Puritans Writing Style Examples

According to Statisa, an online statistics portal, the total media advertising spending in the U.S. in 2013 was an estimated 171.5 billion U.S. dollars. With spending that high, one would think that the majority of U.S. advertising looks like a walk through Times Square. However, much of today’s advertising is the complete opposite. When we look at modern advertising, we see simple ads, influenced by the writing style of the Puritans. Puritan plain style writing is evident in today’s advertising because advertisers use short words, direct statements and everyday, ordinary objects to promote the sales of their product or service.
Short words are simple, yet have much power when used correctly. Therefore advertisers like to use this technique quite often. It’s a way to get one's point across without spending tons of money on space for ads. For example, in one of my two advertisements, the average word length is just over five letters per word, which is the average
word length for the English language. Using this technique can even broaden the advertiser’s viewing audience by opening up their ads to a younger population who do not have as large of a grasp on the English language.
When we talk about a direct statement, we describe the meaning of the statement as straight-forward and not having to be decoded or interpreted in any sort of way.
A direct statement will most often be something factual or simply a command. So when we read something like “Join the revolution,” we are reading a direct statement. It is telling us to “Join the revolution.” It’s a command or call for us to do something. Phrases like the one I just mentioned are often found in advertising today. For example, two other phrases from ads I found read, “No shortcuts,” and “Live outside your comfort zone.” Again, these are telling the reader something directly: “There are no shortcuts,” and “Hey, you! Live outside your comfort zone.” The Puritans with their plain writing style used this technique frequently in their poems, sermons and such. It worked out in their favor, causing their ideals to spread rapidly. Advertisers still use this technique today to persuade the reader into doing something that they want them
to.
When we see someone wearing or doing something that we are knowledgeable about or enjoy doing, we can more easily relate with that person. The Puritans figured this out, and so has the advertising industry. We are drawn to things and scenarios where we feel at place, or where we feel at home. For example, in my case, if I saw some dude walking around downtown with a guitar in his hand, I would be able to relate with him and therefore would be drawn to him since I play the guitar too. When we see advertisements with ordinary objects in them, we can relate to those advertisements and pay more attention to them.
Today, we can thank the Puritans and their plain writing style for much of what we see in advertising today. Using short words, direct statements and everyday, ordinary objects in advertisements reflect how the Puritans are still influencing our culture today, hundreds of years later. Without them, who knows? Would advertisements be filled with long-winded statements about why we should do this, or why we should do that? Would the advertising industry be even more of a bother than it already is?