Mini investigation

For my investigation i have chosen to look at how Asda and Tesco use language in order to persuade the consumer to shop at their supermarket. I chose to look at this because we are constantly being exposed to advertising whether it be from watching television,watching videos on youtube, listening to the radio and on billboards etc. My hypothesis is that each supermarket builds the consumer in different ways to target their own specific audience.



Methodology- I chose the first two adverts from each supermarket  both from 2015, this makes it more reliable and shows that i didn't cherry pick the adverts.



Asda's predominant technique is the use of verbs, from both of asda's adverts there is a total of 37 verbs used. The verbs are used as they will have different meanings to each of the target audience members, the words can be interpreted in many ways in which could persuade a certain person to shop in their supermarket and purchase one of their products. Both of the asda adverts share a similarity as they rhyme " mopping,chopping,topping, popping" a polyzygotic is used here as it has a longer lasting effect on the audience, and to make the advert catchy and flow better. The connotations of the specific words will have an effect on the target audience too "steaming" the adjective has many different connotations as it could refer to ironing, cooking and cleaning which could appeal to both men and women.



Asda also uses synthetic personalisation by using second person pronouns "you", "you're" this is used to make the audience feel as though the advert is targeted specifically towards them and to build a relationship with them, it addresses the audience personally and could persuade them to shop at the supermarket and to buy their products. Asda's uses informal language in order to appeal to their target audience which is more likely to be families "roll back", "low prices", this would appeal to families as the recession has meant major cutbacks on the amount that families are spending, they are aware about the prices of products and would much rather shop in a supermarket where they can get more for their money.



Tesco's techniques are using nouns over both of the adverts i only found 5 nouns, the nouns are used to modify the meaning of the words "trusty","finest","carefully" this creates a different target audience compared to that of Asda. Whilst tesco does cater for 'regular' families which is demonstrated in the adverts it appears to be for the more affluent consumer. There is a slight lexical field of the word expensive "finest","ladyship","trusty","carefully","amazing" when these are placed with the product is creates an image of a finer lifestyle.



Another thing that is interesting from the Tesco advert was on the audio of the advert the voice over copies the tone and pitch of the other actors voices this appeals to the target audience as they feel as though that particular moment the advert is talking to them.

In conclusion my hypothesis has been proven and i believe that the evidence that i have collected supports this.