English in Dutch Commercials: Not Understood and Not Appreciated
Dutch consumers are increasingly exposed to English in TV commercials. Advertising agencies appear to use English because of financial and image reasons. This article investigates how often commercials that contain English occur in the Netherlands and whether consumers comprehend the English text an...
Gespeichert in:
Veröffentlicht in: | Journal of advertising research 2000-07, Vol.40 (4), p.17-31 |
---|---|
Hauptverfasser: | , , , |
Format: | Artikel |
Sprache: | eng |
Schlagworte: | |
Online-Zugang: | Volltext |
Tags: |
Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
|
Zusammenfassung: | Dutch consumers are increasingly exposed to English in TV commercials. Advertising agencies appear to use English because of financial and image reasons. This article investigates how often commercials that contain English occur in the Netherlands and whether consumers comprehend the English text and appreciate the English that is used. Results indicate that 1/3 of the commercials on Dutch TV contain English words and phrases that are pronounced with a Dutch accent based on American English model. Research among 30 Dutch men and women, evenly distributed across 2 age groups (15 to 18 and 50 to 57) and 3 levels of education (low, middle and high), indicate that all subjects display a rather negative attitude toward the English used in the commercials, and that only 36% are able to give a rough indication of the meaning of the English used. It is striking that when the English text was not just spoken but was also shown on the screen, 50% of the subjects interpreted it correctly; when the text was not shown, only 22% gave an indication of its meaning. |
---|---|
ISSN: | 0021-8499 1740-1909 |
DOI: | 10.2501/JAR-40-4-17-31 |