Image vs. Word in Advertising
Maximilian Rugen
Integrated Language Studies
Hasanen WS 13/14
Image vs. Word
An essay on which one is more powerful in advertising and to what extent
Students often struggle to comprehend the content of difficult texts. In that case it is a common and effective strategy to visualise words in order to achieve a better understanding.
In addition to that, the idiom "a picture is worth a thousand words" seems to be on every ad man 's mind as it is almost impossible to take a walk downtown avoiding advertising images.
The question coming up in both cases is whether the image is stronger than the word?
Images are more powerful since they are considerably easier to remember than complex sentence structures. At the first sight, a picture is able to convey a whole statement or situation. In contrast to that, words have to be combined into substantially more complicated compositions to equal this quality. It is a fact that by this means the image is more "colourful". High-quality advertising has to catch attention immediately to have the opportunity to sink deep into the addressee 's memory. People today are increasingly confronted with sensory impressions, to notice advertising anyway, it has to stand out of this turmoil. A mere text is definitely not distinguishable from a mass of impressions as it does not catch the eye and needs far to long to be decoded. Otherwise, it might be true that words are also able to cause the production of images in people 's minds, however, it is certain that images are more immediate and rather likely to stick in the consumer 's memory. A suitable example for long-lasting remembrance of an image is part of an advertising campaign by
United Colors of Benetton. The company used the photograph of a half-naked black man with an artificial hand, to which a spoon was attached to. Just looking at this shocking picture, one automatically comes up with a lot of questions about the
Integrated Language Studies
Hasanen WS 13/14
Image vs. Word
An essay on which one is more powerful in advertising and to what extent
Students often struggle to comprehend the content of difficult texts. In that case it is a common and effective strategy to visualise words in order to achieve a better understanding.
In addition to that, the idiom "a picture is worth a thousand words" seems to be on every ad man 's mind as it is almost impossible to take a walk downtown avoiding advertising images.
The question coming up in both cases is whether the image is stronger than the word?
Images are more powerful since they are considerably easier to remember than complex sentence structures. At the first sight, a picture is able to convey a whole statement or situation. In contrast to that, words have to be combined into substantially more complicated compositions to equal this quality. It is a fact that by this means the image is more "colourful". High-quality advertising has to catch attention immediately to have the opportunity to sink deep into the addressee 's memory. People today are increasingly confronted with sensory impressions, to notice advertising anyway, it has to stand out of this turmoil. A mere text is definitely not distinguishable from a mass of impressions as it does not catch the eye and needs far to long to be decoded. Otherwise, it might be true that words are also able to cause the production of images in people 's minds, however, it is certain that images are more immediate and rather likely to stick in the consumer 's memory. A suitable example for long-lasting remembrance of an image is part of an advertising campaign by
United Colors of Benetton. The company used the photograph of a half-naked black man with an artificial hand, to which a spoon was attached to. Just looking at this shocking picture, one automatically comes up with a lot of questions about the
References: Hornikx, Jos; van Meurs, Frank; de Boer, Anna. “English or a Local Language in Advertising.” Journal of Business Communication. Volume 47. (2010): 169-189. Food for life. United Colors of Benetton. www.wfp.org, www.benetton.com/food. Web. 01.12.13 Levi 's engineered jeans. Levi Strauss & Co. www. levi.com. Web. 01.12.13 Imagine this is yours. World Wide Fund For Nature. www.wwf.com. Web. 01.12.13