promote
verb OPAL W
/prəˈməʊt/
/prəˈməʊt/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they promote | /prəˈməʊt/ /prəˈməʊt/ |
| he / she / it promotes | /prəˈməʊts/ /prəˈməʊts/ |
| past simple promoted | /prəˈməʊtɪd/ /prəˈməʊtɪd/ |
| past participle promoted | /prəˈməʊtɪd/ /prəˈməʊtɪd/ |
| -ing form promoting | /prəˈməʊtɪŋ/ /prəˈməʊtɪŋ/ |
- to help sell a product, service, etc. or make it more popular by advertising it or offering it at a special price
- promote something The band has gone on tour to promote their new album.
- This trade fair will help businesses from Malawi to promote their products.
- promote something as something The area is being promoted as a tourist destination.
Culture advertisingadvertisingMost companies in Britain and the US have to work hard to promote and market (= draw attention to and make people want) their goods in order to sell them. Political parties, charities and other organizations also use advertising. Companies advertise on the internet and there are also advertisements, usually called commercials, on radio and television. Many pages in newspapers and magazines are filled with advertisements (also called ads or, in Britain, adverts). Especially in the US, supermarkets and other stores produce leaflets, often made up of several pages, showing pictures of items that are special offers that week.Advertisements in newspapers and magazines are expensive and only the largest companies can afford to advertise their products in this way. Small companies advertise in the classified ads columns, where each advertisement consists of a few lines of text only. Shops and businesses, and individuals wanting to buy or sell used household goods, advertise in local papers and social media.The richest companies buy prime-time advertising time on television (= when people are watching the most popular TV programmes). Famous actors or singers sometimes endorse a particular product by appearing in advertisements for it. Some advertising slogans (= short phrases mentioning a product) are known by everyone, for example, ‘Have a break – have a Kit Kat'. Some advertisements are like very brief episodes of a story. Tobacco advertising is now banned on radio and television in Britain and the US. Advertisers have no influence over the people who make programmes, even if they help pay for the programmes through sponsorship. There is, however, an increasing amount of product placement, where firms pay for their products to be shown in films or television programmes. In the US some commercials are national, others are shown only in a particular area. Some products are sold on smaller channels by an infomercial, a commercial that lasts half an hour or more and tries to look like an entertainment programme.Other ways of advertising include displaying large posters on hoardings or billboards (= large signs) by the side of roads. Flyers (= small posters) advertising local events, for example, are given to people in the street or posted through doors. Restaurants advertise in theatre programmes, and shops advertise in their own magazines. There are many forms of advertising on the internet. Just as firms send junk mail to people who have not asked for it, emails are used to advertise products and services. Emails that people do not want are called spam. On internet pages advertisers use banner ads (= advertisements across the top or bottom of a page), pop-ups (= pages that open in front of the page you are looking at) and links to their own websites to attract customers. Advertisers can collect data about a user's online activity, which allows them to learn about the user's interests. As a result, they are able to direct their advertising at specific users. Advertisements are also sent to mobile phones and social media.The biggest US ad agencies have offices in New York on Madison Avenue, so Madison Avenue has come to mean 'the advertising industry'. In Britain, the advertising industry is controlled by the Advertising Standards Authority. All advertisements must be ‘legal, decent, honest and truthful ’. In the US the Federal Communications Commission makes rules about advertising. Television and radio stations are required to do some public service announcements (= commercials that give information to the community) free of charge.Many people are against advertising, partly because it adds to the cost of a product. People also say that the influence of advertising is too great, and that children, especially, want every product they see advertised. On the other hand, many people buy American newspapers on Sundays because they advertise special offers and contain coupons (= pieces of paper enabling people to buy products at a reduced price).Extra ExamplesTopics Businessb1- The company's products have been promoted mainly through advertising in newspapers.
- The new products have been very heavily promoted.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- aggressively
- heavily
- vigorously
- …
- as
- through
- promote something to help something to happen or develop synonym encourage
- to promote democracy/peace/understanding/health
- I applaud his efforts to promote world peace.
- to promote the development/use of something
- policies to promote economic growth
- a campaign to promote awareness of environmental issues
- The exhibition was intended to promote interest in contemporary sculpture.
- We think football can help to promote the idea of a multicultural and multiethnic society.
- Vietnam has actively promoted foreign investment.
Extra ExamplesTopics Successb1- Bonus payments to staff serve to promote commitment to the company.
- Human rights are strongly promoted by all our members.
- The idea of equal opportunities was strongly promoted by many Labour MPs.
- They claimed that the authorities had deliberately promoted and condoned the violence.
- Young people's awareness of agricultural issues is promoted through publicity material.
- The aim of the culture festival is to promote friendship between the two countries.
- The church tries to promote racial harmony.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- strongly
- actively
- directly
- …
- aim to
- seek to
- try to
- …
- through
- a campaign to promote something
- a scheme to promote something
- be aimed at promoting something
- …
- [often passive] to move somebody to a higher rank or more senior job
- promote somebody She worked hard and was soon promoted.
- promote somebody to something He has been promoted to sergeant.
- promote somebody from something He was an experienced officer who had been promoted from the ranks.
- promote somebody from something to something She was promoted from finance director to chief executive.
Extra ExamplesTopics Jobsb1- He was promoted from deputy minister to minister last year.
- He was promoted to the rank of captain.
- a recently promoted headteacher
- promote something (from something) (to something) to move a sports team from playing with one group of teams to playing in a better group
- They were promoted to the First Division last season.
Word Originlate Middle English: from Latin promot- ‘moved forward’, from the verb promovere, from pro- ‘forward, onward’ + movere ‘to move’.