"Advertisers do not sell products or services but benefits of products or services": the case of ZB SMS banking advert in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to show that the languages that advertisers use in their advertisements are not meant to sell products, services or ideas but the benefits of the products, services and ideas. It is generally accepted that people do not buy products, services or ideas but they buy the perceived benefits of the products, services or ideas being advertised. The benefit of a product, service or idea, is not something like a parcel which is wrapped and passed on to the audience. It is more like a set of blueprints for a structure which advertisers expect the audience to follow and which they design quite carefully. The products' benefits are communicated through words, images and colours, to mention but just three. Furthermore, if the perceived benefits are to be effectively relayed to the targeted audiences, the language (images, words and colours) used by advertisers must be universally or conventionally shared. This paper, however, argues that the images, words and colours used in an advertisement are meant to communicate or to suggest certain benefits of the products being advertised. Using semiotic analysis, ZB SMS banking advertisement will be used as an example.