Advertisers adopt SMS lingo – try 2 woo teenz!

Leading multinationals have embraced hip SMS jargon in their advertising as they battle for the fussy youth dollar.

The Wall Street Journal reports that consumer giants such as Unilever, Pepsi and McDonalds have all launched SMS inspired ad campaigns. The adoption of abbreviated SMS street language is an attempt to identify with a youth market that is fickle and fragmented.

The rise of shorthand acronym SMS language is a result of soaring SMS exchange between mobile phone users. US Telco AT&T highlighted this dual phenomenon in an advertisement for its new Cingular unlimited SMS package.

LOL indeed!!! … ;-)))

(laugh out loud)

Those fearing a bastardisation of the English language need not worry straight away. Bill Rosen, chief creative officer of US publicist agency Arc believes only a select few brands and campaigns can pull off SMS lingo ads.

“You never want to come off as the Dad that is making Nelly references to his 12-year-old as a way to look cool,” he told the WSJ .