Personalization in standing details from Argentinian advertising from 1880 to 1930

Abstract

Our analysis starts from the assumption that print advertising in Spanish from 1880 to 1930 should be represented as a continuum of persuasive strategies of despersonalization and personalization in accordance with the idea that advertising is an example of persusive discours. Such strategies employed by advertisers are most evident in one of the components, standing details, that usually appearing unchanged on a series of different advertiements. This paper takes into consideration a study about certain pragmatic features of advertising discourse: despersonalization and personalization style in standing details. The results show that in standing details from advertising a significant change occurred at the turn of the century: standing details turn into a personalized component. It analysis 157 advertisements drawn from Argentinian magazines published between 1880 and 1930, from a historical pragmatics and historical sociolinguistics viewpoint.