Analysis Of Jeffery Schrank's The Language Of Advertising

Advertisements are tricky, and often deceiving. The marketing techniques implemented by various companies are meant to attract the consumers to their products, and simply get them to buy the product. There are ten distinctive methods that Jeffery Schrank notes in his article “The Language of Advertising” including the following: weasel claims, “we’re different and unique” claim, endorsements, rhetorical questions, the “so what” claim, the vague claim, the unfinished claim, the “water is wet” claim, the scientific or statistical claim, and the “compliment the consumer” claim. These claims are discussed in the subsequent paragraphs and example advertisements are given.
The first advertisement is for Carlsberg beer, and it claims that it is “probably the best beer in the world.” This is consider a weasel claim because the advertisement actually says the beer is “probably” the “best,” which Schrank discusses the differences between best and better. Products or companies are allowed to utilize “better” legally if the product is truly better, whereas, “best” means “equal to” in the advertising world. Therefore, this advertisement is technically claiming that

they are probably equal to every other beer out there, but consumers will observe the advertisement as Carlsberg being the top notch beer because it implemented the word best. This advertisement is an example of the “weasel word claim” because ultimately it uses words that look substantial upon first look, but they disintegrate with analysis.
The second advertisement is for the UGG brand boots who claims it “feels like nothing else.” This type technique is called the “we’re different and unique” claim.

This kind of claim states that there is nothing else quite like the product that is being promoted. The trick in this type of technique is that readers often interpret these types of advertisements as a claim to superiority because they are different. In the UGG boots ad, they want others to feel like other products aren’t comparable in terms of how the boot feels. The UGG manufacturer is attempting to say that they have something that no other boot, or shoe business has. However, in reality, there are many products and rip-off brands that have similar “feeling” to the UGG boots. It is never explained how the UGG feels different than the other

shoes.
The next (third) advertisement is a prime example of an endorsement/testimonial ad. In this example, Shaquille O’Neal is an endorser for Icy Hot. In fact, several companies have asked Shaquille O’Neal to be their endorser because of his likeable personality. There aren’t many people who don’t like O’Neal, and he also serves as a role model for many athletes who would be using the products like Icy Hot and Gold Bond. These types are known for hiring an important celebrity or authority figure within society to claim that the product is “awesome,” “unique,” or “worked for them” when in most cases most of these famous figures don’t use the product themselves. Honestly, if O’Neal truly utilizes all the products he endorses for he might need to seek some serious medical attention. He is more than likely only endorsing the product because the business is paying him big bucks to do so. This appeals to an audience because they think if these people who have millions of dollars are utilizing these products, then they should too.
The fourth method of advertising is termed a scientific or statistical claim, which can be represented by the Sensodyne advertisement that says, “9 out of 10 dentist recommend the toothpaste.” There are many questions that could be asked regarding this statistic such as “how many dentist were studied?” or “don’t all dentists recommend toothpaste or brushing your teeth, so why don’t 10 out of 10 recommend the product?” These types of advertisements use some sort of scientific proof or experiment, very specific numbers, or an impressive sounding mystery ingredient as the toothpaste ad did. This can easily deceive customers because there is a “wow” factor about scientific claims, or products proving that they are great. Additionally, there is a possibility that the statistics could be made up. There is nothing on the Sensodyne advertisement that says that the results were collected by a specific means, or how the data was analyzed. Therefore, the company could be completely falsifying the results.
The fifth advertisement exemplifies the rhetorical question advertisement method. The advertisement is for Nike Air shoes and it asks the consumers, “so now what’s your excuse?” They ask this question to the audience because they designed a shoe for both men and women, so they are telling the consumers that there is no excuse to not buy their product since they have shoes for both sexes. The question is meant to get the consumer thinking about the product, and asking himself or herself “why don’t I have those shoes?” In essence, this type of advertisement wants or demands a response from the audience. Additionally, it wants the consumer to go out and buy the product because the question made them think about it. As Nike did, the business asks a question to the consumer, and the role of the consumer is to affirm or deny the product’s goodness from that specific question.
The next (sixth) advertisement by L’Oreal claims, “because you’re worth it” for their lipstick, which is an illustration of the “compliment of the consumer” claim. This ad is exactly how it sounds in that it is meant to make the consumers feel flattered, or special about themselves. Many jewelry and makeup companies use some sort of tag line similar to “because you’re worth it” to gain the attraction of mainly females to their products. Studies often suggest that women have low self-esteem issues especially in regards to their appearance, so L’Oreal seems to be preying on the vulnerability of women, or consumers in general. These forms of advertisements are often successful because it does serve as self-esteem boost for those who need or rather want it. Essentially, if consumers will buy the products that make them “feel good” about themselves.
The seventh advertisement that will be discussed is for Black Swan wine, which is a depiction of the “So What” claim for advertising. They claim that it has a “new look, but same bold taste,” which doesn’t speak to the product at all. This technique does not tell about any real advantage of the product. It does assert that the bottle has a new look, so they aren’t stating anything that is technically false. However, a few people would probably become captivated by the fact that the bottle is new looking, and they would associate that with an upgrade to the product. Even though Black Swan has a new look, the real question is, “how does this make it better than the other wines next to it on the shelf?”
The eighth advertisement is a famous advertisement that most people, especially athletes are aware of. This one is a Nike advertisement that states, “just do it.” Although we all know this claim, what does it really mean? Since the advertisement is simply not clear, it utilizes the vague technique. The slogan “just do it” tells us nothing about Nike products, or what the company wants us to do. However, the simplicity of the slogan has lead it to become one of the most well-known sayings on a variety of t-shirts, bags, socks, etc. By saying “just do it,” but not telling the audience what you want them to do makes them wonder “will the brand actually help or not?” Nike acknowledges that by making you think, the consumers will want to get the product to understand what the product can do for them.
Next, the advertisement for Gillette claims, “Less Drag. Less Pull. Less Irritation,” which is an illustration of an unfinished claim because it claims the product is better, or has less drag, pull, and irritation, but there is no finished comparison. It leaves the consumers with the a big question in their head, “what does Gillette have less drag, pull, and irritation than?” Gillette relies on consumers to make the assumption that they are claiming to be better than all other products. This ad has the words in big, bold letters, and it starts to make a comparison but it is incomplete. By not completing the claim, the ad is vague and creates a want for the product out of pure curiosity.
The last advertisement to be discussed is the “water is wet” claim. An example of this is the Busch Bavarian Beer that claims it is has “that natural beer taste.” However, doesn’t every beer have the natural beer taste? These types of advertisements assert the obvious, or facts that we already know to make the product sound more sophisticated. This kind of ad says something about the product that is true for any brand in that product category. There are no advantages to Busch being “the natural beer taste” because most, if not, all rely on the “natural beer taste” to sell their products. These types of claims can be deceitful to customers because the marketers present the slogan usually in a way that makes it seem as though it is better than the other products, or that other beers aren’t natural. There is a play with words that tries to trick buyers into believing there is superiority of that particular product.
From these preceding examples, it is evident that advertisements will do what they can to get your attention, and even more so your money. There are a variety of methods that marketers and companies employ to take advantage of humanity through several of realms including socially and emotionally. In fact, it is truly hard to find any advertisements or products that don’t make one of the claims that Schrank discussed in his article. It is the goal of every business, market, or product to make money, and unfortunately, in our society they will do almost anything to entice the consumers.