.
• More difficult to convey directly in ads.
• Tendancy towards consumer skepticism.

23 / 31
Communication in advertising: what do marketers want to
convey?

“Search/experience” qualities are a bit old-fashioned...do they

convey the whole picture?
• Cross-cutting I: Credence qualities.
• Attributes that viewers are not in a position to evaluate (e.g.
lack of technical knowledge).

24 / 31
Communication in advertising: what do marketers want to
convey?

“Search/experience” qualities are a bit old-fashioned...do they

convey the whole picture?
• Cross-cutting I: Credence qualities.
• Attributes that viewers are not in a position to evaluate (e.g.
lack of technical knowledge).
• Cross-cutting II: while I will call persuasive content...
• Other effects or goals: e.g. develop / maintain brand and
product memory, ...

24 / 31
Example: iphone 6 ad (genre: billboard)

http://www.dailybillboardblog.com/2014/10/apple-iphone-6-
launch-billboards.html

25 / 31
Example: iphone 7 ad (genre: video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La4HRfL5tV4
• No voiceover. Text at 0:54: “stereo speakers on iPhone 7”,
“practically magic”
• What is conveyed?

26 / 31
Example: iphone ad (genre: video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l96MQKwwHOE
• No voiceover. Text around 0:20: “Welcome to the big
screens.” 0:25: iphone xs, iphone xs max.
• What is conveyed by this ad? Search qualities? Experience
qualities?

27 / 31
Example: a classic ad (genre: video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtvjbmoDx-I

28 / 31
Example: google (genre: internet, 2015)

29 / 31
Example: google (genre: internet, 2019)

30 / 31
Example: express (genre: email)

31 / 31