The Interpersonal Function of Advertising Texts of Sports Brands A Perspective of Functional Stylistics

Abstract

This paper investigates the interpersonal function of advertising texts for sports brands through the theoretical lens of systemic functional linguistics. It explores how language within these texts serves not only to represent reality but also to enact social relations and influence consumer behavior. By examining the use of person-pronoun systems, sentence types, and grammatical structures such as parallelism and climax, the study reveals how advertisers craft messages that resonate with the target audience and establish an emotional connection with consumers. The analysis of selected advertising blurbs from well-known sports brands illustrates the strategic employment of the second-person pronoun to create a sense of direct address and the use of imperative sentences to convey a persuasive tone. The study also touches upon the role of modality in advertising, noting the absence of modal verbs that convey probability or obligation, suggesting an intentional approach to assert the brand’s message unequivocally. The findings contribute to the understanding of the persuasive mechanisms in sports brand advertising and off er insights for marketers seeking to enhance their advertising strategies. The paper concludes by highlighting the significance of the interpersonal function in shaping consumer perceptions and the potential areas for future research in linguistic and marketing disciplines.