Edward F. McQuarrie

Figures of Rhetoric in Advertising Language

A rhetorical figure can be defined as an artful deviation in the form taken by a statement. Since antiquity dozens of figures have been cataloged, ranging from the familiar (rhyme, pun) to the obscure (antimetabole). Despite the frequent appearance of rhetorical figures in print advertisements, their incorporation into advertising theory and research has been minimal. This article develops a framework for classifying rhetorical figures that distinguishes between figurative and nonfigurative text, between two types of figures (schemes and tropes), and among four rhetorical operations that underlie individual figures (repetition, reversal, substitution, and destabilization). These differentiations in the framework are supported by preliminary validation data and are linked to suggested consumer responses. The article also considers the theoretical import of the proposed framework for future research on rhetorical structure in advertising. Copyright 1996 by the University of Chicago.

Visual Rhetoric in Advertising: Text-Interpretive, Experimental, and Reader-Response Analyses

Text interpretations, two experiments, and a set of reader-response interviews examine the impact of stylistic elements in advertising that form visual rhetorical figures parallel to those found in language. The visual figures examined here--rhyme, antithesis, metaphor, and pun--produced more elaboration and led to a more favorable attitude toward the ad, without being any more difficult to comprehend. Interviews confirmed that several of the meanings generated by informants corresponded to those produced by an a priori text-interpretive analysis of the ads. However, all of these effects diminished or disappeared for the visual tropes (metaphor and pun) in the case of individuals who lacked the cultural competency required to adequately appreciate the contemporary American ads on which the studies are based. Results are discussed in terms of the power of rhetorical theory and cultural competency theory (Scott 1994) for illuminating the role played by visual elements in advertising. Overall, the project demonstrates the advantages of investigating visual persuasion via an integration of multiple research traditions. Copyright 1999 by the University of Chicago.

INDIRECT PERSUASION IN ADVERTISING: How Consumers Process Metaphors Presented in Pictures and Words

Indirect persuasion attempts are common in magazine advertisements. Although the use of an indirect claim presumably offers some advantage to an advertiser, as yet, little is known about how consumers process different types of indirect claims. We develop the proposition that when consumers are presented with an indirect metaphorical claim, they become more receptive to multiple positive inferences about the advertised brand. In addition, when the indirect metaphorical claim takes the form of a picture, consumers are more likely to spontaneously generate such positive inferences at the time of ad exposure. These ideas are supported in an experiment using response latency data. Because many of the inferences examined in this study could be considered misleading if claimed directly, the paper concludes with a discussion of the public policy implications of the findings.

Beyond Visual Metaphor: A New Typology of Visual Rhetoric in Advertising

The goal of rhetorical theory is always to organize the possibilities for persuasion within a domain and to relate each possible stratagem to specific desired outcomes. In this article we develop a visual rhetoric that differentiates the pictorial strategies available to advertisers and links them to consumer response. We propose a new typology that distinguishes nine types of visual rhetorical figures according to their degree of complexity and ambiguity. We then derive empirically testable predictions concerning how these different types of visual figures may influence such consumer responses as elaboration and belief change. The article concludes with a discussion of the importance of marrying textual analysis, as found in literary, semiotic and rhetorical disciplines, with the experimental methodology characteristic of social and cognitive psychology.

How Enduring and Situational Involvement Combine to Create Involvement Responses

Abstract Although a two-component model of product involvement is widely accepted, research has not studied how enduring and situational involvement combine to affect consumer responses. This article investigates three combination models. In particular, an additive model is compared with two interaction models, and the three models are tested empirically using field surveys. Results suggest that preexisting levels of enduring involvement neither magnify nor suppress situational involvement effects occurring around the time of purchase, thus supporting the simple additive model.

Visual and Verbal Rhetorical Figures Under Directed Processing Versus Incidental Exposure to Advertising

This re-inquiry examines the robustness of research showing that rhetorical figures such as rhyme and metaphor can have a positive impact on consumer response to advertising. Prior empirical research explicitly directed subjects to process the ads and generally examined either visual or verbal rhetoric, but not both. We embedded ads containing visual and verbal figures in a 32-page magazine designed to be interesting to subjects and manipulated directed processing or incidental exposure to the ads. Ads with figures were recalled more often and liked better. Visual figures were more effective regardless of processing condition, whereas verbal figures performed better only when subjects were directed to process the ads.

Narrative and Persuasion in Fashion Advertising

Narrative transportation—to be carried away by a story—has been proposed as a distinct route to persuasion. But as originally conceived, narrative transportation is unlikely to occur in response to advertisements, where persuasive intent is obvious and consumer resistance is expected. We analyze fashion ads to show how narrative transportation can nonetheless be a possible response to ads, if specific aesthetic properties are present, most notably when grotesque imagery is used. We then situate narrative transportation as one of five modes of engaging fashion advertising, each of which serves as a distinct route to persuasion. Interviews showed that consumers variously engage ads to act, identify, feel, transport, or immerse. We explain how aesthetic properties of ads call forth different modes of engagement and explore how grotesque imagery can lead to either narrative transportation or immersion. As routes to persuasion, transportation and immersion work by intensifying brand experience rather than boosting brand evaluation.

The Megaphone Effect: Taste and Audience in Fashion Blogging

The megaphone effect refers to the fact that the web makes a mass audience potentially available to ordinary consumers. The article focuses on fashion bloggers who acquire an audience by iterated displays of aesthetic discrimination applied to the selection and combination of clothing. The authors offer a theoretical account of bloggers’ success in terms of the accumulation of cultural capital via public displays of taste and describe how the exercise of taste produces economic rewards and social capital for these bloggers. The article situates fashion blogging as one instance of a larger phenomenon that includes online reviews and user-generated content and extends to the consumption of food and home decor as well as clothing. In these instances of the megaphone effect, a select few ordinary consumers are able to acquire an audience without the institutional mediation historically required.

Personification in Advertising

All forms of personification draw on anthropomorphism, the propensity to attribute human characteristics to objects. In an experiment, we show that visual personification—pictures in an ad that metaphorically represent a product as engaged in some kind of human behavior—can trigger anthropomorphism. Such personification, when embedded in an ad, appears to lead to more positive emotions, more positive attributions of brand personality, and greater brand liking. Implications for advertisers are discussed.

The Development, Change, and Transformation of Rhetorical Style in Magazine Advertisements 1954–1999

Abstract Rhetorical advertising style consists of the method or manner by which ad content is expressed; an example is the use of rhetorical figures such as metaphor or rhyme. Two studies of rhetorical style in U.S. magazine advertisements from 1954 to 1999 are reported. A qualitative content assessment suggests that rhetorical figures were prevalent throughout the period. In addition, the content assessment suggests more layering of multiple figures and less explanation of figures over time. The content analysis supports these trends and clarifies that one kind of figure—a destabilization trope that includes pun, metaphor, and irony—increased in incidence. Several possible explanations for these observed trends are considered, with a focus on how changes in rhetorical style may reflect the mutual adaptation of consumer and advertiser to changes in the advertising environment over this time period.