Abstract:

Originally used as a theatrical term, a “slice of life” depicts real everyday life and situations in which individuals, families and groups of people commonly find themselves in. This concept is popular and used worldwide, to certain extent also in the advertising discourse.
This paper deals with the choice and usage of specific linguistic means characteristic of this variety of advertising. It makes use of comparison of German and Japanese television advertising.The new style of "slice of life" is not at all limited only to products of daily use such as detergents, as it used to be in the past, but is nowadays also being applied in a much more sophisticated way to a large variety of products ranging from clothes to food. With sociolinguistic approach and on the background of two distinctive cultures, this case study analyzes German and Japanese television advertising from the year 2013. It also discusses educational impact of the said approach on the recipient.