Article published in:
Journal of Argumentation in Context
Vol. 4:2 (2015) ► pp. 158–199

The argumentative relevance of pictorial and multimodal metaphor in advertising

| University of Lugano
In this article we present an exploratory investigation of pictorial and multimodal metaphors appearing in print product advertisements; the aim is to ascertain their relevance for the arguments that the ads put forth. Departing from the working hypotheses that advertising is an argumentative activity type employing pictorial and multimodal metaphors, and that these are often examples of visual argumentation, we analyze a small corpus of print product ads by employing the theoretical frameworks offered by Blending Theory and the Argumentum Model of Topics. This allows us to reconstruct the enthymematic structure of advertising arguments highlighting the correspondence between rhetorical tropes and argumentative loci.
Keywords: Argumentum Model of Topics, argumentative relevance, advertising, pictorial and multimodal metaphor, Blending Theory
Published online: 29 October 2015
https://doi.org/10.1075/jaic.4.2.02pol
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