METAPHORS IN THE TEXT-WORLDS OF COMMERCIAL ADVERTISING: CREATING A “DOUBLE VISION’ EFFECT

METAPHORS IN THE TEXT-WORLDS OF COMMERCIAL ADVERTISING: CREATING A “DOUBLE VISION’ EFFECT

Author:  S.L. Kushneruk

Abstract:  The article focuses on the analysis of metaphors used in commercial advertising in world-modeling perspective. It gives insights into construction of pragmatically-oriented mental representations as means of sales promotion. Built on the notions of “micro-metaphor” (J. Gavins), “megametaphor” (P. Werth, S. Browse), the discourse-level conceptual effects of metaphors in commercial advertising are discussed. It is argued that each micro-metaphor generates cognitive content which presents an additional layer in the conceptual structure of advertising text-worlds. It creates a “double vision” effect, enabling the agent to describe the promoted good in several perspectives. Multiple micro-metaphors are often combined to create megametaphors, which make the conceptual content of a text-world even more complicated contributing to the global meaning of the whole ad.

Keywords:  metaphor, micro-metaphor, megametaphor, text-world, “double vision” effect, commercial advertising.

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Pages:  402-408