What is it about?
The article explores the role of foreign borrowings in American Super Bowl commercials (2019–2023). Analyzing 358 ads (23,869 words), the authors identified 69 borrowings from 17 languages, with French, Italian, and Spanish being the most frequent sources. Food-related terms dominated, followed by business/service and socio-cultural borrowings. Borrowings were classified as catachrestic (filling lexical gaps) or non-catachrestic (used despite native equivalents), and as intentional (audience- or product-oriented) or unintentional. Findings show that borrowings serve attention-getting, cultural, and symbolic functions (e.g., jalapeño evoking Hispanic cuisine, expertise connoting sophistication). Despite their potential, borrowings accounted for only ~0.29% of tokens, suggesting limited use compared to other multimodal strategies (e.g., visuals, music, full sentences in foreign languages). The study highlights borrowings’ role in shaping inclusivity, identity, and the country-of-origin effect, while stressing their context-dependence. It calls for further multimodal and perceptual research on how audiences interpret linguistic diversity in advertising.
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Why is it important?
The study is important because it sheds light on how advertising strategically uses foreign words to influence perception, identity, and inclusivity. By analyzing Super Bowl commercials, which are the most-watched and most expensive advertising slots in the U.S., the authors show how borrowings can function as attention-getters, evoke cultural associations (e.g., French with elegance, Italian with cuisine), and contribute to the country-of-origin (COO) effect.
Perspectives
This study feels important because it shows how something as small as a single word can carry a lot of weight in shaping how we see products, brands, and even ourselves. Super Bowl commercials aren’t just ads — they’re cultural events watched by millions, and the decision to use a foreign word like jalapeño, expertise, or poutine isn’t random. These choices reflect how advertisers want to connect with people, whether by evoking tradition, sophistication, or belonging to a diverse America. What struck me is that, despite the potential of foreign borrowings to make ads stand out, they’re actually used quite sparingly. This makes their appearance all the more deliberate and meaningful. The study also reminds us that words we take for granted (pizza, garage, bagel) were once “foreign,” showing how language constantly evolves with culture and migration. On a personal level, the research feels relevant beyond linguistics or marketing — it makes you notice how much of everyday culture is stitched together from different languages, and how advertising both reflects and shapes that reality.
Dariusz Jakubowski
Uniwersytet Slaski w Katowicach
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Say Gesundheit to the Bagel-eating Paparazzi, English World-Wide A Journal of Varieties of English, August 2025, John Benjamins,
DOI: 10.1075/eww.24026.rys.
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