This was my proposal:
My Topic
In this final project, I want to explore the language choices behind commercials. I plan to
look at the methodology, the diction, the psychology and the overall linguistic analysis behind
T.V. advertisements. I specifically want to look at previous super-bowl commercials. There is
one brand that I want to analyze the closest. Temu had about two different commercials that
aired during the 2024 Superbowl and it has brought a lot of attention to various media sites,
boosting its sales. I plan to analyze their commercials to try and determine what this brand did
differently from other brands to bring them so much attention
Source One
My first source looks at the sociolinguistics behind commercials. It speaks about the
behavior of consumers and how commercials feed into that behavior. It also speaks about the
specific language that advertisements use to draw in consumers.
The theoretical framework used in this document is Interactional Sociolinguistics. The
journal goes into what the framework is and how they use it to analyze commercials and
advertisements in the media. It speaks on the concept of advertising as well as the research
behind different advertising techniques.
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/234673244.pdf
Source Two
My second source is, technically, a multitude of videos. These two commercials were played five
times during the 2024 Superbowl, costing around $21 million to air. According to Michele Majidi,
a 30 second commercial costs around $7 million. The two commercials consist of a catchy song
written for Temu. I want to investigate public opinion from different social media outlets and get an idea of public perception. My original response to the commercial is “Wow, it’s definitely
catchy.” But I want to break down why its catchy.
Source Three
My final source is this course’s textbook. I want to analyze key words and phrases from the two
commercials and connect them back to certain structures found in our textbook.
Source Four
This source looks at the discourse and semiotics behind advertisements. It analyzes two different
advertisements and discusses the quantitative methodology through each ad. It discusses how the
second ad uses Fairclough’s framework, but it doesn’t mention specifically any theoretical
framework.
It compares the two ads to each other and discusses the methods behind what makes each work
and what makes each weaker. It touches on topics of women and sexuality in advertisements as
well as sexual appeal in general.
Significant Research Questions
What specific language did Temu use in their commercial to draw consumers in? How does the
song’s layout add to or detract from the commercial? What is the consumer opinion? Has Temu
received more website traffic since the release of their commercials? How does the language entice
audience conversation? I plan to use the questions as the basis to my research and plan to bring in some information I glean
from my students, who I originally heard about the Temu brand from in the first place. I want to
get their opinions and ask them what exactly caught their attention in the first place. References: Akinbode, O. (2012). A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Advertising Language in Selected Nigerian
Mass Media Commercials. A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Advertising Language in Selected
Nigerian Mass Media Commercials , 2(8). https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/234673244.pdf
Fortuna, C. (2016). Let’s Analyze Super Bowl Commercials. Edutopia.
https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/lets-analyze-super-bowl-commercials
Guttmann, A. (2019). Super Bowl 30-second ad costs 2002-2019 | Statista. Statista; Statista.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/217134/total-advertisement-revenue-of-super-bowls/
Temu Super Bowl 2024 Ad | #blux. (n.d.). Www.youtube.com. Retrieved February 16, 2024, from
Temu’s Big Game Ad Encore TV Commercial 2024. (n.d.). Www.youtube.com.
My professors feedback:
Areas for improvement:
-provide more details on how you plan to analyze consumer opinion, website traffic, and audience conversation
-clearer articulation of how data from students will be collected and integrated into the analysis
-Theoretical framework: It was not clear whether you plan to use the frameworks in the articles or not- such as interactional sociolinguistics. This should be clearly stated in your project.
-scholar articles: note that the two videos you will be analyzing do not count towards references
-be sure to find scholarly references
-pay attention to organization and overall style
