A CRITICAL STUDY ON THE LANGUAGE OF NEWSPAPER ADVERTISEMENT

A CRITICAL STUDY ON THE LANGUAGE OF NEWSPAPER ADVERTISEMENT

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION
Advertising has been defined as a powerful communication force and a vital marketing tool helping to sell goods and services, images and ideas. Advertising may also be seen as “a group of activities aiming at and including dissemination of information in any paid product or service to compel actions in accordance with the intent of an identifiable sponsor.
In Africa, town crying and hawking were the earliest forms of advertising. These have survived in many Nigerian villages till date. With respect to media advertising, which is the focus of this paper.
The print media came into Nigeria in 1859 with the appearance of a Yoruba language newspaper “Iwe Iroyin” published by Reverend Henry Townsend at Abeokuta. The publication carried an advert in form of an announcement for the Anglican Church.
It is noteworthy that the earliest forms of newspaper advertising were crude and unsophisticated. But they not only help the local merchants to sell of his goods, or services, but also set a pace for the modern methods of advertising, which have over a long period of time undergone tremendous changes such that today, a lot can be written on the language of advertising in Nigeria.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
It is clear that the copywriter is restrained to the use of language in advertisement, and the owner of the advert has a primary motive of making profit out of the adverts. It is obvious that in good adverts language matters in this context; therefore, purpose of this study will be to critically analyze the most suitable language for newspaper advertisement.

RESEARCH QUESTION
The following will help guide the research study in achieving its objectives:

1. What makes you stop and look at the adverts?
2. What kind of adverts do you place on newspapers?
3. What kind of caption should be given to adverts?
4. What kind of message should be driven out through advertisement?
5. Should adverts be short or lengthy?

Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study will be to examine the following:

1. To know how to construct adverts to attract readers or viewers.
2. To be able to distinguish the terminology to use in different adverts.
3. To be able to determine the right choice of language used in newspaper advertisement.
4. Understand the need for long or short newspaper adverts.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This study will be able to unveil some of those hidden facts about the use and choice of languages used in newspaper advertisements, and also bring about a more refined advert outputs.
This research study will highly relevant to the readers, and especially to the world of journalism in the way and manner in which adverts are to be constructed and be placed on newspapers for public consumption.

Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to examine the following:

• To know how to construct adverts to attract readers or viewers.
• To be able to distinguish the terminology to use in different adverts.
• To be able to determine the right choice of language used in newspaper advertisement.
• Understand the need for long or short newspaper adverts.

A CRITICAL STUDY ON THE LANGUAGE OF NEWSPAPER ADVERTISEMENT