The Language of Provocation in Contemporary English Advertising: Luxury versus Underground Global Brands

Anastasia YELISTRATOVA Undergraduate student Major: Marketing (“Advertising Business”) Faculty of Trade and Marketing State University of Trade and Economics Kyiv, Ukraine Yulia SHKORUBSKA Research Advisor, Senior Lecturer Department of Foreign Philology and Translation State University of Trade and Economics Kyiv, Ukraine Key words: advertising language, provocation, shock advertising, luxury brands, underground fashion, wordplay, rebelliousness, slogan. In today's media world, consumers see thousands of advertisements every day, which makes traditional ads less effective. Because of this, modern companies actively use "shock advertising" and provocative language to stand out [3, 5]. Provocation is a powerful tool that grabs attention and starts public discussions. However, different types of brands use different methods. Mainstream and luxury fashion brands usually choose smart wordplay, double meanings, or mysterious phrases. On the other hand, underground subcultural brands built their identity around rebellious words, taboo terms, and direct opposition to societal norms [1]. Analyzing these strategies in 2025–2026 provides insights into how modern fashion brands communicate with their target audiences. The purpose of this study is to examine how contemporary brands (from premium and luxury to underground) use linguistic and visual provocation to attract attention and shape their identity. We analyze not just fashion clothing or accessories, but advertising communication strategies in general: the use of words with double meanings (wordplay), negatively connoted vocabulary, incomplete sentences, and rebellious words. This study aims to determine how the provocative rhetoric of luxury brands differs from the communication of alternative and rebellious brands. To examine advertising discourse, this study uses qualitative content analysis and pragmatic linguistic analysis. The research focuses on analyzing lexical choice, wordplay, sentence structure, and cultural context in promotional slogans from 2025–2026.