Group Research Project Proposal

How do the differences between TV and Radio affect the linguistic content of advertisements?

                We have decided to investigate the differences between advertisements presented on television and radio. This area of investigation was chosen after we each discussed the ways in which language is used for persuasion in advertisements in general, and then realised the potential for different persuasive devices to be employed in TV and radio adverts.

  Of course, the lack of a visual accompaniment to radio broadcasts is a clear difference between the two media concerned, but we aim to explore beyond the descriptive differences at face value, and find out if radio advertisements are, in general, more ‘forceful’ and manipulative or not in their linguistic tactics employed to try to sell the products concerned.  Due to the requirement of an advertisement to hold the attention of listeners, especially those who may be listening in a vehicle, the ways in which an advertisement may address the audience, the descriptive content, intonation and the syntax of the vocal narration may be expected to be utilised in a different way to equivalent TV advertisements. This is why we intend to analyse these linguistic elements in transcribed examples recorded from TV and radio - especially any advertisements from the same company selling the same product across the two media.  We realise that the advertisements we choose to source our data from will have to be chosen carefully, with consideration for time of day and different potential target demographics, so we do not falsely attribute any conclusions to the difference between TV and radio, which belong to a more general contextual factor.

Another point of interest for the group was the question of whether it is TV or radio adverts that are more persuasive and memorable in general.  Given television’s potential to convey idealised imagery and visual aids, one may assume this medium carries the most significant advantage. However, it was raised in discussion that radio adverts may simulate a sensation of being talked to directly by one person, in a less fabricated environment due to the lack of any visual accompaniment  - perhaps leading an audience to place more trust in the advertisement. It is for this reason that we plan to produce a small questionnaire asking for any opinions from people about their impressions, memories and thoughts about both TV and radio advertisements. If respondents claim to be more moved or have stronger memories of radio adverts, or are generally willing to tolerate, accept or be persuaded by them, this could suggest that a lack of imagery could be beneficial, not detrimental. It would be interesting to find such a result, considering adverts are presented by 'strangers' who, using appropriate persuasive devices, may sometimes convince us to buy things after simulating a degree of 'friendship' or kinship between narrator and audience. 

                Overall, by analysing transcripts of advertisements from both television and radio, we aim to show whether or not radio examples are more manipulative in their language use than television examples, and by analysing questionnaire data, which of the two media has the overall advantage, if any, when it comes to conveying a memorable and persuasive advertisement. Existing literature written by Guy Cook ('The Discourse of Advertising') and Michael L Geis ('The Language of Television Advertising') may prove useful to us as supplementary evidence, corroboration or refutation of our findings.