The study of loan words used in TV commercials

Kim Dong-Kyu (Major in Advertising, The Graduate School of Mass Communication Yonsei University)

This study aims to discuss loan words usage and characteristics featured in Korean commercials for the last 10 years from 1985 to 1994.

For this purpose, the environmental factors which influence the usage pattern of loan words in commercials will be analyzed. The results show that the factors influencing loan words usage in commercials are divided into two factors that is, the inside factor and outside factor.

The outside factor refers to the Advertising Censorship Committee which regulates using loan words usage. The inside factors are advertising agencies and the advertisers' marketing efforts to maximize the advertising effect by using loan words, since and consumers prefer loan words.

To explore, for the next step, practical uses of loan words in commercials a content analysis was conducted of 4,311 TV commercials on 5 major ad spending product categories for the last 10 years.

This study is analyzed in three ways.

First, the types of loan words used and the usage frequency were studied. The results showed that the most frequently used loan words was foreign language and I made up 45.1% of loan words used. Proper loan words (23.9%), pseudo-loan word (15.4%), simple compound words (13.2%) and a newly coined words/hybrid (2.4%) followed.

Second, a chronological observation of loan words characteristics was pursued Through comprehensive observation for each year's loan words usage pattern over 10 years, it was found that the loan words used in Korean commercials were highly influenced by the economic environment, advertising regulations and social and cultural globalization.

Third, the loan words usage was analyzed of commercials of 5 major ad spending Product categories. The study revealed a remarkable finding. The number of loan words used and their frequency of differed greatly from one product category to another.

Among subject commercials, the clothing/textile industry's commercial (97.5%) shows highest loan words usage. The cosmetics/soup/detergent industry category (94.8%), electronics/electrical/precision equipment (92.9%), pharmaceutical category (86.9%), food/soft drinks/alcoholic beverage category (78.6%) followed.

This result implies that the industry which is traditionally believed to use strong impact and sophisticated emotional appeal for its advertising strategy is employing more loan words in its commercials.

For the conclusion, it is confirmed that loan words used in TV commercial are generally reflection of the social environment and Korean's language habits. In particular, loan words are used for marketing purposes to increase the advertising effects of certain products.