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Successful Communication
Tool Kit -
Literacy and You
Communication Canada
May 2003
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4.1 Television Advertisements
In 2000, three out of four individuals indicated that they would prefer to have the Government of Canada inform them using television advertising (1).
- Communication Canada, Issues and Challenges in Communicating with Less Literate Canadians, revised October 2002.
More recently, people with low literacy skills said that they place considerable importance on the choice of words and language, on the spokesperson and, although to a lesser degree, on the visual presentation of the advertisement (2).
- Communication Canada, Towards Action: Issues and Challenges of Communicating with Canadians with Low Literacy Skills, April 2003.
Individuals with low literacy skills strongly prefer advertisements involving
testimonials and people relating their own experiences. Research on informational
television advertising conducted by Créatec on behalf of the Fédération
canadienne pour l'alphabétisation en français (3) suggests
that communication effectiveness is seriously compromised by certain advertising
techniques, including:
- implicit and unspoken messages;
- subtleties of language;
- the imaginary and unlikely;
- unclear advertising objectives;
- visual illustration indirectly related to the message.
- Créatec, Characteristics of TV Ads for the General Public that Inform Less Literate Audiences, October 2002.
Results also showed that individuals with low literacy skills:
- pay selective attention to televised informational advertising;
- seek first to determine the relevance of the message;
- memorize the various elements to quickly determine the general sense of the message at a literal level.
To promote effective informational television advertising, the communicator should:
- raise interest at the very beginning of the message to sustain the effort required for understanding;
- minimize the effort required for the recipient to understand, accept, and act on the message, if desired.
It must be recognized that informational television advertising raises important challenges when communicating complex messages. This means of communication does not permit people with low literacy skills to control the pace at which the information is transmitted, or to retain the information for future reference.
Research regarding informational television advertising and studies conducted by Communication Canada underline the importance of being relevant, understood and persuasive. They reinforce the value of the key factors for successful communication (refer to Section 1, Successful Communication).
This research also highlights the importance of applying lessons learned for communicating in plain language for successful televisual communication (refer to Section 2, Successful Written Communication).
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