On the impact of manipulative advertising on public consciousness (based on a material of Bulgarian media)
Authors: PARZULOVA Mariyana 
Published: April 2023

Background: Advertisemments today play an exceptionally important role in the life of our society. By their concise form they draw the attention of people and stimulate them to buy goods and products and use various services. The role, functions, types and the importance of advertising messages attract the interest of specialists of various scientific fields in different countries. Almost all studies confirm the opinion that advertisements, besides being motivating and inducing, they also have manipulating function. Purpose: The aim of the present work is to study the manipulating impact of advertisements on public consciousness by various ways: verbal, visual etc., the stress being on language means (epithets, metaphores, antonyms, play upon words etc.). The object of the present study were advertisements in different Bulgarian media (by press and radio, television, internet). Results: This study proves that advertisements are given considerable place in electronic media and play an important role in the life of people mainly due to the language means used, thus becoming a powerful instrument for influencing society. A key point presented in the study is that users, young people in particular, do not trust much advertisement texts. This observation is based on the results of an inquiry among students which also show that interesting advertisements, while otherwise attractive and well-formed lexically, do not correspond to the actual quality of the products advertised. This ultimately leads to mistrust towards advertisements and advertisers iN general. Prognosis is made that in the future fewer people will trust advertisements no matter how vividly and emotionally effectively they are presented. Key words: advertisements, manipulation, language means, epithets, signal words, play upon words Bondgolova, V., 2007. The play on words in advertisement texts. TMG. XXXI, issue 2, Nish, April-June 2007, 401-419. Available at: http://teme2.junis.ni.ac.rs/public/journals/1/ previousissues/teme2-2007/teme2-2007-15.pdf. [Visited on March 5, 2021]. (In Bulgarian) Bondgolova, V., 2015. Characteristics of advertisement language and style. Lexical aspect. Veliko Tarnovo: Faber. (In Bulgarian) Bonev, B., 2017. Advertising of medicines and additives – the new opium for people. Available at: http://www.pharmacy-bg.com/novini/reklamata-nа-lekarstva-i-dobavki-noviyat-opium-za-naroda [Visited on April 10, 2021]. (In Bulgarian) Ivanov, L. Yu., Skovorodnikov, A. P. and Shiryaev, E. N., editors, 2003. Culture of Russian speech. Encyclopaedic dictionary and reference book. V. V. Vinogradov institute of Russian language at Russian academy of science, “Flinta” publishers, “Moscow” pub-lishers. (In Russian) Kaftandgiev, H., 2008. Harmony in advertising communication. Sofia: Siela soft and publishing. (In Bulgarian) Kara-Murza, S. Manipulation of consciousness. Available at: http: //www. klex.ru/65 [Visited on April 12, 2021]. (In Russian) Koltyisheva, E. Yu., 2008. Manipulating effect of contemporary advertisement texts: based on publications in lustrous women’s magazines in English. Academic philological work for acquiring M. A. degree, Yaroslavl. Available at: http://www.dissercat.com/content/ manipulyativnoe-vozdeistvie-v-sovremennom-reklamnom-tekste-na-materiale angloyazychnykh-glya. [Visited on April 12, 2021]. (In Russian) Manolov, E. L., 2017. Political advertisement. Between reality and manipulation. So-fia: published by Higher school of security and economics. (In Bulgarian) Panayotov, Kr., 2013. A study on the language of present day Bulgarian advertise-ments. In: M. Parzulova, compiler and chief editor. Bulgarian language at the beginning of the XXI century – a reflection of socal changes. Veliko Tarnovo: Published by “Znak’94”, pp.82–94. (In Bulgarian) Parzulova, M., 2016. Analysis of the results of an enquiry among students from Prof. Assen Zlatarov University in Burgas concerning “Place and role of media in students’ life”. In: M. Parzulova, editor. Media in students’ life and students about media. Scholarly re-search project. Veliko Tarnovo: Published by “Znak’94”, pp.10–36. (In Bulgarian) Vangelov, N., 2019. Ethics in advertising communication. Philosophical alternatives magazine. 4, pp.29–36. (In Bulgarian)