English in Dutch commercials: Not understood and not appreciated

Dutch consumers are increasingly exposed to English in commercials on television. Advertising agencies appear to use English because of financial and image reasons. This article investigates how often commercials that contain English occur in the Netherlands and whether consumers comprehend the English text and appreciate the English that is used. We show that one-third of the commercials on Dutch television contain English words and phrases that are pronounced with a Dutch accent based on an American English model. Research among 30 Dutch men and 30 Dutch women, evenly distributed across two age groups (15 to 18 and 50 to 57) and three levels of secondary education (low, middle, and high), indicates that all subjects display a rather negative attitude toward the English used in the commercials and that only 36 percent are able to give a rough indication of the meaning of the English used. It is striking that when the English text was not just spoken but was also shown on the screen, 50 percent of the subjects interpreted it correctly; when the text was not shown, only 22 percent gave a correct indication of its meaning. There are strong indications that the use of English increased the extent to which the commercials were miscomprehended.