Advertisements are inseparable elements from modern economy and society. Advertisement have become a communication system and the frontlines of marketing strategies.
"For businessmen and producers, advert communication is one strategy to introduce or deliver their products,” said Mohammad Masrukhi when sitting in his doctoral promotion on Friday (1/7) at UGM Graduate School.
In his dissertation, the Cultural Sciences lecturer studied how verbal and non-verbal elements build commercials discourse in Egyptian print media (IKOMCEMES). Verbal element, whether written or spoken, and non-verbal element such as image, etc, are used as marketing strategy to be delivered to society through adverts.
Through language, the message to be delivered by the advertisers can be expressed clearly. Non-verbal elements also affect the effectivity of the message. So, the combination of verbal and non-verbal elements in the form of image or visualisation is better understood by target audience.
“Both elements develop together a communication in three main orders, namely advert object, text, and context,” he said.
In the IKOMCEMES discourse, he found out that the message is mostly delivered through non-verbal element as it is considered more interesting, persuasive, and easy to remember by potential consumers. The verbal element tends to be the supporting one to the non-verbal element.
Specifically, in the verbal use, the use of ammiyah or colloquial style is more dominant that the standard style or fush-cha. He believes this enables understanding and is more efficient as it adjusts to society’s daily habit.
Masrukhi further identified five elements of commercials according to Leech theory that are found in IKOMCEMES, namely headline (Al-Khaththur-Ra’isi), bodycopy/text (An-Nashshul-I’lani), illustration (At-Tashwir), signature line (Khaththut-Tauqi), and standing details (Al-Khatimah).
“Elements that have to be present in commercials are al-khaththur-raisi and khaththut-tauqi which are very important for print media, though these can be dropping off in a parallel presentation. Others are alternatives and can be replaced as necessary,” he said.