Exploring Language Effects in Ethnic Advertising: A Sociolinguistic Perspective

Abstract

The authors apply sociolinguistic theories of accommodation to investigate how consumers in a minority subculture respond to the use of their ethnic language in advertising. Specifically, Hispanic consUrT1ers' responses to the varying degrees of Spanish-language usage in print advertising were examined. It was found that the effects of Spanish usage in advertising can be usefully explained by accommodation theory. Spanish-language advertising increased Hispanic consumers' perception of advertiser sensitivity to Hispanic culture and people, and this perception in turn enhanced affect toward the advertisements. Yet, after controlling for perceived advertiser sensitivity, it was also found that advertising exclusively in Spanish decreased affect toward the advertisement. This finding may be interpreted to mean that though Spanish-language advertising appears to signal solidarity with the Hispanic community, exclusive use of Spanish in advertising may arouse Hispanic insecurities about language usage. Implications for future research and theory on language choice and usage in communication to consumer subcultures are discussed.

The effect of multiple language product descriptions on product evaluations

“…In fact, a new TV network, SíTV, is targeting young Hispanics in English (Grow, 2006). Also, one must consider whether assimilated Hispanics resent bilingual packaging (Koslow, Shamdasani, & Touchstone, 1994).…”

“…That is, marketers are bringing this controversy to all on a daily basis through advertising and other marketing activities. This desire to reach Hispanics is not surprising, because the Hispanic market represents over $600 billion in buying power (Zimmerman, 2005), and academic research using accommodation theory has shown that people prefer marketing messages in their own, native language (Koslow, Shamdasani, & Touchstone, 1994). As such, instructions and packages of products sold in the United States are often printed in both English and Spanish despite the fact that only a small percentage of purchasers need the information to be presented in Spanish to make an informed choice.…”

Experience of Non-Muslim Consumers on Halal as Third Party Certification Mark in Malaysia

“…The survey instrument was developed using existing measurements from the advertising and marketing communication literatures on measures such as company credibility (Coulson, 1980;Newell & Goldsmith, 2001), company image (Annan, 1999;Fombrun, 1996;Gray, Armstrong & Farley, 2003), perceived sensitivity (Koslow, Shamdasani & Touchstone, 1994), attitude toward the company (Gregory, Munch & Peterson, 2002;Simard, Taylor & Giles, 1976), attitude toward advertisements (Ford, LaTour & Henthorne, 1995) and advertising targets (Koslow, Shamdasani & Touchstone, 1994). For all measures, a 7-point Likert type scale was used, with anchors ranging from strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (7).…”

Examining the relationship between language divergence and word-of-mouth intentions

“…Sunnafrank and Miller (1981) observe that people feel attracted to others with whom they can communicate well. In a language context, attraction results from lowered language differences, such that the speaker becomes more similar to the listener (Koslow, Shamdasani, and Touchstone, 1994;Montoya and Briggs 2013). Therefore, the language that service providers use might serve as a source of similarity, and when consumers and service providers are more similar, consumers are more likely to spread positive word of mouth.…”