Pragmatic Annalysis of Parody in Advertising Discourse

Abstract：Parody is a rhetoric device used widely nowadays in English advertisement， including imitation of words and sentences. This paper analyzes in detail the types， characteristics and functions of parody applied in advertising. These rhetoric effects of parody in advertising discourse are worth peoples attention and effective use.

Key words：parody； English advertising； pragmatic analysis

中圖分类号：H319 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1672-1578（2018）10-0001-02

1 Introduction

Parody is a rhetorical device used in advertising discourse， which is mainly included in imitation of idioms， sayings and so on. Parody in advertising discourse can not only make the expression more flexible and interesting， attracting people's attention， and various creative parody forms of discourse creation left a precious material for the study of language. The use of parody in advertisement has its important commercial effect； good parody advertisement can leave a deep impression in the minds of consumers to induce people to buy. This paper attempts to make an analysis of the uses parody in English advertising discourse， based on the relevance theory， in particular the types， characteristics and functions of parody used in English advertising discourse.

2 The Use of Parody in English Advertising Discourse

Parody has become the most frequently used rhetorical in English advertisement. In English advertising discourse， the use of parody are generally well known language materials， such as idioms， sayings， proverbs， aphorisms， poems etc， which can be illustrated as follows.

2.1 Imitation of Words

Imitation of words is the imitation of the pronunciation or shape of some words well known.. Although the form of these words has changed， people can think of the former words as soon as they see the new words. And when people watch ads， these new words will surprise people.

An advertisement in The Times that “the prose with out the con”. The advertisement imitates the English idiom “the pros and the cons”. This English idiom is generally used to describe the two reasons for the positive and negative aspects. In the advertisement adapted from The Times， “pros” was changed to “prose”. First of all， it made use of the similarity of form and pronunciation to make the advertisement easy to be accepted by the readers； The second is the use of another meaning of “con”， the expression of the meaning of this advertisement to the readers that our newspaper articles are real， not to confuse the public， so that readers can't read the fake news and know the truth of the incident.

2.2 Imitation of Sentences

Imitation of sentences is generally known as the imitation of phrases， proverbs， sayings， proverbs， theory etc. And the imitation of sentences is not just a simple imitation； it will be adapted to the original sentence according to the plot of the advertisement. The adapted sentences are not only convenient for people to remember， but can also be twice the result of half the effort because of their interesting and humorous forms.

A Real Estate Company advertising for Chinese consumers is that“Where there is water，there is wealth.” It is obvious that the advertisement imitates a very famous English famous motto：“Where there is a will，there is a way.” We all know the meaning of this saying， that is， as long as one has a goal and a strong will， then what he does will succeed. And to the Real Estate Company，“water” replaces the word “will” and “the word “way” turns into “wealth”. Therefore， this advertisement fully expresses what Real Estate Company wants to convey to consumers： our house is very well situated. If you buy our house， your life will be better and better， and your career will be on the upgrade. At the same time， it is not hard to see that there is ingenuity in this advertisement that it has added Chinese Feng Shui to advertising. It caters to the Chinese consumers to buy a house always to see the Feng Shui， that is， whether the location of the house is a good or not.

3 The Characteristics of Parody in English Advertising Discourse

The use of the parody in English advertisements is by readers who are familiar with and understand the original idioms， proverbs and quotes， to reduce cognitive effort of readers for parody advertisements， and then readers with minimal effort， to get the best context and intention understanding in the advertisements. In this process， the English advertising creators deliberately use the sentence which readers are familiar with and then create a new and unique form to recreate this sentence. Thus they induce readers to reasoning the meanings in English Advertisements.

3.1 Flexibility

The object of parody is varied， can include idioms， sayings， proverbs， aphorisms， poems etc. Advertisers can make all kinds of creation according to the requirements of the advertising situation and the preferences of the products and the consumer's preferences. Therefore， the source of parody is inexhaustible. At the same time， imitation of idioms and proverbs can also be copied again to create different works， so English advertisement is flexible.

The flexibility of parody in English advertisement sometimes exists between several advertising. An American glassware advertisement is written in this way that “Dont show me the crystal， show me Calway.” In this advertisement，"Calway" is the brand of the glassware， and the "crystal" is used to compare the glassware. It can be seen that advertisers want to say that the glassware they produce is of high quality and is as clear as crystal. But there is an advertisement in Japan：“Dont say show me another， say give me Brother.” This is the English advertisement for the Japanese Brother typewriter， and the “Brother” is their brand. It's obvious that this advertisement imitates ad the last glassware advertisement. A man who has seen the last advertisement can see the similarities between these two advertisements. But this kind of parody is not end. There was a Black Sister toothpaste advertisement writing that “Dont show me any other， but show me Black Sister”. The syntactical structure of this advertisement is almost same with the front two ads. However， it is flexible to use above two advertisements； so， the advertisement is also memorable by people.

3.2 Vividness

Every parody in English advertisement is created by advertisers who set their wit to work. In order to attract people's attention， they add a lot of lively elements into them， which makes people， feel interesting and laugh when they read or watch advertisements. Therefore， vividness is an important feature of Parody English advertisements. Such as an advertisement for prudent driving to make people pay attention to the importance of safe driving said that “Better late than the late.” It means that even if you're late， it's much better to drive too fast to lose your life at the end. This form of advertisement parodies the idiom “Better late than never” The use of "late" is very ingenious in advertising on traffic safety. The first "late" refers to the meaning of being late； and the second "late" means the meaning of death. Although the advertisement has only a few words， it is very lively and interesting. The tone of the advertisement is not ordered or serious， but it plays a warning role to the driver in a relaxed and humorous way. “A word for wealthy” it' is an ad for Citibank. That parodies “A word to the wise.” which means that in the face of a smart person， you often do not need to say more， the smart person can also understand the meaning of your words. Therefore， Citibank's advertisements also use short words， vividly expressing their conveying meaning to customers， that is， Citibank is a good place to make you earn money

4 The Function of Parody in English Advertising Discourse

4.1 Language Sense Effect

English advertisement by means of parodying some

poems， lyrics can give people a sense of language beauty[1]. The beauty of this language is mainly reflected in the advertising text created melody， rhythm， tone etc. Once the advertisement has the effect of this sense of language， the original and dull language will become lively and nifty， and then make consumers feel relaxed and read catchy and powerful. For example， there is a chewing gum advertisement that “PK chewing gum， penny for a packet. First you chew it， and then you crack it. Then you stick it to your jacket. PK chewing gum， penny for a packet.”[2]It was an advertising song that used to be popular among children in Northern Ireland in 1940s. The ad imitates the form of poetry， so the ad makes it very rhythmic to read.

4.2 Inspiring Imagination

The object of English parody advertising itself is proverbs， poems， and so on which is known by people， So people can't help thinking of what they know when they look at this kind of English advertising. It is in this process， people will compare English advertising content with their own memory content， to determine the two differences and English advertising in what place use parody. And sometimes the content of English advertisements is more implicit， so it is more necessary for people to inspire their imagination to draw a conclusion. Finally， this kind of English advertisement can also bring people into a kind of prospect through people's association. Though consumers haven't experienced or lived in the world depicted by advertisements， consumers can feel like they are really entering the scene of advertisements， enjoying a different beauty through the description and vivid language of English advertisements.

5 Conclusion

Parody in English advertising not only makes the ads more interesting and uses a humorous and ironic way to impress people. It is different from the formal serious advertising； consumers can feel relaxed and gain the psychological suggestion， ultimately contributed to the purchase behavior. This type of English advertisement in structure and pronunciation is antithesis as well as rhyme. So， it has a beautiful sense of language and rich emotional coloring， arousing people's imagination. And it has a good aesthetic effect of parody in English advertising but also created many new words， and some of these words become the popular language， which enrich people's life and have important academic significance to the study of language. However， English parody ads also exist some problems in the structure and thoughts and feelings， repeated and identical problems also appeared frequently， these problems to the advertising industry and the young people's life have had a bad influence. So， English parody should pay more attention to the adjustment of the structure to meet the requirements， convey positive thoughts and feelings with the correct commercial information， and the most important thing is to carry out independent innovation， create more new and interesting English parody in advertising.

Bibliography：

[1] 楊艳.仿拟修辞在英语广告中的运用[J].佳木斯教育学院学报，2011（4）：298-300.

[2] 杨柳.关联理论背景下的广告语仿拟现象研究[D].东北师范大学，2012：28.

[3] 周培培.论广告语体中的仿拟现象[D].河南大学，2012：36.

作者简介：刘彩霞，女，硕士，副教授，研究方向为语篇分析和外语教学。