The Language of Airlines’ Advertising Slogans

impact and rapid persuasion. This must be the result of many processes of writing, rewriting, testing, modifying and so forth. Churchill, Jr. and Peter (1998: 142) confirm the above concept with their definition: “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”. Therefore, advertising is, in its nature, a type of communication between advertisers and customers. This process of getting advertising messages transferred is diagrammed in a really appropriate way in the model that follows. Satisfy the receivers’ needs Intended message Media Decoded message Selective feelings Selective awareness Selective memorization Satisfied Noise SOURCE RECEIVER (Hoang, T. & Nguyen, V.T. 2000) It is clearly stated in the model that in advertising, the intended message never comes to the receiver in a direct way. It is always decoded, which makes the message sound implicit. There are two reasons for this implicitness of advertising messages. Firstly, as advertisers have to pay for their advertising information, their messages must be decoded so that they can convey as much as possible to the customers with the minimum number of words. Secondly, and more importantly, it is strongly believed by copywriters that human beings have an inborn ability to infer as it is noted by Geis (1982:46) that “Human beings are ‘inferencing’ creatures, trained to read into what is said as much as is consistent with the literal meaning of what is said and the context in which it is said. ” Advertising Functions It has been agreed by many market researchers that an advertisement should have four functions, which can be generalized by four words: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. (1) Attention - a good advertisement should attract the consumer to direct their attention to the product of it. To achieve this, advertisers always try to make their advertisements special in some ways, even stupid and awkward. This is because striking things remain longer in human minds than normal ones. (2) Interest - the introduction and publicity of an advertisement should arouse consumers’ great interest. The interest may be caused by an eye-catching image, a pleasant jingle, a funny advertising plot or a surprising slogan. When they are interested in the product advertised, they will learn more about it. From this, the confidence in the product will be gradually achieved. (3) Desire - the publicity of advertising should stimulate consumers’ desire to buy the product, and make them realize that this product is just what they want. 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. (4) Action - the advertising makes consumers to response to the advertising information and evokes them to take the action of purchasing. It is here that the topmost task of advertising is fulfilled. Types of Advertising The features of different kinds of advertisements should be taken into account if advertisers want their messages to be effectively transferred to their customers. Different target audience or product types require different methods of advertising from advertisers. Different criteria can be used to classify advertisements. Geographically, there are local, national and international advertisements. In terms of advertising medium, there are print and electronic ones. Besides, as for their purposes, advertisements can be classified into commercial and non-commercial categories. The former category includes Consumer Advertising, Business Advertising, and Service Advertising. The latter can be called Public Interest Advertising. Consumer Advertising Most television, radio, newspaper and magazine advertisements are consumer advertisements. The consumer advertising includes alcoholic ads, cigarette ads, drink ads, food ads, wear ads, cosmetic ads, automobile ads, home electric appliance ads, and other products which are used and purchased by ordinary people. To this kind of advertisements, most people have developed a kind of ambivalent psychology. On one hand, they are bored with the endless advertisements hiding in the newspapers and magazines, clamoring on the radio, or dazzling on the TV. On the other hand, they still need the information to guide their purchasing. Therefore, to attract the consumers’ attention is the most important task for an advertising copywriter. Business Advertising Business advertising is often said to be invisible, because unless one is actively involved in some business, he is unlikely to see it. The majority of consumer advertising appears in mass consumer media. Business advertising, on the other hand, tends to be concentrated in specialized business publications or a professional journal, in direct-mail pieces mailed to business establishments, or in trade shows held for specific areas of business. Until recently, business advertising was rarely seen in the mass media. Service Advertising Service advertising is actually part of consumer advertising and business advertising, since consumer goods and industrial goods both include relevant service. However, due to its intangible feature, service is advertised in a more imaginable way. Hence wording service advertising is somewhat different from product advertising. Service advertising appears in both mass consumer media and specialized business publication according to its different target audience - consumer or people in business. Public Interest Advertising The general objective of public interest advertising is 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, welfare aid, or career guidance. Many state governments 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. 2.2.5.4 Advertising Components According to the definition of the advertising, most of the advertisements should have the following components: (1). Advertiser The advertiser is the sender of information and all the advertising activities should be consistent with the purpose and willingness of the advertiser. The advertiser should be a recognizable group, including corporation, enterprise, government, organization and individual. (2). Advertising Fee The advertising fees are paid by the advertiser no matter it’s operated by itself or other agency. Because advertising is a kind of marketing action, an advertiser has to pay for its advertisement. (3). Advertising Information Advertising information is the principal contents an advertisement wants to disseminate. Advertising is a series of planning actions, so the information of advertising should be aimed at the certain target market and consumers, and should avoid aimlessness. The dissemination of information should be accurate, definite, recognizable and moderate in length. (4). Advertising Media Media are the means of the dissemination of advertising, including newspaper, magazine, broadcast, TV program, billboard and mail. The newspaper, magazine, broadcast and TV are called the four main media of advertising. Moreover, any kind of objects or tools can be a medium for the advertisement, such as airplane, train, bus, building, neon light, movie, package, exhibition, and etc. Different kinds of media have different features, disseminating area, target audience and speed. Within the advertisement itself, the components are headline, body copy, slogan, illustrations and colors, trademark, and brand name. These elements are named as visual elements. Another kind of elements - audio elements are advertising commentary, advertising music and advertising sounds. In these elements, headline, body copy and slogan are the most important elements in an advertisement. In this study, I would like to pay more attention to slogans, which carry the features of being explicit, refined and inflammatory. Features of Advertising Language The language of advertising has been described as a “functional dialect” (Smith, 1982:190). Holmes (2005:8) explains this term as “the product of a process whereby language is chosen and used for a particular purpose (hence, ‘functional’, and consequently becomes a variety (hence, ‘dialect’) of its own because it becomes associated with this particular function.” The definition has stated that the language of advertising is somehow different from normal language. Although advertisers always aim at being as close as possible to their customers, the most striking difference between the two kinds of languages is that advertising language is always well-planned in advance, and rarely random. To achieve the functions of drawing the attention, building the interest and stimulating the desire to buy the products among customers, the language used in advertising should be impressive, credible and stimulated. Schrank (1996) points out some techniques commonly used by advertisers in creating informative and persuasive advertisements. The first technique employed is “the weasel claim”. Weasel words or claims are the words used to say something, but actually they say the opposite or nothing at all. Common weasel words are help, virtually, act, work, refresh, fight, tackle, strengthen, etc. “”Leaves dishes virtually spotless” – … The next technique introduced is “the unfinished claim” in which advertisers claim that their products are better and have more of something but never finish their comparison. “Fashion and more” – Triumph underwear Another technique used by advertisers is called “We are different and unique”. The products advertised here are claimed to be the best and special in some aspects. Like.no.other – Sony Think different – Apple computer Some advertisers make their advertisements special by not stating anything special at all. This technique is called “water is wet” in which the true and obvious characteristics of the products are pointed out. TV you can watch – Nick-at-Nite In the technique called “So what claim”, an advantage of the product over other products of the same type is stated. Television for women – Lifetime Television A lot of meaningless words will be found in the advertisements using the technique called “the vague claim” which encourages customers stretch out their imagination and ability of inferring things. If it’s one, it’s in – Radio Times To make their messages sound credible and more persuasive, some advertisers use a technique called “scientific or statistical claim” in which facts and figures are fully provided. 99 44/100% Pure – Ivory Soap There is a fact that not all the time products are praised, sometimes it is the consumers. This technique is called “Compliment the consumer”. Nobody does it like you – Hoover Vacuum Cleaner Using “Rhetorical question” is the last technique introduced by Schrank (1996). The answers about the products’ merits will surely announced by the consumers themselves. Want a better Internet? – AOL 2.2.6 Advertising Slogan as a part of an Advertisement 2.2.6.1 Definition of a Slogan The word slogan is derived from a Scottish Gaelic word sluagh-ghairm pronounced as slogorm which used to mean battle-cry. According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (1995), “a slogan is a short easily-remembered phrase used by an advertiser, a politician, etc.” Therefore, in general, a slogan is a memorable motto used in political, commercial, religious, and other contexts as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose. In the particular case of an advertising slogan, it is a verbal logo normally appearing just beneath or beside the brand name or the logo of the product. A slogan is kind of a condensed message of the whole advertisement which advertisers want their customers to remember most. It is the usual case that slogans come to customers’ mind first when they think about the products. In his book, Creative Advertising, Charles L. Whittier (1958: 11) says 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.” One interesting fact is that slogans are referred to with different terms in different countries. Here are some of them. Countries Terms meaning slogans The UK Endlines, end lines or straplines The USA Tags, tag lines, taglines or theme lines Germany Claims Belgium Baselines France Signatures The Netherlands and Italy Pay-offs or payoffs Some others Rip-offs or rip-offs Slogos (the slogan by the logo) 2.2.6.2 Requirements of a good advertising slogan A slogan should: Be memorable Recall the brand name Include a key benefit Differentiate the brand Impart positive feelings for the brand Reflect the brand’s personality Be strategic Be campaignable Be competitive Be original Be simple Be neat Be believable Help in ordering the brand A slogan should not Be in current use by others Be bland and generic Prompt a sarcastic or negative response Be pretentious Be negative Be corporate waffle Make you say “So what?” Be meaningless Be complicated or clumsy ( 2.2.7 Typical features of airline service as an advertising product First of all, it should be taken into consideration that airline advertising belongs to the category of service advertising, i.e. the advertising object here is intangible. Hence, it is a commonplace that customers know about the merits of the service through experiences, both first-hand and second-hand. Secondly, as all the airlines mentioned in this study are world-famous ones, their advertising campaigns must be international or cross-cultural. Obviously, each airline belongs to a particular country. However, their customers come from every corner of the world. It cannot be denied that culture varies from country to country, even from region to region within each country. With a population of customers coming from various cultures, airline advertisers must have a profound insight of the differences in their customers’ cultural values and perceptions. One that is considered good in this value may be bad in another. The advertising world is littered with examples of linguistic cross cultural blunders. Of the more comical was Ford's introduction of the 'Pinto' in Brazil. After seeing sales fail, they soon realized that this was due to the fact that Brazilians did not want to be seen driving a car meaning 'tiny male genitals'. Therefore, airline advertising should be kind of cross-cultural, or, more exactly, universal advertising which uses the most highly-accepted ideas to best speak to their target audience. Furthermore, the language used in airline advertisements, especially their slogans must be of simple and understandable English to all their customers, even those from non-English speaking countries. CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 A descriptive approach This study is actually a descriptive study as it “involves a collection of techniques used to specify, delineate, or describe naturally occurring phenomena without experimental manipulation” (Seliger & Shohamy, 1989:124). Therefore, the collection of data will be carried out through non-intrusive and non-manipulative procedures. The descriptive approach helps to investigate into the frequency of the occurrence of some linguistic phenomena among the slogans of some world-famous airlines. The purpose of this type of this research as it is introduced by Wisker (2001) is to find out more about a phenomenon and to capture it with detailed information. This study uses a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods. The reasons for this combination lie in the procedures of the study. First of all, the slogans are investigated so that linguistic features appearing in them are discovered and named. Next, to find out which feature is the most commonly-used in airline slogans, the quantitative method is employed through systemizing the frequency of the occurrence of each feature in different tables. Some complementary methods used in this study include studying some specialist knowledge in advertising, getting to know the economic, social and cultural factors that have influence on the issue investigated as well as personal observation. 3.2 Data Collection In this study, more than 50 slogans taken from the advertisements of 50 airlines will be employed to find out the common features in the language used by airline advertisers. The slogans mostly belong to national airlines as well as the biggest airlines of some developed countries. All of them are enlisted in the database of airline advertising slogans on and most importantly, in the Skytrax list of World Airline Awards throughout some years. Skytrax is a United Kingdom-based consultancy, the public face of In-flight Research Services. It conducts research for commercial airlines. It carries out international traveler surveys to find the best cabin staff, airport, airline, airline lounge, in-flight entertainment, on board catering, and several other elements of air travel. Apart from these surveys, Skytrax has an airline forum where passengers give other potential passengers the feel of an airline before choosing to fly with them. They also have flight reviews, flight checks, and satisfaction surveys. They are best known for their annual World Airline Awards and World Airport Awards. ( The presence of these slogans in those highly prestigious lists of the world airlines 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 airlines in the world, the current trend in creating airlines slogans will be present in their own ones. The population of 50 airlines’ slogans to be investigated is considered large enough as it includes: Some national airlines, many of which belong to English-speaking countries situated in Europe and are famous for their airline services. Well-known names that can be mentioned are Air Canada, Air France, British Airways, Swissair, Lufthansa (Germany), and so on. Some other airlines which are not national airlines but really well-known in the world for their long-built prestige and often appear in the lists of Skytrax. Some randomly-chosen slogans in the database of airline slogans to ensure the generalization of the study. 3.3 Data Analysis To find out the prevailing trend in creating airline advertising slogans, all the chosen slogans will be studied in the light of common features of advertising slogans to see what features or techniques are mostly employed by airline advertisers. This purpose is best achieved by working out the commonly-employed linguistic features and the proportion of slogans possessing each feature and employing each technique, i.e. the quantitative method of analysis will be fully exploited. With each feature, some examples from the stock of 50 slogans chosen will be carefully analyzed, which means the qualitative method will be used as a combination here. Judging from the fact that a slogan is the most condensed and meaningful message the advertiser would like to send to his consumers, it is clear that every component of it plays a vital or indispensable part contributing to the success of the advertiser-consumer conversation. The art of making a slogan, though it just consists of a few words, must take these things into consideration: The words employed to make the message understood. Such questions as what words to use, how many words are needed, what part of speech to employ, etc. will surely be carefully prepared. The arrangement of the words chosen. The advertiser needs to ask himself such questions as: Will the slogan be a sentence or just a phrase? If it is a sentence, what kind of sentence should be used? What punctuation will be employed? The implicatures of the advertiser through the slogan. What kind of meaning should the consumers infer, literal or figurative or both? Why do they use certain words and certain kinds of sentences in each slogan? The sounds of the slogan when read out. The more special a slogan is, the more it is remembered by the customers. The impression can come from the sounds of the slogans when customers read them aloud. If the combination of the words can make rhythms as they rhyme with one another or they contain the phenomenon of alliteration, customers will find it difficult to forget them. Therefore, the analysis of the chosen slogans will base itself on the above components of a slogan to find out the mostly-shared characteristics among them. Those characteristics can be categorized in a more linguistic way which mentions them as lexical, syntactic, semantic and phonological features. Thus, the steps of the study are in the order as follows: Collect about 50 slogans from the database of airline slogans on websites: www.wikipedia.com and from the Skytrax list of World Airline Awards throughout some years. Investigate and analyze the lexical, phonological, semantic and syntactic features of those slogans. Work out the proportion of slogans using each feature to find out the prevailing trends among the airline slogans. CHAPTER 4 MAIN FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1 Main Findings 4.1.1 Phonological features Use of rhymes One of the best techniques for bringing in the brand name is to make the slogan rhyme with it. By this kind of rhyming, the brand name is highlighted. The ad slogan is thus highly purposed. It can differentiate a slogan from others by the brand name and the special rhyming which is the identity of the slogan. Don’t just book it, Thomas Cook it –Thomas Cook ( A fall-back position is to use a rhyme and mention the brand name without it actually rhyming. It is not so effective, perhaps, because the brand name is not highlighted. Austrian. Like a smile in the sky - Austrian Airlines Use of alliteration Alliteration can help the slogans achieve the strong beating rhythm needed to make it a repeatable sentence. By so doing, the sentences are more slogan-styled. They can be easily remembered by the audience. Britain's best business bank - Allied Irish Bank Functional... Fashionable... Formidable... – Fila However, this technique is not employed by airline advertisers. 4.1.2 Lexical features 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 ad is speaking to you face to face, making sincere promises, honest recommendations. In so doing, the ad 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. You’ll love the way we fly –Delta Air Lines Sincerely yours, Aeroflot -Aeroflot The use of first person addresser “we” and “us” is the most direct way to tell the receiver what the sponsor of an ad 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. Come fly with us –Pakistan International Airlines We really move our tails for you –Continental Airlines Use of comparison 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 cannot say: “Brand X is better than brand Y.” Otherwise, unpleasant lawsuits will inevitably occur. They can say: Lower fares, fewer restrictions –America West Airlines THAI – Smooth as Silk –Thai Airways International Use of “every” “always”, etc. These words are often used in ads 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. Being there is everything -Air New Zealand Use of “no”, “none”, etc. Negatives tend to be used very sparingly because the purpose of all ad 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. No ordinary airline –Virgin Atlantic Airways Use of verbs Although the ultimate purpose of advertising is to persuade consumers to buy its products, advertisements seldom use the word “buy” in it. Statistics show only two out of ten advertisements use the verb “buy” directly. On one hand, the advertisers try their best to promote their product; on the other hand, they don’t want to give the consumers a feeling of spending their money. Therefore, the choice of verbs is very careful in advertising. 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. British Airways. To fly. To serve - British Airways Or We’ll take more care of you - British Airways Yet, it is an outstanding feature in the use of verbs among airline slogans that the word “fly” is fully used. There are up to 18 slogans with the words “fly” in them, accounting for 36%. Here are some examples, British Airways. To fly. To serve. -British Airways- More than just flying -Iberia Airline- Because you were bore to fly. -TAM Brazilian Airlines- This is quite easy to understand as the advertisers are all airlines. Obviously, they would like to highlight the characteristic of their service by reminding customers of the magical feelings of flying. This is done not only by the word “fly” but also by other words denoting the action of flying such as “sky”, “wings”, “the air”, “up” and so on. Alitalia. The wings of Italy. -Alitalia- Your Island in the Sky -Air Pacific- Something special in the air -American Airlines- Use of geographical names and brand names 29 out of 50 slogans have their brand names or geographical names referring to their countries or regions in them. Braathens. The wings of Norway -Braathens- Air Canada. Defy obstacles. -Air Canada- Shining through-Philippine Airlines -PAL- One fact that can be used to explain the high frequency of band names and geographical names appearing in airline slogans is that when people travel from one place, they will find the airlines either of their departure or destination. Brand names, and especially geographical names will act as good indicators of the place they are from, which helps customers a lot in choosing their airlines. Moreover, as national and world-famous airlines have their activities all over the world, the use of geographical names contributes to their introduction of their own places. Use of everyday language Every day sentences tend to be overly used in everyday life, but it can be very forceful when used in an ad slogan. These sentences travel very fast, because anyone can remember it without any effort. It’s something popularized without much publicity. It’s time to fly -United Airlines Number of words in airline slogans Number of words in a slogan Number of slogans counted 3 8 4 16 5 9 6 6 7 5 8 3 9 2 10 1 From this chart we can see that four-worded slogans are the most favored in the creation of airline slogans with 16 out of 50 ones, and three- or five-worded slogans are also widely used. The number of slogans of other length decreases dramatically. The longest slogan in the study has 10 words, which is a rare case, because it is too lengthy to be a slogan. And too short slogans can not express fully the rich and multi-layered meaning that a slogan wants to convey. It can be concluded that the average length of an airline slogan is 5.12 words. It is the trend for slogans to be short, about 3 to 6 words long. 4.1.3 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 ad slogan is to be memorable and recited. So short and simple sentences serve advertising slogans right. Hawaii Starts Here –Hawaiian Airlines You’re going to like us –Trans World Airlines (TWA) Use of phrases 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 kind 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. Going beyond expectations - Malaysia Airlines Cathay Pacific. The heart of Asia – Cathay Pacific Airways Use of questions Questions 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 themeline or tagline) begin as successful headlines. So it is not surprising that the slogan can use questions too for the same purpose. How do we love you? Let us count the ways – Southwest Airlines Use of imperative sentences In an ad, the slogan is the last few words said. Although it’s just a few words, the admen don’t let it go at that. They use every opportunity to exhort the potential customers to act, to buy and to consume. It is not surprising that they would use imperative sentences to make a slogan while this kind of sentence is the most direct way to achieve the ideal effect. Catch the Spirit! – Spirit Airlines Fly the friendly skies of United – United Airlines Use of tenses Almost all the ad slogans use simple present tense to satisfy the customer’s desire to know the present state of the product he wants to buy. But there is another aspect of the simple present: its implication of universality and timelessness. We have to earn our wings everyday – Eastern Airlines Delta Air Lines. We love to fly. And it shows – Delta Air Lines Yet, other tenses are also used among airlines slogans: The future tense: JetBlue. You’ll Want to Fly Again! – JetBlue Airways You’re going to like us – Trans World Airlines (TWA) The past tense: Because you were born to fly – TAM Brazilian Airlines 4.1.4 Semantic features Semantic ambiguity Ad slogans have to conform to the code of commercial practice. Semantic ambiguity is needed to avoid any possible legal liability. Lower fares, fewer restrictions – America West Airlines 4.2 Discussions 4.2.1 Typical phonological features of airline slogans Features Number (/50) Proportion (%) Examples Use of rhymes 3 6% Don’t just book it, Thomas Cook it. - Thomas Cook - Austrian. Like a smile in the sky. - Austrian Airlines - Use of alliteration 0 0% Table 1: Slogan language at phonological level As it is shown in the table above, only 6% of slogans chosen use rhymes as a way to make themselves remembered by the flight-makers. Among them, only one slogan, which is from Thomas Cook airline, has a word rhyming with its brand name. The low proportion of slogans using this language feature can be explained by the fact that it is never an easy task to create a rhyming slogan as it requires an art of using language from the advertisers. The rhyming words carry with them the rhythm each time the customer reads it out loud. This interesting thing will remind them of the airline, especially in this case when the brand name is included in the slogan. Moreover, the noun Thomas Cook has been used as a verb, which makes the whole sentence act as an imperative one urging the customer to use the service of the airline. It can be agreed that slogans using this feature can be really successful in leaving an impression on its potential customers. In fact, the use of alliteration is so rare even among slogans of all kinds of advertising, not to mention the fact that the brand name of many airlines usually consists of more than one word with different initial letters, which causes a difficulty employing the art of alliteration to create impressive slogans to the advertisers. 4.2.2 Typical lexical features of airline slogans Features Number (/50) Proportion (%) Examples Use of first and second person addressee 16 32% Now you’re really flying! - Cathay Pacific Airways – We know why you fly. We’re American Airlines. - American Airlines - Use of unqualified comparison 3 6% Lower fares, fewer restrictions. America West Airlines - We Better be Better, We’re Braniff. Braniff Airlines - Use of “every”, “always”, etc. 2 4% Now everyone can fly. Air Asia - Being there is everything. Air New Zealand - Use of “no”, “none”, etc. 2 4% No ordinary airline Virgin Atlantic Airways - Lufthansa. There’s no better way to fly. Lufthansa - Table 2: Slogan language at lexical level The table shows a great number of slogans using second person addressee, with 16 out of 50 slogans. This should be the most common technique among advertisers as this helps to bring a close relationship between customers and service providers. At the same time, service providers, or airlines in this case, stand a good chance to introduce themselves in the simplest and easiest way to their customers. Moreover, as stated above, this feature brings each customer the feeling that (s)he is being taken cared of individually. The three next features have relatively equal frequency of appearance among airline slogans, with more or less than 4% of slogans chosen. This may not be considered a popular trend in airline slogans. Among 50 slogans, none uses coined words, loanwords or compound words. This fact once again proves that airline advertisers have tried to find the easiest way to their multi-national customers. 4.2.3 Typical syntactic features of airline slogans Features Number (/50) Proportion (%) Examples Use of short simple sentences 14 28% Singapore Girl, you’re a great way to fly. - Singapore Airlines - Hawaii Starts Here. - Hawaiian Airlines - Use of phrases 28 56% Swiss. The refreshing air. - Swissair - THAI - Smooth As Silk - Thai Airways International Use of questions 1 2% How do we love you? Let us count the ways. - Southwest Airlines- Use of imperative sentences 8 16% Fly Euro Shuttle! - Air Berlin - Work Hard. Fly Right. - Continental Airlines - Table 3: Slogan language at syntactic level First of all, it must be mentioned that 100% airline slogans use the simple present tense as a claim of their ever-present and everlasting position. Phrases are mostly chosen by airline advertisers because this feature can ensure the briefness and condensedness of the slogans where only the most informative or the most important message remains. More than half of the slogans studied, which account for 56%, are featured with this technique. The second most common trend is the use of short simple sentences, which holds up to 28%. The message here is quite the same as when advertisers use short phrases. Nevertheless, the difference is that whereas these slogans make their messages complete sentences, those of the previous kind are divided into two phrases. This should be considered different appearance of the same content. Not as common as the first two features, imperative sentences account for 16% of all the slogans studied. However, this can be called a high ratio compared with other features. Airline advertisers do not lose the chance to make full use of the urging sense of imperative sentences. Questions and idioms are not used commonly among airlines slogans, as shown in the table. This may be because idioms are closely linked with culture. The use of idioms in slogans may be really interesting in this country but it can cause misunderstanding or difficulty understanding in others. Therefore, this should be in intelligent choice of airline advertisers not to choose these features to include in their slogans. 4.2.4 Typical semantic features of airline slogans No use of pun is found in the 50 representatives of airline slogans in this study. With the use of semantic ambiguity, only 6% use unqualified comparison as one way to make their meanings vague, as presented in table 2. CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 5.1 Recapitulations The language of advertisements in general and of slogans in particular is an interesting issue to be studied by both linguists and copywriters as it requires so much effort in conveying so profound meanings via such condensed messages. This requirement forces admen to mostly employ different tactics in their choices of words to make impressive and unforgettable slogans. In airlines services, which are used by an increasing number of people around the world as one of the most convenient means of transport, slogans have their own characteristics. They have to be acceptable and appealing on an international and multi-cultural scale. In this study, a number of 50 airlines’ slogans have been investigated to find out the mostly-shared characteristics in the English language employed by the most successful airlines in the world. The investigation has helped the author to draw some conclusions which will obviously be appreciated by airline advertisers. Only a few slogans use rhymes and alliteration as a means to make their slogans memorable. The use of first and second person addressee seems to be the most lexical feature among airline slogans. Besides, the use of unqualified comparison, the use of such words as “every”, “always”, “no” “none”, etc. are among the most popular tactics of airline advertisers. The most special features of airline slogans include the reminder of geographical names and brand names as well as the frequent appearance of the word “fly” and other words referring to airlines. In the syntactic respect, phrases are mostly used by airline admen, probably due to the requirement of conciseness in slogans. This requirement also explains the fact that short simple sentences, imperative sentences and short questions are very popular in airline slogans. The average number of words in an airline slogan is 5.12. 5.3 Implications for the use of language in creating airline slogans in Vietnam In Vietnam nowadays, the most popular airline is Vietnam Airlines – the Vietnamese national one. Among other airline service providers are Pacific Airlines, JetStar airlines which supply cheap services. It is due to the small number of airlines in Vietnam that the market is much less competitive than that in other countries. Moreover, it seems that the advertising campaigns and especially the slogans of Vietnamese airlines are not paid enough attention. Take the Vietnam Airlines’ slogan as an example, “Bringing Vietnamese culture to the world” is a simple phrase which can hardly place any impression in flight-makers’ minds. It can be concluded that Vietnamese airlines’ slogans should bear more striking lexical as well as phonological features to be more effective. They should refer more either to their advertised product, which is air services, or to Vietnam as a wonderful and promising destination by using rhymed words so that the name “Vietnam” can ring a bell to foreign customers. 5.3 Suggestions for further researches This study has attempted to investigate the style of English language employed in the world-famous airlines’ slogans and has come out with the most popular linguistic features in advertising slogans’ language. However, due to the limitations of time and knowledge, this study has only investigated 50 airline slogans, which makes the results less generalized. Therefore, suggestions for further research may include: A larger population of data could be employed so that a more general and more exact view could be obtained. The cultural respect, which can make a great effect on the images and the words employed in advertising slogans, can be investigated. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bovee, C. L., and Thill, J. V. 2000. Business Communication Today. 6th ed. New York: Prentice Hall, Inc. Brown, G. and G. Yule. 1983. Discourse Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Churchill, G.A. Jr. & Peter, J.P. 1998. Marketing – Creating Value for Customers. Boston: Irwin McGraw-Hill. Crystal, D. 1992. Introducing Linguistics. London: Penguin. Fiske, J. 1990. Introduction to Communication Studies. Routledge. Galperin, I.R. 1977. Stylistics. Moscow: Higher School. Geis, M.L. 1982. The Language of Television Advertising. New York and London: Academic Press. Gumperz, J.J. 1982. Discourse Strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Guy Cook. 1989. Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Halliday, M.A.K., & Hasan, R. 1985. Language, context, and text: aspects of language in a social-semiotic perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hoang Thi Thuy. 2005. Advertising Language Used in Trade: A Comparison in English and Vietnamese. Hanoi. Hoàng Trọng, Nguyễn Văn Thi (2000). Quảng cáo. NXB Đại học Quốc gia Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh. Holmes, H.K. 2005. Advertising as Multilingual Communication. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Holland, R. & A. Lewis. 2000. Written Discourse. The University of Birmingham: The Centre for English Language Studies. Hybels, S. & Weaver, R. L. 1992. Communicating Effectively. New York: McGraw Hill. Hymes, D. 1964. Language in culture and society. New York: Harper and Row. Jeffrey Schrank. The Language of Advertising Claims. Handout. (Internet) Kramsch, C. 1998. Language and Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Martin, J.R. 1985. Factual Writing: exploring and challenging social reality. Victoria: Deakin University Press. Michael, M. 1991. Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers. Cambridge University Press. Nunan, D. 1993. Introducing Discourse Analysis. London: Penguin Group. Schrank, J. 1996. The Language of Advertising Claims. Seliger, H. W. and Shohamy, E. (1989). Second Language Research Methods. New York: Oxford University Press. Smith, R.N. 1982. A Functional View of the Linguistics of Advertising, in R.J. di Petro (ed.), Linguistics and the Professions – Vol. 8 of Advances in Discourse Processes. New Jersey: Ablex Publishing, pp. 189-99. Tran Thien Tu. 2007. Presupposition and Implicature in English and Vietnamese Advertising Slogans. Hanoi. Whittier, Charles L. 1958. Creative Advertising. New York: Holt and Company. Wisker, G. (2001). The Postgraduate Research Handbook. New York: Palgrave. Websites APPENDICES SLOGANS OF WORLD-FAMOUS AIRLINES No. Airlines Country Slogans 1. Aeroflot Russia Sincerely yours, Aeroflot 2. Air Asia Now everyone can fly 3. Air Berlin Germany Fly Euro Shuttle! 4. Air Canada Canada Air Canada. Defy obstacles. World class, worldwide. 5. Air France France Air France. One of the best places on earth 6. AIR INDIA India your place in the sky 7. Air New Zealand New Zealand Being there is everything The world's warmest welcome. 8. Air Pacific Your Island in the Sky. 9. Air Tanzania The wings of Kilimanjaro 10. Alitalia Italy Alitalia. The wings of Italy. 11. America West Airlines The USA Lower fares, fewer restrictions 12. American Airlines The USA We know why you fly. We're American Airlines. Something special in the air.Doing What We Do Best 13. Asiana Airlines South Korea To the heart of Seoul and beyond 14. Austrian Airlines Austria Austrian. Fly with friends. The most friendly airline.Austrian. Like a smile in the sky. 15. Bangkok Airways Thailand Asia's boutique airline - Exclusive Service to Exotic Gems 16. Braathens Braathens. The wings of Norway. 17. Braniff Airlines When you got it, flaunt it. We Better be Better, We're Braniff 18. British Airways The UK British Airways. To fly. To serve. The world's favourite airline.We'll take more care of you 19. Cathay Pacific Airways Hong Kong Cathay Pacific. The heart of Asia Now you’re really flying. 20. Continental Airlines Work Hard. Fly Right. We really move our tails for you 21. Delta Air Lines The USA Delta Air Lines. We love to fly. And it shows. Delta gets you thereYou'll love the way we flyDelta is ready when you areAirline of the South 22. Eastern Airlines We have to earn our wings every day. Eastern Airlines. The Wings of Man. 23. Eva Air Taiwan Eva Air. The wings of Taiwan. 24. Frontier Airlines, United States The USA Frontier. A whole different animal 25. Germanwings Germany Fly high, pay low. 26. Hawaiian Airlines Hawaii Starts Here. 27. Iberia airline Spain Iberia. One of the world's best airlines. More than just flying 28. Jet Airways India The Joy Of Flying ! 29. JetBlue Airways The USA JetBlue. You'll Want to Fly Again! 30. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines The Netherlands KLM. The Reliable Airline 31. LAN Chile Airlines (now - LAN) Chile The Spirit of the South of the World 32. Lufthansa Germany Lufthansa. There's no better way to fly 33. Malaysia Airlines Malaysia Going beyond expectations 34. Northwest Airlines Northwest Airlines. Some people just know how to fly. 35. Pakistan International Airline Pakistan Come fly with us 36. PAL The Philippines Shining Through - Philippine Airlines 37 PSA Catch our smile 38. Qantas Australia Qantas. The Spirit of Australia 39. Singapore Airlines Singapore Singapore Girl, you're a great way to fly 40. Southwest Airlines Stop Searching. Start Traveling. A Symbol of FreedomSouthwest Airlines. THE Low Fare AirlineHow do we love you? Let us count the ways. 41. Spirit Airlines The USA Catch the Spirit! 42. Swissair - Swiss International Airlines Switzerland Swiss. The refreshing airline. The world's most refreshing airline. 43. TAM Brazilian Airlines Brazil Because you were born to fly 44. Thai Airways International Thailand THAI - Smooth As Silk 45. Thomas Cook Don't just book it, Thomas Cook it 46. Trans World Airlines (TWA) One mission. Yours. TWA. Up, up, and away.You're going to like us. 47. United Airlines The USA It's time to fly Life is a journey, travel it well. Fly the friendly skies of United. 48. Virgin Atlantic Airways No ordinary airline 49. Vietnam Airlines Bringing Vietnamese Culture to the World 50. Western Airlines The only way to fly BIBLIOGRAPHY Brown, G. and G. Yule. 1983. Discourse Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Churchill, G.A. Jr. & Peter, J.P. 1998. Marketing – Creating Value for Customers. Boston: Irwin McGraw-Hill. Crystal, D. 1992. Introducing Linguistics. London: Penguin. Fiske, J. 1990. Introduction to Communication Studies. Routledge. Galperin, I.R. 1977. Stylistics. Moscow: Higher School. Geis, M.L. 1982. The Language of Television Advertising. New York and London: Academic Press. Gumperz, J.J. 1982. Discourse Strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Guy Cook. 1989. Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Halliday, M.A.K., & Hasan, R. 1985. Language, context, and text: aspects of language in a social-semiotic perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hoang Thi Thuy. 2005. Advertising Language Used in Trade: A Comparison in English and Vietnamese. Hanoi. Hoàng Trọng, Nguyễn Văn Thi (2000). Quảng cáo. NXB Đại học Quốc gia Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh. Holmes, H.K. 2005. Advertising as Multilingual Communication. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Hybels, S. & Weaver, R. L. 1992. Communicating Effectively. New York: McGraw Hill. Hymes, D. 1964. Language in culture and society. New York: Harper and Row. Jeffrey Schrank. The Language of Advertising Claims. Handout. (Internet) Kramsch, C. 1998. Language and Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press. MICHAEL, M. 1991. Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers. Cambridge University Press. Nunan, D. 1993. Introducing Discourse Analysis. London: Penguin Group. Schrank, J. 1996. The Language of Advertising Claims. Seliger, H. W. and Shohamy, E. (1989). Second Language Research Methods. New York: Oxford University Press. Smith, R.N. 1982. A Functional View of the Linguistics of Advertising, in R.J. di Petro (ed.), Linguistics and the Professions – Vol. 8 of Advances in Discourse Processes. New Jersey: Ablex Publishing, pp. 189-99. Tran Thien Tu. 2007. Presupposition and Implicature in English and Vietnamese Advertising Slogans. Hanoi. Whittier, Charles L. 1958. Creative Advertising. New York: Holt and Company. Wisker, G. (2001). The Postgraduate Research Handbook. New York: Palgrave. Websites