“Frenglish” for sale: multilingual discourses for addressing today's global consumer

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Advertisers address French consumers through English using a blend of text, illustrations, and music soundtracks to create a positive emotional response. Emerging from this analysis is a consumer for whom a ‘glocal’ identity is reinforced through advertising discourse. Using multimodal techniques, advertisers create a panoply of border‐crossing experiences, encouraging their audiences to view these messages from their own cultural perspective. Also highlighted are various efforts on the part of the French government to limit the public's exposure to English (e.g., 1994 Toubon Law) as well as the industry's reaction to such intervention. Although some may argue that the omnipresence of English in French advertising is more of a “cultural and linguistic invasion” than a rich display of linguistic creativity and whimsical expression, evidence suggests that English in this context is often refashioned as a simple form of entertainment, and that the French linguistic and cultural identity remains very much intact.

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