The paper is to erplore one aspect ofthe language, that is, puns used in advertising from thepoint of view of Relevance Theory My exploration is port of a more genetal investigation intothe force of language, more specifically the way language is used to persuade, convince, andmanipulate othera. The exaniples used by Sperber and Wilson are mainly concemed withsituatioiis in which communication occurs between trusting and equal partners. Much of mywork, in contrast, attempts to apply the central notions of Relevance Theory to the verydifferent social situation that characterizes advertising.The first part of the paper surveys and criticizes selected approaches to the language ofadvertising, and puts forward Relevance Theory as the basis for explaining the comprehensionof utterances. Then the paper goes on to investigate the selected topic of the adveitisinglanguage, which might seem to pose problems to Relevance Theory The partial suppressionof the advertisers intention in punninig appears problematic at first sight. Sperber and Wilsonsanaiysis of communication is based on a model which involves the speaker letting it be knownthat he is trying to communicate something.<2> There are forms of communicotion thai falloutside this model. Punning appears to be a counter-examplefor Relevance Theory, wherebythe audience is expected by the speaker not only to recover the first interpretation whichcomes to their mind, but also to go on and recover the second interpretation. Nevertheless, it isargued that Relevance Theory provides valuable insights and useful explanations as to howsuch forms of communication are achieved. The distinction between the informative intention,the intention to inform the audience of something, and the communicative intention, that is,the intention to revealthis informative intention, is crucial in accounting for covertcommunication<3>. The audieiices interests in coal-effectiveness, and its search for optimalrelevance, prove to be vital in understanding howcommunication works when there are twoor more interpretations involved, specially in the case of punning.