The use of linguistic tokenism to secure brand loyalty: Code-switching practices in South African print advertising

Abstract

ABSTRACTCode-switching from English to other languages has become an established repertoire in English-dominated advertising which, in the South African media landscape. Within this context, we analyse the use of code-switching in support of two advertising objectives: 1) establishing an audience-advertiser relationship, and 2) positioning consumers as having certain desires, beliefs and aspirations that should encouraged brand affiliation. We argue that the deployment of code-switching in relation to these objectives assumes particular significance under modern consumerism, in which consumption is linked to the performance of identity. Focusing on print magazines, the results highlight a prominent difference between code-switching from English to Afrikaans, and English to indigenous South African languages.