Language(s) in branding and advertising

Why is it that many commercial spots on fragrances and cosmetics resort to French words or French accents? How come that ‘The Gates of Mordor’ sounds more frightening than ‘The Gates of Mirdir’ and why is that a New York-based ice-cream maker decided to go for a Scandinavian sounding brand name? Find out more about the impact and use of language in and on branding and advertising in our third episode in which we talk about sound symbolism, linguistic fetishism, language choice and how they connect to brand identities. These concepts will be further explained and illustrated in an interview with Prof. Helen Kelly-Holmes who is an expert on language use in multilingual advertising and global branding and we will analyse data from VW’s video on the departure of the VW Kombi as a prime example of personification. And talk about beer is fairly prominent, too. Even cider.