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Swahili advertising in Nairobi: innovation and language shift

Advertisers are increasingly using urban slang and other non-standard forms of Swahili to reach out to a broader audience in the densely multilingual Nairobi. Influenced by social and linguistic shifts in the city, and keeping pace with trends in other societies, Nairobi advertisers are gradually transforming the advertising discourse as they seek to reach out to newer consumers. Specifically, by incorporating non-standard Swahili into the ads, advertisers not only reinterpret the identity of the product and enhance the societal attitudes towards the urban slang, Sheng, but they also redefine the traditional language roles in Nairobi. The shift in discourse transcends commercial advertising and is also evident in HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. Advertisements such as Zii ‘No way [to sex]’, Ni poa kuchill ‘It's cool to chill (abstain)’, and kuME2U ‘to me-to-you’ are but a few of a growing number of memorable ads that take full advantage of the Nairobi's language contact environment.  While focusing primarily on the use of slang in contemporary Swahili print advertisements, this study traces language shifts in Swahili ads printed in Kenya over the last three decades. In so doing, the study seeks to understand the social and linguistic factors that influence such change, and its impact on the Nairobi speech community. The study also discusses the different types of contemporary Swahili print ads, focusing attention on language use, tone, and themes. The paper concludes that certain forms of non-standard Swahili are emerging as the language of positive, albeit deviant, role models who imbue a product with local appeal and prestige. The adaptations in the language of advertising are driven by social and linguistic realities in the city and largely motivated by the marketers desire to reach a broad audience. More significantly, is the realization that HIV/AIDS Awareness ads are acknowledging the sensibilities of local culture, with slang helping society save-face while engaging the youth in public dialogue on ‘taboo’ topics.