Pun in Beverage Advertisements

Meng+Yan

【Abstract】Accompanied with the widespread commerce，the advertisement translation unavoidably will be a hot spot again.This paper will discuss usage and translation of pun in the advertisement translation.It will explain the definition of advertisement as well as pun and then give examples about the usage of pun in advertisement.

【Key words】pun； advertisement； usage

Brief Introduction of Advertising

What is advertising？ According to the American Marketing Association，advertising is the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products，services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media.（王燕希 7） That is to say，advertising is used in commerce to spread to the public one conception or signal that the product，service or idea is worthy of your concentration and communication.Advertising is a communication between the manufacturer and consumers.It is highly goal-directed and communication-oriented.If the communication is well-developed，the advertisement succeeds in bringing the manufacturer profit and consumers satisfaction.However，once it fails，the advertisement becomes no more empathetic and catchy.

Brief introduction of pun

Pun is also called paronomasia or play-on words，originated from Latin.According to the Oxford Advanced Learners English-Chinese Dictionary，a pun is the clever and humorous use of a word that has more than one meaning，or of words that have different meanings but sound the same （“pun，” def.1606）.Taking advantage of multi-meaning of words，puns correlate two meanings in one sentence so that we usually feel that the sentence is saying something，but at the same time，it is expressing the other underlying meaning secretly.It can let people associate one thing with another thing.Thus，it is usually worth of digesting over and over again.It is widely used in different occasions and different styles，and the proper use makes the language amusing，humorous，funny and satirical.

Pun in advertisement

When it is used in an advertisement，it can also make the advertisement more impressive and more attractive.A pun deliberately exploits confusion between similar-sounding words for humorous or rhetorical effect.It can make advertisements concise，catchy and humorous，especially when they have to mention something uneasy to explain.In addition，it can also bring novelty to the advertisement and arouse consumers attention.It is widely used in English and Chinese because in both languages one word can express many meanings when they are used in different contexts and with different collocations in a phrase.Thus，it often creates ambiguity and avoids direct or impolite expression when one word represents two or more meanings in one sentence，just like the case of the slogan and the brand of a product.

Which Larger can claim to be truly German？ This can.

Larger is one brand of German beer with the authentic German flavor.In the answer，“can” is used to be modal verb； meanwhile，it also means the can-Larger.In the sentence，special attention will be paid to the pun in advertisement，thus rendering a profound impression.

Seven days without 7-up make one week （weak）.

This is the advertising discourse of 7-up.It uses the homonymic puns cleverly and humorously.Whenever people read the advertisement，they would laugh out first as no one is foolish enough to know that seven days make a week.Then after laughter，they will find the underlying meaning of the advertisement.The word “one” is no longer used to modify the noun “week”，but a personal pronoun.In addition，as week is the homophone of weak thus people can change another way to understand the sentence.It means that if someone lives a week without drinking seven-up，the brand of a product，he or she will become weak in the whole week.It becomes obvious that it is an advertisement to persuade the consumers to buy the beverage--seven-up.One word expresses both meanings properly.

Conclusion

In a rapidly-developing and highly-globalizing world，just as the saying goes that consumer is God，translating，with the purpose of spreading some information to satisfy the consumers demand，has infiltrated into every corner of the globe.Every day when we turn on the TV，computers，or mobile phones，we usually come across such a scene： people from different places，with different skin color and talking in different languages，are using the same brand mobile phone，eating the same fast food and wearing the same make-up.All of these shall be credited to advertising.

References：

[1]王燕希.广告英语一本通.对外经济贸易大学出版社，2004.

[2]“Pun”Oxford Advanced Learners English-Chinese Dictionary.The Commercial Press，2009.