What you'll never manage to read : the small print component of televised commercials for erection stimulants

Abstract

The law is not effective in forcing the advertisers to communicate complete and reliable information about advertised products: the mere inclusion of written disclosures does not guarantee their successful perception, let alone comprehension. TV commercials are especially troublesome in this respect, because not only are the disclaimers presented in microscopic font size, but their display time challenges the perceptive abilities of even the most effi cient readers, not to mention the distracting effect of the simultaneously presented visual images and voice-overs. Yet, their effective comprehension could very often signifi cantly modify the overall message and in this way lead to altered (often in a way unfavourable for the advertiser) persuasive effect. The study presents the ways in which the small print components interact with the information presented by means of the more conspicuous linguistic and pictorial items in a collection of 20 Polish TV commercials for erection stimulants. In particular, attention is given to the potential changes in the communicated message in the conditions of full comprehension and intake of the small print items.