Advertising and Text Cohesion

1. Text Cohesion

Textual cohesion is the property that, after several mechanisms of relationship, forms the plot and reveals the syntactic relations between the various phrases in the text.

The Mechanisms of Cohesion

Textual cohesion is achieved by applying, at the time of writing, several relationships, including the following:

  • The Lexical Relationship: This resource establishes a semantic link between two or more lexical items.
    • Repetition of a word or expression
    • Use of a synonym or an antonym to refer to the same reality
    • Heading of a segment of text in a word or phrase
    • Use of a hyponym (more specific name) or a hypernym (more general name)
    • Association of words that belong to the same field of experience
  • Anaphora: This resource establishes an identity relationship between an item and its grammatical antecedent.
    • Substitution of a pronominal element of variable extension present in the immediate linguistic context
    • Use of ellipsis (deletion of an item that can be interpreted by the context)
  • Connection: Use of elements to organize and relate the different parts of the text.
    • Using elements of organizational discourse
    • Use of discourse markers to indicate the viewpoint of the speaker or guide the reader in understanding the text
    • Use of connectors that link the ideas of discourse (contrast, therefore, addition, etc.)

The Connecting Elements

Connecting elements are words or phrases that relate large parts of the text: paragraphs, sets of clauses, or sentences. According to their function, they are classified into three groups: global organizers (help mark the text’s structure), discourse markers (indicate the position of the transmitter or receiver to help interpret the text), and connectors (relate the statements).

  • Global Organizers (initiators and concluding, enumerators and distributors; continuatives and additives; temporal)
  • Discourse Markers (indicators of viewpoint or degree of certainty; thematic introducers; introducers of examples; introducers of clarifications)
  • Connectors (additive; contrastive; causal; temporal; spatial)

2. Copywriting

Advertising is the technique used by the media to distribute messages intended to persuade recipients to act or think in a certain way. To achieve this, the spread of an advertising campaign is used. It is not intended only to report the advantages of the product but to convince the recipient to adopt the suggested behavior. The text is often, therefore, a kind of persuasive text.

Based on the content of the advertising, we can distinguish two basic classes of advertising:

  • Commercial Advertising
  • Institutional Advertising

The aim of advertising is the announcement, and it may be graphic, audio, or video. The graphic announcement combines image and text; the sound announcement combines music, special effects, and text; and the audiovisual announcement combines image, staging, music, special effects, and text.

Elaboration of an advertising campaign is a long and complex process. In the first meeting, the company’s management informs the advertising agency about the characteristics of the product to be advertised, the products with which it must compete in the market, the target audience of the campaign, the scheduled commercial strategies, and the budget. From this information, advertising agents brainstorm ideas and text that are captured in sketches on paper. From all the proposals, they must choose the one with the most persuasive power.

2.1 The Graphic Announcement

When we analyze a graphic announcement, we find five elements: title (phrase that usually expresses the theme of the announcement), image (figurative part of the announcement: photo, drawing, etc.), text (product information through a small explanatory, argumentative, or instructional text), slogan (sentence that ends the message and aims to set the announcement in the receiver’s memory), and logo (symbol of the brand or firm).

Image

The image is crucial. Advertising agents, who want to create the image of an ad using a variety of resources, take into account the product, the recipients of the campaign, and the agreements with the company’s management. They choose which elements should be more favorable to get the public’s attention and boost the persuasive strength of the announcement.

Title

We want now to look at those that do have them. When putting a title on an ad, advertising agents make use of various resources, which are grouped into two blocks:

  1. Statements of meaning, typically related to the product, brand, or consumer
  2. Figurative statements: metaphor, synesthesia, metonymy, etc.

Text

While the text of the ads may have very different characteristics, we focus on only three types, which are usually the most common: the explanatory text, the argumentative text, and the instructive text.

Slogan

The slogan is the most important phrase of an announcement: the motto of the campaign, the expression that must be recorded in the receiver’s memory and that becomes a symbol of the product or brand. The expression should be concise, with lively and direct language.