English and emerging advertising in Russia

Abstract: This paper focuses on the role of English in the emerging advertising market in Russia. A brief overview of the advertising industry in Russia is presented, and the current attitudes of the Russian audience and institutions toward advertisements and foreignisms are demonstrated. Multiple language mixing, predominantely of English and Russian, is observed in three types of TV advertisements: social, service, and commercials. In TV commercials code-switching and code-mixing are a dominant feature, as 76 percent use English or an English-Russian mix. A correspondence exists between the type of product, and the language choice for the brand name: names of the Western products are presented totally in English, while Russian goods employ both languages in naming and labeling. Results indicate that there is a preference for using English names and the Roman script for a variety of products, such as electronic appliances, cars, personal care, laundry and household products. Abundance of English usage in the commercials can be explained by utilitarian reasons, as Western firms promote their brand names and logo in English all over the world, and by social reasons, as English signals novelty, prestige, and high quality products.