Language style
Not only is language style important in terms of communication, but it is also a key to gaining and maintaining relationships with others (Sipahutar, 2018). Formal style: It is a formal style of language that is mostly used in important and serious situations. Consultative style: Usually used in a semi-formal situation and can be used in everyday life.
Casual style: It is often used in a casual or casual situation that occurs in conversations among family and friends. Intimate style: It is considered a private language that occurs in a small group of people such as family, lovers or close friends such as baby, darling, sweetheart or old. On the other hand, most buyers don't really like this technique because it is aggressive and pushy and can cause them to never buy your products or services again.
Lecture and drama: It is a technique that teaches customers how to solve the given problem, especially by recommending their products or services as a solution. The Slice of Life: It is an extended version of the problem solving technique that will present a drama and problem.
The use of language on advertising
- Concept of advertising
- Characteristics of good advertisement
- Social media marketing
It is mentioned that there are four purposes of language, which are expression, exposition, art and persuasion. However, most of the adjectives used in advertising are not usually used and seen in real daily life. The use of metaphor: A metaphor is one of the most popular language styles used in advertising and is mainly used to compare the product's qualification to something people find valuable, so customers may need to have background knowledge to be able to understand the comparison (Cherono , 2019).
In addition, the use of scientific language can increase consumers' curiosity and make them do more research on the products to help make decisions (Arroyo, 2013). In the era of globalization, social media platforms have become one of the most important parts of our daily lives. This is due to the fact that two thirds of the people in the world use a mobile phone, so there is no denying that almost everyone has one.
However, nowadays Instagram can be considered as one of the most popular social media platforms especially for teenagers and young adults, so this could be the reason why Instagram has become so popular in recent years. It is one of the most popular smartphone applications on both Apple IOS and Android that allows users to share and upload photos and videos (Harrisson, 2020).
Gender in cosmetic advertising
Men today care about improving their appearance for a specific goal, such as career, so they tend to focus mainly on the products that can solve their particular problems, followed by price and brand. It is also said that men sometimes avoid buying products that represent too much femininity because they are worried about gender presentation and judgment from others. Women, on the other hand, tend to be influenced by brands, prices, friends and reviews.
Even though women buy cosmetic products based on brand preferences, they do not stick to the only brand but are likely to try a variety of new brands. In addition, the fact that women buy cosmetic products by reading reviews, increasing number of offline and online reviews via various media such as magazines, blogs and other social media (Infante, 2016). Language use is one of the most important issues that increase the demand of the buyers.
Knowing the differences in how language is used by men and women is essential for marketing planners to choose the language of advertising to increase sales. It is quite clear that men and women have different styles of using language in communication. The good examples can be that men tend to be more direct, aggressive (or commanding), rational and simple, while women tend to be more polite, sensitive, cautious and emotional.
However, gender itself is not the only one that changes the language style differences of users, there are other components that change language use between men and women (Bui. Women also believe that language use determines their social status and position while that men don't really care or notice for that matter.
Related research
The research aims to analyze the language styles mostly used in skin care product ads on Instagram. Brands A and B are some of the most famous and strongest cosmetic brands in the world. This chapter analyzes and discusses the findings of the study and the language style used in the skin care advertisement.
The phrase "Wake up with a boost of energy" in the first sentence represents a straightforward technique with the use of the strong word to encourage the feeling of the customers. The word "perfect" is clearly a soft sell technique as it aims to touch the feelings of the customers. The words "young and glowing" is the use of adjective that plays with the feeling of the customer which is the soft selling technique.
The ad begins by asking "Noticing a friend's skin care slip?" which represents the soft selling technique because the use of question stimulates the curiosity of the recipients. It is a cleaning product for women that consists of using straightforward technique by highlighting the product name and the qualifications that suit each type of skin. The straight forward is used in this ad by telling the name of the product and how it can help the skin.
The direct technique is distinguished by the term "Use the full power of vitamin C" which implies that the customer will receive the full benefit of the product. Using the adverb "instantly brightens the appearance of skin" is considered a soft sell as it evokes the feelings of customers. It also highlights the product name and qualifications that it is considered a straightforward technique.
The ad starts with the name of the product to make it more memorable, which is considered the straightforward technique. Introducing a product's name to customers is considered a straightforward technique, including the use of percentages to show what the product can be beneficial to the skin. According to the results from the table above, it has been found that the simple technique was most used in skin care product advertisements on Instagram, accounting for 43% of all techniques, followed by soft sell (29%), comparison (20%) and hard sell (8 %).
Straight forward, it is clearly seen in the ads for women's skin care products as. In conclusion, there are several methods that represent the direct technique, such as focusing on the product name, using adjectives to describe the product's qualification, using a percentage to support facts about the results after use, and using a verb to describe what the products can really do. Although this technique is not often used, it is undeniable that the comparison technique is inevitable in skin care product advertisements.
To examine the language styles in advertisements of whitening, antiaging and cleansing skin care products.
