Chapter 4. Contemporary observations on the attention value and selling power of English print advertisements (1700–1760)
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Nicholas Brownlees
Abstract
One of the most distinctive features of the early eighteenth-century English press was the substantial increase in advertisements. This increase in advertising did not go unnoticed by the leading writers of the day. Addison, Steele, Fielding and Johnson all comment on advertising discourse and its typographical presentation. This contribution analyses these contemporaries’ views within a theoretical framework that Leech (1966) and Gotti (2005) propose in relation to the communicative features and language of advertising discourse. Two of these characteristics are Attention Value and Selling Power. The analysis of eighteenth-century advertising is supported by reference to contemporary advertisements in the Newcastle Courant.
Abstract
One of the most distinctive features of the early eighteenth-century English press was the substantial increase in advertisements. This increase in advertising did not go unnoticed by the leading writers of the day. Addison, Steele, Fielding and Johnson all comment on advertising discourse and its typographical presentation. This contribution analyses these contemporaries’ views within a theoretical framework that Leech (1966) and Gotti (2005) propose in relation to the communicative features and language of advertising discourse. Two of these characteristics are Attention Value and Selling Power. The analysis of eighteenth-century advertising is supported by reference to contemporary advertisements in the Newcastle Courant.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface 1
- Chapter 1. English news discourse from newsbooks to new media 3
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Part I. Changing or maintaining conventions?
- Chapter 2. Of hopes and plans 15
- Chapter 3. Religious lexis and political ideology in English Civil War newsbooks 39
- Chapter 4. Contemporary observations on the attention value and selling power of English print advertisements (1700–1760) 61
- Chapter 5. A modest proposal in The Gentleman’s Magazine 81
- Chapter 6. Lexical bundles in news discourse 1784–1983 97
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Part II. Widening audiences
- Chapter 7. British popular newspaper traditions 119
- Chapter 8. The Poor Man’s Guardian 137
- Chapter 9. Diffusing political knowledge in illustrated magazines 157
- Chapter 10. From adverts to letters to the editor 175
- Chapter 11. The public identity of Jack the Ripper in late nineteenth-century British newspapers 199
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Part III. New practices
- Chapter 12. Narrative vs. “objective” style 219
- Chapter 13. Astride two worlds 241
- Chapter 14. Newspaper funnies at the dawn of modernity 267
- Index 295
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface 1
- Chapter 1. English news discourse from newsbooks to new media 3
-
Part I. Changing or maintaining conventions?
- Chapter 2. Of hopes and plans 15
- Chapter 3. Religious lexis and political ideology in English Civil War newsbooks 39
- Chapter 4. Contemporary observations on the attention value and selling power of English print advertisements (1700–1760) 61
- Chapter 5. A modest proposal in The Gentleman’s Magazine 81
- Chapter 6. Lexical bundles in news discourse 1784–1983 97
-
Part II. Widening audiences
- Chapter 7. British popular newspaper traditions 119
- Chapter 8. The Poor Man’s Guardian 137
- Chapter 9. Diffusing political knowledge in illustrated magazines 157
- Chapter 10. From adverts to letters to the editor 175
- Chapter 11. The public identity of Jack the Ripper in late nineteenth-century British newspapers 199
-
Part III. New practices
- Chapter 12. Narrative vs. “objective” style 219
- Chapter 13. Astride two worlds 241
- Chapter 14. Newspaper funnies at the dawn of modernity 267
- Index 295
