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FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE USAGE IN

ADVERTISING

Pennarola, chapter VI, Leech 181- 185

Rhetoric in advertising

Rhetorical figures  artful deviation from the norm. It occurs when an expression deviates from expectation.  The two elements or domains are linked and the nature of such link determines the type of rhetorical figure. By linking the two elements (or domains), the characteristics of one are transferred to the other.

Advantages of rhetoric in advertising

Advantages of rhetoric in advertising

Ad as persuasive language

 Persuasive language uses rhetorical tropes or figures to reach its purposes of persuading people to buy or use the advertised product/object/service  “A rhetorical figure occurs when an expression deviates from expectation, the expression is not rejected as nonsensical or faulty…...”

(McQuarrie / Mick 1996)

TROPES

There are four kinds of tropes mainly used in adverts:

Metaphor (&simile)

Metonymy (& synecdoche)

Synaesthesia

Irony (& nonsense)

METAPHOR (2)

 A metaphor consists of THREE parts:  the tenor, that is the subject to which attributes are ascribed;  the vehicle , that is the subject from which the attributes are derived;  the ground , that is the part(s) of semantic field from which the attributes are selected to create the relationship between the tenor and the vehicle (Halliday 1985)

METAPHOR (3)

 Example : All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players They have their exits and their entrances; William Shakespeare, As you like it 2/ THE WORLD (TENOR) THE STAGE (VEHICLE) THE GROUND (SEMANTIC FIELD/ATTRIBUTES)

(Cook 1992: 108-109) http://c.uglym.com/cms/show_article/333003.html

SIMILE (2) - EXAMPLE

Visual simile: Life can be so simple (like having a cup of coffee and a cigarette)

SIMILE (2) - EXAMPLE

Visual simile: Comparing two things or ideas, usually by saying “like” or “as.” In this case, Fiber-Castell is suggesting that the colors of its pencils are as natural as the color of a purple eggplant.

Metonymy (2)

In metonymy, associations are contiguous because we indicate:

1. effect for cause ('Don't get hot under the collar!' for 'Don't get angry!'); 2. object for user ('the stage' for the theatre and 'the press' for journalists); 3. substance for form ('plastic' for 'credit card', 'lead' for 'bullet'); 4. place for:  event : (' Chernobyl changed attitudes to nuclear power');  person (' No. 10 ' for the British prime minister);  institution (' Whitehall isn't saying anything'); 5. institution for people ('The government is not backing down').

METONYMY - Example

An ad for pensions in a women's magazine asked the reader to arrange four images in order of importance: each image was metonymic, standing for related activities (such as shopping bags for material goods).