The use of stereotypes within South African television car advertising using the German language: A multimodal social semiotic approach

Abstract

The use of the German language is a rare phenomenon in the South African television car advertising context, and thus, when used, has a  specific purpose. The question arises as to what advertisers hope to achieve with the use of a foreign language and how this language  use creates interest in the product. As audio-visual advertisements cannot be understood through linguistic utterances alone, this article  includes a multimodal analysis which incorporatesthe visual mode. Through a social semiotic approach, we examine the use and function  of German and South African national, gender and occupational stereotypes portrayed within car television advertisements in  South Africa that use the German language. This approach highlights how advertisers use stereotypes to orientate the consumers in a  complex environment. We analyse how stereotypes are conveyed through the use of the German language, together with the visual   portrayal of social actors, in order to describe this phenomenon within a South African context.