Russia: What language does advertising speak?

Dmitry Shimanov, General Director of MAR Consult Research Agency

Every day we watch ads on TV, so sometimes you cannot help thinking that language has become one of the key elements of advertising. Advertising gives great impetus to development of speech, because the younger generation spends less time reading and prefers to watch TV, including ads. And it is no secret that TV ads draw more attention than just a movie or TV program. But in what direction does the language develop?

Judging by ads, it is difficult to say, in what language their texts are written. Apart from a blend of newspaper, scientific, business, common genres, ad writers use words of different languages, which looks like cultural expansion. Foreign words abound in Russian advertising so much that you might want to close your eyes. Not only is it difficult to decide, whether foreign names should be written in Russian or English, but there appeared numerous hybrid words and word combinations from Russian and English.

What do we see as we turn on TV? There it is: "All gonna be Coca-Cola". And this does not surprise us, while youngsters take it all for granted. You might say it's not a problem or maybe it's just a way to be different from others, but it is wrong. A lot of foreign words have already become part of our everyday language. They are fluently used by youngsters and finding Russian equivalents for them is not so easy as it may seem. And this is a problem! A very illustrative example of borrowed words is provided by Nokia ads: there appeared such a word as "sconnectimsya" (see you later). Or a stream of hybrids from Motorola -- moto-advertising. Once again, it might look like a temporary interest in attractive phrases, but that's how the words "Xerox" and "spam" appeared. This is why there is a process in the Russian language that should be reconsidered -- penetration of foreign words in the language through advertising, appearance of numerous neologisms.

There is one more paradox in the language of advertising, which contradicts language development laws. There is a tendency to revive numerous language phenomena of imperial Russia, such as visual elements including letters of the old alphabet, imperial symbols and Russian and ancient Slavonic imagery. Through mass media these language means become widely used in mass communication, professional and everyday speech. For instance, entire names written in modern words -- "Yat" vodka. Or the letter "?", which has often been added to the names of many companies lately. The "Kommersant" newspaper, which uses this letter in its Russian name, could be mentioned as the most illustrative example. There should be introduced certain criteria for estimation of advertising texts: they have to tune in to the spirit of the time, reflect actual trends of the Russian mentality.

Besides, morality problem has manifested itself lately. Some words spelt in Russian are perceived as foul language: "snickersni!".

We think, in Russia the influence of advertising language on people's everyday speech has become a linguacultural conflict, which in many countries is covered by national language legislation. For instance, French laws are very strict to borrowed words. It is not allowed to be used in trading and advertising texts and minimized in newspapers and magazines. In accordance with Estonian laws, any foreign words may be used in advertising only if they are registered as a trademark with the patent authorities. For example, organizers of the Grillfest cooking festival had to remove the words "food, fun & fire" from the advertising, while the name itself was admitted as a trademark.

This problem will be solved, if the natural riches of the Russian language are used. Advertising texts should meet certain marketing demands and not contradict cultural and verbal criteria, including language norms. Advertising text is an element of information environment, which should deliver as much concrete information and as little "noise" as possible and be smoothly integrated into a complex cultural and historical form.

In conclusion, we think that "advertising" language should meet the following criteria: minimum text should convey maximum memorable and convincing information. However, we should not ignore ethic, grammatical and other norms and rules as well as attractive phonetic form which is very important for perception of advertising information. The language, used in advertising, is an important element of the company's image and thus should be regarded as a vital semantic component. In order to create such a text, ad writers have to master the language in all its forms. By using various language means they can make advertising produce the necessary impression on potential consumers.

Yet, if we do not consider these minimum demands to ad language, in the nearest future our language may cease to be a depository of Russian cultural traditions, but become a mixture of all kinds of foreign words and slang expressions. In other words, it will no longer be "great and mighty".

Contributing Company:
MAR Consult Research Agency. Moscow, Russia.
Contact: Dmitry Shimanov. info@marconsult.ru +7 (495) 660-82-20.

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