📘 Part 3: Ads

This episode's vocabulary

To churn something out (ph. verb) - to produce large amounts of something quickly, usually something of low quality.

Billboard (noun) - a very large board on which advertisements are shown, especially at the side of a road.

Personal loan (noun) - money that you borrow from a bank or other financial organization for your personal, rather than business, use.

Tailored (adj.) - specially made for a particular purpose or situation.

Decline (noun) - when something becomes less in amount, importance, quality, or strength.

To personalise (verb) - to make something suitable for the needs of a particular person.

Mass advertising (noun) - advertising designed to reach large numbers of people, by using television, radio, newspapers, and the internet.

To harvest (verb) - to collect information about people, products, companies, etc. from the internet.

Preference (noun) - the fact that you like something or someone more than another thing or person.

Targeted (adj.) - directed at a particular group or activity.

Impact (noun) - the force or action of one object hitting another.

Severely (adverb)- very seriously.

Endorsement (noun) - the fact of a famous person appearing in an advertisement saying that they use and like a product.

Supplement (noun) - something that is added to something else in order to improve it or complete it; something extra.

Sparse (adj.) - small in numbers or amount, often spread over a large area.

Consumerism (noun) - the situation when too much attention is given to buying and owning things, often things that are not really necessary.

Explicit (adj.) - showing full details, without anything hidden.

To capitalize (verb) - to supply money to a business so that it can develop or operate as it should.

In-your-face (adj.) - used to describe something done in a forceful way that intends to shock people.

To cater to someone/something (phrasal verb) - to satisfy a need or to provide what is wanted or needed by a particular person or group.

In turn (idiom) - because of that.

Revenue (noun) - the income that a government or company receives regularly.

To profit (verb) - earn money, or benefit.

Align (verb) - to agree with or support another person, group, organization, or view.

Corporate (adj.) - relating to a large company.

To draw someone in (ph. verb) - to attract someone or something.

Rampant (adj.) - used to describe something bad that gets worse very quickly and in an uncontrolled way.

Questions and Answers

M: What are the most advertised products in your country?

R: If we're talking about traditional methods like on TV or on the street, then probably goods like the latest gadgets and all the smartphones that keep churning out. You see a lot of billboards for supermarkets too. Online, it's a different story. It tends to be services like personal loans or subscriptions to media companies. But then again, a lot of it is tailored by algorithm. So what do I know?

M: Which one is more effective? Newspaper advertising or online advertising?

R: Well, newspapers have been in decline for a while now, and almost everyone has access to the internet in some way. So it seems online has a wider audience. Moreover, it can be personalised more effectively than mass advertising campaigns like those you see in newspapers.

M: And what role does social media play in advertising?

R: Quite a significant one. If recent events tell us anything. Social media companies harvest our viewing information and personal preferences. And they sell this on to ad firms that engage in targeted advertising. Of course, if you're aware of it, then the impact can be severely reduced. Because you just switch off when these things come up. But most people are not like that.

M: What do you think of celebrity endorsements in advertising?

R: I think it would be better for everyone involved if celebrities just stayed in their lanes in this regard. Unless they have some specialist knowledge that gives them an insight. I mean, what does an actor actually know about skincare and dermatology? Probably not a lot. And it could make them look foolish if they get it wrong and sell something harmful. There are exceptions, though. I think Natalie Portman has a PhD in psychology, so if she talked about something connected to that, then I would be willing to listen because she has this expert knowledge.

M: Does advertising encourage us to buy things we don't need?

R: Well, the easy answer would be a hard yes, but it's more dependent on the product than the advertising. Everybody needs access to energy. So energy providers advertise to allow people to shop around and get a good deal. If its a product like the latest vitamin supplement that will give you your dream body based on sparse scientific evidence. Then it could send people down the path of mindless consumerism, I suppose.

M: And how do ads make people buy new products?

R: At the core adverts are awareness-raising mechanism, so they make people aware that there's something they could use in their lives. Effects of adverts make this connection explicit or even create one. Like capitalising on the fear of missing out. Others have more in-your-face methods like attention-grabbing strategies, like a catchy song or catering to a target audience in some sort of way. Though, it's... That's just awareness-raising again, isn't it? It's just more specialised.

M: What are the advantages of advertising?

R: For who? It attracts customers who might otherwise not happen upon products and in turn, generates more revenue for companies. It also allows advertising firms to profit from additional sales that can be linked to their efforts. And for customers, they have a greater awareness of the market. So which one are we talking about here?

M: How does marketing make people choose particular goods and brands?

R: I suppose, when I think about it, it comes down to how people and companies align with each other. For example, if you have a corporate image of being eco-friendly and socially responsible, you're more likely to draw in this kind of person. Compared to a company that engages in, I don't know, rampant capitalism and has a poor image. On the other hand, that second type of corporation probably produces things more cheaply and can find a market of people who are trying to live in that way.

Discussion

M: Hey, Rory. Thank you for your answers! Music to our ears. You didn't advertise anything even once. Wow.

R: I know. I was very restrained.

M: To advertise our phrasal verb course.

R: No, not doing it. Being restrained. But I did use a lot of high-level grammar and vocabulary. So let's get cracking.

M: So products are advertised. So to advertise something is a verb. So the most advertise products in your country, what are they?

R: Well, here I talked about the latest gadgets. I don't think that's something unique to my country, though. I think that's something that happens all over the world now, because you have these global companies, usually selling smartphones. More locally, there are supermarkets, but again, that's another global thing. And media companies and loans. There are no Scottish products specifically that I think are advertised more often than elsewhere.

M: What about Scottish whisky? Come on.

R: It's not advertised. Alcohol advertising is like really limited in the UK.

M: Mhm. Interesting.

R: There's lots of restrictions on when it can be done.

M: Mhm. So the latest gadgets, dear listener, yeah? Smartphones. Yeah. And we see a lot of billboards. So billboards, these huge posters all over the city. And then I think like of the most advertised products are, well, you mentioned services like loans, subscriptions to the media companies, yeah? But also, I think cosmetics, products for women.

R: Are we talking about what you see online? Because what you see online will be very different to what I see online.

M: Ah, right. Okay. And I'm thinking a TV. Like usual commercials on TV. And on TV, medicine, cosmetics, banks.

R: Well, medical advertising in the UK is really strictly controlled. I don't know what it's like... I know in America you have these really entertaining advertisements that show you all kinds of medication for depression and other problems that you might have. But we don't have that in the UK. It's a private conversation you have with your doctor.

M: Wow. In Russia, we have lots of medicines like cough medicine or some medicines from the flu, but not from depression. Hmm. Interesting. So it does depend on the country. Wow.

R: Yeah, absolutely. There's different advertising regulations in different countries.

M: What's advertised in your country listener?

R: For example, like some countries, they still advertise cigarettes freely, but that's banned in the UK. You couldn't do that at all.

M: Ooh, you can't do it in Russia too. Anyway, online advertising is a different advertising. Yeah? So we usually get to see different services and courses. So education, stuff like that. And like products, like clothes, shoes. I see lots of shoes and clothes in my online world. And this is all tailored by algorithms. So algorithms, artificial intelligence knows what you are into and they show you certain ads to tailor to your tastes, dear listener, yeah?

R: Well, to cater to your tastes. The algorithm tailors advertisements, which means it adjusts them to your preferences.

M: Yeah. And cater to your tastes. Yeah. They tailor it to cater to your tastes. Hey! Newspaper advertising. Is it still there?

R: Well, there are still newspapers.

M: Oh, I think online newspapers. Yeah? What about in Scotland? Do people still like buy hard copies of newspapers?

R: People still buy hard copies of newspapers, but it's usually older people. There are not many young people wandering around and thinking, ho-ho, I love a good, I love a good newspaper. It's a bit weird now. It's a bit passé.

M: Right. So there are certain ads in newspapers, online newspapers. So, yeah. And you said that online advertising has a wider audience. So a wider audience, more people prefer online newspapers and online ads are there. And hard copies, like traditional newspapers have been in decline. So present perfect. They've been in decline for a while, for some time now. So they are not as popular now as they used to be. Everyone has access to the internet. When we talk about advertising, we talk about advertising campaigns, dear listener. Not a company, but campaign. So an advertising campaign is, for example, if we want to advertise our premium episodes, we're going to launch, start this advertising campaign, our faces are going to be on billboards, in all Scottish newspapers, in all Russian newspapers. We're going to be all over the Internet. So, yeah, like a massive Success with IELTS advertising campaign. Or we just advertise Rory.

R: No, no. We should advertise you. I think you would be much better for advertising, than I would be.

M: Yeah, maybe like, we'll advertise me in Scotland, and we'll advertise you in Russia.

R: Okay. Deal. That makes sense. Although, the reason why might be because we need to personalise the adverts, which means to make them more acceptable to specific individuals.

M: Social media does play a role in advertising. Or social media do play a role? Is social media plural or singular? That's a difficult question.

R: I think social media is uncountable.

M: It's uncountable. Okay. Social media is. Alright. So social media plays a role in advertising, plays a significant role. Social media companies harvest our viewing information. So social media companies get the information from us, what we like, what we don't like, what we want.

R: What we could like.

M: What we could like, yeah, in the future.

R: They make predictions.

M: Social media companies harvest our information. They kind of they get information. Like you plant some bread and then you kind of you get this bread from your field. So you have this harvest, right? And here in this context, different companies harvest our viewing information and personal preferences. And then they sell it to ad firms. Advertisement companies, advertisement firms. So they can engage in target advertising.

R: Or targeted advertising.

M: Targeted, yeah. Targeted advertising is everywhere now. So if I have a company who sells, I don't know, water. I sell water. Yeah? Pure, fresh, yum-yum-yum water. I do need to target my advertising to people who are thinking of buying some water for their house. Yes. For their plants, for example. So we have targeted advertising. If you are aware of this targeted advertising, if you know of that algorithm tailors the ads and shows you what you want or you might want, you just switch off. So you... Like you switch off like what? Your brain, or the ad, or the internet?

R: You just switch off like you're not engaging with it, really.

M: Yeah. You don't engage with it. You just see it and you say, okay, alright, yeah. I was checking out some shoes, and now I have these ads which give me shoes, which want to sell me shoes.

R: It's good for being critically aware and not being ruled by advertising, though. Because once you understand, oh, yes, this is because I looked at that, even though I'm not interested, I don't need to see this anymore, then you're okay.

M: Rory, tell us what celebrity endorsement is.

R: Well, celebrity endorsement is just when companies hire famous people to say basically that their product is a good thing or to imply their product as a good thing. But I'm not a big fan of it in my answer because I said that they should stay in their lane. And if they stay in their lane, it means they should focus on what their job is, what they're good at, and not try to advertise products that they don't know much about.

M: Hmm. Okay. You can ask a rhetorical question. What does an actor actually know about skincare? Nothing. So why should they advertise fricking skincare? If they have red spots all over their faces?

R: Well, not even that, it's just that they don't have the specialist knowledge to say this is a good idea or not. It's a bit silly.

M: Now, Rory gave us some exceptions, so there are exceptions to the rules. And for example, Natalie Portman. Mhm. She has a PhD in psychology. I'd check it, if I were you. And if, for example, Natalie Portman could advertise some books on psychology or some universities, which offer programmes on psychology, she would be the authority. Right? Because of her PhD in psychology. So we would believe her even more because she has some specialist knowledge on psychology. Yeah? Hey! Yeah, and answering this question, Rory, you said that the answer would be a hard yes. What did you mean by a hard yes?

R: Well, like absolutely yes. But that's the easy answer. So it's like the obvious answer seems like yes. But actually, it's more complicated.

M: And it's more dependent on the product than the advertising. Yeah? So everyone needs access to energy. So energy providers advertise to allow people to shop around. So when you shop around, you go to different shops, you check things out, you compare things. So we can shop around and get a good deal. Yeah? And maybe ads, advertising campaigns help us to see different options so we can shop around to get this good deal. And then we have an if sentence, if it's a product like the latest gadget or if it's a product like the latest vitamin supplement, it could send people down a path of mindless consumerism. Rory, what did you mean by mindless consumerism?

R: Just buying things for the sake of buying them, to be honest with you. Because there's always a new supplement, a new vitamin that you need to take, and the idea that all of your problems can be solved by taking just one pill is completely insane because that is not how biology works. And it's also something that happens on a cyclical basis. There's always some new wonder drug or something that's supposed to make everything better and it doesn't. Unfortunately, the only way to get in shape is to make an effort. I'm sorry. Life is hard, but it's the truth.

M: Yeah. And when the question is about people buying things they don't need. You can talk about... Yes, we have this mindless consumerism. People buy things they don't need, and adverts contribute to mindless consumerism. And you can give an example, if it's a product like the latest vitamin or the latest gadget, then this could send people down the path. So different adverts could send people down a path of getting stuff they don't need. So to send people down a path of something. This expression is usually negative, yeah?

R: Yes. A path of mindless consumerism is almost always negative. I can't think of a... Maybe if you're an advertising executive and that's your aim because you have no soul, then yes. But otherwise, no. That's a terrible thing to want for people. You should have a fulfilling life with meaningful connections and purchases, not just buying things just because.

M: And then how do ads make people buy new products? So first of all, to make people buy something, we don't need "to", not make people to buy something. No, make people buy something. And Rory told us that adverts raise awareness. So they show things to us so we could see what is out there and maybe we want it in our lives. So adverts are awareness-raising mechanisms. They raise our awareness. So they make us more aware of different products. And then I enjoyed this expression, capitalising on the fear of missing out. It's a nice one.

R: Well, it works on many levels, but if you're capitalising on the fear of missing out, that just means you're making money off of people being afraid they might not get the chance to do something. So people that, I don't know, let's think about this, selling roller coaster tickets. You sell people the fear that they might miss out. On the thrill of being on the roller coaster, for example.

M: Yeah. Or something like new cream that will make you beautiful and young right away after the first use. Yeah? So you are afraid and you have this fear of missing out that you don't have this cream and you won't be this beautiful and young forever. Adverts use the fear of missing out, so they play on people's fear of missing out, of not having this thing that is crucial to their life. And also some other tricks like attention-grabbing strategies. So when something grabs your attention, it takes your attention. It keeps it. So attention-grabbing strategies like a catchy song. Oh, yeah, a catchy song like a typical trick. And they use like silly, stupid, horrible, sometimes catchy songs. But you have these songs in your heads.

R: I'm trying to think of a particular one right now. But I can't off the top of my head. The tune for McDonald's is pretty good.

M: I'm lovin' it. Yeah, there you go. You see? Yeah, I think I used to have one. Yeah, definitely. I used to have a couple, and I would just sing them. It's crazy and scary. So this is like a good, a very effective trick to use a catchy song and to use a catchy phrase, I'm lovin' it. Kind of to make you buy things. And then adverts use attention-grabbing strategies to cater to a target audience. They aim for certain people, so they cater to a target audience.

R: Yeah, like they might use a fun song for children, I suppose.

M: Hmm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The advantages of advertising. And then Rory asks a question. Advantages for who?

R: Well, that's true. Lots of people benefit from advertising, so you'll have to be like advantages for who and then suggest possible answers.

M: Advertising attracts customers. So pretty much brings more money to companies. Advertising generates more revenue for companies. So revenue - money. So generate, like gives more money.

R: The money that you get from people buying your stuff.

M: Advertising allows advertising firms, advertising companies to profit from sales. So to profit from something. And the benefits for customers, well, they have a greater awareness of the market. So when we watch different adverts, we can see what's out there on the market, so we can compare different options.

R: Make a better decision.

M: Make a better decision. Yeah, to shop around for different stuff. Yeah. That we don't need. Or we do need.

R: Well, we might need it. We don't know.

M: Yeah. And then the question is about marketing. So marketing and how does marketing make people choose particular goods? Mhm. What is marketing in this context?

R: So marketing is about preparing your product for being sold and the process of doing that. So how does it do that? Well, you have to think about making your product work for people. You can't just have a product and then expect people to buy it. There are very few products like that right now, unless you've found a very new problem that people have that they haven't before.

M: Yeah, so marketing is about advertising, it's about packaging, it's about promoting your product. It's about how you make sure people know about the product and the product itself. So, yeah, maybe the legend behind this product. That it was invented by some Scottish Highlanders in a Scottish castle haunted by ghosts. So all this is marketing. You're on a bit of a crusade for this idea, aren't you? To be a real thing.

M: Yes, a little bit. And then you use this how people and companies align with each other. So what did you mean by align with each other?

R: It means that they match up with their customers. So you have to have a product that your customer can use or is relevant to them. So it's just another way of saying it matches or it connects with them in some way. For example, a drama series about teenagers is not likely to sell well amongst older people, but it's more likely to align with a market of teenagers.

M: Yeah, and another example you gave like, if you have a corporate image, like a company image of being eco-friendly, ecologically friendly, then people who are eco-friendly will use this company. And you said that such a company is more likely to draw in this kind of person. Right? So to draw in, to attract, or like green people who want to protect the environment will be drawn in. And a good collocation, a good phrase is rampant capitalism. It's nice for essays as well. So rampant stands for...

R: Well, it's just out of control.

M: And capitalism. Well, capitalism. Yeah?

R: I like that. Well, capitalism, you know...

M: Capitalism. You know, it's capitalism.

R: I suppose rampant capitalism is like prioritising money over all other things, which is not good for anybody.

M: Yeah. Like I don't invest in my inner development. In my spiritual development, but I just buy shoes and clothes and new gadgets. So this contributes to rampant capitalism instead of looking inside myself. You see, dear listener? You know what I'm talking about? Rampant capitalism is a good one to use in essays about shopping. About money. About how people spend their money.

R: Or spending it too much.

M: Yeah. Spending too much money on advertising. Sweet. Dear listener, how are you doing? Are you okay with this advertising?

R: Are you okay with advertising and capitalism?

M: Yeah. Unfortunately or fortunately, we do need some special vocabulary and some knowledge about the world of advertising. If you don't feel confident about this topic... Right? Because this is like a special topic. Please make sure you do some reading online. Now, you know about famous people advertising products. You know certain good phrases about money and companies and how people make us buy things. Thank you very much for listening! And we'll see you in the next episode.

R: Bye!

M: Bye!

-

Make sure to subscribe to our social media to see some of the “behind the scenes” stuff:

Our Instagram: bit.ly/instagramswi

Our Telegram: bit.ly/telegramswi