ABSTRACT
Advertising is a form of communication that exploits a vast array of tools spanning from figures of speech to intertextuality in a way that is meant to generate a set of desired outcomes on target audiences (Myers 1994). Because of the centrality of language, it is common practice for advertising agencies to hire copywriters who can master language at an excellent level and, as a result, it is not easy to find professional copywriters who have learnt later in life the language with which they work on a daily basis (Smith and Klein-Braley 1997). For instance, while art directors in Milan can often be professionals who have moved to Italy as adults, copywriters are by and large born and raised in Italy and often also hold degrees from local universities. While this common practice is very informative on the role of language competence in the production of effective campaigns, it also reveals a hidden monolingual bias; it assumes not only the prevalence of a discourse around the supremacy of native speakerness (whatever that means) but also implicitly accepts the assumption that advertising uses only one language (cf. Dimofte, Forehand and Deshpande 2003).
