The Use of English in Dutch Glossy Magazine Glamour

Abstract

This research analyses the use of English in the promotional genre of print advertising in glossy magazines. More specifically, this paper aims to identify how English is used in the advertisements in the Dutch Glamour magazine, and whether the use of English in print advertising has increased over the last several years when compared to earlier research. With a compiled corpus of English, Dutch, and other words, along with the seven established advertisement categories (Make-Up, Jewellery, Clothes, Skincare, Accessories, Fragrance, and Haircare), the following question was investigated: How is the English language used in the print advertising of Dutch glossy magazine Glamour? Results show that English is widely used in the print advertising of the Dutch glossy Glamour magazine, as all seventy-seven analysed advertisements contain at least some English, which is an increase of nineteen percent compared to previous study. The results also indicate that English is increasingly used in print advertising in general, as at least one-third of all used words are in English, which is about twenty-five percent more when compared to earlier research. It is striking that the highest number of English words were found in advertisement categories that do not necessarily need to relay especially significant information to the consumer. This suggests that a conscious effort is made by advertisers to convey important information in a language that is more easily comprehended by consumers.