Does Language Matter When Advertising to Africa’s Multilingual Audience? An ELM Study of Audience Language Preference and Responses
Date
2023
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of African Business
Abstract
Choosing the most effective language is critical when advertising to
multilingual audiences as the success of any advertising campaign
depends on whether the audience “gets” the message. This paper
argues that in Africa, “getting the message” is partly dependent on
language given that indigenous languages, colonial legacy languages, and blends between them compete for audience attention.
Using Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) arguments, the study
examines this possibility among 1000 multilingual audience
members in five cosmopolitan cities in Ghana. Findings show that
advertisements are not consumed in a language vacuum and that
language blends are the most appealing to the multilingual audience. The study also finds that attention to, and belief in advertisements are partly shaped by language preference. Besides these
empirical contributions, the study positions the ELM as a viable
theoretical lens for analyzing the implications of advertising language. Its use of an African sample to test the ELM’s assumptions
also introduces novel evidence to the theory’s body of scholarship.
Recommendations are made on how advertising practitioners and
brand communicators may take advantage of language as an
important segmentation criterion in advertising strategy.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
colonial legacy languages, indigenous languages, Multilingual African audiences