What is advertising?

The generally used abbreviation for advertisements is Ad. According to businessdictionary.com

advertising is something that is paid, it is supposed to be non-personal, it is public
communication about goods, services, ideas, organizations, people, places, causes, through
means of communication such as direct mail, telephone, print, radio, TV, and internet.
Advertisements are public notices that inform and motivate perspective customers; they are an
integral part of marketing. Their aim is to persuade customers to take the action that is intended
by the advertiser (What Is Advertisement (ad)).
Vestergaard and Schroder divided advertisements into two main categories commercial and
non-commercial. Non-commercials are those that communicate ideas of government agencies
towards citizens, also political campaigns or any communication regarding charity. Commercial
advertising are companies communication towards perspective customers in order to make them
buy some product or service but also to create awareness about company name, brand and image
(1)
Types of advertising
There are different approaches to the classification of advertisements. For instance, Lars
Hermern mentioned three criteria: the first one is according to the geographical area local,
national, international or global. Another criterion is related to the medium that carries the
advertisement - print or electronic. The last division is whether the purpose is to make profit as a
result of the advertising, therefore commercial or non-commercial (14).
Commercial advertisements are further divided into consumer advertising intended for mass
audience, and trade advertising that serves for communication between retailers and
manufacturer. Trade advertising differs in communication from the consumer advertising, but
also from below mentioned prestige advertising. In trade advertising the parties are equal and
have some degree of understanding of advertised product or service, they also have special
interest about product or service that is advertised. Corporate advertising should get peoples
awareness about the company or organization not primarily about their products or services they
offer. Vestergaard and Schroder call this prestige or goodwill advertising; firms are more focused
once quoted The truth isnt the truth until people believe you, and they cant believe you if they
dont know what youre saying, and they cant know what youre saying if they dont listen to

you, and they wont listen to you if youre not interesting unless you things imaginatively,
originally, freshly.
Nearly, every advertisement includes words and text is always a dominant element. Language
has a great influence over people and their behavior. The choice of language to convey specific
message in order to influence people is vitally important in marketing, advertising and slogans.
Therefore, when using words in advertising, first question should be how to achieve through
these words the greatest impact upon your audience. How much impact these words can make, if
spoken or/and written?
Every word has two aspects of meaning - connotative and denotative. Denotative is the meaning
that can be found in encyclopedic dictionaries. For instance, word book according to
Macmillan dictionary is a set of printed pages fastened together inside cover (Book). However,
more important for advertising is the connotative meaning, which is the meaning that each
individual has in mind in response to hearing or reading the word. In the previous example with
the book, people may imagine a book written by Hemingway or a book covered in leather with
nice painting in it or it can be a book that was read by their mother when they were children.
Therefore, connotative meaning of a word conveys an emotional content. In other words, the
audience can respond emotionally rather than intellectually and this is very important for
advertising language. It is very difficult to argue with emotions, therefore, if the advertisement
makes the audience agree on emotional level, the logic is usually suppressed.
Good example for emotional responses and peoples behavior are abstract words, broadly used in
advertising, e.g. Im lovin it (McDonalds). Abstract words mean what the individuals feel they
mean. They cannot point to a concrete example. Thus it can mean different things to different
people (Taflinger).
Either using abstract or concrete word it is always about connotative meaning of these words.
Advertisement basically wants that people get the connotative meaning about the product they
promote.