Metaphor and Advertising-Summary

Structure of the Project:

Introduction
1. The Discourse of Advertising
2. Conceptual Metaphors
3. Maps of Meaning in Advertisements
Conclusions
Bibliography

Chapter 1-The Discourse of Advertising:

1.1 The Genre of Advertising
1.2 Rhetorical Features of the Discourse of Advertising
1.3 Stylistic Features of the Discourse of Advertising
1.4 Pragmatic Features of the Discourse of Advertising
1.5 A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Discourse of Advertising

Chapter 2-Conceptual Metaphors:

2.1 The Nature of Metaphor
2.2 The Structure of Metaphor
2.3 The Basis of Metaphor
2.4 Properties of Metaphors
2.5 Types of Metaphors

Chapter 3-Maps of Meaning in Advertisements:

3.1 Tea Advertisements
3.2 Coca Cola Advertisements
3.3 Coffee Advertisements
3.4 Beer Advertisements
3.5 Wine Advertisements
3.6 Rum Advertisements

INTRODUCTION:
The premise of the project: Conceptual metaphors are pervasive in beverage advertising;
they are one of the main persuasive linguistic tools used by copywriters in order to convey
their persuasive message and lie at the basis of the meaning of beverage advertisements.

The goals of the project: To identify and analyse the persuasive linguistic tools used by
copywriters, paying attention to the conceptual metaphors that lie at the basis of the
meaning of beverage advertisements, demonstrating their importance and pervasiveness.

Corpus: It consists of a compilation of advertisements and advertising slogans belonging

to alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine, rum, tea, Coca-Cola and
coffee.

Method: When analysing the conceptual metaphors found in beverage advertising, I shall
identify the target domain and the source domain, I shall state the conceptual metaphors
established between these two domains and the persuasive role they play. I shall also
identify and analyse the persuasive linguistic strategies encountered at various linguistic
levels: phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, pragmatics, textual linguistics etc.

Chapter 1-The Discourse of Advertising-summary

This chapter aims at analysing the discourse of advertising from a linguistic point of view.
It is made up of five subchapters.
The first subchapter entitled The Genre of Advertising provides an overview of the
literature dedicated to this particular topic. It stresses very much the idea that the genre of
advertising is hybrid, evincing transgenic tendencies. Therefore, advertisements often rely
on other genres such as drama, storytelling, jokes, daily conversations, novel writing
techniques etc. Being a particular type of discourse, the advertising discourse features two
major components: text and context. As far as the former is concerned, it can be defined
as a stretch of linguistic units arranged in accordance with paradigmatic and syntagmatic
rules. The latter component, which is context, comprises the following elements:

substance, music and pictures, paralanguage, situation, co-text, intertext, participants and
function.
The second subchapter entitled Rhetorical Features of the Discourse of Advertising
analyses the language of advertising within a rhetorical framework. It enlarges upon one
of the language functions performed by this discourse, which is the conative function.
Within this particular framework, the participants in the advertising communication
process can be described as persuader and persuadee, while the former has persuasive
goals. Persuasion can be thus defined as a process of causing the persuadees behaviour to
change. In our case, the persuader represents the company for which the advertisement is
created, while the persuadee represents a group of people sharing a common need.
According to OShaughnessy (2004), emotional appeal is a common persuasive technique
used by copywriters. He also holds that rational appeal is not used by copywriters,
because people adopt the psychological defence mechanism of denial when confronted
with rational and uncomfortable evidence.
The emotional appeal consists of the following techniques: reframing a particular issue,
using different words for the same phenomenon, creating dramatic metaphors, narratives,
description, visual evidence, comparison, analogy, classification and definition.
The third subchapter entitled Stylistic Features of the Discourse of Advertising focuses on
the poetic function performed by this type of discourse. Cook (2001) holds that deviation
is one of the major stylistic functions performed by the language of advertising. This
deviation is encountered at the following linguistic levels: phonetics and phonology,
morphology, syntax, lexicology and semantics.
At the phonological level, the following peculiarities can be observed: rhyme, rhythm,
alliteration, assonance. At the graphological level, unpredictable spelling of words,
acronyms, initialisms, and transliteration are very common.
At the morphological level, one can notice the pervasiveness of the nominal phrases. This
is due to the fact that advertisements foreground the referential function of language,
while skilfully camouflaging the conative function. Verbal phrases are less numerous and
they are either in the Simple Present tense, describing the properties and the qualities of
the product or in the Imperative Mood, urging the reader to buy that product.
At the syntactic level, one can notice the following stylistic devices: rhetorical questions,
exclamatives and ellipsis.
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At the lexical level, lexical creativity is evident: provodkative, cookability (Cook,

2001). Combinatorial novelty is also common: dangerously delicious pies.
At the semantic level, one can notice semantic ambiguity and the following figures of
speech: metaphors, personifications, similes, hyperbole and antithesis.
The fourth subchapter entitled Pragmatic Features of the Discourse of Advertising
focuses on the referential function performed by this type of discourse. The persuader
endows his words with an illocutionary force, which is represented by his persuasive
intentions, and the persuadee is left to infer these intentions. The persuader is the self,
because he is verbally active, while the persuadee is the other, because he remains
verbally passive. It is also worth noticing that the perlocutionary effect may be delayed or
cancelled, as the reader of the advertisement refuses to buy the product.
Indirectness is a principle that governs the persuasive techniques used in advertising. It is
triggered by the copywriters desire to avoid open confrontation when providing
unrealistic data.
As far as the speech acts are concerned, the following speech acts are commonly
encountered in advertisements: Assertive Speech Acts, Directive Speech Acts,
Commissive Speech Acts and Expressive Speech Acts.
The fifth subchapter is called A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Language of
Advertising. It proposes a holistic view of this particular language, enlarging upon its two
major components: text and context. It also deals with the language functions proposed by
the linguist Roman Jackobson, stating the three major language functions performed by
the language of advertising: the conative function, the poetic function and the referential
function.
The last part of this subchapter deals with the textual features of this type of discourse. It
enlarges upon textual devices such as cohesion and coherence, paying special attention to
intertextuality.
Cohesion can be defined as the property of the text of being interconnected, of having a
visible structure. It can be divided into the following types: grammatical, lexical and
structural cohesion.
Coherence refers to features such as orderliness, meaningfulness, logical order.
Intertextuality refers to the relation established between two texts, in which one of them
relies on the other one. The source text is the text from which some ideas are derived,
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while intertextual marks refer to quotation, parody and allusion. Liu and Le (2013) divide
intertextuality into macro-intertextuality versus micro-intertextuality, strong
intertextuality versus weak intertextuality, manifest intertextuality versus constitutive
intertextuality and specific intertextuality versus generic intertextuality. Cook (2001)
divides intertextuality into intra-generic versus inter-generic intertextuality.

Chapter 2-Conceptual Metaphors-summary

This second chapter features these subchapters: The Nature of Metaphor, The Structure of
Metaphor, The Basis of Metaphor, Properties of Metaphors and Types of Metaphors.
The first subchapter i.e. The Nature of Metaphor enlarges upon the ontology of the
metaphor. Metaphor is conceptual in nature and resides in the comprehension of one
domain in terms of another domain. The domain we aim to understand is called the Target
Domain, while the domain on which we rely our understanding is called the Source
Domain. The conceptual metaphor is conventionally represented in writing as
CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN A IS CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN B. For instance, if we take
for example the conceptual metaphor ARGUMENT IS WAR, the Target Domain is
ARGUMENT, while the Source Domain, from which we derive information, is WAR. As
an illustration, I shall provide the examples given by Lakoff and Johnson (2003):
AN ARGUMENT IS WAR
He attacked every weak point in my argument.
His claims were indefensible.
The second subchapter is called The Structure of Metaphor. Metaphors consist of
mappings across conceptual domains. These mappings are sets of systematic
correspondences between the Source Domain and the Target Domain. For instance, if we
take for example the LOVE IS A JOURNEY conceptual metaphor provided by Kovecses
(2010), the following mappings are obtained:
1. The travellers are the lovers.
2. The vehicle is the love relationship itself.
3. The journey is the events in the relationship.
4. The distance covered is the progress made in the relationship.
5. The obstacles encountered are the difficulties experienced in the relationship.
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6. The decisions about which way to go are the choices about what to do.
7. The destination of the journey is the goal of the relationship.
The third subchapter is called The Basis of Metaphor. Actually, the conceptual metaphor
has an experiential basis. It heavily relies on peoples correlations in experience,
perceived similarities and it has biological and cultural roots.
Correlations in experience are events that are perceived simultaneously. For instance,
adding more fluid to a container is accompanied by fluid rising. This correlation lies at the
basis of conceptual metaphors such as MORE IS UP.
Perceived similarities are not objective similarities, but some English speakers perceive
them this way. For instance, some people perceive certain similarities between the
conceptual domain of life and that of a gambling game, these perceived similarities
accounting for the conceptual metaphor LIFE IS A GAMBLING GAME.
Another basis for the conceptual metaphor is the situation in which the source is the origin
of the target. For instance, people talk about love and affection in terms of bond, link and
unity, because they are rooted in biological states and events such as sexuality, birth and
early mother-child relationship.
Conceptual metaphors can also be underlain by cultural roots. For instance, people talk
about arguments in terms of wars because arguments naturally evolved from fighting.
The fourth subchapter is named Properties of Metaphors. These properties can be
spelled out as follows: asymmetry, cultural variation, universality, systematicity and
abstraction. Conceptual metaphor plays a major role in the grammar and lexicon of a
language. Kovecses (2010) postulates that some idioms are motivated, putting forward the
concept named cognitive motivation. According to him (Kovecses, 2010), the meaning of
some idioms can be guessed by analysing their components.
The fifth subchapter is called Types of Metaphors. It provides a typology of conceptual
metaphors by taking into account several criteria: their conventionality, their cognitive
function, their generality and their nature. According to the first criterion, metaphors can
be divided into conventional and creative or novel metaphors. The second criterion
distinguishes between structural, ontological and orientational metaphors, while the third
one divides the metaphors into specific-level metaphors and generic-level metaphors. The
last criterion imposes a classification of metaphors into image-schema metaphors and oneshot image metaphors or image metaphors.
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Chapter 3-Maps of Meaning in Advertisements-summary

This chapter is divided into: Tea Advertisements, Coca-Cola Advertisements, Coffee

Advertisements, Beer Advertisements, Wine Advertisements and Rum Advertisements.
The first subchapter entitled Tea Advertisements aims to identify and analyse the
persuasive linguistic tools used by copywriters in order to persuade the buyers to buy the
product. It pays special attention to the conceptual metaphors that underlie the meaning of
many beverage advertisements.
The empirical data shows that many tea advertisements often make use of conceptual
metaphors related to sex. Therefore, metaphors such as DRINKING TEA IS HAVING
SEX are at work. The sensorial experiences triggered by tasting and drinking the tea are
conceived as sexual experiences, while portraying a hedonistic reader, a pleasure seeker.
Other tea advertisements depict the tea as a female entity, making thus use of
personification, which is an instance of ontological metaphors. Tea is portrayed as an
attractive female, sometimes as a fairy.
The ingredients that make up the tea are often subjected to personification, too. They are
viewed as lovers and the process of making the tea is metaphorically conceived as their
date, affair, marriage or even sexual encounter. Therefore, metaphors such as
INGREDIENTS ARE LOVERS are at work. The ingredients are also metaphorically
conceived at a more general level, that of individuals.
As far as the linguistic levels are concerned, one can notice that tea advertisements fully
exploit the linguistic resources encountered at all linguistic levels.
At the phonological level, some advertisements make use of the near-homophonic relation
between various lexical items. For instance, a Lipton tea advertisement talks about a
very-berry flavour. The two lexical items, i.e. the adverb very and the noun
berry evince a near-homophonic relation, which is exploited for humorous purposes.
At the morphological level, the nominal phrases are pervasive. They describe the
properties of the product, foregrounding the referential function performed by the
language of advertising: pretty juicy taste sensation, black tea leaves, soft,
sophisticated taste. Adjectival phrases are also common: serenely delicious, so
original, Original. Appetizing. Feminine.
The verbal phrases are usually in the Simple Present Tense, describing the properties of
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the tea and its preparation: Inside are thousands (countem) of tender young tea leaves
too innocent to have any bitterness to hide. The other verbal phrases are in the Imperative
Mood, cunningly urging the reader to buy the product: Get that good coffee feeling.
At the syntactic level, rhetorical questions and ellipsis are very common. The rhetorical
questions are meant to induce in the reader the existence of a false need, while the ellipsis
aims to create an informal tone.
The second subchapter is entitled Coca-Cola Advertisements and focuses on analysing
the advertising slogans belonging to Coca-Cola.
Coca-Cola advertising slogans usually make use of the following conceptual metaphors:
COCA-COLA IS AN ENTITY, which represents a generic-level metaphor having the
following specific-level metaphors: COCA-COLA IS AN AGENT and COCA-COLA IS
A FRIEND. Other common conceptual metaphors are FEELINGS ARE OBJECTS, THE
PRODUCT TO SELL IS THE TASTE and FEELINGS ARE FLUIDS.
The third subchapter is called Coffee Advertisements and deals with the analysis of
famous coffee advertising slogans. I have noticed that many coffee advertising slogans
exploit the following conceptual metaphors: TASTE IS AN ENTITY, COFFEE IS A
LOVER and TASTE IS THE PRODUCT TO SELL.
The fourth subchapter is called Beer Advertisements. This domain employs conceptual
metaphors and metonymies such as THE PLACE STANDS FOR THE PRODUCT TO
SELL, TASTE IS AN ENTITY and TASTE IS THE PRODUCT TO SELL.
The fifth subchapter is entitled Wine Advertisements. Apart from exploiting traditional
conceptual metaphors such as TASTE IS AN OBJECT, these advertisements also employ
new metaphors such as DRINKS ARE TYPICAL NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES.
The sixth subchapter is called Rum Advertisements. These advertisements draw upon
the conceptual metaphors used by wine advertisements, also evincing new metaphors such
as DRINKING THE BEVERAGE IS A JOURNEY TO ITS NATIVE LAND.
CONCLUSIONS
Beverage advertising represents a particular locus for the conceptual metaphor, as it is
indeed pervasive in this domain. The copywriters cunningly exploit many persuasive
linguistic tools, such as rhetorical questions, ellipsis, but the conceptual metaphor holds an
extremely important place. Its role is to provide access to otherwise inaccessible domains
and thus it facilitates the accomplishment of the mission of advertising, that is to persuade.
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Bibliography
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5. Lakoff, G. (1992) The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor in Ortony, A. (ed.)
Metaphor and Thought (second edition), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
6. Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M. (2003) Metaphors we live by, Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press. (First published in 1980)
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http://www.sloganspoint.com/slogans/advertising-slogans/alcohol-slogans/wines-

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