F*ckin' Word Play Update

Just about a month ago, I posted F*ckin' Word Play which included an image from the advertising campaign of the United Kingdom furniture company Sofa King.

Today, Language Log brought to my attention (in a delightfully humorous post) the fact that Sofa King's slogan was recently "branded offensive by the Advertising Standards Authority".

Ay-Yay-Yay, that is Sofa King lame - Sofa King lighten up.

Language Log also brought to my attention this 2007 Saturday Night Live sketch about Sofa King.

Sofa King funny.

Suffix-Based Advertising Campaign is an Exercise in Futility

I think I see what the advertising agency was aiming for by centering this advertising campaign around the "-ility" suffix, based on the positive aspects of the definitions for the suffix listed below.

-ility
(Latin: a suffix; meaning, ability, ability to) wordinfo.info

-ility 
a combination of -ile and -ity, used to form abstract nouns from adjectives with stems in -ile: agility; civility; ability. dictionary.com

However, what immediately popped into my mind were the following words:

debility

fragility

futility

hostility

senility

volatility

invisibility

irritability

inaccessibility

irresponsibility

susceptibility

Does McDonald's Need a Lesson in Semantics?

When passing this billboard on the expressway, the first thing that enters my mind is the term "trophy wife". I have to believe that a comparison of "trophy burger" to "trophy wife" is what the ad agency was aiming for when they created this ad for McDonald's. However, I am not so sure that the intended comparison is the best choice semantically for this advertising slogan.





While it is true that some people believe a trophy wife is a good thing, the term is also considered to be quite negative by others.


"To some, the term “trophy wife” connotes an enviable achievement, while to others it's an idiomatic synonym for 'idiot.'" - AskMen.com


"Trophy wife: Stupid bimbo, who sits at home all day giving out to the pool boy, while reading Hello! and OK magazine, because her own life is so pathetic." - Urban Dictionary


I don't think I would risk the chance of having people associate my burger with the negative aspects of a trophy wife.

A Homonym Makes for a Wonderfully Appropriate Advertising Slogan - No Ifs, Ands or Buts About It

"No Ifs, Ands or Butts."

Apparently Hebrew National has been running 15- and 30-second spot television commercials with the above illustration and slogan for a couple of years now. As I don't watch a whole lot of TV, I just saw saw the ad for the first time about a week ago and I love it.

I grew up loving hot dogs, all the while being told that they are made out of the least desirable parts of animals, so I love the homonymical wordplay involved with the cliche "no ifs, ands or buts about it," and with the word "butt."

Advertising Slogans

I just received an e-mail from a friend of mine who works in the advertising business. He was responding to a voicemail I left him three days ago that he just received today.

Verizon - We never stop working for you. Then again, we may.
Verizon - Stay connected. Get a land line.
Verizon - More bars than any other service, except in (name your town) which already has more than enough bars.*

*Nice use of a homonym as he was referring to the number of establishments that sell liquor in the town which I won't mention by name.

Thanks for the laugh my friend.

Advertising Slogan Semantics

The Virtual Linguist recently posted a list of the twenty most frequently used words found in advertising slogans in the last twenty years. I thought it might be fun to semantically analyze some of these word choices. The words (in order) are:

you, your, we, world, best, more, good, better, new, taste, people, our, first, like, don't, most, only, quality, great and choice.

1 and 2) The choices of the words you and your seems obvious and it is understandable that they are the first and second most popular; both words cause each and every person who reads or hears the slogan to feel that they are being addressed personally.
3 and 12) The word we (as in "you and me") causes each person to feel included and everybody wants to feel included. Similarly, our ("yours and mine") is inclusive semantically.
4, 5 and 6) The word world could also be thought of as inclusive because each person is part of the world (as in "we are the world"). However, I think it is probably the case that world as the place where we all live would be the more common semantic use in slogans. Which brings us to
the word best - we all want the best in the world of whatever it is that is being sold, and most people want even more of the best.
7) I would think that the use of the word good must occur in a slogan in the semantic sense of good versus bad and not good, better, best (the good, better, best sense implies that good is just acceptable).
8) In advertising the word new is used to mean better, therefore these two words are semantically equivalent.
9) When it comes to the word taste, there are two different semantic senses that slogans could be promoting - taste versus tasteless food wise (these pancakes taste great) or taste as in discrimination (his sense of taste is exhibited by the car he drives).
18) When the word quality is used as an adjective it refers to something that is excellent or superior; however, something can be poor quality if the word quality appears semantically as a noun.