Is it important to adapt advertising for different cultures? What differences in advertising have you noticed when travelling abroad?

Exercise 11 Write an advert for this running shoe, based on this information sheet. Try using the approach suggested underneath.

Information sheet

1. Target market Who do you want to sell these running shoes to? Think of at least five things about the kind of person who will buy them.

(e.g. Age? Sex? Income? Social class? Interests?)

2. Image Now decide what kind of image you want to give to the shoes. Choose two adjectives to describe it and then think of a picture and a headline which will communicate this image immediately.

3. Create a need Think of the needs that this shoe will meet. Begin the advert with questions like:

Have you ever wanted ...? Are you looking for ...? Have you ever tried ...?

4. Features and benefits Here are five benefits of these running shoes. Match the benefits to the features listed in the information sheet.

Your feet stay dry in wet weather. Your feet won’t smell.

You will look very fashionable. They are very comfortable.

You won’t injure your ankles.

Now write a few sentences about the features and benefits of these shoes. You could use linking phrases like these:

FEATURE means that... - BENEFIT

FEATURE makes sure that ... - BENEFIT

FEATURE helps you to... - BENEFIT

5. The call to action End your advert by asking the reader to take some action. Here are a few ideas:

For more information, write to this address...

Visit your local sports shop today.

Buy them now, before it’s too late.

Exercise 12 a) In small groups, say which of the media in the box you would use to advertise the products and services below. You can only choose one medium for each product. Give reasons for your choices.

Model: If I wanted to advertise an expensive ring, I’d put it on the Internet.

TV commercials ▪ radio spots ▪ newspapers ▪ magazines ▪ billboards

the Internet ▪ leaflets ▪ sides of buses / taxis ▪ telephone calls

An expensive ring, a new range of computers, raising money for a charity, a lost wallet, an unwanted new mobile phone, financial advice, a request for information about a crime, a household item, e.g. a carpet, a valuable antique chair.

b) Choose one of the products / services from above and write a brief description of how you would advertise it. Include a slogan if necessary.

Exercise 13 Read the text. Is it worth believing advertisements or not? Do you agree that advertisements have such an impact on people? Think and present your own examples of how advertising influence people and you personally.

Effects of Advertising

Advertising can have adverse effects on the minds of the people who see it. In an advertisement the company tries to promote only the advantages of its product and of course, none of the disadvantages.

For example, many years ago, cigarette manufacturers used advertising to show how cigarettes were highly fashionable and desirable. This led to many people taking up smoking. Nowadays, we can see the results of those advertisements in the many people who have smoking-related diseases.

Children and adolescents are especially vulnerable to the messages that are put forward in advertisements. Fashion advertising is a good example, how many times have you seen images of anorexic-like catwalk models in magazines or billboards? These images have influenced some adolescent girls to the point of putting their lives in danger through anorexia.

Teenagers like to impress their peers, and sometimes display this through the very latest pair of trainers they have seen advertised in a magazine or on television. Teenagers will pester their parents to the point where mum or dad will part with a small fortune for such items. Advertisers call this ‘pester power’ and use it quite deliberately.

A popular advertising strategy is to make the consumer insecure and create fear, which can be overcome by purchasing the product. Examples of this are adverts for bleaching and cleaning products used by new mums. The adverts show how the mum is protecting her baby from germs by using the bleach to clean surfaces. The surfaces become so clean, that the baby can eat off them.

This kind of advert suggests that if the mother cares for her baby, she should clean using that product, and if she doesn’t, terrible germs will attack her child, and subsequently the child will die a horrible death.