Multimodal Metaphor and Metonymy in Advertising

242 Pages·2017·3.31 MB·English

by  Paula Pérez Sobrino

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John Benjamins Publishing Company
Multimodal Metaphor and Metonymy in Advertising
Figurative Thought and Language (FTL)
issn 2405-6944
The aim of the series is to publish theoretical and empirical research on Figuration broadly
construed. Contributions to the study of metaphor, metonymy, irony, hyperbole, understate-
ment, idioms, proverbs and other understudied figures as well as figurative blends will be
considered. Works on figuration in gesture and multi-modal expression, embodiment and
figuration, pragmatic effects of figurativity and other topics relevant to the production, use,
processing, comprehension, scope, underpinnings and theoretical accounts involving figura-
tion, will also be considered.
Volumes in the series may be collective works, monographs and reference books, in the English
language.
For an overview of all books published in this series, please see
http://benjamins.com/catalog/ftl
Editors
Angeliki Athanasiadou Herbert L. Colston
Aristotle University University of Alberta
Editorial Board
Salvatore Attardo Sam Glucksberg Günter Radden
Texas A&M University, Commerce Princeton University University of Hamburg
John A. Barnden Albert Katz Francisco José Ruiz
University of Birmingham Western University, Canada de Mendoza Ibáñez
Benjamin K. Bergen Sandrine Le Sourn-Bissaoui University of La Rioja
University of California, San Diego Université Rennes 2 Maria Sifianou
Daniel Casasanto Jeannette Littlemore National and Kapodistrian
University of Chicago University of Birmingham University of Athens
Eva Filippova Marilyn A. Nippold Gerard J. Steen
Charles University Prague University of Oregon University of Amsterdam
Raymond W. Gibbs, Jr. Klaus-Uwe Panther Linda L. Thornburg
University of California, Santa Cruz University of Hamburg Nanjing Normal University
Rachel Giora Penny M. Pexman
Tel Aviv University University of Calgary
Volume 2
Multimodal Metaphor and Metonymy in Advertising
by Paula Pérez Sobrino
Multimodal Metaphor
and Metonymy in Advertising
Paula Pérez Sobrino
Universidad Politécnica of Madrid
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam / Philadelphia
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
8
the American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.
doi 10.1075/ftl.2
Cataloging-in-Publication Data available from Library of Congress:
lccn 2017045525 (print) / 2017052366 (e-book)
isbn 978 90 272 0986 3 (Hb)
isbn 978 90 272 6467 1 (e-book)
© 2017 – John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Company · https://benjamins.com
Table of contents
Preface 1
Chapter 1
Scope of and need for this book 7
1.1 About this book 7
1.2 Research questions and working hypotheses 9
1.3 Originality and potential impact of this book 12
1.4 Structure of the book 14
Chapter 2
Theoretical models to explore multimodal meaning 17
2.1 Introduction 17
2.2 The visual-semiotic model 20
2.3 The relevance-theoretic model 29
2.4 The multiple space-structuring model 39
2.5 The multimodal approach to conceptual metaphor 48
Chapter 3
An integrated approach to the study of multimodal metaphor
and metonymy 55
3.1 Introduction 55
3.2 Patterns of conceptual interaction 57
3.2.1 (Multiple-source)-in-target metonymy 58
3.2.2 Metonymic chains 60
3.2.3 Metaphtonymy 62
3.2.4 Metaphoric amalgams 64
3.2.5 Metaphoric chains 66
3.3 The figurative continuum 67
3.4 Expanding the figurative continuum to multimodal settings:
What needs to be done 69
vi Multimodal Metaphor and Metonymy in Advertising
Chapter 4
Facing methodological challenges 77
4.1 Introduction 77
4.2 The equipollence hypothesis 79
4.3 Aspects of operationalization 81
4.3.1 Selection of the data 81
4.3.2 Identification of multimodal manifestations related
to metaphor and metonymy 85
4.3.3 Inter-rater reliability 91
4.3.4 Annotation scheme 92
4.4 Final remarks 93
Chapter 5
Metonymy and metonymic complexes 95
5.1 Introduction 95
5.2 Multimodal metonymy and its complexes 97
5.2.1 Multimodal metonymy 97
5.2.2 Multimodal metonymic chain 102
5.2.3 Multimodal (multiple-source)-in-target metonymy 105
5.2.4 Multimodal (multiple-source)-in-target metonymic chain 109
5.3 Other operations in combination with multimodal metonymy 111
5.3.1 Hyperbole 111
5.3.2 Paradox 113
5.3.3 Onomatopoeia 116
5.4 Interim conclusions 118
Chapter 6
Metaphor and metaphoric complexes 119
6.1 Introduction 119
6.2 Multimodal metaphor and its complexes 120
6.2.1 Multimodal metaphor 120
6.2.2 Multimodal metaphtonymy 125
6.2.3 Multimodal single-source metaphoric amalgam 140
6.2.4 Multimodal multiple-source/target metaphoric amalgam 145
6.2.5 Multimodal metaphoric chain 152
6.3 Conclusions 155
Table of contents vii
Chapter 7
Figurative complexes in advertising (I): A corpus-based account 157
7.1 Introduction 157
7.2 Figurative operations 160
7.3 Choice of mode 162
7.4 Product type 167
7.5 Other interactions: Mode and marketing strategy 169
7.6 Conclusions 171
Chapter 8
Figurative complexes in advertising (II): A cross-cultural investigation
into the the reception of advertisements 175
8.1 Introduction 175
8.2 Methodology 179
8.2.1 Selection of participants and materials 179
8.2.2 Selection of the material 180
8.2.3 Data collection and processing 181
8.2.4 Statistical procedures 183
8.3 Findings and discussion 184
8.3.1 Speed of processing 184
8.3.2 Perceived persuasive potential 185
8.3.3 Number of possible interpretations 186
8.3.4 Interim conclusions 187
8.3.5 Cross-cultural variation 189
8.4 Summary and conclusions 194
Chapter 9
Closing notes 197
9.1 Introduction 197
9.2 What adds Multimodal Metaphor and Metonymy in Advertising
to what we already know? 197
9.3 Implications of this book for future research on multimodal
metaphor and metonymy 206
9.4 Reverse engineering and suggestions for further research 207
9.5 Closing notes 211
References 213
Secondary references 227
Index 231

Preface
According to Ogilvy & Mather Germany’s chief creative officer, Stephan Vogel,
“nothing is more efficient than creative advertising; creative advertising is more
memorable, longer lasting, works with less media spending, and builds a fan com-
munity … faster.” 1 Indeed, a brilliantly designed campaign that sticks easily in the
consumer’s mind is one of the keys to a successful advert. However, advertisers
must bear in mind that such creativity must not jeopardise the intelligibility of the
message. All in all, advertising, artistic or not, has the clear and ultimate purpose of
selling a service or a product. The challenge thus remains to find a middle ground
between producing a straightforward selling-oriented message and conveying it in
a sufficiently distinct and unique way so that it stands out from competitors.
The lexicographer Patrick Hanks (2014: 136) characterises linguistic creativity
as a phenomenon that does not follow norms, but rather deliberately and know-
ingly exploits norms. This consideration sheds light on two important features of
advertising as a creative medium: first, modern advertising departs from a number
of genre conventions and consumers’ expectations to produce more artistic adverts;
and second, there is always an intention behind the artistic design of each advert
that makes consumers look beyond and wonder what is being sold and why. Hence,
advertising provides an excellent opportunity to investigate the individual routes of
creative thought that are shared with the community of targeted consumers. This
relates to Ripple’s (1989: 189) coinage of the notion “ordinary creativity”, which
refers to identifiable but unique ways of thinking that are recurrent in people when
they encounter incongruities in real-life, everyday situations. Therefore, ordinary
creative thinking exists to a greater or lesser degree in everyone, but our inferential
abilities will determine the extent, scope and potentiality of our creative thought.
Over the course of this book I argue that ordinary creativity 2 can be described
and assessed according to a set of identifiable analytical tools: metaphor, metonymy,
1. Retrieved on 9th March 2016 from: https://hbr.org/2013/06/creativity-in-advertising- when-
it-works-and-when-it-doesnt
2. Creativity is a broad and elusive concept. For a definition and an exhaustive review of its di-
mensions, see Veale, Feyaerts and Forceville (2014). In this book, the scope is narrowed down to
the study of metaphor, metonymy, and their combinations as a form to convey creative meaning
in advertising in a fairly predictable way.