business slogans in english and vietnamese = khẩu hiệu kinh doanh trong tiếng anh và tiếng việt

3
TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale …………………………………………………………………
1
2. Aims and Objectives of the Study………………………………………….
1
3. Scope of the Study………………………………………………………….
2
4. Method of the Study………………………………………………………
2
5. Design of the Study…………………………………………………………
2


PART II: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: Theoretical Background

1. Business Slogans – Another Term of Advertising Slogans………………
4
2. A Review of Previous Studies ……………………………………………
4
3. Advertising as a Form of Communication………………………………….
6
3.1. Communication…………………………………………………………
6

3.2. The Definition of Advertising…………………………………………….
7
3.3. Advertising Functions…………………………………………………….
8
3.4. Types of Advertising……………………………………………………
9
3.5. Structure of an Advertisement……………………………………………
10
4. Advertising Slogan as Part of an Advertisement…………………………
10
4.1. Definition of Slogan………………………………………………………
10
4.2. Characteristics of a Good Advertising Slogan……………………………
12


Chapter 2: An Investigation into Certain Linguistic Features of some
English and Vietnamese Advertising Slogans

1. Procedures…………………………………………………………………
14
1.1. Data Collection…………………………………………………
14
1.2. Data Analysis……………………………………………………………
15
2. The Analysis………………………………………………………………
15
2.1. Graphetic Features………………………………………………………
15
2.2. Phonological Features…………………………………………………….

16


4
2.3. Lexical Features…………………………………………………………
18
2.4. Syntactic Features………………………………………………………
22
2.5. Semantic Features………………………………………………………
25


Chapter 3: Findings and Discussions

1. Findings and Discussions on Graphetic Features…………………………
27
2. Findings and Discussions on Phonological Features……………………….
27
3. Findings and Discussions on Lexical Features……………………………
28
4. Findings and Discussions on Syntactic Features…………………………
30
5. Findings and Discussions on Semantic Features…………………………
31


PART III: CONCLUSION

1. Recapitulation of main ideas………………………………………………
32

2. Limitations of the study…………………………………………
34
3. Suggestions for further research……………………………………………
34


REFERENCES
35
APPENDIX I. LIST OF ENGLISH ADVERTISING SLOGANS……………
I
APPENDIX II. LIST OF VIETNAMESE ADVERTISING SLOGANS……
III














5
PART I: INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale

Advertising slogans are critical to the image of the business, regardless of the size. The
slogan or tagline is part of the business image. It is a major part of the branding. Therefore,
slogans must be central and condensed messages which leave unforgettable impressions on
the consumers’ minds.

The question that is often raised for advertisers is how to create a successful slogan. In
order to compose a meaningful slogan that can wrap up the essence of a product, there has
been a full exploitation of language from phonology, lexicology, and syntax to semantics
and pragmatics. A slogan is a combination of many stylistic features which deserves to be
written and researched by a copywriter with experience in writing slogans that gets the
business noticed.

Because creating a successful slogan is not an easy task, slogan writing has now become an
industry. It requires the study into the aspects of language exploited.

Realizing the importance of advertising slogans to every business, this study is carried out
to investigate the exploitation of some stylistic features in terms of graphology, phonology,
lexicology, syntax and semantics of some English and Vietnamese advertising slogans.
The results of the study may be useful for Vietnamese advertisers to produce successful
slogans.

2. Aims and Objectives of the Study
This study aims to find out the similarities and differences in the writing style of
advertising slogans between English and Vietnamese. To achieve this aim, two objectives
are set. Firstly, an investigation into certain stylistic features in terms of graphology,
phonology, lexicology, syntax and semantics must be carried out. Secondly, there should
be comparison between English and Vietnamese slogan writing style in business. From this
investigation and comparison, some hints can be drawn for Vietnamese advertising
language in order to improve the effectiveness and profession of Vietnamese advertising.

6
3. Scope of the Study
It is impossible for an M.A. thesis to cover such a broad topic of business slogans.
Therefore certain stylistic features of some English and Vietnamese advertising slogans
were chosen to take into consideration.

4. Method of the Study
This study represents itself as descriptive research, as it “involves a collection of
techniques used to specify, delineate, or describe naturally occurring phenomena without
experimental manipulation” (Seliger & Shohamy, 1989: 124). In this type of research,
collecting data will be carried out through non-intrusive and non-manipulative procedures.
This typical characteristic will be specifically suitable for the job of collecting data in the
study.

This study combines both qualitative and quantitative methods. Firstly, the advertising
slogans are investigated so that stylistic features appearing in them are discovered and
named. Secondly, quantitative method is employed to find out the differences and
similarities between Vietnamese and English slogans.

5. Design of the Study
The study consists of three parts. Part 1 entitled “INTRODUCTION” provides the reason
why the topic is chosen. It then provides the aim and objectives of the study. It is also in
this section that we are concerned with the scope and the design of the study.

Part 2, named “DEVELOPMENT”, deals with the main contents of the study. Chapter 1
begins with the concept of business slogan and advertising slogan, and then provides a
review of some previous works done on advertising language both in English and
Vietnamese. It is followed by briefly looking at the language of advertising as a form of
communication in order to find out the basic functions that an advertising message is

intended to accomplish. It, later on, provides some classifications of different types of
advertisements and the popular structure of an advertisement. After that, it gets insights
into the term “advertising slogan”, its definition and its characteristics.



7
Chapter 2 will start with the procedures of the investigation. The analysis is then presented
in details in terms of graphology, phonology, lexicology, syntax and semantics. In this
analysis, some advertising slogans – both in English and Vietnamese – are chosen to
support for the argument.

Chapter 3 focuses on presenting findings of the research and discussions. The discussion
comes after statistical results for each stylistic feature. It is the basis of the later
conclusions.

Part 3 “CONCLUSION” provides the recapitulation of main ideas, the limitations of the
study and some suggestions for further research.

The study is closed with the appendix of English and Vietnamese advertising slogans that
are used for the analysis.

8
PART II: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1. Business Slogan – Another Term of Advertising Slogan
There are three types of slogans: life slogans, career slogans and business slogans. And the
most popular type that can be seen everyday everywhere is business slogan.

According to Oxford Collocations Dictionary, “business” is an activity of goods buying
and selling. Therefore, advertising is a means that a business can employ to introduce their
products to consumers. In other words, business slogans are advertising slogans which
producers or advertisers use to sum up or to convey the central message about their
products or services.

Business slogans are critical to the image of the business, regardless of the size. The slogan
or tagline is part of the business image. It is a major part of the branding.
One of the most important things an advertising agency does is to create a slogan for a
company. The size of your company or business doesn't matter. Large or small, you need a
company slogan. Even a small business needs a slogan; they need to brand their image.

That is the reason why business slogans or company slogans are named under a term
“advertising slogans”.

Because advertising slogan is the central message that advertisers want to convey to
consumers, it is an important part of an advertisement which is written to introduce,
promote the product or service of a business. Hereafter is a review of advertising language,
advertisement and slogan.

2. A Review of Previous Studies
In the US and European countries, advertising is a kind of industry. Studies have been
carried out in the aspect of advertising language, of which some well-known studies are
“English in advertising: A linguistic study of advertising in Great Britain” by Geoffrey
N.Leech (1996), “Advertising as communication” by Gillian Dyer (1982), “English for
sale: A study of the language of advertising” by Lars Hermeren (1999), or “The discourse


9
of advertising” by Guy Cook (2001). There are also some studies which only focus on
certain language features of advertisements. Some of these are “Selling America: Puns,
language and advertising” by Michel Monnot (1982), “Pictorial Metaphor in Advertising”
by Char Forceville (1998). There are also some contrastive studies which compare the
advertising language in English and that in other languages, e.g. “Advertising language: A
pragmatic approach to advertisements in Britain and Japan” by Keiko Tanaka (1994).

Meanwhile advertising activities in Vietnam are quite new and have been rapidly expanded
for the last few years. Therefore, the number of studies in this field in Vietnam is limited.
Some notable researches on the language of advertising include two PhD theses done by
Mai Xuan Huy (2001) about “Các đặc điểm của ngôn ngữ quảng cáo dưới ánh sáng của lý
thuyết giao tiếp” (Features of advertising language on the theory of communication) and
Ton Nu My Nhat (2005) in which she carried out a contrastive discourse analysis of travel

advertisements based on the theory of Functional Grammar.

Besides, there are many articles on the matter of advertising language which are collected
by Nguyen Kien Truong (2004) in a book called “Quảng cáo và ngôn ngữ quảng cáo
(Advertising and the language of advertising).

Also, there are some MA theses carried out at institutional level. They are: a thesis on
advertising language used in trade studied by Hoang Thi Thuy (2005), “Presupposition
and Implicature in English and Vietnamese Advertising Slogans” by Tran Thien Tu (2007)
and “An Investigation into the Style of the English Language Used in Advertising Slogans
issued by some World-Famous Airlines” by Bui Thi Bich Thuy (2008).

All these works have revealed typical and very interesting features of advertising language
in general and slogans in particular. Also in the spirit of inheriting and upholding the
previous studies, what is being done hereafter is to partially find out some similarities and
differences in certain stylistic features between some English and Vietnamese advertising
slogans. I hope that my small contribution will be useful in the future.




10
3. Advertising as a Form of Communication
3.1 Communication
Communication plays a vital role in human life. In his work, Fiske (1990:51) defines
communication as social interaction through messages. It can be inferred that
communication appears in social contexts among people with messages to be transferred.
Here, he emphasizes that the messages are not only information but also relationship
between the speakers and the hearers. However, this definition seems too broad and
blurred in meaning.

According to Bovee and Thill (2000:57), communication can occur in various forms,
written or spoken, verbal or nonverbal, to show a process of sending and receiving
messages. This concept has much to share with the definition given by Saundra Hybels and
Richard L. Weaver (1992: 7) which says “communication is any process in which people
share information, ideas, and feelings. That process involves not only spoken or written
word, but also the body language, personal mannerism and style, the surroundings –
anybody that adds meanings to a message.” As seen from this definition, communication
itself is an on-going process with a lot of factors that help. Based on particular situations,
communicators will choose to make use of some factors that are most useful and available
in such cases to make their messages understood.
For Shannon (1948: 379-423 and 623-656), he breaks the process of communication down
into eight discrete components:
1. An information source. Presumably a person who creates a message.
2. The message, which is both sent by the information source and received by the
destination.
3. A transmitter.
4. The signal, which flows through a channel.
5. A carrier or channel. The most commonly used channels include air, light,
electricity, radio waves, paper, and postal systems.


11
6. Noise, in the form of secondary signals that obscure or confuse the signal carried.
Today we use noise more as a metaphor for problems associated with effective
listening.
7. A receiver. In Shannon's conception, the receiving telephone instrument. In face to
face communication a set of ears (sound) and eyes (gesture). In television, several
layers of receiver, including an antenna and a television set.
8. A destination. Presumably a person who consumes and processes the message.

The model of the communication process by Shannon (1948) provides, in its breakdown of
the flow of a message from source to destination, an excellent breakdown of the elements
of the communication process that can be very helpful to students who are thinking about
how they communicate with others.

3.2. Definition of Advertising
According to Bovee (1992), "Advertising is the nonpersonal communication of information
usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by
identified sponsors through the various media."(Bovee, 1992, p. 7)

Advertising is the nonpersonal communication of information because it is not aimed at
any individual; it aims at the public or a certain group of people. It is different from
interpersonal communication in which both speakers and hearers are there to interact with
each other.

According to Churchill, Jr and Peter (1998):

“Advertising is noted as any announcement or persuasive message placed in the
mass media in paid or donated time or space by an identified individual,
company, or organization to serve a number of audience about products and
persuade or remind them of buying, to convey information about the organization
itself or issues important to the organization in order to create or enhance
perception of the quality or reliability of a product, thus encouraging customer
loyalty and repeat purchases”. (p.142)




12
It can be seen that advertising is a type of social-cultural communication between

advertisers and customers. As it is a communicative activity, it must share the principle
procedures with other types of communication. The following model of communication
represents rather appropriately the procedure in advertising communication.






It is clear that the intended message does not come to the receiver directly. The intended
message is often decoded and transmitted to the receiver by means of media. Therefore, the
message sounds implicit.

3.3. Functions of Advertising
Although the primary objective of advertising is to persuade, it may achieve this objective
in many different ways.

The first and foremost function of advertising is to get consumers’ attention. This is
considered to be the first step in trying to be persuasive. In trying to reach this goal, some
SOURCE
Intended
message
Decoded
message
Satisfy
the
receivers
’ needs
Media
Satisfied

Selective
feelings

Selective
awareness

Selective
memorization
Noise
RECEIVER
Figure 1. A model of communication

(Hoang, T. & Nguyen, V. T. 2000)


13
advertisers have made their advertisements sound annoying or even stupid. This is because
striking things remain longer in human minds than normal ones.

Another function of advertising is to arouse consumers’ interest. The interest may be
caused by the effects of supporting tools like sounds, eye-catching images, a pleasant
jingle, a funny advertising plot or a surprising slogan.

The third function of advertising is to induce consumers to try new products and to suggest
reuse of the product as well as new uses; this is the desire-stimulating function. Previously,
most advertisements aimed at promoting their products’ merits, which is called product-
oriented. However, there has been a shift of focus from product-oriented to audience-
oriented, which is primarily concerned with the needs and wants, the hopes and fears of the
target audience.

3.4. Types of Advertising
Advertisements are classified based on different criteria. Geographically, there are local,
national and international advertisements. In terms of advertising medium, they are divided
into print and electronic categories. Another classification is based on their purposes which
sorts them out into commercial and non-commercial categories. The former includes
Consumer Advertising, Trade Advertising and Service Advertising. The latter can be
called Public Interest Advertising.

Consumer advertising aims directly at mass audience; trade advertising is responsible for
the communication between manufacturers and retailers; and service advertising is directed
at raising customers’ awareness and attitude toward the organization rather than its
products or services.

Public Interest Advertising aims to inform, persuade, or remind people about the particular
idea, cause, or philosophy being advertised. This kind of advertising is often used by non-
business institutions, such as schools, hospitals and charitable organizations. We also see
advertising by associations or government organizations. Much government advertising
announces the availability of such valuable government services as consumer assistance,


14
welfare aid, or career guidance. Many state government use advertising to attract new
businesses, tourists, or workers to aid their economy.

Because of the fact that public interest advertising is nonprofit, the words it uses are much
more different from the other 3 kinds of advertising. Its purpose is not to urge readers to
spend their money, but to disseminate a kind of concept or advocate a social ethic.

3.5. Structure of an Advertisement
Generally, an advertisement begins with a headline which has the function to attract

audience’s attention. It is followed by a body copy. Normally appearing at the end of every
advertisement, a slogan serves to represent the central message that the producers want to
convey as we have noted earlier. The easiest way to find out the slogan of an advertisement
is to look for the logo as normally they appear together to draw customer’s attention.
Besides that, there are other components such as illustrations and colors, trademark and
brand name. All the components mentioned above are named as visual elements. Another
kind of elements – audio elements are advertising commentary, advertising music and
advertising sounds.

However, there is a difference between TV advertisements and printed advertisements. In
TV advertisements the place of advertising slogans is shown clearly as they always come
after all the other parts. In printed advertisements, the position of an advertising slogan is
obviously marked by its companion with the logo of the product and a separated and
outstanding placement which is normally at the end of the advertisement.

Thus, headline, body copy and slogan are the most important elements in an advertisement.
And in this study I would like to focus on slogans – the explicit, refined and inflammatory
element.

4. Advertising Slogan as an Essential Part of an Advertisement
4.1. Definition of a Slogan
The word slogan originates in a Scottish Gaelic word sluagh-ghairm pronounced as
slogorm which is used to mean battle-cry.


15
An advertising slogan is often considered to be a verbal logo as it normally appears just
beneath or beside the brand name or logo of the product in a printed advertisement. The
use of a slogan is to sum up or to convey the central message of the advertisers. And a
slogan is especially useful in reinforcing the product’s identity. Though placed together

with a logo to symbolize for the product, a slogan is thought to be even more powerful than
a logo as people often remember and recite the slogan of a product rather than sketching its
logo.

According to Charles L. Whittier (1955), a slogan “… should be a statement of such merit
about a product or service that it is worthy of continuous repetition in advertising, is
worthwhile for the public to remember, and is phrased in such a way that the public is
likely to remember it.” (p.36). That means the typical characteristics of a slogan is
memorable.

However, one interesting fact is that slogans are referred to with different terms in different
countries. Here are some of them.

In the UK, they are end lines, endlines or straplines.
In the USA, they are tags, tag lines, taglines or theme lines.
In Germany, they are claims.
In Belgium, they are baselines.
In France, they are signatures.
In the Netherlands
and Italy, they are pay-offs or payoffs.
To the unimaginative,
they are rip-offs or ripoffs. The bland leading the bland.
Generically, they are slogans.
At ADSlogans Unlimited,
we call 'em slogos (the slogan by the logo).
They are often ™ Trade marks (UK)
™ Trademarks (USA)
SM Service Marks (USA)

16
® Registered Trade Marks (UK)
® Registered Trademarks (USA)

(

4.2. Slogan Characteristics
As mentioned above, the typical characteristics of a slogan is memorable. However, there
are also many characteristics which form a perfect slogan:

 It should be memorable
 It should recall the brand name
 It should include a key benefit
 It should differentiate the brand
 It should impart positive feelings for the brand.
 It should reflect the brand's personality
 It should be strategic
 It should be campaignable
 It should be competitive
 It should be original
 It should be simple
 It should be neat
 It should be believable
 It should help in ordering the brand
 It should not be in current use by others
 It should not be bland, generic or hackneyed
 It should not prompt a sarcastic or negative response
 It should not be pretentious
 It should not be negative
 It should not be corporate waffle

 It should not make you say “so what?” or "ho hum".
 It should not make you say "oh yeah??"


17
 It should not be meaningless
 It should not be complicated or clumsy
 You should like it
 Trends in slogans

18
CHAPTER 2: AN INVESTIGATION INTO STYLISTIC FEATURES OF SOME
ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE ADVERTISING SLOGANS
1. Procedures
1.1. Data Collection
In this study, 80 advertising slogans (40 Vietnamese and 40 English) are collected and
used to find out the different and common stylistic features between them. The English
advertising slogans are taken from the database of slogans on the website:
. The presence of these
slogans in those highly prestigious lists of the world businesses proves their effectiveness
and success in extending their services, among which their advertising strategies in general
and their advertising slogans in particular play a vital part. What’s more, as they are among
the biggest companies in the world, the current trend in creating slogans will be present in
their own ones.

The population of 40 English advertising slogans to be investigated is considered large
enough as it includes:

 Some famous brands, many of which belong to English-speaking countries situated
in Europe and are famous for their services.
 Some randomly-chosen slogans in the database of advertising slogans to ensure the
generalization of the study.

 All the slogans are originally English. We do not collect the translated ones.

40 English advertising slogans and 40 Vietnamese ones are respectively divided into 4
categories (finance and banking; telecommunication, broadcasting and publishing; food
and drinks; fashion) with an equal number of slogans in each category.

The population of 40 Vietnamese advertising slogans covers mostly all famous brands in
Vietnam. They are representative enough to reflect the current trend in creating slogans in
our country. And certainly, foreign companies which have their branches in Vietnam will
not be taken into consideration.


19
1.2. Data Analysis
To find out the prevailing trend in creating advertising slogans, all the chosen slogans will
be studied and compared in the light of common features of advertising slogans to see what
features or techniques are mostly employed by advertisers. This purpose is best achieved
by working out the commonly-employed stylistic features and the proportion of slogans
possessing each feature and employing each technique.

The result of this study will be presented based on the statistics to see which features are
most used by slogan makers as well as the differences between English and Vietnamese
advertising slogans in terms of language style. The findings will be provided after the
statistical results.

2. The Analysis
In this section, some stylistic features of English and Vietnamese advertising slogans are
presented in terms of graphology, phonology, lexicology, syntax and semantics. From each
perspective, the slogans will be analyzed in terms of subtypes to investigate their language
style in details.

2.1. Graphetic Features

Consistent use of initial capitalization
To achieve an emphatic effect, the advertising slogan is just like a headline which uses
initial capitalization to attract more attention or to stress every word it says to impress the
reader.
For example:
Heinz
Beanz Meanz Heinz.
Toyota
I Love What You Do For Me.
Regarding to slogans investigated in the study, there are some English advertising slogans
employing initial capitalization consistently.
T-Mobile
Stick Together


20
H.J. Heinz Company
57 Varieties
Mentos
The Freshmaker!
Nestle Aberfoyle Natural Spring Water
Pure Life
In Vietnamese, no advertising slogans use this technique.
Inconsistent use of initial capitalization
The initial letter of some words, regardless of brand names, in advertising slogans is
capitalized so that these words can receive the emphasis and stress. These words often
carry the meaning of the whole slogan and they are the most important words.

Among 80 advertising slogans investigated, only 3 English slogans use initial
capitalization inconsistently:
ABC
Still the One
Coca cola
It’s the Real Thing
Calvin Klein
Between love and madness lies Obsession.
In the slogan of ABC, the most important word is “One” which implies the highest ranking
of the brand. In the slogan of Coca cola, the implication that it is real, it is not just a saying
is expressed by the initial capitalization of “Real Thing”. And the spirit of Calvin Klein’s
slogan lies in the word “Obsession”. “Obsession” is what Calvin Klein brings about.
Full use of capitalization.
Sometimes for the same reason as above, the advertising slogan needs to emphasize every
letter it uses or to make the advertising slogan look trim and tidy. However, none of 80
advertising slogans in this study use full capitalization.

2.2. Phonological Features
From the perspective of phonology, the two most noticeable phonological items employed
here are rhymes and alliteration.

Use of rhymes


21
Rhyme is the best technique to make something memorable. You can easily know by heart
a poem or a song because they are rhythmical. Taking advantage of this feature,
advertising slogans both in English and Vietnamese employ rhyme as an effective way to
stick in people’s mind.

The English slogan is often rhythmised with the brand name. Therefore, the brand name is
always haunting in customers’ mind.
Natwest Bank
To save and invest, talk to Natwest.
The rhyming effect between the slogan and the brand name “Natwest” helps customers not
to forget the bank’s name.

Like English advertising slogans, Vietnamese slogans also use rhyme but in another way.
The rhyme is created by parallel structures, in which the word in the second structure is
made rhyme with the word in the first structure:
Nhà xuất bản khoa học kĩ thuật
Nâng tầm tri thức, vững chắc tương lai
Broadening the knowledge, securing the future.
Nhà xuất bản trẻ
Nuôi dưỡng tâm hồn – Khơi nguồn trí thức
Nourish the soul – Enlarging the knowledge.
Dệt kim Đông Xuân
Khẳng định uy tín – Giữ trọn niềm tin
Affirming prestige – Keeping trust.
In the first slogan, “chắc” is rhythmised with “thức” (uneven tone). In the second slogan,
“nguồn” and “hồn” are rhymes (partial tone). And in the third slogan, the whole tone is
created by the rhyme between “tin” and “tín”.

Thus, rhyme is a typically phonological feature of advertising slogans.

Use of alliteration
Alliteration can help the slogans achieve the strong beating rhythm needed to make it a
repeatable sentence. They can be easily remembered by the audience:
Allied Irish Bank
Britain's best business bank

This effect is achieved by beginning each word with the same letter “b” in those words as
“Britain”, “best”, “business”, and “bank”.


22
Because the beating rhythm achieved by alliteration is too strong and the creation of it is
not easy at all, the English slogans employing this technique is countable. This is also the
reason why no trace of it in Vietnamese advertising slogans is found.

2.3. Lexical Features
From the lexical point of view, there are some typical lexical items that are noticed as the
followings:

Common uses of first and second person addressee “you”, “we”, and “us”.
The use of second person addressee “you” tends to shorten the distance between the
product or the producer and consumers, as if the producer or the advertiser is speaking to
you face to face, making sincere promises, honest recommendations. In so doing, the
advertising slogans stand a better chance to move the receiver or customers to action,
because the receiver feels that he is being thought of and taken care of and he is the center
point of the producers.
O2
See what you can do
Manu Life Insurance
For your future
The use of first person addresser “we” and “us” is the most direct way to tell the receiver
what the sponsor of an advertising slogan stands for, his idea, his view, and his credit. It’s
a little bit like a self-introduction to the potential customers to let them know you,
recognize you, believe you and trust you.

Advertisers in Vietnam also employ the second person addressee when making advertising

slogans:
Bảo Minh CMG
Nếu bạn đi tìm sự vững chắc
If you look for stability.
Viettel
Hãy nói theo cách của ban
Say it your way.

Use of unqualified comparison


23
Admen have to abide by the code of commercial practice and stick to the rules of
advertising. They should not advertise their product at the expense of others. So they resort
to unqualified comparison to avoid defaming other products. They can not say: “Brand X is
better than brand Y.” (XUE Hangrong, 2003:189) Otherwise, unpleasant lawsuits will
inevitably occur. They can say:
Carlsberg
Probably the best beer in the world
ABN AMRO bank
ABN AMRO. Making more possible
Stones bitter
There’s no taste like Stones
CNN
The most trusted name in news
Allied Irish Bank
Britain’s best business bank
Bank of America
Bank of America. Higher standards.
However, this technique is hardly employed by Vietnamese advertisers.

Use of “every” “always”, etc.
These words are often used in advertisements to indicate the universal application of the
product or to include as many potential customers as possible or to achieve the emphasis of
the product’s utility or the company’s unswerving commitment.
In the slogans of CitiBank (The United States), Levis jeans (The United States), Mobile
phone (Vietnam) we can see these words:
CitiBank-
Your Citi never sleeps
Levis jeans
Quality never goes out of style.
Mobile phone
Mọi lúc, mọi nơi
Anytime, anywhere.

Use of “no”, “none”, etc.
Negatives tend to be used very sparingly because the purpose of all advertising slogans is
to strengthen the positive side. But when negatives do occur, they are usually placed in an
emphatic position to highlight the special the positive side.
Stones bitter
There’s no taste like Stones.
However, it seems that these words are not favored by Vietnamese advertisers.

Use of verbs


24
The choice of verbs is very careful in advertising. Although the purpose of advertising is to
persuade consumers to buy its products, advertisements seldom use the word “buy” in it.
According to statistics, only two out of ten advertisements use the verb “buy” directly.

Advertisers try their best to promote their products; however, they don’t want to give the
consumers a feeling of spending their money.

It is said that the most frequently used 20 verbs and phrasal verbs are:
Try, ask, get, take, let, send for, use, call, make, come on, hurry, see, give, come,
remember, discover, serve, introduce, choose, and look for.
We can see the verb “make” in the slogan of ABN AMRO bank, the verb “see” in the
slogan of O2, the verb “get” in the slogan of The Washington Post and Prudential
Insurance, etc.
ABN AMRO bank
Making more possible
O2
See what you can do
The Washington Post
If you don’t get it, you don’t get it.
Prudential Insurance
Get a piece of the rock
Among Vietnamese advertising slogans, some verbs are used such as “look for”, “say”,
“try”, etc:
Bảo hiểm Pjico
Nếu bạn đi tìm sự vững chắc
If you look for stability
Viettel
Hãy nói theo cách của bạn
Say it your way.
Café Việt
Bạn đã đủ mạnh để thử?
Are you strong enough to try?

Use of geographical names and brand names

Geographical names and brand names act as good indicators of the place the slogans come
from, which helps customers to choose their banks. It’s interesting that a large number of
English advertising slogans of finance and banking have brand names in them.

HSBC Bank
HSBC. The world’s local bank


25
Citibank
Your Citi never sleeps
Natwest Bank
To save and invest, talk to Natwest
State Farm Insurance
Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there
Allstate Insurance
You’re in good hands with Allstate.
It can be said that brand name is the identification for the business. As investigated,
finance and banking is the area that has the most indicators as brand names in the
advertising slogans.

Following this trend, Vietnamese advertising slogans also include their geographical
names and brand names in them.
Nutifood
Vì tương lai Việt
For Vietnam’s future
Vinamilk
Chất lượng quốc tế - Chất lượng Vinamilk
The international quality – The Vinamilk quality
Bitis

Nâng niu bàn chân Việt
Embrace Vietnamese’s feet.
VTEC
Hãy cảm nhận cuộc sống cùng Việt Tiến
Feel the beauty of life with Viettien.
May Nhà Bè
NBC – Vươn tầm thế giới
NBC – Reaching the world class.

Number of words in bank slogans
In 40 English advertising slogans, three-worded slogans and six-worded slogan are the
most favored with 10 and 8 slogans for each type, and two- worded and four-worded
slogans are also widely used (6 slogans for each type). Five worded slogans also occupy a
big share. The longest English slogan in the study has 9 words. And two worded slogan is
the shortest one.

The different case occurs among 40 Vietnamese advertising slogans. The most favored
slogans are the ones with 4, 5, 6 and 8 words. The shortest one has 4 words and the longest
one has 9 words.



26
2.4. Syntactic Features
Use of short simple sentences
The slogan must be short and simple; it can not afford to be complicated and clumsy. Short
simple sentences are easy to remember, while one main aim of an advertising slogan is to
be memorable and recited. So short and simple sentences serve advertising slogans right.

Short simple sentences are widely used by advertisers in English-speaking countries, but

they are rarely used by Vietnamese advertisers. Below are some English advertising
slogans in the study which have the form of short simple sentences:
Citibank
Your Citi never sleeps.
British Telecom
It’s good to talk.
De Beers Consolidated Mines
A diamond is forever.
However, in 40 Vietnamese advertising slogans, there is only one slogan which is
sentence-structured:
Café Việt
Bạn đã đủ mạnh để thử?
Are you strong enough to try?

Use of everyday expressions
Every day sentences tend to be overly used in daily life, but it can be very forceful when
used in an advertising slogan. These sentences travel very fast, because anyone can
remember it without any effort. It can just hang upon people’s lips. It’s something
popularized without much publicity.
For example:
Manu Life Insurance
For your future
ABC
Still the One
California milk
Got milk?
Nike
Just do it.
It’s a pity that every day sentences are only used in English advertising slogans, but
Vietnamese ones. Vietnamese people seem to prefer something formal when creating

business slogan, therefore they do not favor everyday sentences.

Use of phrases


27
Slogans are a kind of special writing form. They can almost do without subjects. Phrases
may be better than if not as good as sentences. All kinds of phrases can be put into use:
noun phrase, verb phrase, preposition phrase, adjective phrase, etc. They are so concise and
to the point that they are beyond our power to do any addition or subtraction.

Due to their advantages, phrases are highly appreciated by both English and Vietnamese
advertisers.
ABN AMRO bank
Making more possible
T- Mobile
Stick together
Techcombank
Giữ trọn niềm tin
Win the absolute trust
Vinaphone
Không ngừng vươn xa
Keeping reaching further
It is interesting that Vietnamese advertisers prefer phrases to sentences. Most of the
Vietnamese advertising slogans in this study are phrases.

Use of questions
In advertising headlines, questions are often used to attract attention by mentioning the
matter that concerns the customers most. They help to arouse the curiosity of the customers
and entice them to read on to find the solution to the problem. Many slogans (also called

theme line or tagline) begin as successful headlines. (Arens, William F. & Bovée,
Courtland L. 1994: p.289). Therefore, it is not surprising that the slogan can use questions
too for the same purpose.

MacDonalds fast food has a very interesting advertising slogan in the form of question:
Have you had your break today?
It is a daily life question that makes readers have the feeling of being cared. It also implies
that it’s high time you stopped work and had something to eat.

Another slogan is by California milk:
Got milk?