Advertisement Wars? Watch Whom You Really Offend

The rapid development of global business brings along a highly competitive environment among industries across cultures. Companies have been seeking ways to win customers over their rivals around the world, using technological development and know-how for their marketing. Communication tools and strategies to convince consumers about the superiority of their brand are becoming increasingly subtle, while social and cultural aspects are gaining in importance. But successful businesses know that it is not only about a good advertisement for their products or services, but also good relationships with a wider range of audiences. The presented paper focuses on the way marketers, in their attempts to establish themselves within their industry over competition, manage comparative advertisement strategies. The study does not analyze factual consumer behavior or perceptions, but provides a socio-linguistic perspective on advertisement as a communication act. In a pursuit to show the dynamics enacted in advertisement messages, it focuses on the pragmatic function of offense, its socio-cultural contexts, and external effects on the interaction between companies and their customers. Examples of advertisement wars between industry rivals are analyzed to demonstrate how the use of comparative advertisement strategies affects the actors and their audiences. The results show that when adopting the linguistic format of offense, a communicative act problematic in nature and ensuing normative processes, it is of utmost importance to carefully consider the end audiences, their interests and feelings, as well as the consequences if the message hits the wrong target.