Topic 1 (session A) - Levels of language: Linguistic levels, style & meaning > Levels of language & advertising slogans > Task A - Advert for NTL > Our answer

Levels of language & advertising slogans

Task A - Our answer

The basis for this advert, for the 'dot.com' company ntl, is a clichd expression to do with being successful in social and business terms - 'It's not what you know but who you know'. The advert re-enlivens the clich through its use of graphological deviation. The 'www' which we see at the beginning of web-page addresses is used at the beginning of the two words beginning with 'w' (but not for the occurences of 'w' at the end of the word 'know'). The advertisement is thus about who you need to know (i.e. ntl) in order to get on in the electronic business world. The deviant triple 'w' helps bring out the contrast implicit in the clich expression between the 'what' and the 'who', a contrast which is usually indicated in pronunciation terms by contrastive stress on those two words.

You can also hear a pronunciation of the expression.

There are two other graphological deviations in this advertisement. First of all, the word 'ecommerce' is a relatively new invention meaning 'electronic commerce' (formed via analogy with the earlier 'email'), and secondly the whole slogan is underlined. This will almost certainly remind readers who use email with the fact that if someone sends you an email with a web-address in it, if it us underlined you can usually click on it and go straight to the relevant site.

Home ¦ Outline ¦ Contents ¦ Glossary