Abstract: With the development of society and economy, people become more and more interested in commercial advertisements The persuasive strategy of advertising language, as an important factor affecting the product’s sales directly, attracts a lot of scholars and experts to study on it. By collecting a number of Chinese and English advertisements from Internet, newspapers and other media, this thesis attempts to analyze English and Chinese persuasive strategies in commercial advertising language so as to find the similarities and differences and explore the reasons hidden in it. Social psychology is the theoretical reason of this thesis. On the one hand, it is good to realize the optimization and standardization of commercial advertising language; on the other hand, it can help people further know the different cultures, life styles, life environments and consumption views of China and Britain so as to improve the development of business and economy. 

Key words: Chinese and English commercial advertising language; persuasive strategy; similarities and differences; factors

CONTENTS

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction-6

2. Literature Review-6

2.1 Advertising Language-6

2.2 Commercial Advertising Language-7

2.3 Persuasive Strategies in Commercial Advertising Language7

   2.4 Theoretical Reasons from Social Psychology8 

3. Persuasive Strategies Employed in Chinese and English Commercial Advertising Language from Social Psychology Perspective9

   3.1 Emotional Persuasion Strategy-10

   3.2 Rational Persuasion Strategy-11

   3.3 Combined Appealing Strategy-14

   3.4 Persuasive Strategy of Prompt-15

   3.5 Persuasive Strategy of Participation-15

4. Comparative study on Persuasive Strategy in Chinese and English Commercial Advertising Language16

4.1 Similarities of Persuasive Strategy in Chinese and English Commercial Advertising Language-16

4.1.1 Focusing on the First Impression of Product-16

4.1.2 Focusing on the Different Positioning of Different Product-18

4.1.3 Focusing on Meeting the Consumers’Psychology Needs-19

4.2 Differences of Persuasive Strategy in Chinese and English Commercial Advertising Language-21

4.2.1 Difference between Collectivism and Individualism-21

4.2.2 Difference between the Perceptual and the Rational-21

4.2.3 Difference between Direct Expression and Indirect Expression-22

4.2.4 Difference between Conformity and Individual Possessiveness-22

4.2.5 Difference between Expression by Words and Expression by Action-23

4.2.6 Difference between Traditional Expectation and Personal Realese-23

4.3 Factors Influencing the Persuasive Strategy in Chinese and English Commercial Advertising Language-24

4.3.1Life Environment-24

4.3.2 Life Style-24

4.3.3 Consumption View-25

5. Conclusion-27

Bibliography-28

Acknowledgements-29