일제시대 광고문의 형식과 전략

The Sentence Type and the Strategy of Copy in Advertisements in the Japanese Colonial Period

Copy in advertisements shows the social aspect and usages of language in daily life. Though copy is made in written mode, it reflects colloquial sense of language. That is the reason we are interested in studying copy. Japan's annexation of Korea from 1910 to 1945 had a great influence on the Korean language and lifestyle. Its trace can be found remarkably in the copy of that period. This paper compiled the copy in the Japanese Colonial Period to classify them according to the sentence type and looked into the strategies used in the copy during that period. There are five sentence types found in the copy: declarative, propositive, imperative, interrogative and dialogue sentence. Typically, the copy uses declarative sentence for unique selling proposal and imperative sentence for a buying urge. Propositive sentence is used as a way of resonance strategy and interrogative sentence is used for the purpose of issue advertising. Dialogue-style copy invites consumers to dialogue about goods. Exaggeration was a common strategy in the Japanese Colonial Period. Some copy incited consumers to buy domestic products by arousing Koreans' patriotism or fraternity, while others stimulated militaristic loyalty to Japan. To persuade consumers, advertisements emphasized celebrities' recommendation or excited a desire to enjoy a modern life. Some other ways of promotion included the use of a foreign language, a prize offer, or affective strategy as in the soft-sell, for example.