Masarykova univerzita Filozofická fakulta Katedra ... - IS MUNI

Masarykova univerzita

Filozofická fakulta

Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky

FF AJ Anglický jazyk

PhDr. Katarína Nemčoková

DISCOURSE STRATEGIES OF

STORYTELLING,

INTERTEXTUALITY AND

METAPHOR IN AMERICAN

PRINTED ADVERTISING

Disertační práce

Školitelka: prof. PhDr. Ludmila Urbanová, CSc.

2012

I hereby declare that I worked

on this thesis independently using

only the sources listed in references.

...........................................................

Acknowledgements

I owe my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, prof. PhDr. Ludmila Urbanová,

CSc. Her expertise, constant scholarly and personal encouragement, motivating

support and patience enabled me to write this dissertation. She has been a

teacher who every student longs to meet in the course of their studies.

My special thanks belong to Gregory Jason Bell, my dear friend and colleague,

for his invaluable editorial comments and language supervision.

I would also like to thank to Juraj Hrúz for his acute observations, challenging

discussions and help with statistics.

Finally, my endless gratitude belongs to my wonderful support team – my dear

family and friends, who always seem to do the right things.

5

Contents

Introduction......................................................................................................... 8

2 Notions and Concepts of Advertising Communication ............................. 13

2.1 Categories within the Genre of Advertisements ................................ 15

2.2 Categories of Product Consumer Ads ............................................... 16

2.2.1 Categories Based on Media of Distribution............................... 16

2.2.2 Categories Based on the Targeted Recipients ........................... 16

2.2.3 Categories Based on the Marketing Techniques ....................... 17

2.3 Corpus Description ........................................................................... 19

2.4 The Context of Advertising Communication .................................... 24

2.4.1 The Conjunctures of Advertising Communication .................... 25

2.4.2 The Structure of an Advertising Message ................................. 29

2.4.3 The Goal of Advertising Communication ................................. 33

2.4.4 The Sender of the Advertising Message .................................... 39

2.4.5 The Recipient of the Advertising Message ................................ 41

2.4.6 The Sender and the Recipient in the Social Power Context ...... 42

2.4.7 Magazines as the Channel of Advertising Communication ...... 43

2.4.8 Display Product Consumer Ads as a Sub-genre ........................ 46

3 Mental Space as a Common Interpretive Principle ................................... 48

4 Storytelling as a Discourse Strategy .......................................................... 51

4.1 Advertising Stories ............................................................................. 54

4.1.1 Fictional Stories .......................................................................... 54

4.1.2 Hinted Stories ............................................................................. 57

4.1.3 True Account Stories .................................................................. 63

4.1.4 Plot-lines Conclusion ................................................................. 73

4.2 Storytelling Cues ............................................................................... 74

4.2.1 Time Sequencing of Events as a Storytelling Cue..................... 75

4.2.2 Characters as Storytelling Cues ................................................. 76

4.2.3 Location ..................................................................................... 82

4.3 Cues Conclusion ............................................................................... 83

5 Intertextuality as a Discourse Strategy ...................................................... 84

5.1 The Phenomenon of Intertextuality.................................................... 84

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5.1.1 Genre and Voice in Intertextual References ............................... 85

5.2 The Functions of Intertextuality ......................................................... 87

5.2.1 Intertextuality and Associations in Mental Space ...................... 87

5.2.2 Intertextuality and Products in a New Context ........................... 88

5.3 Types of Intertextuality ...................................................................... 89

5.4 Intertextuality in Print Advertising .................................................... 90

5.4.1 Illustration-Depicted Intertextuality ........................................... 90

5.4.2 Mass Culture Intertextuality ....................................................... 99

5.4.3 Non-Specific Multigeneric Intertextuality ................................ 105

5.4.4 Multigeneric Intertextuality Scale ........................................... 113

5.4.5 Heteroglossic Intertextuality .................................................... 115

5.5 Concluding Remarks on Intertextuality in Ads.............................. 125

6 Metaphor as a Discourse Strategy ........................................................... 126

6.1 Metaphor as a Cognitive Device ...................................................... 126

6.1.2 Functions of Metaphors ............................................................ 126

6.1.3 Presence of Metaphors in Printed Ads...................................... 127

6.1.4 Metaphors Used as a Discourse Strategy in Advertising.......... 128

6.1.5 Creating and Filling the Mental Space with Metaphors ........... 129

6.2 Metaphors Used as a Discourse Strategy ......................................... 131

6.2.1 Distribution in the Corpus under Investigation ........................ 132

6.2.2 Revealing Metaphors ............................................................... 133

6.2.3 Ideological Metaphors ............................................................. 153

6.3 Conclusion on Metaphor as a Discourse Strategy .......................... 157

7 Overlapping Discourse Strategies ........................................................... 158

7.1 Storytelling and Intertextuality ........................................................ 159

7.2 Storytelling and Metaphor ............................................................... 161

7.3 Intertextuality and Metaphor ............................................................ 165

7.4 Storytelling, Intertextuality and Metaphor ....................................... 168

8 Statistical Summary ................................................................................. 174

9 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 178

9.1 Functioning of Storytelling, Intertextuality and Metaphor as Discourse

Strategies ..................................................................................................... 178

9.2 The Principle of Undercoding .......................................................... 179

9.3 Power Relations in Advertising Discourse ...................................... 179

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9.4 Strategies Revisited .......................................................................... 180

9.4.1 Storytelling .............................................................................. 182

9.4.2 Intertextuality ........................................................................... 184

9.4.3 Metaphor ................................................................................... 187

9.5 Hypotheses Revisited ....................................................................... 189

Bibliography ................................................................................................... 191

Corpus Material .......................................................................................... 200

APPENDICES ................................................................................................ 202

Appendix I: Glossary of Terms ...................................................................... 202

Appedix II: Corpus of Ads (Textual Parts)..................................................... 212

Appendix III: Corpus of Ads (Full Ads)......................................................... 262

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We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

(T. S. Eliot: Little Gidding (V), No. 4 of “Four Quartets”)

Introduction

Discourse is language at work. Advertising discourse, which is the focal point

of this dissertation, has a specific social setting and its influence on events in

society is profound. Fairclough in his study of discourse as a tool of power sees

the relationship of language and society as internal and dialectical. He stresses

three principles that determine the relationship of language and society:

“Firstly, … language is a part of society, and not somehow external to it.

Secondly, … language is a social process. And thirdly, … language is a

socially conditioned process, conditioned that is by other (non-linguistic) parts

of society” (1989, 22).

Advertising discourse inevitably involves the conditions of its social setting;

that is both of its production and interpretation. This is where the dissertation

positions itself: it deals with advertising discourse in printed ads, as determined

by its social environment. As discourse is also a social practice, the participants

in this practice create the critical viewpoint of the study. Due to its social

embedding, discourse in the context of advertising reflects current social

norms, values and trends and serves as a window through which these may be

seen, described and understood. Cook (2001, 69) in his thorough description of

the discourse of advertising, adds: “Internalized meaning is inseparable from

the language which handles it, [so] it can hardly be said to be internal at all, for

language is realized outside the individual in interaction with others. Our very

identity may be outside ourselves, in our interaction with others”.

Cook recounts the Saussurean view of discourse study: “The study of a

message involves three areas – the psychological, the textual and the physical

9

[…] – and the relationship between these areas” (2001, 68). In an attempt to

provide a balanced analysis of instances of advertising discourse, this

dissertation combines the mapping of the physical environment of printed

advertising; the mapping of the participants of respective advertising

communication together with their motives, needs and desires; and the analysis

of specific discourse devices operating in advertising messages. These are

inevitably determined by the setting and the participants.

Advertising in the brisk times of present-day consumerism is a developing

genre. The forms and means of advertising communication are changing

rapidly. The changes, novelties and irregularities in the discourse of advertising

seem to be its major attributes. Wilmshurst and Mackay (1999, 195), taking a

marketing and ad-creating perspective, list two aspects of good advertising:

rule 1 There are no rules.

rule 2 There may be exceptions to rule 1.

However, despite the fact that no rules guide the ads creation, it seems viable to

observe and interpret the language strategies explored in ads as trends. The

trends seem to be the invariables behind the motifs of ad creators and

interpretive mechanisms of ad recipients.

As potential consumers, recipients are the ultimate driving force of frequent

changes occurring in forms and contents of advertising discourse. Despite the

seeming one-sidedness of the advertising communication, this dissertation sees

recipients as active participants, the co-authors of the messages who enable the

power of persuasion to work. Also, the recipients are learners and, with time,

become more mature and careful interpreters. They grow aware of the power

hidden in the discourse and naturally attempt to resist. In connection with

maturing recipients Coulmas (2005, 5) points out that learning implies changes,

which is another valid reason for the instability of the advertising genre. In the

instability of discourse environment, propelled by the constant changes of

society as such, the analysis of advertising discourse may reveal the actual

position of the advertiser and the ad recipient, uncover the discourse strategies

that are implemented in order to advance the functioning of marketing

strategies for the time being, and forecast the trends for the near future.

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Within advertising as a relatively new and constantly developing genre, printed

ads in magazines represent the tradition-bearing form. This is directly linked

with the reputation of magazines as a traditional mass medium in modern

consumer-oriented society. Their long history as a social phenomenon reaches

back to 1731 when Gentleman's Magazine, the first periodical using the term

“magazine” was introduced (WFMA 2011). The 300 years of existence and

enduring present-day popularity despite the threat of omnipresent electronic

media mark the stability and trust which the readers seem to place in

magazines as a source of information, learning and entertainment. They seem

to be a solid, tangible base in an otherwise unreliable electronic information

age. According to the Magazines: The Medium of Action (2009/2010) report,

this reputation of stability and trust is also transferred to ads appearing in

magazines. Their history as an indivisible part of magazines is the history of

modern-day print advertising itself: the first ads integrated into the article

pages of magazines date back to the 1890s. By 1910, a mixture of information

and advertising on magazine pages became standard (WFMA 2011).

The aim of the research in this dissertation is to map discourse strategies in

printed advertising and to disclose possible regularities of their employment.

Since advertising is generally an unstable genre, the regularities and trends can

be expected to be most noticeable in its traditional and stability-bearing forms

and locations. That is the reason why magazine print advertisements comprise

the research material for this dissertation.

Magazine print ads promote various categories of items. These differ in goals,

target audiences and eventually in marketing means employed. When

narrowing the scope of interest to the typical and characteristic elements,

tangible goods appear in the center of attention. Unlike rather marginal charity

causes, financial services, TV shows and travel destinations, tangible goods

seem to reflect the prototypical advertising qualities. To be able to observe the

core trends, only magazine ads promoting tangible goods are utilized for this

dissertation.

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Moreover, the geographical scope is specifically and purposefully limited to

mainstream American magazines. The massive consumer market of the U.S.A.

is heavily infused with and propelled by advertising; the massive North

American media market poses virtually no limits to any element of the

advertising context, whether it is the scale of products, the range of consumers

or creativity of advertisers. In that way, it hypothetically allows a study of the

mainstream - the core in which trends get established and from which they

spread to the rest of the world.

The above-specified American magazine tangible product printed ads represent

the prototypical features of present-day printed advertising. Within such

material the following hypotheses will be tested:

• Present-day printed advertising shows signs of empowering the

recipients. The senders of the advertising messages allot more

interpretive space to the recipients and thus lessen their own capacity to

rule over the discourse.

• Discourse strategies which enable recipients to co-create the meaning

of the ad message are linked by one common interpretive principle.

• Storytelling, intertextuality and metaphor are discourse strategies that

personalize advertisements; recipients build emotive and attitudinal

layers of message meaning.

• Differences in employing discourse strategies in high-end vs. tabloid

magazines reflect different types of advertised products in the two

magazine categories.

Chapter 2 (Notions and Concepts of Advertising Communication) maps

features related to current printed advertising. Firstly, through an outline of

categories of advertising messages it establishes consumer product ads in

magazines as a sub-genre sui generis. Based on the classification of ads it

provides a description of the corpus which is the basis for later analysis. It also

maps the context of advertising communication specifying its conjunctures,

structure of an ad and goals of the communication. Marketing strategies

applied by advertising experts to sell different categories of goods are

described as mirror-images of discourse strategies detectable by linguistically-

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oriented analysis. Ultimately the chapter deals with the participants of the print

advertising communication and detects links between the participants and

magazines as the medium of communication. The senders and recipients are

mapped from the pragmatic perspective as partners in the advertising dialogue,

from the sociolinguistic point of view as discourse producers and users, and as

power-holders and power-seekers in the society.

The next section of the dissertation focuses on the analysis of the emotion-

enhancing and attitude-building discourse strategies employed in magazine

ads. It establishes the common interpretive principle along which the strategies

allow the recipients to become co-authors of the messages (Chapter 3). In

separate chapters it provides analyses of discourse strategies of storytelling

(Chapter 4), intertextuality (Chapter 5) and metaphor (Chapter 6) and uncovers

their capacity to allow recipients to co-create the ad meaning. Each chapter

studies how the interpretive principle of recipient’s mental space is explored

with respective discourse strategies and how cues evoking the mental space

operate to deliver the desired outcomes. At the same time, the chapters

document how discourse strategies relate to advertising strategies and to the

promotion of specific types of products.

Chapter 7, which is the closing analytical chapter, points out the overlaps of the

three strategies and studies their co-employment in individual ads. Finally, the

Conclusion (Chapter 8) summarizes the outcomes of the analyses and evaluates

the findings with respect to the stated hypotheses.

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2 Notions and Concepts of Advertising Communication

This dissertation deals with analyzing discourse strategies used by the senders

of ad messages in order to persuade the recipients to buy the advertised

products. Stereotypical and unique features of language employment are

studied within the frame of real context of printed advertisements. This locates

the dissertation in the field of linguistic pragmatics. As formulated by

Verschueren (1999, 69), “The general concern for the study of linguistic

pragmatics is to understand the meaningful functioning of language as a

dynamic process operating on context-structure relationships at various levels

of salience.

Diagram of meaningful functioning (Verschueren 1999, 67)

In order to clarify the employment of the discourse strategies in the ads and

their effect on the recipients, a description of printed ads and their location

within the genre of advertising is necessary. A description of the structure of

printed advertising and its context make up the following part of this

dissertation. Structure is looked at from two perspectives: first it is a structure

of a genre, its sub-genres, or categories. These help point out the various

relationships of participants in the advertising communication, their motives

and needs, and eventually clarify the specific motives for the participants of the

magazine product advertising. Secondly, the internal structure of the printed

ad message as an instance of a concrete sub-genre under investigation is

described. This is in tight relationship with the function of the ad messages, the

SALIENCE

DYNAMICS

CONTEXT

STRUCTURE

locus

processes

status

meaningful functioning

14

participants’ goals and needs. It is one of the vital elements of the above-

mentioned meaningful functioning of the ads.

Context of advertising communication comprises substance (the physical

material that carries the text), situation (the participants’ perception of objects

and people influencing the text), co-text (what precedes and follows the text

under investigation), intertext (the text belonging to other discourse but

influencing the interpretation of the given text), participants of the

communication (mainly senders and recipients) and the function of the text

(Cook 2001, 4). The respective subchapters describe those elements of context

that are relevant to printed advertising.

In the framing of this work, the advertising message is understood as one

instance of the advertising genre. The message is formulated and interpreted

in its natural environment, its context. It may consist of a mixture of verbal and

visual elements. The visual ones are labeled as illustrations, while the verbal

parts operating in context are considered to be the instances of the advertising

discourse. Within this dissertation, the term discourse is used as presented by

Fairclough (1989, 24) as “the whole process of social interaction” including the

processes of production and interpretation, or, as “a form of social practice”

(ibid., 41). Text is a product of these social processes; the text of the

advertising message is de-contextualized.

Discourse can be internally seen as a structure organized vertically and

horizontally. According to Simpson (2001, 592), two axes along which

discourse is viewed are structure and strategy. These correspond to the

concepts of syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations, as traditionally understood

by Saussurean linguistics. The structural axis shows progression of discourse

as a set of ordered units. The strategic axis is described as “the pool of options

that are available along each point along the linear axis” (ibid.). Inevitably,

both axes are interrelated and the two concepts have mutual impact.

This dissertation positions itself within the field of linguistic pragmatics and

operates with concepts and notions of predominantly linguistic nature.

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However, the analyzed discourse material requires a multi-focal,

interdisciplinary point of view. Concepts, categories, principles and data from

the realm of marketing science play an inevitable role in a complex evaluation

of the printed ad messages.

2.1 Categories within the Genre of Advertisements

For the purposes of pragmatic analysis, Fairclough’s concept of genre as “a

socially ratified way of using language in connection with a particular social

practice” (1995, 14) is used. Elaborating on this definition, Cook (2001, 7-14)

suggests understanding it in terms of a prototype, “quite irrespective of the

components which can be ticked off on a checklist,” (ibid., 14) but rather, in

agreement with Fairclough’s vision, based on the message environment. This

helps avoid confusion, since it is rather common to observe an overlap with

other genres such as “political propaganda, conversation, song, film, myth,

poetry, fairy tales, soap operas, sitcoms, novels, graffiti, jokes and cartoons”

(Cook 2001, 12). It seems plausible, then, to understand instances of

advertising genre as messages appearing in a certain context and within a

certain classification structure. Fuertes-Olivera et al. (2001, 1292) divide the

genre of advertising into subgenres of publicity and commercial advertising;

and the text types of ads into digital, broadcast, print and outdoor

advertisements. As specified further, this dissertation deals with commercial

advertising of the printed type. A brief description of the ad categories within

the advertising genre based on the criteria of their subject matter, media of

distribution, targeted recipients and marketing techniques enables the

delineation of borders around the material analyzed in the corpus.

According to their subject matter, the most frequent and prototypical ads are

labeled product ads. They are aimed at masses of unknown (yet well mapped)

accidental consumers who are commercially unequal (subordinate) to the

advertisers, which means that the recipients only know about the advertised

goods what the advertisers tell them. (Vestergaard and Schrøder 1985, 2). Such

consumer ads comprise the research corpus for this dissertation. Another

subtype of product ads is industrial ads. These are aimed at commercially

equal consumers, e.g. companies offering their products to other companies.

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The information density of these ads is higher and they mostly appear in

specialized trade magazines (Vestergaard and Schrøder 1985, 2).

Non-commercial ads, also labeled non-product ads, cover political, religious

or charity issues. The aim is either persuasive, such as joining or supporting a

religious group, voting for a political candidate or supporting a charitable

event. The aim may also be informative, as in campaigns informing the public

on the launch of digital TV broadcasting. This type of ads is not included in the

research corpus.

2.2 Categories of Product Consumer Ads

To delimit the specific types of ads comprising the corpus, the major categories

of product ads are outlined. The criteria for their classification range from the

channel of the ad distribution to the consumers targeted to the techniques used

by the advertisers.

2.2.1 Categories Based on Media of Distribution

Primarily the line must be drawn between printed ads and non-print ones. The

first group includes a wide range of ads in periodicals, on the Internet, on

outdoor surfaces and in non-periodical printed materials (such as catalogs,

carrier bags and flyers). The non-print group covers ads that are presented in

the spoken form, i.e. TV and radio advertising.

2.2.2 Categories Based on the Targeted Recipients

Printed ads in newspapers and magazines can further be divided into subtypes

of display ads and classified (no-frills) ads. Classified ads are printed in

special advertising sections of periodicals. They use no specific means to

attract accidental consumers; uninterested readers can easily skip the section.

They are aimed at those potential consumers who want to read them or who

search for specific information (Vestergaard and Schrøder 1985, 3).

Consequently, this is reflected in special characteristics of classifieds: they

have higher information content, rely almost entirely on text and do not use

indirect persuading techniques.

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Display ads, on the other hand, represent the most usual and stereotypical type

of advertising. They appear to be accidentally distributed within the editorial

contents of the periodical. Their prominent location and embracing of both

visual and linguistic means enhances their noticeability. The display ads

appearing in periodicals, specifically in magazines, embody the advertising

material on which this dissertation is based.

2.2.3 Categories Based on the Marketing Techniques

Display ads can be further classified according to the persuasive means of

which they make use. The hard-sell ads direct appeal to the consumers to buy

a product based on best price, limited stock, best quality, etc; the soft-sell ads

appeal indirectly, through projections of “imaginary situations or worlds which

invite the addressee to identify with the desirable properties displayed in the ad

and thus ultimately invites the addressee to buy the product” (Hidalgo

Downing 2000). According to Cook, “Soft selling relies more on mood than on

exhortation, and on the implication that life will be better with the product. The

possessor reflects the possessed: this is a major unspoken premise of all soft-

selling ads.” (2001, 15).

Similar divisions can be drawn between reason ads, which (directly or

indirectly) suggest motives for purchase with statements such as “x washes

better”; and tickle ads, which appeal to recipients’ emotions or moods (Cook

2001, 15). Reason strategy (evoking practical reasons to obtain the product)

and tickle strategy (evoking positive feelings that motivate prospective

consumers into buying) are marketing strategies used in promoting products

or services in order to make advertisement functional. According to Srpová

(2007, 114) it is the target group (a segment of potential product consumers)

that primarily influences the choice of the marketing strategy.

The advertising strategies are not to be confused with discourse strategies,

which are applied during text-creation to make the text functional in its

context. The discourse strategies are subject to analysis later in the dissertation.

Both marketing and discourse strategies can be metaphorically seen as maps

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depicting the same territory but highlighting different attributes of it, thus

producing different points of view of the same area.

The distinction between using different strategies relates to the type of product

that the ads promote. The common classification of products in marketing

reflecting the involvement of the consumer distinguishes two types of products:

those of high- and low-involvement. As defined by Kim, “High-involvement

goods are those which generally tend to be higher in price, are purchased

relatively infrequently, and require some research and reflection on the part of

the consumer before making a purchase. Low-involvement goods tend to be

packaged goods of a relatively low price, which are purchased frequently by

the consumer in supermarkets and convenience stores” (2007, 96).

Mueller (1991, 25) claims that the consumers undergo a higher risk with high-

involvement products so they seek out product information actively, while low-

involvement products contain fewer information cues. Along with this

statement, tickle strategies are expected to be used for the promotion of low-

involvement goods, while reason strategies are often used for the promotion of

high-involvement products. However, these claims are not universally

applicable. With some product categories, such as jewels and perfumes, they

seem to be contradictory. One of the reasons for this phenomenon is the fuzzy

borders dividing the two types of goods. Low- and high-involvement products

may be classified slightly differently by various consumers, social groups or

regional markets. Also, high-involvement products with a high utility value,

such as cars, are promoted by different strategies than high-involvement

products with a low utility value, such as jewels or designer fashion items.

Nevertheless, the high/low-involvement categories of products are applied

further in the analysis of ads as their occurrence in the corpus roughly

corresponds to the distribution in high-end vs. tabloid magazines.

Even though most ad messages can clearly be labeled as one type or another,

none of the listed criteria delimit the respective category exclusively. Borders

are generally fuzzy. Crossbreeds are not very common; nevertheless, they do

appear. Due to their interactivity, some Internet ads (such as the unpopular

19

pop-ups) borrow characteristics of both print and non-print ads. Classified ads,

to stand out from the otherwise black-and-white page, begin to incorporate

some display ad techniques, such as visual images and catchy headlines. Also,

more techniques used by the advertisers can combine in one ad: an image may

represent the tickle strategy while the verbal part may suggest reasons.

The corpus collected for the purposes of my analysis includes only magazine

ads of the display type. This presents a clear distinction line between the

categories delimited by the first two criteria. The third criterion, which is the

marketing techniques (represented by discourse strategies) used by the

advertisers, is the subject of analysis of this dissertation. However, the focus

turns to the functional study from the linguistic and pragmatic views rather

than to the ad effectiveness in marketing terms. Discourse strategies applied to

advance the function of marketing strategies create the core of this dissertation.

2.3 Corpus Description

With the genre of printed ads outlined, the collected corpus of ads invites itself

for scrutiny. Only the printed product ads collected from mainstream

American magazines are included. Their further characterization follows since

adequate knowledge of the research material focuses attention on the relevant

features of advertising communication described in the following sections.

Advertising in magazines is ruled and shaped by specific factors and features.

Magazines are considered to be a traditional, firmly established and positively

viewed medium. In the USA, magazines are read by an outstanding majority of

the population. Simultaneously, North American society is strongly

commercialized. Investments into advertising are only comparable with

military and defense spending. The heavy presence of ad messages in every

American’s life and the money-driven pressure of the advertisers makes ads in

American magazines a valuable resource of specific, function-conditioned

discourse. The study of this material is expected to reveal strategies used by

advertisers to persuade recipients to buy products. Based on marketing surveys

of the recipients’ responses to the ads, the applied strategies seem to be highly

effective in reaching the commercial goal. Discourse strategies in display ads

20

printed in magazines are expected to present a traditional approach of the

marketing industry. Two viewpoints merge here:

• By what strategies do the senders of the advertising message

persuade recipients to act?

• How do the recipients become persuaded and act on what they

read?

In other words, the applied strategies are products of the senders, but they have

been developed to serve a specific purpose, which is to persuade the recipients.

Printed full-page and half-page ads included in the corpus are collected from

two categories of mainstream American magazines. The magazines in each

category are aimed at differing primary audiences, which differ in estimated

characteristics that can be assigned to a prototypical reader: age, gender, social

and educational background, aspirations, lifestyle preferences and personal

interests. Targeting is the key notion in marketing talk. Advertisers try to

identify the target audience with scientific precision. In their search they are

most likely to look for magazine readers the characteristics of whom show

most similarities with the advertising target groups. It can be therefore

expected that the profile of the magazine’s primary audience corresponds

closely to the target viewers of the advertising message. That is why describing

the prototypical reader in each category points out the typical features of the

recipients of ads collected in the corpus (which is further necessary for the

analysis of advertising discourse as a vehicle of advertising communication).

The first category is represented by one high-end luxury magazine - Vanity

Fair. Ads from the following issues comprise one part of the corpus:

Vanity Fair October 2007 (VF1)

Vanity Fair September 2007 (VF2)

Vanity Fair June 2007 (VF3)

Vanity Fair April 2007 (VF4)

Vanity Fair March 2007 (VF5)

Vanity Fair February 2007 (VF6)

Vanity Fair November 2006 (VF7)

Vanity Fair September 2006 (VF8)

21

Vanity Fair November 2005 (VF9)

Vanity Fair October 2005 (VF10)

Vanity Fair is published monthly on a high-quality glossy paper. It is famous

for its prestigious photographs and in-depth, detailed coverage of a multitude

of present-day topics. The unifying feature of all the covered topics is power,

which in most cases translates as money. It is a magazine about powerful

people and power-shifting global events. It reveals stories behind people who

define and change culture, and who influence the lives of millions of others by

their political or business decisions. The articles and interviews are lengthy,

well-researched and generally well-written. The magazine strives to stay clear

from shallow journalism and is famous for its renowned and talented

contributors and photographers. This explains why Vanity Fair attracts

affluent, educated and young to middle-age readers.1 The average income of a

Vanity Fair reader in 2010 is $78,187; the average age is 41. Women comprise

77% of the readers. The readers are quite disciplined: twice as many subscribe

to the magazine rather than buy individual issues. The monthly average

circulation of the magazine in 2010/2011 is 1,125,000 copies.2

The second category is represented by a collection of weekly tabloid

magazines. Namely, these are:

Life&Style May 7, 2007 (LS1)

Life&Style April 30, 2007 (LS2)

Life&Style August 28, 2006 (LS3)

OK! March 12, 2007 (OK1)

People Style May 2007 (P1)

People March 5, 2007 (P2)

People December 25, 2006 (P3)

People November 13, 2006 (P4)

People July 17, 2006 (P5)

People July 10, 2006 (P6)

1 “Vanity Fair Magazine Subscription,” Epinions, accessed June 1, 2010,

http://www.epinions.com/review/mags-Vanity_Fair/content_46006898308. 2 “Vanity Fair,” Echo Media. Print Media Experts, accessed October 14, 2011,

http://www.echo-media.com/mediadetail.asp?IDNUmber=5336.

22

Star November 28, 2005 (S1)

US Weekly December 24, 2007 (US1)

US Weekly April 23, 2007 (US2)

US Weekly October 16, 2006 (US3)

Published on lower-quality paper, these magazines specialize in covering news

on celebrities frequently appearing on television or in films. They also bring

show business gossip and touchy stories of ordinary people. Their coverage of

the private lives and lifestyles of famous people is rather shallow; the articles

are short and do not look for reasons, consequences or interconnections of

reported events. All of these magazines are photo-driven with their

photographs often coming from paparazzi.3 Even though there are slight

differences in the statistical data of the readers of individual titles, the average

combined figures for all 5 titles indicate that in 2010 the audience has a lower

income ($68,000) and is younger (35 years) than that of Vanity Fair. Similarly

to Vanity Fair readers, over 70% are women. Most readers buy their issues in

the supermarkets, where they tend to be conveniently placed at check-out

counters. The subscription levels are low. The circulation of individual titles in

2010/2011 varies from 450,000 (Life&Style) to 3,500,000 (People); the average

figure is over 1,500,000.4

The promoted goods tend to vary in each category of magazines. While the

high-end magazine mostly promotes designer clothes, accessories, perfumes,

high-end technology devices, luxury cars, jewels, watches, alcoholic drinks and

luxury cosmetic products, the tabloids tend to promote packed food, soft

drinks, daily cosmetic and hygiene products, household utility products and

non-luxury clothes. This division points to the fact that both categories of

magazines complement rather than contrast one another. The employment of

discourse strategies under scrutiny seems to correlate with the distribution

pattern of ads promoting various categories of products.

3 “Magazine Subscriptions,” Epinions, accessed June 1, 2010,

http://www.epinions.com/Magazine_Subscriptions. 4 “Consumer Magazines,” Echo Media. Print Media Experts, accessed October 14,

2011, http://www.echo-media.com/mediacat.asp?mediatype=Magazines.

23

Even though a statistically significant majority of the readers of the relevant

magazines are female, this dissertation does not aim at researching the gender

differences in advertising discourse. Women make up the majority of magazine

readers;5 at the same time, they seem to be more often targeted by product

advertising in general. Women, more often than men, tend to follow the latest

trends in lifestyle, they are more involved in providing family care, shopping

for fulfilling material needs or for enjoyment, and due to psychological

reasons, they tend to respond better to the persuasiveness of the ads.

Interestingly, Tanaka in her book Advertising Language (1994) uses feminine

pronouns to refer to the recipients of ads while masculine pronouns designate

the senders. She claims that this reflects how the world of advertising is

structured: most ad senders are men, most ad recipients are women. These are

the reasons for understanding the status quo in this dissertation: the recipients

of the corpus advertisements do not create homogeneous groups equally

represented by women and men.

The building of my corpus was a long-lasting, time-consuming process.

Originally, randomly chosen issues of magazines were purchased in the U.S.A.

between the years 2005 and 2007. The aim was to collect an equal number of

product ads from both categories, not exceeding 500 in total. By an early

estimate, 10 issues of Vanity Fair and 14 issues of tabloid magazines would

yield approximately an equal number of advertisements. The magazines were

scanned first for all the advertisements that were not in the category of

“classified ads”. These were copied and tagged by a code. Next, ads showing

no text use were excluded from the preliminary corpus. The ultimate target was

to build a corpus consisting solely of tangible product ads, so the ultimate step

was to eliminate all the non-product ads, namely the ones promoting charities,

special events, financial and insurance services, medical and travel services,

TV shows and films. Eventually, ads promoting pharmaceuticals were

excluded due to specific legal requirements that strictly prescribe and limit the

use of language. The final collection of ads represents typical display product

5 “Magazines: The Medium of Action. A Comprehensive Guide and Handbook

2009/10,” p. 75, The Association of Magazine Media, accessed June 5, 2010,

http://www.magazine.org/consumer_marketing/circ_trends/index.aspx.

24

ads comprising both textual and visual parts, from mainstream American

magazines, and read by prototypical middle and upper-middle class Americans.

My corpus consists of 444 ads promoting tangible retail goods, specifically

cars (56 ads), clothing and accessories (43 ads), cosmetics (123 ads), packed

food, drinks and cigarettes (96 ads), household items (25 ads), jewelry and

watches (60 ads) and technology products (41 ads). 192 corpus items (43% of

the total) were published in the high-end magazine category; 252 items (57%)

appeared in tabloid magazines.

2.4 The Context of Advertising Communication

Context is a focal point for the purposes of pragmatic analysis of advertising

discourse and its meaningful functioning. In a broad pragmatic understanding,

Urbanová (2003, 21) proposes a definition of context which is well applicable

to the specificity of the advertising discourse: “Delimitation of the context

comprises the social, political, cultural and other norms and expectations and

their effect on the understanding of the message hic and nun.” Verschueren

(1999, 111) summarizes the importance of context: “Context contributes to

clarity by being subject to negotiation, uptake or rejection, acceptance of

uptake or renegotiation, and so on. It is one of the most important …

ingredients in the verbal generation of meaning.” Both scholars agree on the

importance of context as a crucial meaning-negotiating setup.

To study the underlying structures, rules and exceptions, the whole context of

advertising communication must become the subject of observation and

description. It is therefore necessary to ask what the senders and the recipients

of the messages in this interaction are like, in what way the channel (the

substance) of communication is unique, what conjunctures (the combination

of external factors) influence the functioning of the communication, what

makes the goal of the communication special, etc. The core of the interaction is

created by advertising messages and the communicative situation. The

following chapters are dedicated to definitions, descriptions and typologies of

each unit of advertising communication with regard to magazine

25

advertisements. This provides a firm basis for the following functional analysis

of the magazine ads corpus and a verification of the hypotheses.

2.4.1 The Conjunctures of Advertising Communication

The context in which the advertising communication takes place can be

described as the environment of the interaction. Cook (2001, 3) describes

context as “who is communicating with whom and why; in what kind of

society and situation; through what medium; how different types and acts of

communication evolved, and their relationship to each other.” He lists

substance (physical material carrying the text), music and pictures,

paralanguage, situation, co-text, intertext, participants and functions as

elements creating context of advertising communication (ibid., 4). The major

contextual elements are defined and described in the following chapters.

In a more detailed perspective, the context is conditioned by conjunctures, that

is by “a specification of the configuration of practices which the discourse in

focus is located within” (Chouliaraki and Fairclough 1999, 61). The advertising

context is conditioned by an interplay of several external factors and

circumstances that influence both creation and interpretation of the ad message.

These conjunctures operate from the outside and thus influence the internal

contents and structure of the message. The following description concerns the

conjunctures I identify and consider the most influential:

• Attitudinal controversy

• Pervasiveness of occurrence

• Subject and content restrictions

• Legal restriction

• Acting as a commodity

All of these areas are examined from the general advertising view. At the same

time, each factor is specified, compared and contrasted for magazine

advertising. They all, by varying degree and intensity, contribute to shaping the

conventional structure of a printed ad. This will be discussed in the following

section of this chapter.

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2.4.1.1 Attitudinal Controversy

Advertising is a human activity heavily exposed to emotional, scientific, social

and cultural reactions from a considerable part of the world population. When

people come in regular contact with advertising messages, they tend to have

opinions about advertising as such. Advertisements elicit strong attitudes since

they are capable of influencing actions of individuals and behavior of the

masses, often with a dramatic outcome. Due to their impact on our lives they

arouse the unparalleled interest of businessmen, scientists and laymen alike.

“Attitudes to advertising can be indicative of our personality, or social and

ideological position. This is not equally true of all acts of communication,

many of which are relatively uncontroversial. Few people, if any, have strong

views about the need for recipes or car plate numbers.” (Cook 2001, 1). This

controversy is a feature that ad senders take into consideration when they

create the messages: they can be expected to tone the controversy down when

it might damage the effectiveness of the communication or enhance it if their

strategy is based on shocking the recipient. On the other hand, the recipients

are also influenced by their opinions on advertising in the stage of perception

and interpretation of the messages. Nevertheless, the attitudes may change in

time “because subsequent experience may exercise considerable influence over

– or even change – our original judgments” (Srpová 2007, 41). The generally

negative attitude towards advertising is not constant and can be expected to

fluctuate on the basis of numerous social and commercial influences.

When opinions and attitudes of the recipients are taken into account,

advertising in magazines shows certain specific features. As further claimed in

Chapter 2.4.7, advertising in magazines enjoys a rather favorable reputation. It

is often described as relevant and useful. The majority of the readers perceive it

as positive. The discourse used in magazine ads can therefore be expected to

‘play-it-safe’; to resonate as balanced and uncontroversial. Overly shocking or

novel, questionable strategies would risk the favorable status quo of

acceptability and obvious functionality of the ads. Advertising in magazines

seems to be the bearer of advertising tradition.

27

2.4.1.2 Pervasiveness of Occurrence

The abundance of commercial messages targeting the viewers, readers or

passers-by has built a certain resistance to (and often intentional blocking of)

the ad perception. If the advertisers want to be successful, they have to deliver

the message in a very short time. As a consequence the messages are rather

short in comparison with non-advertising messages. Nonetheless, magazine ads

are perceived for a longer time and with more focused attention than ads

appearing in other types of media. This may be reflected in greater length,

higher complexity and the semantic multi-layering of the language structures in

comparison with ads appearing elsewhere. However, the time that the average

recipient dedicates to subconscious or aimed perception of ads is generally

very limited. Advertising messages are considerably shorter than most of the

editorial units in the magazines.

2.4.1.3 Subject and Contents Restrictions

Contrary to works of art, scientific treaties or personal conversations,

advertising messages cover a limited range of topics. It is mostly the qualities

of the promoted products, and reasons for owning them, that make up the

subjects of the messages and drive their contents. As has been already

mentioned, ads in magazines often serve as a source of information on

products, which means that a heavy presence of product details and instructions

for use may be recorded. Unlike non-print commercials, contact information in

the magazine ads is usually plentiful and detailed. Options including full

addresses, toll-free telephone numbers and dot com references are always

given, even if only in small print. It is assumed that only the recipients paying

full attention, with interest in the product already aroused, will be looking for

more information.

2.4.1.4 Legal Restrictions

Unlike other genres, commercial messages are regulated by specific legislative

and ethical norms. Regulations impose certain language items on certain

products and prohibit the use of others. To comply with the codes of practice,

advertisers include various caveats or disclaimers. These serve to avoid

possible legal pitfalls and as such have become an inevitable part of ad

28

messages. According to Cook (2001, 54), “Even a quick glance through … the

case reports of successful complaints against ads … reveal[s] that a great deal

of official criticism centres upon wording, despite its demonstrably subsidiary

role in many cases.” Since disclaimers often undermine (or even contradict) the

value of the message and its persuasive force, they tend to be downplayed by

appearing in small print at the least noticeable position. However, legislative

impositions differ worldwide. As Cook (2001, 60) points out, “In the USA …

this is not always allowed, with some amusing consequences. Ads appear with

claims which seem blatantly undermined by large obligatory additions.”

Nevertheless, to ease the damaging effect of the legal restrictions, both limits

on language use and imposed formulations become the subject of creative

exploration in ad message composition.

2.4.1.5 Acting as a Commodity

Contrary to other types of discourse, advertising messages are commodities.

They are ordered, specified, created, accepted or refused, and paid for.

Specialists in advertisement production tend to be talented, creative, skilled and

well trained for the job. They charge their clients and therefore tend to deliver

desired products. Their work is also carefully watched, mercilessly scrutinized

and publicly evaluated. As Cook (2001, 80) points out, “The words in

contemporary ads are always carefully scripted and subjected to so much

scrutiny and rewriting that in this respect they stand comparison with the

drafting of laws or poetry. … The notion of anything unscripted appearing in

an ad seems unthinkable.” Even though most frequently the authors of ads stay

anonymous as individuals, their paychecks mirror their success and guide their

motivation. This means the language appearing in ads is thoughtfully chosen to

satisfy the advertising function, but also to conform to the clients’ needs and

tastes. Simultaneously, advertisers operate with thorough background

knowledge of the target audience. The sophisticated psychological, social and

statistical profiling of their ad recipients is what shapes the language choice for

the ads.

This characteristic applies to all the ad messages regardless of the channel.

While with written messages printed in the magazines the length of their

29

perception (reading) is controlled by the recipient, in televised messages their

frequent repetition compensates for the inability of the readers to have closer,

more detailed insight. Instead of a longer, one-time reading in case of magazine

ads, the recipient is exposed to several repeated flips of the message in non-

print media.

The conjunctures of the advertising communication as described above impose

limits on the form and content of the ad messages. They guide the ad producers

in their choice of verbal and visual persuasive means and they modify the

perception of the message by the recipients. The internal structure of a print

advertisement as described in the following section is shaped by the

conjunctures as well.

2.4.2 The Structure of an Advertising Message

Due to the delicate interconnectedness of all the concepts of advertising

communication it seems viable to describe the internal structure of the

advertising message within the section dealing with context. It should be

stressed that the understanding of the structural elements is governed by

generalization. Any part of an ad message can be omitted, positioned in a non-

traditional way or merged with any other part of the message. By no means can

it be expected to operate within a clearly defined set of rules for elements of ad

structure. An unlimited number of variations and fuzzy borders between the

parts can be observed with high frequency. As argued by Cook (2001, 12-14),

advertising as such (and consequently the advertising message) should rather

be characterized in terms of a prototype rather than by an exact rule-dependent

definition.

2.4.2.1 The Headline

Křížek and Crha (2003, 128-129) identify four written parts of a prototypical

printed advertisement. Headlines (sometimes referred to as captions) are

primary attention-catching devices; they are often the decisive elements for the

recipients to choose whether they should dedicate more attention to the rest of

the ad. The headline usually brings something new and unusual, since this is

what admonishes the reader to further reading due to our orientation and search

30

instinct (ibid., 118). A headline frequently appears at a prominent location on

the page, which is usually the top. This makes it a primary spot for establishing

contact with the recipient. Headlines tend to use action verbs and statements

from which the reader quickly understands the benefits he/she may gain by

reading the rest of the ad. Boaze (1998, 1-2) identifies five basic types of

headlines:

▪ news headlines – they tell the recipient something they have not known

before, such as in “One energy company is going further to make

hydrogen energy a reality” (Ad for Shell, Time, May 29, 2006);

▪ advice and promise headlines – tell the reader what to do in order to

reach some effect, such as in “She didn’t like your music, your clothes

or your friends. Be sure that she likes your Mother’s Day gift.” (Ad for

Kodak digital camera, Life&Style, May 7, 2007);

▪ selective headlines – point out a specific target recipient, as in “If you

are over forty, slimming gets more difficult”. (Ad on a Slovak radio

channel, own translation);

▪ curiosity headlines – arouse recipient’s curiosity, mostly by asking a

direct question, such as “Would you like to see today’s low carbon

menu?” (Ad for BP, Time, May 29, 2006);

▪ command or demand headlines – exercise direct verbal pushing, as in

“Feed your skin, don’t fuel it.” (Ad for Juice Organics, Life&Style,

May 7, 2007).

2.4.2.2 The Body Copy

Body copy (or copy) is the core text of the ad. It operates with fewer creative

means than the headline. Information density increases in the ads when moving

from a headline to a body copy. Ideally, attention of the recipient has been

caught by the headline. Now the informative value dominates. Body copy is

usually the only part of an ad that contains explicit informative language about

the product. The information is very rich in ads for medication, cosmetics, food

and food supplements. Longer body copies are to be expected in ads promoting

new products where more information is required. Ads employing only the

tickle strategy (aiming only at eliciting positive emotions) frequently contain

no body copy, or their body copy is extremely short. Such ads tend to depend

31

on visual images (Křížek and Crha 2003, 129). In general, the copy is expected

to be longer than a headline or a slogan. It uses descriptive terms and colorful

words, mostly adjectives and adverbs. Technical terms appear as well; they

may not be fully understood by the recipient but they give an impression of

seriousness and importance.

Content-wise, the body copy contains some typical marketing propositions;

namely a unique selling proposition (USP) and/or a claim. Having a USP

means having or offering something other products do not have. This tends to

be extremely difficult due to almost infinite numbers of products and ads. To

create a functional USP, aesthetic uniqueness steps in. Commodities get

aesthetized through both linguistic and visual means. Great verbal descriptions

and a great illustrations sell. The products do not have to be better than the

other ones in their category; they must appear to be better (Vertergaard and

Schrøder 1986, 12). This trend is accompanied by a corruption of utility values.

Ads rarely promote the primary utility value but instead claim that a product

gives the consumer youth, love, success and recognition at the workplace.

The claim is that part of the text that usually appears towards the end of the

message. It is the last item of information that the recipient meets in the ad and

possibly remembers. It usually contains a sounding argument or a persuasive

appeal. The recipients of any written message tend to pay more attention to the

beginning and the end of the texts. The headline and the claim are therefore the

message parts with the highest capability of making the ad functional (Křížek

and Crha 2003, 129).

2.4.2.3 The Signature

The closing part of an ad typically contains identification statements and facts.

These include a slogan, contact data and the brand-name of the product. After

the headline has caught the recipient’s attention and the body copy has created

a desire for the product, the slogan is the easy-to-remember line that bridges

the time gap between seeing the ad and buying the product. Even though not

specifically listed by Křížek and Crha, the slogan regularly appears towards the

end of printed ads. If the advertisement uses a witty formulation, a slogan is

32

usually its punch line. It is frequently identifiable as the claim of the ad

message, yet a separate claim and slogan appear in the ads as well.

Slogans are a part of corporate identity, which is the set of phenomena that

distinguish one company from all the others and makes it unique (Křížek and

Crha 2003, 85). Slogans are a recurring textual part of the ad messages,

appearing for a longer time throughout the campaigns in any media; they are

printed on product packaging, company stationery, etc., and thus serve to

strengthen the identity of the product or the producer. Slogans build the

strongest memory traces, associate the product with the producer and remind

the recipient of the product or the company any time they are encountered.

Their information value is minimal; they serve as metaphorical representations

of the product or the producer. They can be described as verbal counterparts of

the image-based logos. The image of a “swoosh” is a logo, a typical visual

representation of the Nike sports apparel company; “Just Do It” is their slogan,

a verbal representation with a comparable emblematic function. The semantic

content of the verbal phrase is secondary to its symbolic value.

Contact data is the last text part of an ad identified by Křížek and Crha. It

traditionally appears at the very bottom of the ad in small print and includes

addresses of stores, toll-free telephone numbers and dot com references, as has

been already discussed earlier. It is virtually impossible to remember the very

exact information of this section, and that is why many magazine readers, once

they have decided to seek more information, frequently keep the record for

future reference.

The textual part that appears in all the ads is the product brand name. For the

advertisers, it is the most challenging part of creating the product promotion

because it is the basic identification mark of the product and may have a self-

promotive function. It is the most elusive part of the ad in respect to its

placement, position within the ad structure and function. It may appear

repeatedly, be incorporated in any other textual part, feature as part of the

visual material of the ad or be an ad message by itself.

33

2.4.2.4 The Illustration

Even though verbal sections of the advertising messages are the core focus of

this dissertation, an illustration is a part that cannot be omitted when listing

the elements of a printed ad message. It is the most prominent part of a printed

media display ad. It attempts at reaching similar goals as the verbal parts yet it

is considered to be more powerful. Within an ad, it depicts the product with

higher precision; it shows the product in a more concrete way and describes the

state of the situation better. The text, on the other hand, depicts the abstract

ideas better (Křížek and Crha 2003, 59-60). Even though most ads use pictures

and text concurrently, many do not use text to sell products at all (which is

typical of fashion items of designer names, perfumes, jewels, etc.).

Advertising messages comprise a dynamic genre. Even though the

requirements of the market constantly develop, tastes of the consumers change

and fashion trends come and go, advertising has long proved to be immortal in

its delivering the pleasing business results. Effectiveness and functionality is

ensured due to the variety within the genre. This claim naturally leads to a

discussion of the function of advertising communication.

2.4.3 The Goal of Advertising Communication

The goal of an ad is defined by its genre: it is to promote a product in order to

sell it. Even though the goal is virtually never stated directly, the recipients

understand the ads as examples of a genre that aim their attention towards a

certain commodity. “Expectations of relevance are linked to the genre” (Crook

2004, 730). The present-day consumer is well-aware of the general intentions

of the marketing industry, which results in ads exploring various tactics and

strategies in order to fulfill the intended goal. The advertisers know that the

recipients understand their intentions and may want to resist, exercising their

free will. In this cat-and-mouse game, the advertisers are pushed to be one step

ahead, to overcome the expectations of the recipients. However, according to

Srpová (2007, 113), judging the success of advertising is almost impossible as

marketing research tends to report on the successful cases rather than on

failures.

34

Hopkinson (2010, 31-32) labels advertising discourse as “essentially

manipulative”, exploiting recipient’s perception of the product or the sender in

a desired way. The main goal of the advertisers is to use language strategically

“to positively influence the addressee’s perception of the product and

companies being promoted and thus to achieve commercial gain”. However,

the manipulation seems to be indirect and subtle. Sutherland and Sylvester

(2000) claim that heavy-weight persuasion does not occupy a prominent place

in the psychology of advertising; instead, gentle influence over the audience is

preferred. The advertising effect, they claim, is reached cumulatively, such as

by exposure and repetitiveness. The general trend is commented on by Crook

(2004, 723): “… the picture that has emerged over the past decade or so is one

where effects are subtle and strategies are largely transparent … [A] great deal

of understanding exists between the advertiser and target audience, and this

allows advertisers to be far more open, blatant and mocking, both of

themselves and their audience.” The recipients seem to be aware of the senders'

intentions even if these are not stated explicitly.

The advertising goal in general remains the same for all types of ads: to evoke

changes of attitude of the recipients, which ideally means creating a positive

opinion and making them buy the product. Various models of goal structures

have been proposed in marketing studies. However, the most traditional model

of a sequence of related goals, known as AIDA, seems to apply to the

recipients of magazine ads. Unlike newer types of non-print ads, the magazine

advertising seems to undergo fewer changes and in a slower pace than other

types. This may be a consequence of the stability and trustfulness of magazine

advertising. AIDA was first introduced when magazines and newspapers were

the major ad carriers. It was only much later that radio, television and Internet

ads considerably challenged the AIDA sequence. However, magazines seem to

preserve the long-established trends in ad functioning, structure and appeal.

2.4.3.1 AIDA as a Goal Model

The four letters of the acronym represent four stages of the process: attention,

interest, desire and action. Individual stages are described with regard to the

prototypical structure of a printed ad.

35

2.4.3.1.1 Attracting Attention

If the ad is to persuade the accidental recipients to buy the promoted product, it

has to attract their attention. The recipients do not have to realize they are in

the process of perceiving an ad message. Presently, when a prototypical urban

American is targeted by several thousand advertising messages daily,6 this

stage of the communication is of extreme importance. In printed ads,

illustration is the most useful attention-catching device. It delivers the idea

faster than words; it offers a better depiction of the surface value of the product

(shape, color, size); it creates emotive states faster. A substantial number of ads

(promoting mainly luxury items such as perfumes, designer clothes and jewels)

sell solely via the illustration.7 However, the majority of printed ads operate via

combining verbal and visual parts. Those containing purely a verbal message

are rather rare.

Considering the verbal parts, the headline is a typical attention-catching device.

It traditionally occupies the most prominent position within the page; appears

in bigger print than other verbal ad parts and usually introduces an idea that

stays unfinished and invites the readers to explore its continuation further in the

text. Advertisers pay special attention to make this stage of the process

functional: if they fail, the recipients never proceed to processing any of the

following stages.

2.4.3.1.2 Eliciting Interest

Eliciting interest of the recipients is the second stage of the process. While

attracting their interest may be a subconscious process, this stage moves the

perception of the message to the level of consciousness. Once the recipients

start paying attention, they become actively interested in the product. The

intention of the advertisers is to peak their curiosity. In this way more

perception time for the ad is gained and chances for the eventual successful

persuasion outcome increase. The curiosity of the recipient gets peaked if the

6 Louise Story, “Anywhere the Eye Can See, It's Likely to See an Ad,” New York

Times, January 15, 2007, accessed June 12, 2010,

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/15/business/media/15everywhere.html?pagewanted=all. 7 This type of ad is not included in the corpus.

36

headline introduces an idea which stays open, or a thought-provoking concept

is introduced in the verbal or visual part of the ad. The concept usually

becomes obvious in more subtle details that are included in the illustration or

the prominent verbal parts; nevertheless, the role is to bridge the gap between

noticing the ad and considering the need for the product.

2.4.3.1.3 Creating Desire

Creating a desire for the product means stirring the needs of the recipients.

After their attention has been caught and the interest elicited, the potential

consumers ideally start to feel the urge to satisfy their needs by having the

product. This tends to be ultimately reached by the advertising claim. However,

information provided in the body copy may also draw on the recipient’s

emotions or present them with a base for a rational argument. Most frequently,

a combination of both emotive and rational strategies is employed.

2.4.3.1.4 Provoking Action

The act of buying the product is the desired final stage of the advertising effort.

None of the actual ad sections are implemented to perform specifically this

goal. Fulfilling the final stage lays out the realm of the ad itself, since the acts

of perceiving the ad message and buying the product are separated by a time

gap. It is the memories of the ad that may trigger the final choice of the

consumer. Most frequently, the brand name and the slogan are those parts of

the printed ad message that are repeatedly used in the campaigns and help

create the lasting memories.

2.4.3.2 Goal in the Pragmatic Considerations

To return to the pragmatic point of view, Cook (2001, 4) sees the goal of the

discourse as its function, that is “what the text is intended to do by the senders

and addressers, or perceived to do by the receivers and addressees. Advertising

discourse is aimed at reaching results. This is in sharp contrast with the

discourse of everyday conversation, which aims at reaching understanding.

Advertising messages can be viewed as stretches of discourse having both

sense and force, i.e. having the interpretable meaning and the power to

37

influence the performance of the hearer. As long as they are viewed from this

perspective, they can be labeled as speech acts: utterances doing things

(influencing the decision-making of the potential consumer). From the

perspective of Austin’s Speech Act theory (as discussed in Levinson 1983 and

Mey 2001), the goal of the advertising message can be described in three steps:

locution, illocution and perlocution. The locutionary act is, according to

Austin, the actual words of the message. It is the careful crafting and

formulating of the actual ad message by the advertiser. The illocutionary act is

using the force associated with the message, i.e. advertisers persuading the

recipients to buy the product. The perlocutionary act is the final stage rarely

considered by pragmatic research: the desired effect of the message when the

recipients of the ad message become the customers by performing the act of

acquiring the product.

As most of the speech acts in any communicative situation, ad messages

belong to the category of Indirect Speech Acts (especially the ones based on

tickle strategy, as noted by Simpson 2001). They do not exhibit the direct

imposition of the force; their actual wording does not correspond directly to the

effect it is intended to have. As was already noted, the goal is usually not stated

overtly and is mostly understood by default. Cook (2001, 232) states: “The

obligatory core element – ‘do this’ (usually ‘buy our goods’) – is either

external to the text or only a small proportion of it.” Mey (2001, 113) stresses

the importance of the “external factor”, the context, for recognizing the

intended message of an indirect speech act: “The way we recognize indirect

speech acts, and process them properly, has to do with the way we are ‘set up’

for recognition and action by the context.”

Verschueren’s understanding of perception and representation (1999, 176) can

be applied to describe the function of advertising from the perspective of the

recipients. Conceptually it closely corresponds to the marketing AIDA

principle. According to Verschueren (ibid.), the recipients must primarily

become aware of the message; they must start perceiving it. Subsequently, they

have to make sense of what they perceive, or represent it, in order to interpret

38

the message in a desired way. The goal of the ad message then is to be noticed

and rightly interpreted.

Even though AIDA is still a valid goal structure for most advertising messages,

new functions have evolved as the world of commercial communication has

changed dramatically in the last half century. In his concluding remarks to a

detailed description of advertising discourse, Cook (2001, 220-221) broadens

the traditional understanding of marketing goals. As already mentioned,

advertising is a controversial genre and as such becomes a source of social and

moral judgments or a challenging force for aesthetic norms. It often provokes

society-wide discussions and occasionally happens to drive social change. The

omnipresence and pervasiveness of ads is a norm nowadays; the advertisers

know they can attract attention and spur debates when they introduce shocking

or controversial concepts. Controversy, then, does not appear to be an

accidental side-product but a function, an intended goal of modern advertising.

“If an ad departs from expectations, it will attract attention and/or convince.”

(ibid., 229) However, the recipients expect ads to aim at certain prototypical

goals, and the marketing specialists describe these goals in sequences and

structures. This is in sharp contrast with the drive for shocking the recipients

and eliciting controversial reactions. Cook (ibid., 230) sums up: “Reversals of

expectations may make us wonder whether any feature of ads is stable other

than their instability. Yet, though the method and the content may change, the

desired effect remains the same: to influence behavior in the way demanded,

that is to say, by the paymaster.”

Cook (ibid., 221) also presents arguments for modern ads featuring another

function: giving pleasure to the recipients. This can be either an eye-pleasing or

mentally satisfying event. By trying to create a pleasurable experience in the

recipient, ads may build a delicate connection between the evoked positive

feeling and the advertised product, or the state of obtaining it.

The discussion of functions so far can be understood on the level of advertising

as a product or an instance of an advertising genre. However, advertising

discourse within the ads fulfills a range of language functions that are

39

observable in language use elsewhere. Holmes (1992, 286-287) lists a number

of functions, many of which can be traced in advertising discourse as well.

Many ads draw on recipient’s emotions and elicit emotional reaction. In these

cases, expressive function of language is triggered. Many ads appeal to the

recipients directly by means of imperatives; this is where directive function is

enacted. Referential language function is obvious in those parts of ads that

provide factual information about the products or offer contact data. Poetic

function can be linked with the above-mentioned Cook’s assignment of

evoking pleasure in the recipients. Advertising discourse that expresses

solidarity and empathy, often found in headlines as an attention-catching

device, fulfills phatic function. Further on, advertising discourse can function

as promises, threats, or, when the context of ads is manipulated and the

discourse becomes learning material, it may fulfill heuristic function. As

Holmes (ibid.) points out, functions may appear in various combinations within

stretches of discourse. Since ad messages have a function-oriented internal

structure, it is highly plausible that discourse appearing within the ads will

feature more language functions in combinations rather than clear-cut

instances.

2.4.4 The Sender of the Advertising Message

Motives and needs that determine the formulation and interpretation of

advertising messages comprise the function of the advertising communication.

Both notions are embedded in an active personal setting: it is the sender and the

recipient of the messages who are driven by motives and needs and thus drive

the communicative process.

The identification of the sender of an advertising message may be confusing

due to multiple sources from where the primary impulse for communication

can originate. In Bakhtin’s terminology, various sources in discourse may be

labeled as voices. Voice “is the speaking personality, the speaking

consciousness. A voice always has a will or desire behind it” (Bakhtin 1981,

434). Verschueren further elaborates on Bakhtin’s term and clarifies: “The

utterer [the sender] and all the possible sources represent the kinds of voices

involved in any instance of language use” (1999, 79). In the advertising

40

context, the identity revealing the message to the recipient is the producer or

the company selling the product. As senders of the message they create the

deictic centre and often identify themselves in the message by means of

personal deixis. The brand name of the product, which frequently appears in

multiple instances, identifies the sender as well. It is sometimes the product

which is deictically identified as a sender, pretends to be the sender’s voice and

“talks” to the recipient. Other times, the voice is an authority featured in the ad,

such as a celebrity, a specialist in the field or a respected personality. Another

member of the target group recommending the product through the ad message

may be identified as the voice as well. The voices that can be identified

deictically and/or approach the recipients from the advertisement as the

messengers are labeled embedded senders.

As voices, those whom the recipients imagine to be the source of the message,

represent an actual sender. However, these are rarely the creators of the

message itself. The chemistry of ad creation is meticulous and too costly

nowadays to be in the hands of non-specialists. The actual senders, then, are

companies, individuals, politicians, churches or organizations which pay to

have the advert created by specialists; the virtual senders. Most frequently

nowadays the advertising message creator is an advertising agency - a group of

individuals making up a creative team. The content of the message they intend

to send is negotiated between the client (the actual sender) and the team as well

as within the team. The outcome is a message that is undoubtedly a product of

the circumstances: it is a message that has been created under the pressure of

negotiation, compromise, creative urge, necessity to abide by legislation, desire

to be appreciated, respect for the cultural and social norms, need for breaking

the conventions, call for following the fashion trends, and, inevitably, the

essential requirement of turning the reader into a customer.

It should be stressed that the motives and the goals of the embedded, virtual

and the actual sender may differ. While the embedded sender seeks to deliver

good news about the product, recommend, warn or promise change, the actual

sender (the client of the advertising agency) pays for the message and

principally expects a return on their investment. The virtual sender may follow

41

the creative urge or may prefer to be evaluated positively by the client along

with the primary goal of selling the advertised product.

2.4.5 The Recipient of the Advertising Message

In the advertising context, the recipients are identified as a target group for the

advertised product. However, the label of target group covers only some of

the actual recipients. A target group consists of the individuals whose

characteristics make them most susceptible to eventually become customers.

There is a direct link between the characteristics of the readers of respective

magazines and the target group exposed to the ad messages in those magazines.

The target group members share similar needs that are exploited in the

advertising communication. It is understood that no new needs can be

generated in the recipients; nevertheless, ad messages may attempt to retard or

accelerate the existing needs to the point when the ad recipient becomes a

product consumer (Vestergaard and Schrøder 1985, 10).8

In advertising communication, the recipients decoding and interpreting the

message are anonymous. For those who become engaged with the message,

Verschueren uses the term interpreters (1999, 82). The ideal member of the

target group whom the advertisers portray when constructing the message is a

virtual interpreter. “A virtual interpreter … is really only imagined at the

moment of producing the utterance” (1999, 86). However, it is this virtual

interpreter for whom the adaptation and careful crafting of the message is

employed. This process of recipient design serves “to ensure continued

attention as well as the desired level of understanding” (ibid., 86).

Interpreters are the decisive factor in the final appearance of an advertising

message, for they “may influence the utterers’ choice-making in fundamental

ways” (Verschueren 1999, 84). However, they are not the only category of

8 Creating a new need from the marketing point of view should not be confused with

the impossibility of creating new needs on a psychological basis. Cases of creating “a new

need” in the consumer with launching a new product are rare but are considered to be the

ultimate success of a business. Such was the case of introducing paper copy machines or cell-

phones: there was no real need for them up to the point when they were introduced; following

their launch the need for them became enormous. These products self-generated the need for

their use.

42

entities acting as counterparts of the senders in the advertising communication.

Many potential recipients never read the message, intentionally skip the

advertising page or their attention is not directed to the message contents at the

right time. These are labeled presences. They occupy a position that allows

them to become participants. When magazine readers are considered, about one

half admits to acting upon the ads printed in the magazines. The rest of the

readers may regard themselves ad-immune. Their mere existence, however, can

influence the senders’ choices and thus alter the message (Verschueren 1999,

82).

2.4.6 The Sender and the Recipient in the Social Power Context

The functioning of advertising communication can be observed through the

mutual relationship of the participants in the society of consumerism. It is a

relationship of power; the power-holders and the power-seekers (Fairclough

1989). Mass-media discourse, including advertising in magazines, is (on the

surface) a one-sided event where the sender addresses an ideal recipient. It is

exclusively the senders who have the power over what is said and what stays

unsaid in the message. Through advertising discourse, a relatively small

number of senders assigns a certain role to the masses of recipients: that of

consumers. Moreover, through careful language handling, this role seems to be

desirable. The consumers do not feel exploited, since power is not exercised

overtly. The role of a consumer seems to be “normal”, being manipulated is

taken as “what advertising does”. It is an instance of “naturalized practice”

(ibid., 33), it appears common-sensical and universal. According to Fairclough,

this is the basic principle of the successful use of ideology as a power-keeping

tool through discourse. Interestingly, marketing surveys point out the fact that

the recipients often claim to be advertising-immune; at the same time, the

figures clearly show that advertising is a very successful and powerful way of

influencing behavior.

Power-holders can preserve their position in two ways: either through coercing

it, or winning the consent of the masses. The latter strategy is not so risky and

costly. Exercising power covertly, indirectly, in advertising discourse is a

common practice. “Ideology is the key mechanism of rule by consent” (ibid.,

43

34). The surface markers of authority and power are mostly removed and

“simulated egalitarianism” (ibid., 37) is the preferred strategy of

communication. Advertising involves hidden relations of power (ibid., 49). In

the early days of advertising, the discourse exhibited less concern for hiding

the power status of the advertiser. Explicit and direct appeals, commands and

orders were frequent and considered standard. Nowadays, recipients

understand what advertising does and they know they are being manipulated.

However, they usually do not realize it while reading the ad, since the obvious

power-holding discourse means are hidden and consent-winning ones are

employed: being less direct, implicating, suggesting rather than ordering is the

current choice of advertisers. The preferred consent-winning strategy would be

endangered by explicit use of power in discourse.

In his description of a narrator and a narratee Barry (2003) takes a similar

power-related view. He claims that it is the narratee “who produces the tale by

a process of sustained imaginative introspection” (2003, 30), which shows an

active contribution of the recipient in the communication. However, Barry

adds, “This imaginative collusion will vary in intensity from reader to reader,

but it will always involve the vicarious (that is, ‘proxy’) living out of the

depicted events.” This relates back to Fairclough’s view of the sender having

power over what is included and what is excluded from the message. Barry

further contemplates the hidden power and removal of power markers in the

discourse. “The narrator … strives for a kind of invisibility; we only look

directly at the teller when we are sceptical about what is being said” (2003, 30).

The recipients (the narratees) become aware of the process of narration and of

being manipulated in it when they have doubts about giving their consent.

2.4.7 Magazines as the Channel of Advertising Communication

Magazines belong in the group of so-called ‘cold’ media that absorb the

recipient’s attention and require their active participation in the communicative

process (Srpová 2007, 16). As one of the oldest forms of mass-media in North

American society, magazines enjoy popularity and a good reputation. They are

considered trustworthy and traditional by a majority of the population.

Magazines have preserved their position in the long run, even in times of new

44

non-print media challenging the positions in the mass-media market. This is

one of prime reasons why magazines are a popular advertising channel.

Mainstream, non-specialized magazines dedicate up to half of their content to

display product ads, which are usually full-page or half-page ads randomly

distributed within editorial contents. No-frills ads appear in specialized sections

marked as such and thus address mostly those readers who are already

motivated to read them. Specialized magazines feature ads whose target group

corresponds with their readers: industrial ads appear in professional, scientific

or technical journals; consumer ads for a limited range of products are to be

found in non-professional magazines. The limits are imposed either by a

specific hobby the magazine covers (e.g. gardening), or the location where it is

distributed (e.g. airplanes). If the magazine publisher or distributor is a specific

political group, church, charity organization or good-will institution, non-

product ads may appear with higher frequency. As already pointed out in the

Corpus Description, this dissertation only deals with ads from mainstream

magazines of unrestricted contents and distribution.

Independent surveys of magazine readers and the impact of advertising on the

magazine audience provide statistical data that appear to be useful for the

objectives of this dissertation. They include figures comparing the

effectiveness of advertising in magazines over other media; they also reveal

what the readers’ purchasing habits are, how much the readers trust the

advertising and what they use it for. Knowing these facts may provide valuable

background for knowing who the participants in advertising communication

are. For the sake of discourse strategy analysis applied in a very specific

context of printed ads, the surveys show how effective the employed strategies

are and to what extend the disclosed results describe the truly functional

advertising discourse strategies.

According to various consumer surveys, magazines are read by a significant

majority of the US population, and their advertising messages seem to have a

high impact on the readers. Four-fifths of the adult American population label

themselves magazine readers. This figure has remained consistently high

45

despite the recent growth of the new non-print new media.9 The presence of

magazines in the lives of Americans is truly significant: according to the

surveys, the top 25 magazines outperform the top 25 TV programs in reaching

adults and teens.10

2.4.7.1 High Attention Levels

Reading magazines is often an encompassing experience: readers tend to

concentrate solely on the issue they read and while reading, they do not to get

involved in other activities.11 Since the attention of the readers is naturally

aimed at the content, less attention-catching force in ads is needed than in other

media. Rather than trying to attract recipient’s attention in the first place,

magazine ads can be expected to contain more persuasion means instead. The

time-span dedicated to perceiving the ad message is a revealing statistical

figure as well: the average reader spends over 43 minutes reading each issue.12

Unlike ephemeral TV commercials and outdoor ads passed during a commute,

magazine ads receive considerably more perception time of each recipient.

That may well reflect the language means employed. Longer, more

complicated and highly coded expressions and structures can be expected to

appear in the magazine ads as compared to other types of advertisements.

2.4.7.2 Favorable Perception

Besides outstandingly rich readership and long perception time, magazine ads

enjoy a favorable reputation. The readers admit to rating them more positively

than the ones appearing in other media, which may be the consequence of the

popularity of magazines as ad carriers. Over one-half of the readers rate

magazine ads very or somewhat positive.13 Magazine ads are viewed and

described as trustworthy, valuable and useful,14 and they often serve as a

source of information for consumers.15 These labels suggest that the employed

9 “Magazines: The Medium of Action. A Comprehensive Guide and Handbook

2009/10,” p. 7, The Association of Magazine Media, accessed June 5, 2010,

http://www.magazine.org/consumer_marketing/circ_trends/index.aspx. 10 ibid., p. 7. 11 ibid., p. 30. 12 ibid., p. 8. 13 ibid., pp. 31-35. 14 ibid., p. 33. 15 ibid., p. 57.

46

advertising strategies are working. Survey figures confirm the logic outcome of

the equation: there is a direct link between magazine ad engagement and their

effectiveness.16 That may be the major reason for the astonishingly strong and

long-term presence of advertising in magazines: 46% of the contents is

dedicated to advertising purposes. Ads can be therefore be considered

significant contributors to the reader’s experience.17

2.4.7.3 Marketing Effectiveness (High Return on Investment)

The numbers also demonstrate that magazine readers remember ads and act on

them even after longer periods of time.18 This may suggest that the strategies

used in magazine ads are highly effective in creating lasting memory traces.

According to the surveys, magazine ads are described as more relevant than in

other media,19 which shows that magazine advertisers target the right

audience.20 The relevant message gets to the desired recipient. More than half

of the magazine readers (56%) admit to acting on magazine ads;21 this is a

significant number in the massively competitive world of advertising. It

confirms the assertion that magazine ads fulfill the marketing task well and the

strategies used by the advertisers are highly functional. Magazine readers tend

to be influential customers for fashion items and luxury goods (watches,

jewels, clothes, shoes, accessories, beauty products, alcohol), for food and

packaged goods (cleaning products, snacks) and for technology (computers,

mobile phones).22 Advertisement categories that comprise the collected corpus

match these product categories, depicted and statistically measured by

marketing surveys.

2.4.8 Display Product Consumer Ads as a Sub-genre

This chapter located the type of ads collected in the corpus within the broad

spectrum of advertising as a genre. Product consumer ads promote tangible

goods to anonymous individuals in potential consumers’ target groups.

16 ibid., p. 80. 17 ibid., p. 13. 18 ibid., p. 83. 19 ibid., p. 34. 20 ibid., p. 62. 21 ibid., p. 36. 22 ibid., pp. 55,60,61,68.

47

Magazines are a tradition-bearing medium in printed advertising with an

abundance of full-page or half-page display ads in every issue. These ads are

often viewed as prototypes of advertising messages. Their structure varies

considerably, but typically they contain a prominent illustration, which is

accompanied by a headline, a body copy, a slogan and a signature line.

Ads comprising the corpus promote tangible goods in two categories of

unspecialized magazines: the high-end luxury magazine and tabloids. These

two types differ in their target audience and thus can be expected to promote

various types of products. The placement of different product category ads is

not exclusive; however, some tendencies can be observed. A high-end

magazine is richer in high-involvement low-utility (luxury) goods such as

perfumes, jewels, technology gadgets, designer clothes and accessories.

Tabloids are richer in low-involvement high-utility goods such as packaged

food, soft drinks, daily cosmetic products and household utensils. This

distribution is expected to yield differences in the employment of discourse

strategies which pertain to advertising reason vs. tickle strategies. While reason

strategy is used more often to promote low-involvement and high-utility

products, tickle ads more frequently promote luxury goods.

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3 Mental Space as a Common Interpretive Principle

The emotional and attitudinal layer of ad meaning arises from highly individual

message processing. The subjectivity of recipient’s interpretation should be

stressed: “Subjective, heterogeneous interpretations of texts are the norm;

different readers are assumed to “get it” differently, depending on their history,

values, or even which side of bed they rise from” (Barry and Elmes 1997, 433).

Thomas (1995, 22) claims that meaning is a process of dynamic interaction,

“negotiation … between speaker and hearer, the context of utterance … and the

meaning potential”.

Discourse strategies that enable highly subjective processing based on an input

from the sender are identified as the strategies of storytelling, intertextuality

and metaphors. They seem to operate on the basis of an identical interpretive

principle. When the ad message is being perceived, the recipients are presented

with visual and textual cues which enable the creation of individualized

cognitive space. This platform further serves as a vacant space which the

recipients fill according to their own individual histories, abilities, needs,

possibilities and wishes.

The vacant mental space is understood in terms of text world theory as

proposed by Werth (1999) and further discussed by Hidalgo Downing (2000,

67-88). Hidalgo Downing claims: “Participants in communicative situations

actively construct the shared contexts which arise from the interaction between

the information in the text and the knowledge brought by the participants to the

discourse situations.” The constructed contexts are of a cognitive nature; they

are representations of what is explicitly or implicitly present in the discourse.

Werth (1999) labels these constructed cognitive representations “worlds” and

assigns them a description of a conceptual domain representing a state of

affairs. Van Dijk (2006, 367) based his cognitive approach to manipulative

discourse on mental models which he finds to be “unique, ad hoc and personal:

it is [an] individual interpretation of this particular discourse in this specific

situation.”

49

In this dissertation, I use the term mental space for the notion of the

interpretive principle. Mental space is a term first proposed by Fauconnier

(1994) and refers to a cognitive domain created in the minds of participants in

discourse. Lakoff (2006, 275) further describes mental space as a model that

can contain mental entities; that relates to other spaces; or entities which can

relate to other entities. He lists examples of mental spaces, such as immediate

reality, fictional situations, past or future situations as they are remembered or

imagined, hypothetical situations or abstract domains.

Since advertising is a form of communication where the interpretation rests on

recipients, the mental space is understood as an outlined space in their

conceptual capacity. It is framed by given discourse cues, yet no specific

structures are filled in. Both advertisers and recipients enter the advertising

communication with shared knowledge about the context, its goals and related

expectations. The way in which the ad message is constructed and then

processed opens up a recipient’s mental space and allows “filling the space”

with reasons, emotions, memories of own experience, associations, imaginary

constructs, etc. Hopkinson (2010, 33) remarks: “In order to manipulate their

readers, the producers of advertising texts attempt to ‘plant’ in the reader’s

mind mental models both of the product (emphasizing its positive qualities)

and of the roles and identities of the two main participants in the discourse –

the producer and the reader.” The ad recipients are invited to use their existing

experience, draw on their memories, explore their fantasy and in that way

personalize the advertising message. The exploring of mental space may be

extremely rich in case the ads present explicit cues which prompt imagination

and creativity. It may be even richer when the messages stay incomplete and

recipients feel invited to continue the meaning creation process.

The mental space, which is created during/after reading the ad, may be a

beneficial concept for the advertisers if the recipient’s process of interpretation

and filling the space is somehow directed. Textual cues present in the ad

message function as “a space outline” and thus navigate the mental processing.

Moriarty (spot.colorado.edu) defines advertising cues as “a signal of something

or a reminder of something. It brings to mind something from past knowledge

50

or previous experience that provides a framework of meaning that can be used

to interpret the sign.” A cue in the advertising message is a textual or visual

signal that activates a certain mental space in the recipient’s mind and sets its

borders.

The notion of mental space and of cues determining its frame are the key

elements observed and analyzed with the discourse strategies of storytelling,

intertextuality and metaphors. These are identified as strategies enabling the

recipient to co-create the emotional and attitudinal layers of ad message

meaning.

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4 Storytelling as a Discourse Strategy23

Humans are story tellers. Long before literacy became a distinctive feature in

society, people lived their lives listening to and telling stories. Later, it was

stories through which writing developed into the skill of social necessity and

art as we know it today. Shared stories have shaped our development – our

relationships with other community members and the community itself; our

beliefs, social conventions and norms.

As children, we grow up listening to stories: they help conceptualize our world

before we are able to conceptualize it through our own experience. Events

happening at a location, known or imaginary, and featuring protagonists, real

or unknown, are the tools through which we begin making sense of the world.

Deducing, generalizing, abstracting, associating and a wide range of other

thought processes all develop when we listen to stories. As we mature, we

never grow tired of stories: they form the basis of our socializing and

entertainment. Informal conversations tend to consist of strings of

interconnected stories rather than of individual communicative events; and

stories depicted by films, theater plays and fiction books fill in a substantial

amount of our leisure time.

Advertisers would clearly miss a great opportunity if they did not promote their

products through telling stories. Stories are associated with childhood and

tender parental care, with socializing and bonding, with leisure time. They

rarely associate with force, persuasiveness and biasing, for which many

recipients despise ads as a genre. Ad messages in which stories form the most

manifest platform of product promotion may benefit from all of the mentioned

associations and gain a more favorable rating with any potential recipient.

Of all the collected ads, forty-five instances are identified as messages

containing stories, or hinting at them. Out of those twenty-seven are printed in

Vanity Fair; eighteen instances in the collection of tabloid weeklies. This

23 Parts of this chapter were published previously in my article “Storytelling as a Discourse

Strategy in Printed Advertising” in Theories and Practice: Proceedings of the Second

International Conference on English and American Studies, 2011. The full bibliographical

reference is listed in the Bibliography section.

52

signals a slight preference for storytelling as a discourse strategy used with

high-involvement products; or with an older and more affluent target audience.

From another perspective, this may also suggest that storytelling is a milder

and more subtle, non-pushy strategy explored by advertisers. About 60% of the

storytelling ads can be easily interpreted as fully disclosed stories due to the

cues of setting, characters and plot given explicitly. The rest of the ads reveal

an incomplete, tentative story, an equivalent of the tale idiom “once upon a

time”. These ads contain some of the attributes of a story but the recipient

her/himself is left to fill in the vacant mental space, which had been opened by

the given cues.

Storytelling clearly embodies an idea of an ad recipient creating and filling

mental space as mentioned earlier. In his study on manipulative discourse, Van

Dijk states (2006, 367): “Telling a story means formulating the personal,

subjective mental model we have of some experience.” The notion of

experience is introduced through textual or visual cues. When explicit and

numerous, they evoke a full story; a story may be only hinted at if cues are

limited in number and explicitness.

Advertisers often explore discourse possibilities to deliver messages in a new,

unexpected way. That is why cues that allow the ad message to be interpreted

as a story are variable and often elusive. They may appear in a fully verbalized

form or be present only implicitly. Nevertheless, what clearly causes discourse

to be perceived as a story is the presence of narrative cues, specifically active

verbs (mostly in past tense), a time sequence of events, a vivid description of a

scene and introducing characters. The detection of one of these cues is

sometimes enough to perceive the message as a story, at least a hinted one.

However, the cues often combine their force; the more of them present, the

more the message feels like a prototypical story.

The following Dior perfume ad illustrates the hinted story: “Dior Midnight

Poison. A new Cinderella is born. Eva Green24” (VF1). The protagonist is a

24 Eva Green is an actress well known for her role of Vesper, the Bond girl whom James Bond

fell in love with.

53

well-known person, actress Eva Green. The interpretation of the ad message as

a story is suggested through the birth of a new character. The intertextual

reference to the well-known children's story, Cinderella, leaves the recipient

with the implicit and suggestive plot-line of the similar story happening again,

this time with the specifically named main character. The recipients do not

know exactly what the story is from the text of the ad, yet the story is hinted at

through the references and its complete plot can be guessed.

The stories, or their attributes, are not the only cases of discourse strategies

present in respective ads. In most instances, only a part of the ad message is

delivered through a story. Storytelling frequently combines with a descriptive

strategy within an ad; enumeration of product features or possible uses of the

product appear mostly as part of the body copy. The descriptive parts can

create segments of the narrative discourse, such as in the following Mercury

Mariner ad: “It never ceases to amaze Sarah how her Mariner gets her through

just about anything, even uptight maitre d's. The 2007 Mercury Mariner.

Sarah's friends were doubtful about their chances of getting in. But with

Intelligent 4WD, an aggressive V-6 and style to match, Mariner has a way of

turning heads. Now the new restaurant isn't the only place people are looking

to get into. Mercury. New Doors Opened” (P3). Here, the story of a fictional

character Sarah and her friends is narrated in quite a complex manner, with the

mentioned characters, setting (an entry to a luxury restaurant) and a plot-line

(Sarah and her friends managed to get a table in the restaurant due to the

impression they made with Sarah's car). However, the description of the

product features takes up a considerable section of the story being told. It may

function as an anchor for the fictional story in real life, or, in other words, as a

source of practical, non-emotive reasons to own the car.

The following analysis aims at disclosing patterns of advertising storytelling.

Stories that present a fictional account are contrasted with those that depict true

(or supposedly true) events. Mapping the discourse strategy onto the

marketing goals is attempted with regard to the category of promoted products.

In the second part of the chapter, references to protagonists, timing and setting

54

are described to demonstrate how the cues of storytelling strategy contribute to

the marketing strategies.

4.1 Advertising Stories

4.1.1 Fictional Stories

Ads presenting a fictional account introduce a character in a setting, telling a

story that includes using or reporting on the product. Their distribution in the

two categories of magazines is balanced: thirteen ads are collected from high-

end monthly magazines and eleven come from weekly tabloids. Fictional

stories in a rather full, explicit account are found in eight ads; sixteen ads

feature a tentative fictional story that is only hinted, left unfinished or barely

introduced in some cases. This shows a preference for leaving the fictional

story untold and thus possibly assigns the role of co-creator to the recipient.

The full fictional stories appearing in ads seem uniform in their distribution

since most of them promote cars. As full stories, they do not leave much for the

recipient to fill in. However, their plot-lines suggest wide-ranging

interpretations, and each one leaves the recipient with a mix of different

messages about the product. Those messages are about the features of the car

as well as about the feelings one might get when driving the car.

(1) Inspired by her stylish new Mercury Milan, Tina did what anyone else

in her shoes would do - buy new ones. Introducing the all-new 2006 Mercury

Milan. Milan's eye-catching style and two-tone leather seats gave Tina ample

reason to add to her shoe collection; not that Tina ever needed reasons. The

big question now is whether her closet will hold as much as Milan's trunk.

Mercury. New Doors Opened. (VF9)

(2) Grabbed the clothes from the kid at the dry cleaners. Handed him

twice what she owed. Offered to pay for the guy behind her and left a business

card. It took five minutes before the call came. Ford. Bold moves. It's nice to

hear back from people. We recently heard from J.D. Power and Associates

who ranked the Ford Fusion the "Most Appealing Midsize Car." That'll make

some heads turn. Fusion. (P4)

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(3) When one is experiencing Giddyupidness, one must be aware of the

cop hiding behind the billboard. If one loves to put the pedal to the metal, one

must be aware of the responsive nature of the highly enlightened Kia Rondo. A

new kind of crossover vehicle that combines the spaciousness and flexibility of

an SUV with the handling and fuel efficiency of a car. With class-leading

safety, 29 MPG Hwy, available 3rd-row seating and a powerful V6 engine. All

backed by a 10-year/100,000-mile warranty program. Starting at $16,995.

kia.com The all-new Kia Rondo. Welcome to Rondoism. Kia. The Power to

Surprise. (P2)

(4) Grab life by the horns. Dodge. Avenge Internal Computer System.

STEERING: listen up ppl, we're ina tight corner ESP: Electronic Stability

Program at ur service! BRAKES: he hit the brakes hard ESP: im detecting

slippage BRAKES:hydrolic break booster, work ur magic BOOSTER: NP im

on it bro ABS: u r awesome. busy breaking L front and R rear ENGINE:

lowering torque and throttle BTW ESP: yaw and lateral acceleration sensors

activated. man im good :-) TRACTION CONTROL: LOL giving rear wheels

more traction ESP: gr8, cuz we r almost out of this corner ENGINE: yesssss!

back on full throttle BRAKES: this is 2 easy IMHO ESP: cya l8r SEND SEE

THE ALL-NEW AVENGER AT DODGE.COM/AVENGER (P1)

Fictional stories in ads tend to start with product-unrelated events. In (1), the

protagonist is buying new shoes, in (2), the protagonist is picking up clothes

from the dry-cleaners, in (3), a western-style horse ride is evoked by the

creative nonce word “giddyupidness” (“giddy up” being an interjection used to

command horses to go faster). Within American culture, these themes seem to

be stressing real-life situations thus enabling the recipients to relate to the story

and inviting them to maintain the processing. When reading further, what had

been stated earlier is introduced and placed in a relationship with the product.

This relationship is associative. In (1), shoes become the base of comparison

with certain car qualities (leather material, eye-catching design), in (3) the fast

horse is linked to the fast car. The situation in (2) may associate with the

feedback idea: the driver got a call for what she did at the dry-cleaners and the

car producer got feedback from testing authorities. These associations point to

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the reason advertising strategy. Indirectly yet clearly, they mention the

sensible, reasonable points why the product is worth obtaining.

Tickle strategy is obvious in all three ads as well. The developed stories

function as a source of emotive states that the advertisers aim to create in the

recipients. In (1), the fact that Tina never needed a reason so she bought the

shoes explicitly says that buying without reason, just because we feel like it, is

sufficient. Also, buying new shoes is usually an emotionally very positive

experience for women, who relate to Tina, the protagonist of this story. In (2),

the positivity of receiving the feedback is spelled out with “It's nice to hear

back from people”. In (3), a fast ride as a source of fun and even trouble with

the police if it gets too exciting, is proposed.

The Dodge ad (4) presents a mix of the two strategies in a different way yet

both reasonable and emotive elements are incorporated. The story in this ad is

recounted through a conversation, in direct speech. A fictional communication

among individual parts of the car computer lists many technical details of the

car and shows that the internal car computer system can handle the car in

dangerous situations. Reason strategy is applied in this sense. However, there

are several layers on which emotive response from the recipient is evoked. This

is achieved through generic intertextuality. An intertextual reference to the

genre of instant messaging is obvious. First, computer chatting communication

is not only trendy and fashionable; it is also ground-breaking in the way it

shapes the current interpersonal communication in general. The genre of

instant messaging is present in both the form of the communication (speaker's

identity in capitals followed by a colon, no inverted commas for marking direct

speech) and the language used (chat lingo including acronyms, clipped words,

deviant spelling and punctuation). The second layer presents fun: interjections,

colloquial expressions and chat idioms are in sharp contrast with the technical

terms of the computer system, and this adds a humorous twist to the message.

Thirdly, besides evoking trendiness and humor through implementing a

different genre, suggesting positive social placement can be seen. The language

used in the conversation is coded in a way that is usually not known for those

who do not communicate via instant messaging. Understanding of an ad

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message coded in this way suggests the recipient is a well-versed, trendy

member of a desirable community. All these layers evoke a positive emotional

response from the recipients and thus can be seen as the employment of a tickle

advertising strategy.

Another source of positive emotions is the dialogic character of the ads (2) and

(4). The implicitly present conversation of the woman and the man on the

phone and later the explicit mention of the communication that was established

between the car testing authorities and the car producer in (2) evoke

socializing, friendliness and interactive attitude. The explicit communication of

the car parts evokes camaraderie and bonding. These ads contain embedded

dialogs in which the ad recipient is not involved directly. Nevertheless, the

dialogs create an emotive stance which may become a part of the recipient’s

mental space.

Similarly to the four analyzed ads, other stories in this category show a mixture

of both reason and tickle advertising strategies. They state reasons to have the

product as part of the story, usually through a description of useful, positive

features of the product or through a problem-solution information structure. At

the same time, they evoke a positive emotional response through associations

with concepts that the recipient finds in the story.

4.1.2 Hinted Stories

Compared to the full-story accounts, the ads that only suggest a story through

some cues are more numerous, less easy to identify and less tangible. Various

recipients may have different interpretations, sometimes even diametrically

opposing ones, of the tentative stories. Nevertheless, the hinted stories

potentially create a rather large mental space ready for the recipient’s

processing. They serve as a strong tool exploring the imagination and creativity

of the recipients. The advantage for the advertiser is manifold: the recipients

may fill in limitless imaginary details, they may find the open mental space to

be a challenge or a task to fulfill, they may become curious about the rest of the

story, and may feel positive about not being manipulated too heavily.

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Among the ads, sixteen ads can be interpreted as telling an incomplete, hinted

story. Two-thirds of those appear in high-end monthly magazines and they

mostly promote perfumes, watches, jewelry, fashion accessories and luxury

beauty products. All of these are non-essential items which fall into the

category of high-involvement products. Unlike full stories, hinted ones tend to

rely less on the verbal and more on the visual part of the message. Their body

copies are shorter and very rarely combine narrative strategy with the

descriptive one. Product details, as frequently incorporated in full stories,

appear sporadically.

Tentative stories appearing in ads may be interpreted as such through cues

suggesting a plot-line, characters or setting. Using narrative metadiscourse, i.e.

explicitly mentioning the fact that it is a story, creates one type of cue implying

plot-lines. Stories in a more complex form may be elicited from the hints

through imagination, guessing or filling the space with a pre-existing

experience. This seems to be the case in the following instances:

(5) Beaudry Signed Originals. What will your story be?

Michaelbeaudry.com (VF9, VF10)

(6) Katana. A new legend begins … www.sanyo-katana.com. Sanyo. (P4)

Both story and legend suggest some narrated events. They only exist

hypothetically, in a vacuum, the only anchoring being the direct connection to

the product. Both ads function as conceptual metaphors where the promoted

product is the story/legend. Apart from highly aesthetised illustrations

suggesting abstract notions of beauty, luxury, fashion and good taste, the

recipient has only the metaphor on which to speculate what the story may be.

Anything that associates with the product may become part of the story. In (5)

it is not only the product which has a story to tell (or is a story by itself). The

recipient is first invited to conceptualize Beaudry jewelry as a story and

immediately, through the suggestive question, starts searching for another story

that would put her/himself in a metaphor target domain. It is a case of one story

being hinted at through a cue and a second one being called for from the

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recipient. The explicitly dialogic nature of the message serves as the means of

this hinting process.

A slightly more limited mental space is expected to be filled in in the following

ads:

(7) Let him think that glow is because of something he did. A radiant,

deep clean. Noxzema. Pretty. Smart. (LS3)

(8) Used to be Wild. [Is your hair trying to tell you something?] With

Nexxus, your hair can say goodbye to its frizzy, flyaway past. New Sleektress

Shampoo, Hydra Sleek Conditioner and Sleek Style Crème, scientifically

developed and salon proven to tame unruly hair for a sleek, smooth finish.

Your hair knows best. So take it to the Nexxus level. Nexxus. Salon Hair Care.

Find Nexxus in your hair care aisle. (P1)

Both ads hint at a story by unspecified something he did and tell you

something. The recipient is invited to guess what happened that may have

caused the glow in (7) and what story hair has to tell in (8). In (7) it is the

illustration that guides the guessing of a storyline (a photo depicting a woman

loved and admired by her partner). In (8) the recipient is given rather explicit

verbal cues in the second half of the body copy, where a conditionally implied

“happy ending” of the suggested story is revealed.

While a story, a legend or something are broad terms and can comprise almost

anything (belonging to the context), some ads hint at a more specific story by

explicitly naming a concrete frame that is to be filled in.

(9) Dior Midnight Poison. A new Cinderella is born. Eva Green.

Midnight Poison. (VF1)

(10) Patek Philippe Geneve. You don't just wear a Patek Philippe. You

begin an enduring love affair. The rose gold complements every skin tone.

Thirty-four rare white diamonds provide a discreet sparkle. Yet it is the silken

feel of Twenty-4 on the wrist that is so utterly captivating. Collection includes

matching ring and earrings. (VF2)

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The suggested story is more concrete in both cases here. Cinderella limits the

mental frame to a well-known story, which serves as a metaphor and becomes

a source for the possible plot. It is expected the recipient would recollect the

Cinderella story and use memories to construct a similar one, this time with

well-known actress Eva Green as the main protagonist. In (10), love affair can

be seen as a specific sub-genre of a story. This ad invites the recipient to fill in

the frame by their own experience of a love story. Similarly to the fairytale of

Cinderella (and Eva Green), love stories most probably evoke positive

emotional responses and associate with a wide range of concepts at which

advertisers aim.

Recipients may be prompted to supply their own story in the ad message which

implies an activity or an event that somehow relates to them. Explicit reference

to a narrative does not have to be present, such as in:

(11) Be seduced … 212 Sexy Carolina Herrera New York (VF5)

(12) Maybe It's Your Anniversary. Tiffany Celebration Rings. Tiffany&Co.

(VF3)

Maybe Just Because. Tiffany Celebration Rings. Tiffany&Co. (VF4)

In (11), a direct dialogic appeal to fill in the mental space with characters and a

plot prompts creative processing of the ad: who will be the seducer and what

will happen when the recipient gets seduced? There is a vast number of

possible answers which only depend on the individuality of each recipient. In

(12), the story is hinted at through vague suggestion to fill in the story of an

anniversary celebration. The illustration in both ads shows a woman being

presented with a luxury ring and prompts the recipient to supply a story in

which a wife is given a ring as an anniversary gift. At the same time, another

issue of the same magazine featured the “continuation” of the hinted story

suggesting another version: maybe it was not an anniversary; maybe it is a

story of a loving partner giving a precious gift and thus celebrating his spouse

at any time, regardless of dates. Stories as we know them from literature are

often divided in parts and feature continuations. The Tiffany campaign seems

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to explore this feature. It gives another story-enhancing prompt to the

recipients; it invites them to co-create stories and fill the ad frame with them.

To limit the endless possibilities of imagination and strengthen the recipient’s

personal involvement, these ads deictically anchor the recipient as a

protagonist of the hinted story with the personal pronoun (your) or with an

imperative construction (be seduced). Through this dialog-evoking feature, the

ads also enhance the importance of the recipient in the creation of message

meaning.

A special case of a hinted story is the one delivered through an illustration.

Tommy Hilfiger glasses (VF10) are promoted with a short headline reading

“Fresh American Style Eyewear” and a photo of a young, recently married

couple, lying side by side in bed, each wearing a pair of glasses and reading a

copy of A Guide to Marriage.

(VF10)

The husband, despite looking very involved and taking it seriously, holds his

copy upside down. This humorous element, together with the whole scene

visually presented in the ad, invites recipients to construct a story of a new

marriage where trying to make everything work is sometimes halted by little

setbacks. The humorous tone suggests all troubles are overcome. Interestingly,

the advertiser's self-mockery can be felt: the husband holds the book upside

down despite wearing the promoted glasses, which would suggest the glasses

do not work. However, this is not what the recipients expect from a

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prototypical ad and thus are prompted to bring another layer to the story. That

may be acknowledging that glasses are there to help but it is the people, the

protagonists of the story, who must try to make the marriage work. The glasses

are a part of a humorous scene yet they are not presented as a panacea for all

troubles, which seemingly adds fairness and credibility to the recipient’s

treatment.

Stories hinted at through introducing characters or a setting operate on a similar

principle as the previously mentioned ads. Cues are given that assign a location

or a fictional or real-life protagonist. This creates certain mental space which

the recipients are prompted to fill with what usually connects with scenes or

characters: scenes create background and characters participate in an event.

(13) Into the Night. Wittnauer. (VF10)

(14) ange ou demon she alone knows Givenchy (VF7)

Ad (13) is strongly supported by the illustration. The photo shows a beautiful

woman made up for a night out and a Wittnauer wrist watch. The message

prompts the recipients to imagine what may happen in the given situation, what

story the night setting may disclose. The next ad, (14), incorporates the name

of the promoted perfume, Ange ou Demon, into the secret identity of the

character shown in the illustration. She is one of the two facets of the character

but only her undisclosed story, which she keeps hidden, may reveal the secret.

The uncertainty stirs the curiosity of the recipient who may try to fill a personal

story through which she identifies with the secretive protagonist. At the same

time, both the setting in (13) and the character in (14) seem to operate as

metaphors for the promoted products: the night, and whatever may happen in

it, embodies the characteristics of the jewelry, and a dual personality with

contrastive features embodies the description of the perfume.

It should be taken into account that clear-cut cases of stories being hinted at

solely through plots, characters or setting are hard to find. When Cinderella is a

cue in the ad, it can be interpreted as the Cinderella story or Cinderella the

story character. In the Hilfiger eyewear ad, the bed is the setting, the married

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couple are the characters and reading the book turned upside down is a cue for

a tentative story. The cues of any of the named concepts can (and do) combine

to open varied, attractive and functional mental spaces. With the help and

navigation through cues the recipients fill these in with their very own stories.

In this way, they become more active participants of the advertising

communication.

Being a co-author of a story gives the impression of being in charge of what is

delivered. This is not what traditionally understood advertising offers. Where

the ad senders have all the power over the contents of the message, the

recipients can only rely on what they are told. With inviting them in to the

creative process of the ad message, the power seemingly shifts towards the

recipients. However, it should be noted here that advertisers do not really give

up on a substantial share of their power. In line with Fairclough (1989, 72) it is

clear that it is them, the power-holders, who decide about the ad. The decision

of how much space is left for the recipients and how much power they will be

offered still stays in the advertisers' realm. Fairclough himself labels it “hiding

power for manipulative reasons” (ibid.). This view may be supported by the

overall positive character of the cues present in the ads that aid the story co-

creation: the visual cues are beautiful, funny or pleasantly familiar; the verbal

cues present attractive or admired characters in pleasant, successfully tackled

or desired situations, or place the recipient as a character in a similar positively

tuned setting. Unlike full fictional accounts, hinted stories evoke feelings and

prompt the recipients to employ their creativity and imagination in an

overwhelming way. Tickle advertising strategy seems to be much more

prevalent with this type of advertising message. Reason strategy can only be

traced in rare instances with information structure suggesting a problem-

solving story.

4.1.3 True Account Stories

There are twenty ads in the corpus which present an account of an event that is,

or pretends to be, based on a true story. Three basic true account plot-lines can

be summarized as:

• the birth of a product (ten ads);

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• testing the product (four ads);

• use of the product by a known person (six ads).

Even though recipients are aware of advertisers using various tools and

methods to make the product appear as desirable as possible, they still expect

ads to deliver true, testable information. When they suspect unfair or deceptive

practice, recipients may report to the consumer-protection authorities (the

highest one in the USA in this respect being the Federal Trade Commission).

Since deceptive treatment of ad recipients is punishable, the interpretations of

the stories in the mentioned categories are primarily true. When the ad claims

that “Tests showed up to an 83% reduction in the appearance of lines and

wrinkles” (Clarins, VF10) or “I blended grapes from coastal vineyards in

Northern and Central California to produce wines with unprecedented flavor

intensity and complexity” (Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates Vintner’s Reserve,

VF10), the recipients rely on advertisers’ code obedience and they tend to

understand the stories as true ones.

Nonetheless, three ads involve some features of a true story yet their

interpretation as such is doubtful.

(15) Our development process was basically a militant guy in a lab coat

shouting "More power" 408 times. 409 All Purpose Cleaner. Behold the

Power. The Clorox Company. (P2)

(16) Phaeton #433. Silver Mirror over Anthracite leather with honed

Eucalyptus trim. Purchased by Mark Hoidal, of Seattle, Washington. Equipped

with a 335 hp V8, air suspension, standard all-wheel drive and a 4-zone

climate control system that Mark happily reports, has cut complaints from

back-seat passengers (ages 7 and 10) by well over fifty percent on long trips.

The Phaeton, from Volkswagen. Starting at $66,950. Drivers wanted. (VF10)

(17) Joye Devlin Idalia, Colorado. Football Mom & Police Officer. Lucs

Devlin Idalia, Colorado. Football Team Captain. EAS AdvantEDGE All-Stars

Energy for student athletes, and the moms who keep up with them. The

Exclusive Sports Nutrition Partner of the National High School Athletic

Coaches Association. The National High School Athletic Coaches Association

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trusts new and improved EAS AdvantEDGE delicious bars and creamy shakes

when it comes to sports nutrition for their student athletes. (P2)

What makes all three interpretable as fiction is humor. According to Werner

(1995), it is one of the appropriate strategies to catch the recipient’s attention

especially in the space/time-limited context of advertising, where involvement

of the recipients is naturally very low. As (15) includes a witty play with the

product name. As claimed by a popular blog25, Formula 409 got its name from

the development process: it took 409 attempts to mix a formula that was finally

released as the promoted all-purpose cleaner. Use of informal language and

similarity with the genre of American film comedies strengthens the humorous

effect. A first reading of (16) seems to evoke a rather serious impression due to

the technical description of the car features and a formal introduction of the

main protagonist of the story. Up to that point, the readers may feel they are

reading a true account. However, the expectations of Mark reporting on the car

quality are not exactly met: instead of preserving the formal informativeness,

the image of children in the back seat complaining about temperature control is

evoked. The humor is a result of the familiarity of the scene to many parents

and its discrepancy with the formal language depicting it. Also, the

unexpectedness of this scene being the subject of such formal reporting elicits

smiles. The descriptive adverb happily strengthens the discrepancy by adding

more emotive hint. Whether or not Mark Hoidal and his report really exist

becomes unimportant since humor functions as an excuse for not providing a

true account of the product use. A similar situation is repeated with (17), where

the identity of the protagonists is not taken at face value. The formal

introduction of the two characters is contrasted with the familiarity of the

informal scene of a professional mother living a busy life caring for her

teenage sports-loving son. The humorous twist is strongly enhanced by a light-

toned, fun-inducing illustration of a mom and her son goofing around. These

three instances of ads present stories that fit into the frame of true accounts, yet

humor and light-heartedness provide reasons for the recipient’s tolerance (or

even appreciation) of the deceptive approach. It should also be noted that only

25 Garlock, Matt. “508 Compliance and Formula 409”. What I Learned Today – MG’s

CIP. http://whatmattlearnedtoday.blogspot.com/2008/02/508-compliance-and-formula-

409.html accessed July 30, 2010

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(15) can be interpreted as a full story. (16) and (17) are hinted. Due to the

detailed description of the protagonists and the scenes, the recipients can easily

imagine a story of a family drive with children in the back seat or, as depicted

in the illustration, a story of a mom and son playing football and having fun.

The majority of ads presenting stories of a product’s birth, testing or usage by a

well-known person are to be interpreted as true accounts. Most such stories

have established characters, plots and settings to the extent that the impression

of a full story is given. Only three ads in the “known person” category present

the tentative story in hints and leave it untold. All the others present a full

story.

4.1.3.1 The Birth of Product Stories

Most ads in this category (eight items) appeared in Vanity Fair, while two ads

appear in tabloid weeklies. This placement corresponds with the type of

products promoted: eight ads sell high-involvement goods such as cars,

specialized beauty products and alcoholic drinks. The only low-involvement

item sold via this type of story (in two ads) is bottled water; however, it needs

to be stressed that both listed water products are considered luxury items

among bottled waters. This distribution pattern suggests that stories of how the

product was made tend to be used as a tool for promoting those products which

require more decision-making processing. At the same time, the birth-of-the-

product stories highlight the production process of goods. When precision,

nature involvement, technological complexity, innovativeness and keeping up

with traditions in the production process create a unique selling proposition,

advertisers tend to base their ad messages on exploring it. The plot of the story,

which is the major narrative-identifying element, is almost exclusively

presented through explicit verbalizing of the development or production

processes: Peugeot has created … (Peugeot 308 VF1), So we developed …

(Clinique VF4), Erno Laszlo brings together … (Erno Laszlo VF10), So we

created … (John Frieda US2), I made my first small batch ... (Kendall-Jackson

VF10), Our development process was … (Clorox P2).

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Narrative discourse gives the advertisers an opportunity to introduce the

product in a memorable context. Non-narrative elements, such as descriptive

ones, are usually present in this type of ads, as they would most probably be in

a non-advertising story, yet there is more to the product than just its qualities:

there is the story of which the product is a part. Birth-of-the-product stories

seem to combine narrative and descriptive strategy to a great extent: all ads in

this category contain enumeration of product features, or the features can be

attributed to the product from the narrative part. Typically, the setting or the

situation is given at the beginning, then into this, the new product is introduced

and finally the description of the product features is presented.

(18) Fact. Eating antioxidants may not be enough to save your skin. Eat

smart, certainly. But know that when it comes to benefiting from all that

goodness, skin is at the back of the line. So we developed a complex of eight

antioxidants, both rapid and delayed-release, dedicated exclusively to skin.

Helps keep it looking strong. Helps prevent visible signs of ageing - commonly

referred to as lines, wrinkles and uneven skin tone. New Continuous Rescue

Antioxidant Moisturizer. Great news for undernourished skins everywhere.

Clinique. Allergy Tested. 100% Fragrance Free. Clinique. (VF4)

(19) John Frieda Collection London Paris New York We see a heat shield

flawless styles a grand entrance you We see the potential to stop frizz before

it starts. So we created New Frizz-Ease Thermal Protection Serum to defend

against heat styling and UV rays. With a Thermal Shield Complex, it wraps

each hair strand with a protective sealant. Another salon breakthrough from

the professionals behind the John Frieda Collection. John Frieda Collection.

The beauty of invention. (US2)

(20) The new Peugeot 308. Inspired by nature, driven with pleasure.

Peugeot has created a car as elegant as it is efficient. Superb aerodynamics

and refined engines, including the Hdi diesel engine with particulate filters

mean that emissions start at only 120g/km of CO2. The new Peugeot 308 from

₤11,995. The drive of your life. (VF1)

(21) You don't have to learn to like my wines. Actually, I planned it that

way. From the beginning, more than two decades ago, when I made my first

small batch of wine from grapes I grew on my family ranch. I blended grapes

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from coastal vineyards in Northern and Central California to produce wines

with unprecedented flavor intensity and complexity. And our "flavor domaine"

philosophy was born. In Chardonnay terms, this means finding the delicate

balance of the pineapple and mango flavors from Santa Barbara, the citrus

and lime flavors from Monterey, and the red apple and pear flavors from

Sonoma. Our Vintner's Reserve is a perfect illustration of our desire to create

and deliver complex, world-class wines, the kind of wines people will enjoy the

first time they try them and for years to come. I have been told that many of you

enjoy the taste of my wines, but you're not sure why. Hopefully, I can help with

A Taste of the Truth. Jess Jackson, Founder of Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates

(VF10)

The introductory scene in (18) and (19) is of a potential problem (skin damage

even when living healthy, or acceptable public appearance despite threats of

damaged hair). Further, the message delivers the product as the answer to the

problem and specifies details of the product to strengthen the reasoning effect.

This is a very direct, explicit reason-based persuasion. Nevertheless, these ads

rely on tickle strategy as well. With figurative expressions and positively

colored words presenting the product, such as dedicated exclusively to skin,

great news for skin, the beauty of invention, they evoke a positive attitude from

the recipient. Explicit dialogic approach involving the recipient into the

creation of meaning adds positive emotions of immediacy and involvement as

well. (20) delivers the product in a slightly more subtle way: pleasant feelings

are evoked in the scene with an ideological reference to nature (it is widely

believed that what comes from nature must be good) and verbalized positive

impression one has when driving the car. The following description of the car

features sets the emotional beginning of the message in reason-driven reality.

Even though it is not a reason-strategy ad (using conjunctive adjuncts or

problem-solution information structure of clauses as discussed by Simpson

2001), the enumeration of desired technical parameters and given both price

function as reasons to obtain the car. (21) is a unique example of a different

mixture of reason and tickle strategies. Unlike in the previous ads, the reason

part seems to be proposed by the setting and the production process: reasons to

buy the product are because the producer has done it for a long time so he

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knows how to do it well, he planned his production, and he has grapes from

valued locations. The tickle part is delivered through involvement of the

recipient via dialog (“You don't have to ...”, “you're not sure...”) and through

the description of product characteristics: the delicate balance of various

flavors, unprecedented flavor and complexity, wines people enjoy the first time

they try, attack recipient’s senses and create desire to try the wine on an

emotional basis.

All ads in this category mention characteristics of the promoted product as part

of the stories. That seems to be the major reason-building attribute of the

messages. Three ads also present the story in a problem-solution information

structure that enhances the reason element. However, all the stories incorporate

positively colored words, figurative language, desirable metaphorical and

ideological concepts, or present a highly aesthetised illustration. All that

evokes emotions and positive attitudes and thus can be seen as delivering the

advertising goal through tickle strategy.

4.1.3.2 Testing the Product

True stories of testing the promoted items bear certain similarity with the ones

in the previous category: they also use a product’s unique selling proposition

(USP) as the base for the story. Here, the USP is the fact that they were

favorably evaluated by independent bodies. This type of story is not very

frequent in the corpus: only four ads are clearly based on a testing story.

Similarly to the birth-of-the-product stories, the testing or evaluation process is

explicitly verbalized: This test had a lot of turns … (Ford P2), readers put [the

cars] to the test … (Ford US2), In a blind tasting … (Smirnoff VF9), 100% of

women showed … (Avon P6).

Three of the testing ads are found in tabloid weeklies, one in Vanity Fair.

Several other ads present results of testing the product but they do not feature

story-telling characteristics, or the testing is not an integral part of the

narrative.

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(22) Ford. BoldMoves. This test had a lot of turns. And one big twist.

(Ford Fusion beat Camry and Accord.) Recently, in Washington D.C., a town

known for its strong opinions, Car and Driver invited 600 of its readers to

compare three cars in performance, handling and styling. So, who won?

Camry? Accord? Actually, the all-wheel-drive Ford Fusion came in first. If

that surprises you, then find out what these Car and Driver enthusiasts have

already discovered. Check it out yourself. Visit a Ford Dealer or go to

fusionchallenge.com Results from 600 drivers who were asked if the cars were

attractive, were fun to drive, performed well and handled with precision. "Yes"

responses scored one point. "No" responses scored zero. The results speak for

themselves. Fusion Ford Challenge. (P2)

(23) In a blind tasting of 21 of the world's finest vodkas, which one did The

New York Times declare their “hands-down favorite”? Clearly Smirnoff.

“What set Smirnoff apart, we agreed, was its aromas and flavors which we

described as classic.” Eric Asimov, The New York Times, 1/26/2005. Smirnoff

Premium Triple Distilled Vodka. Drink Responsibly. 1.5 oz. per serving. (VF9)

The positive evaluation of the product is a strong reason-inducing feature. It

seems objective, independent of irrational desires and verifiable. The

evaluators are clearly identified, which adds trust and reliability. Both

examples are thus dominated by reason strategy. The Ford ad features

moderate linguistic playfulness with an alliterative headline containing the

words test-turns-twist and exploring the literal and figurative sense of turns

and twist. That makes the ad message more pleasant to read and elicits a

positive attitude through emotive appreciation. Dialog-evoking features such as

questions (“So, who won?”, “Which one did the New York Times declare

…?”) establish the relationship of involvement and also strengthen the positive

stance towards the ad. However, the narrative itself seems to be based on

offering reasons rather than making the recipient feel good.

An interesting irregularity in using advertising strategy can be observed in (23).

Promoting alcohol by reporting on its evaluation seems to be non-standard.

Alcoholic drinks are usually advertised by a balanced mixture of reason and

tickle strategies, as was the case of two ads in birth-of-the-product category; or

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they rely on evoking a purely emotional response by attractive metaphorical

concepts of joy, fun and entertainment or assigning the product the role of

status-builder. In (23), the promotion strongly adheres to rationality. The

discourse does not feature any figurative language and only a few positively

colored words (“favorite”, “classic”). Nevertheless, this may be the innovative

(and thus attractive) element. The recipients may interpret the ad as taking the

alcohol sale responsibly, not assigning it the roles which it realistically does

not have (such as status, beauty or success enhancer). Quite the opposite can be

inferred here: Smirnoff is good for nothing else but its taste, which is

confirmed by an independent evaluation. The way to enjoy the drink is not

served or forced upon recipients; they are not manipulated by false advertising

ideology and can decide for themselves. This is an unusual way of promoting

alcohol and can be effective with mature, advertising-knowledgeable recipients

who have already become aware of the falsity of concepts selling alcohol so

far.

4.1.3.3 Stories of Using the Product by a Known Person

Many ads in the corpus show a famous personality, usually an entertainment or

sports celebrity, promoting the product. However, only six seem to tell a story

or hint at it through narrative cues. Only one of the six ads is printed in a

tabloid weekly; all the others were collected from Vanity Fair. This is the only

category within true-account stories that features both complete and hinted

stories, specifically three of each type. That is one of the attributes which

makes this category more similar to fictional accounts rather than the true

stories.

(24) Sony Cyber-shot. Michelle Wie is known for making extraordinary

shots, and now for taking them. Inspiration for a sixteen-year-old golf

phenomenon can be found anywhere from the golf course to the beach. That's

why Michelle pockets her Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T10 camera anytime she and

her friends get together. Using features like Super Steady Shot optical image

stabilization, she can capture clear, crisp pictures, even in low-light situations.

So she keeps the mood without a blast from her flash. Perfect for a pro used to

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getting the shot she wants. Turn on inspiration. Turn off blur. like.no.other

(US3)

(25) He was once a phenomenal prospect. Now he's just PHENOMENAL.

Marat Safin has always been known for his incredible potential. But, after

showing a more controlled and mature game on the way to two Grand Slam

titles and a turn as the world's top-ranked player, he's become much more than

just a promising talent. Marat Safin has become an accomplished pro and one

of the world's most phenomenal athletes. Oyster Perpetual Day-Date ROLEX.

(VF10)

(26) A journey brings us face to face with ourselves. Berlin Wall.

Returning from a conference. Mikhail Gorbachev and Louis Vuitton are proud

to support Green Cross International. Louis Vuitton. (VF1)

(24) and (25) are examples of full stories. Sports celebrities promote the

product indirectly, through associations with their life stories. In both cases

introducing the celebrity and putting her/him in the real world context (as a

golf or a tennis player) creates a substantial part of the ad message. The

differences between (24) and (25) exist in how the associations with the

product are built. (24) draws rather apparent association by employing the

polysemantic word shot, once meant as a stroke in a game of golf, once as a

photograph. Except for playfully yet explicitly linking golf and the camera and

thus evoking a positive attitude from the recipients, Wie is portrayed in a very

favorable way. She represents a role-model for a target recipient, and the

product she uses becomes desirable too. Her friends are introduced into the

story as a status-enhancer. Wie, her successful career, youth and social status

function as metaphors for the promoted camera. The technical description of

the camera’s features brings in rationality, but it seems to be of less relevance

in the ad message compared with the elaborate story. The metaphorical

association of Wie's story and the camera represent tools explored by a tickle

advertising strategy. (25) presents no reason-inducing features. It solely

introduces the story of Marat Safin’s success, and with no direct link to his use

of the promoted watch the whole message functions as a metaphor. The only

connection is shown in the illustration, where Marat is seen playing a match,

fully concentrated on hitting a ball, and wearing the watch. No verbal elements

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create the link and thus all interpreting and inferring is left to the recipient.

Both stories seem to elicit emotional response rather than a reason-based one.

Hinted stories of well-known personalities using the product, such as the one in

(26), share similar attributes with fictional hinted stories. The major difference

lies in the main protagonist being a real person, usually a household name.

That makes these stories more reality-grounded and thus somehow reliable and

trustful. At the same time, similarly to the fictional hinted stories, they invite

the recipients to fill in the vacant mental space opened by the narrative cues.

The limit to the story co-creation is posed by the protagonist having an identity

and bearing characteristics inferable from the general background knowledge.

The situation, location and the character in (26) are introduced through isolated

noun phrases (“Berlin Wall”, “Returning from a conference”) and an

illustration showing Mikhail Gorbachev in the back seat of a taxi,

contemplating, and seemingly tired. The story cues are not the ones hinting at a

story of Gorbachev’s life as was the case in (24) and (25). The headline, A

journey brings us face to face with ourselves, is a philosophical statement that

may function as a summary of what Gorbachev is contemplating. Rather than

his life story, Gorbachev’s indirectly depicted state of mind functions as an

association with the product: among the essential things we learn about

ourselves, the essential items we carry with us at those moments are most

valuable and necessary. Thus the promoted luggage gains very favorable

attributes, metonymically creating the essence of a person’s life.

4.1.4 Plot-lines Conclusion

Compared to fictional stories, true accounts seem to evoke rational thinking of

the recipient more frequently. They often provide reasons to obtain the product

which are not necessarily based on positive emotions. The birth-of-the-product

and testing-the-product stories present the unique selling proposition as the

major theme and heavily combine with descriptive discourse strategy. These

two categories of ad messages contain 60 -170 words in one message, which

makes them considerably longer than the well-known-personality stories

(containing approximately 10 – 100 words). Most similarities concerning the

employment of reason vs. tickle strategy and the length of the message can be

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found between fully presented stories, from both fiction and true-account

categories. Ads containing full stories, regardless of their truth/fiction basis,

exhibit prevalence of reason strategy, or a balance of both reason and tickle.

They also have longer body copies. Similar unification, with different results,

appears to be valid for hinted stories in both categories: they are based on tickle

strategy, exploring the emotional and creative potential of recipients by giving

them possibilities to co-create the stories. Hinted stories tend to be much

shorter, too.

What makes fictional and true stories different is the size of mental space they

expect the recipient to fill. With fictional ones, recipients may feel there are

fewer restrictions than with true ones. This may also suggest the recipients are

left with more power to decide how they interpret the ad. Their own

identification with the fictional character is easier as well. The true stories

bring a ready-made advertising message where a unique selling proposition

generally offers sufficient reasons to consider buying the product. From that

point of view, associating with the characters is not the vital part of message

processing. True accounts preserve most power over the discourse with the

advertiser. While true stories may be more reminiscent of non-fictional

narrative, fictional stories seem to be closer to prototypical literary accounts.

4.2 Storytelling Cues

As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, certain cues in ads prompt

recipients to identify the messages as stories and process them in that sense.

Regardless of the type of stories, it is the characters, setting and time-line of

events that contribute to the narrativity of the discourse. Since perceiving some

ads obviously feels like reading stories while with others the identification is

not that certain and clear, narrativity is seen as operating along a continuum.

The more storytelling cues are present, the more the discourse feels to be

narrative. A closer look at how storytelling cues are explored in ad messages

may reveal further standard as well as unique features of narrative discourse

strategy in advertising.

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4.2.1 Time Sequencing of Events as a Storytelling Cue

The attribute which most intensively makes ad messages prone to being

interpreted as stories is the time order of the depicted events. Mostly, that is

achieved through the usage of active verbs in past or present perfect tense.

Storytelling is traditionally viewed as a recounting of past events. Ads that

feature active verbs in past or present perfect utilize the basic storytelling

feature and thus tend to be interpreted as stories.

Nonetheless, taking specifications of advertising into consideration, this feature

is not universal. It seems to be rather standard with true stories, where only

seven ads break the rule and narrate events in the present tense, or with

reference to the future. The birth-of-the-product stories sometimes recount the

product creation as a sequence of events that happens repeatedly, or as one

continuous process. For this purpose simple present tense can be used, as in

Evian (VF10): “...Every drop of Evian comes from deep in the heart of the

French Alps. It's naturally filtered for over 15 years through pristine glacial

rock formations...” or Martin Miller's Gin (VF5): “...That's because our gin is

small batch pot distilled in England using the freshest hand picked botanicals.

This guarantees the correct balance of juniper, spice and citrus notes. It's also

why it travels to Iceland to be blended with the purest water on earth...”.

Innovativeness in how to tell a story may be another reason why unusual tense

or mood are used. An Infinity ad (VF10) tells the story of how the car was

made through imperatives and thus makes it look like an instruction manual:

“Take everything you know about design and nudge it. Push it. Simplify it.

Modernize it. Liberate it. Inject it with life. Give it a point of view and 335

horsepower and hold on...”.

Fictional stories, on the other hand, seem to be much more versatile in what

tense is used to present the events. Only seven stories of fictional type use

standard past tense; they also tend to tell the full story. Seventeen others, most

of which are hinted, feature verbs in the present tense or are verbless: “A new

Cinderella is born...” (Dior VF1), “Maybe it's your anniversary...” (Tiffany

VF3), “A new legend begins ...” (Sanyo P4), “Location: anywhere &

everywhere. Post Office: www.splenda.com Weather: daily SPLENDA

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sprinkles. Official Flower: sweet pea. Destination: Splendaville. You won't find

it on any map. But you will find it in ice tea...” (Splenda P6). This seems to

suggest that utilizing past tense as one of the standard features of storytelling

adds credibility and realism to the ad stories. The more the stories depart from

using past tense, the more they seem fictional, imagined and the more they

invite the recipients to continue in the imaginative processing in their own

direction.

The order of events can be presented by other means as well. It is frequently

verbalized through temporal adverbials, clauses or time-referring noun phrases,

whether along with using verbal tenses or solely by itself. However, these

means mostly appear when tense utilization does not follow the story-telling

prototype: “After building three of the most capable 4x4s on Earth … we had

our biggest idea yet...” (Jeep Commander VF9), “...It's naturally filtered for

over 15 years...” (Evian VF10), “...Once it arrives here, it filters through

ancient volcanic rock over hundreds of years...” (Fiji Water P1), “One day,

you wake up, you're 40 … “ (Clarins VF10), “...Take three, last day of

shooting...” (Louis Vuitton VF2). In one case, time sequence of events is

creatively established via a fictitious dialogue, where gradual turn-taking of

participating characters marks the flow of time.

It is rather rare that no time reference, whether through tenses or explicit time

reference, appears in storytelling ads. Using past tense verbs or expressions

referring to the time sequence of events functions as a story-identifying

discourse tool. Recipients are thus enabled to map the positive experience of

storytelling onto the genre of advertising.

4.2.2 Characters as Storytelling Cues

Two categories of protagonists can be identified in advertising stories. First, it

is the participants in the advertising communication, i.e. the sender of the

message and its recipient; the second category is comprised of the characters in

the narrated stories. The first category is inevitably present in all other types of

ads, since advertising as such is a communication between the sender and the

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recipient. The second category can be seen as a storytelling cue. It is one of the

cues that allows ad messages to be interpreted as stories.

The narrator is deictically marked in the stories by simultaneously fulfilling the

role of a story character. That is the case of birth-of-the-product stories, where

the producer acts as a main story protagonist and identifies themselves as “we”

(in five ads) or “I” (in one case). Two more such cases are found in the testing-

the-product category, where the testing authority also functions as the narrator.

The messages feel to be direct speech, or direct thought (as distinguished by

Verdonk 2002) of the producers: “...So we developed a complex of eight

antioxidants …” (Clinique VF4), “... So we created New Frizz-Ease Thermal

Protection Serum ...” (John Frieda US2), “...Nature perfected FIJI Water long

before we bottled it...” (Fiji Water P1), “...I made my first small batch of wine

from grapes I grew on ...” (Kendall-Jackson VF10), “...Our development

process was ...” (Clorox P2). These stories seem very direct, open and sincere

since the sender is clearly identified and does not rely on advertising

anonymity or on others telling the relevant story. The first-person identity

means subjectivity, but also direct responsibility in the form of “virtual

signature”.

In a few limited cases, the narrator as an objective non-participating entity

names the producer and introduces them into the story as a protagonist, mostly

as a creator of the product: “...This is why Clarins created UV Plus SPF40 ...”

(Clarins VF4), “Peugeot has created a car as elegant as it is efficient...”

(Peugeot VF1), “Erno Laszlo brings together the most advanced technologies

…” (Erno Laszlo VF10). In this role, the producer (as the main protagonist)

and the narrator function together as a team. They seem to take the positions of

the authority figure and his/her speaker. This may lower the impression of

responsibility of the producer for the words uttered, but on the other hand it

associates with professional standards of our times: the responsible people do

their work and they hire others to talk about it. The distribution of these two

styles of introducing the producer seems accidental. No major statistically

relevant occurrence in different categories of storytelling ads has been

determined.

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Knowing the genre of advertising, the recipients most probably understand that

who sends the message is the advertiser even if they are not identified

deictically through first person pronouns or through third-person reference. In

an overwhelming majority of storytelling ads, especially the fictional ones, the

narrator is the objective, unspecified third person, such as in “Let him think

that glow is because of something he did. A radiant, deep clean. Noxzema.”

(Noxzema LS3) or “It never ceases to amaze Sarah how her Mariner gets her

through just about anything, even uptight maitre d's...” (Mercury P3). An

objective, third-person anonymous narrator and the producer (or the product)

identifiable only through the brand name seem to be the standard technique

used in advertising discourse.

The recipients of the messages are frequently incorporated in the stories as

protagonists. They are explicitly invited to participate in the advertising dialog.

In such cases, they are most often addressed by the personal pronoun “you” or

“your”. Similar to explicit identification of the sender with first person

pronouns “we” and “I”, direct addressing of the recipients with “you”

strengthens the personal involvement in the communication and explicitly

marks the recipients as protagonists. Involvement in a story may give the

recipients the feeling of being treated as active participants, since they as

protagonists may have more power over how the story evolves. This is

supported by the distribution pattern of the second person personal pronoun: its

heaviest presence is recorded in fictional stories, especially the hinted ones (in

ten instances). The mental space that is to be filled in by the recipients can be

filled by almost anything; the “you” pronoun functions as a suggestion for

filling the space with a story involving the recipient. “You don't just wear a

Patek Philippe. You begin an enduring love affair...” (Patek Philippe VF2),

“...Morning got you down? Try new Nestle Stixx...” (Nestle Stixx P5), “She

didn't like your music, your clothes or your friends. Be sure that she likes your

Mother's Day gift...” (Kodak LS1).

There is also another use of “you” and “your” recorded in the stories. The

pronouns appear repeatedly in testing-the-product and birth-of-the-product ads

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(six instances), where they function as a direct appeal for the recipient to try

the product personally, after it had been made or tested by an independent

authority: “...the all-wheel-drive Ford Fusion came in first. If that surprises

you, then find out what these Car and Driver enthusiasts have already

discovered. Check it out yourself...” (Ford P2), “It's time for you to find out

what so many others already have...” (Ford US2), “So when you choose a

bottle of water to believe in, consider the source...” (Evian VF10), “...However

you like it the good taste of Martin Millers will shine through...” (Martin

Miller's Gin VF5). The statements including the direct reference to the

recipient in these true stories do not contribute new events to the plot lines.

Unlike in the fictional stories, here they seem not to function as an integral part

of narrative discourse strategy.

Interestingly, the recipients are never deictically marked in the stories of

products used by known personalities. This seems natural, since the stories

feature a powerful protagonist, the well-known personality. Explicit inclusion

of the recipients as protagonists may be too confusing. There are ad messages

where a celebrity recommends a product directly by deictically pointing to the

recipient; however, those ads do not seem to explore storytelling strategy.

The second possibility of incorporating the recipients into the stories is through

imperatives. This is a typical feature of advertising discourse as such. In the

collected storytelling ads imperatives appeared thirteen times as a part of both

fictional and true stories. A typical occurrence seems to involve imperatives in

the slogans: “Grab life by the horns” (Dodge P1), “Be seriously beautiful”

(Erno Laszlo VF10), “Be dazzled” (Splenda P6). These imperatives sum up the

gist of the story or may function as a punchline. However, they do not

necessarily assign the role of a story protagonist to the recipient if this was not

established in the preceding story otherwise. They do, however, establish a

dialog and incorporate the recipient in it.

The situation is different when the ad contains a story in the body copy

narrated through imperatives: “Take everything you know about design and

nudge it. Push it. Simplify it. Modernize it. Liberate it. Inject it with life. Give it

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a point of view and 335 horsepower and hold on...” (Infinity VF1), “Eat

smart, certainly. But know that when it comes to benefiting from all that

goodness, skin is at the back of the line...” (Clinique VF4), “Be seduced ...”

(Carolina Herrera VF5). Here, the utilization of imperatives seems to directly

involve the recipient in the story not only as a participant in the advertising

dialog but also as a story protagonist. It feels innovative and creative, since

stories are usually narrated in past tense and third person. Because of the

storytelling cues, the recipients tend to interpret the message as a story, yet at

the same time they see the story is different: they are involved and they can

imagine themselves as protagonists. Such is the case of the Infinity (VF1) ad,

which is a birth-of-the-product story. Through the use of imperatives, it places

the recipient in the position of the car maker: if the instructions are followed,

the car will be made.

Seven other cases are prototypical advertising imperatives in the signature

lines, mostly as direct appeals to ask for more information on the product, such

as “Discover more at infinity.com” (Infinity VF1), “For your free bar, go to

eas.com” (EAS P2), “Visit a Ford dealer or go to fusionchallenge.com” (Ford

P2), “Call your Avon representative” (Avon P6). In the case of alcoholic

drinks, disclaimers tend to be in an imperative mood: “Drink responsibly”

(Smirnoff VF9). These instances of imperatives, and thus direct involvement of

the recipients, do not make up part of the stories and do not assign the recipient

a role of a story protagonist. When they appear in an advertising message

accompanied with no other storytelling cues, the messages do not tend to be

interpreted as stories.

Assigning the role of a story protagonist to the senders and/or the recipients

does not seem to be the strongest narrative cue in terms of story characters.

Traditionally, somebody else, a third person, known or anonymous, tends to be

the event player. Ads that introduce such a character feel to be stories par

excellence: something happens to somebody while the world is watching. Such

characters appear in seventeen ads, mostly in two categories: fictional stories

(seven instances) and a personality using (or testing or creating) the product

(ten instances). Most fictional characters are, interestingly, women. That may

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be in line with the majority of magazine readers being women and the majority

of printed ads recipients being women as well. Advertisers probably try to

depict a story character with whom the ad recipients may identify in terms of

belonging to the same target audience. If a person who is similar to the

recipient has a story to tell related to a product, the similarity may arise not

only with the person but with the need for the product as well. Fictional women

characters are vaguely identified either by first name or by the personal

pronoun she: “Inspired by her stylish new Mercury Milan, Tina did what

anyone else in her shoes would do – buy new ones...” (Mercury VF9),

“Grabbed the clothes from the kid at the dry cleaners. Handed him twice what

she owed...” (Ford P4), “ange ou demon she alone knows” (Givenchy VF7).

In one case, the fictional character is identified through a full name, profession

and location, which gives it a more realistic impression: “Joye Devlin, Idalia,

Colorado. Football Mom & Police Officer.” (EAS P2). In one story, the

characters are introduced by a neutral “one”, which may be an attempt to avoid

gender stereotyping in a situation traditionally assigned to men - enjoying a fast

drive and risking a speeding ticket: “When one is experiencing Giddyupidness,

one must be aware of the cop hiding behind the billboard. If one loves to put

the pedal to the metal, one must be aware of the responsive nature of the highly

enlightened Kia Rondo...” (Kia P2). The overwhelmingly pleasant

characteristics of these story protagonists are revealed mostly through

illustrations which depict beautiful, stylish, happy and desirable women. If the

story specifies the activities which the fictional female characters tend to

engage in, the recipients may find it easy to associate with these: buying shoes,

going to the dry-cleaners, caring for children, secretly oscillating between

being “a good girl” or a vamp.

Real life personalities, mostly famous entertainment or sports celebrities, are

introduced through a photograph depicting them in their prototypical situation

(Zara Phillips, the horse riding champion, tending to her horse; Catherine

Deneuve, the film actress, shooting a film scene) and by their full name

incorporated in the story. In case the protagonist is somehow famous and

extraordinary yet not a typical household name, the story of the ad may be

based on a biography of the personality. Unlike the fictional story characters,

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the ones depicted in true stories mostly do not function as prototypical

members of the target group; they seem to occupy the positions of role-models

or authorities whose judgment of the product is worthy.

4.2.3 Location

Setting a scene is a strong story-identifying cue in ads. When the recipients

imagine a location, events happening in it are a natural continuation. There are

eighteen ads that present cues for establishing locations; twelve in the category

of true stories and six in fictional ones. Except for two ads, all the locations in

true stories are known geographical locations. The recipients may imagine the

story happening at a concrete place and transfer the possible general-

knowledge characteristics of this place to the story message. What the recipient

knows of the place may become part of the story scene: “Martin Miller's Gin,

distilled in England, blended in Iceland for a gin of uncompromised

perfection” (Martin Miller's Gin VF5), “Our rainfall is purified by trade winds

as it travels thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean to the island of Fiji...”

(Fiji Water P1), “Recently, in Washington D.C., a town known for its strong

opinions, Car and Driver invited 600 of its readers to compare three cars

performance, handling and styling...” (Ford P2), “Take three, last day of

shooting. Paris...” (Louis Vuitton VF2), “...In Chardonnay terms, this means

finding the delicate balance of the pineapple and mango flavors from Santa

Barbara, the citrus and lime flavors from Monterey, and the red apple and

pear flavors from Sonoma...” (Kendall-Jackson VF10). Concrete location

allows extra-contextual qualities to be mapped onto the ad message, such as the

pristine nature and exclusivity of the French Alps, the traditionalism of

England, the purity and mysteriousness of Iceland, the vastness of the Pacific,

or the warmth and pleasure of Californian valleys. Simultaneously, it embeds

the story in real life and co-creates its truthfulness.

Fictional stories mostly take place in concrete yet anonymous places. The less

revealed about the location the more the recipients may imagine happening in

it. General nouns, such as city, lab, restaurant, dry cleaners, or even locations

purposefully unspecified, serve as storytelling cues enabling more involvement

of recipient’s imagination: “... Now the restaurant isn't the only place people

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are looking to get into...” (Mercury P3), “The smartest protection in town.

Even in the city, the sun and pollution can cause skin to lose its fresh look and

feel...” (Clarins VF4), “Into the Night” (Wittnauer VF10), “Location:

anywhere & everywhere. Post Office: www.splenda.com” (Splenda P6).

General locations serve as imagination-inducing cues and add fictional

character to the stories.

4.3 Cues Conclusion

The cues analyzed in this section allow the ad messages to be interpreted as

stories. They tend to function as narrative discourse features especially when

more of them are combined in one ad. The more cues are present, the more the

ad message resembles a prototypical narrative. As mentioned earlier, when

attributes of stories transfer to ads, recipients may appreciate them more. The

position of stories in our life makes them in attractive discourse instances. Any

irregularity in the narration of ad stories in terms of time-line, narrator,

protagonists, setting or action can jeopardize the positive associations with

traditional narrative. At the same time, creativity and novelty is a requirement

that advertisers struggle for to appeal to the recipients. Unusual time setting,

characters or the plot, as observed in the collected ads, point to the need for

unique presentation.

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5 Intertextuality as a Discourse Strategy

Ad recipients have wide-ranging experiences of perceiving other texts. The

experiences become the basis of exploring the recipient’s mental space when

intertextuality operates as a discourse strategy in advertising. Intertextuality is

a tool perceived and interpreted inadvertently. Unlike storytelling, it is not

primarily connected with growing up or entertaining. However, it is a powerful

tool exploring recipient’s mental space through drawing on the experience of

the texts created in the past or allusions to such texts. These function as triggers

of filling the mental space with individual conceptual constructs. Urbanová

(2008, 35) states that texts demonstrating intertextuality are to be understood as

products of simultaneous text-creation and interpretation processes. The

recipients become co-authors of the intertextual ad messages when they

recognize the evoked text and their own past experiences of that text reflect in

their ad message-processing.

Since the phenomenon of intertextuality is not as intuitive as storytelling,

definitions and clarification of the notion make up the next chapter of this

dissertation. The types of intertextuality detected in the corpus, their

functioning and results of their employment are described in the following

parts.

5.1 The Phenomenon of Intertextuality

Intertextuality is to be understood as a text operating within another text, or a

dependence of a discourse meaning on a text that was produced earlier. The

following ad illustrates such use: „Your left hand dreams of love. Your right

hand makes dreams come true. Your left hand lives happily ever after. Your

right hand lives happily here and now. Women of the world, raise your right

hand. The diamond right hand ring. View more at adiamondisforever.com. A

Diamond Is Forever. Diamond Trading Company“ (VF10). Here, a product (a

diamond ring) is advertised through references to a stereotypical romantic

story. The recipients are expected to have encountered a similar story before.

Such experience may recall the love stories of their own lives, or remind them

of reading a romantic novel. In this ad, the romantic story is intertwined with a

real life “strong independent woman” prototype and her habitual behavior.

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Both layers are expected to be a part of a shared social and cultural knowledge

of the American magazine readers. The two sides of the ad message are

interconnected and thus dependent on one another.

From the sender's point of view, intertextuality is coding of the textual meaning

through another text or a reference to it; here, a story and an instance of shared

knowledge. From the recipient’s point it is the dependence of the text

interpretation on the meaning of another discourse. In both points of view a

text operating in a certain context draws its meaning from another context.

5.1.1 Genre and Voice in Intertextual References

Gadavanij (2002), drawing on Chouliaraki and Fairclough (1999), understands

intertextuality in two perspectives. First it is a combination of genres within

one discourse, or a presence of features of another genre in the respective

discourse. Genre, as defined by Fairclough (1995, 14) is understood as a

conventionalized text type; “a socially ratified way of using language in

connection with a particular social practice”. Discourse is construed as

interpersonal, context-dependent linguistic interaction (Urbanová 2008, 35).

Text, on the other hand, is seen as the product of such interaction. Genre (as

proposed by Gadavanij, 2002) and discourse (based on Urbanová, 2008) seem

to have common characteristics in being language-based interactions (or their

results) set in a social context.

With these outlined preliminaries it seems viable to understand the

combination of genres as one of two possible facets of intertextuality, in this

dissertation further referred to as multigeneric intertextuality. In printed ads,

their specific parts (such as a headline, a body copy or a slogan) or a complete

ad text may be identified as belonging to a genre different than advertising. The

following example (which is an ad for sealing plastic bags) shows an

advertising text containing attributes of two different genres – a multiple-

choice game quiz in the body copy, followed by a typical advertising slogan:

“Hefty OneZip. A _____ can close it. Husband (ticked) Kid (ticked) Family

dog (not ticked). Even when you're not watching, it gets closed. First time,

every time” (P6).

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The second perspective in which intertextuality is studied and defined is a

presence of voices, or an indication of participants' presences that originally

belonged to other discourses. Voice as a phenomenon marking one type of

intertextuality is defined as “an indication of who the participants of the

discourse are and what identity they assume” (Gadavanij 2002, 483).

According to Bakhtin (1981, 434), the voice is “the speaking personality, the

speaking consciousness”. In this sense, reported speech, reported thought or a

participant's use of a foreign language all indicate another presence (apart from

the ultimate message sender) and thus can be understood as instances of multi-

voice, or heteroglossic intertextuality. The following Armani perfume ad

illustrates the presence of another voice: “‘Subtle and sensual, a fragrance

should be an aura that surrounds us.’ Giorgio Armani. Black Code. Armani

Black Code the new fragrance for men GIORGIO ARMAN.” (VF10). In many

printed ads, the presence of another voice is introduced through an illustration

and/or through the text. In this specific ad, Giorgio Armani is present only as

the speaking voice. His quoted words and his name given underneath are set

within the rest of the advertising text and thus constitute its heteroglossic

character.

Heteroglossia clarifies the basic feature of intertextuality: the dependence of

textual meaning on context. Heteroglossia is that “which insures the primacy

of context over text” (Bakhtin 1981, 428). As a result, the meaning of a text is

interactive, dependent on conditions in which it is uttered. Dialogism is a

related term and it is understood as “a constant interaction between meanings,

all of which have the potential of conditioning the others”, (ibid, 426). When

an ad features explicit or implicit dialog between the voices in the discourse or

between the participants of the communication (the sender and the recipient), it

is considered to be dialogic. This enhances the involvement of the recipients,

their incorporation in the process of meaning creation, and possibly social

proximity, friendly attitude and intimacy.

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5.2 The Functions of Intertextuality

5.2.1 Intertextuality and Associations in Mental Space

Both facets of intertextuality may be used “as a strategy to produce the most

effective discourse within … particular context” (Gadavanij 2002, 483).

Effectiveness in the case of advertising means to create a desired image of the

advertised product and to make the product memorable until the recipient faces

the possibility of its purchase. Firstly, that can be done by depicting the

promoted product in an emotive way. Robinson (2003, 52) asserts that “it is

always easier to remember things that we care about, … things we enjoy (or

even despise) always stick better in our memories than things about which we

are indifferent. The strongest memories in our lives are always the ones that

had the most powerful emotional impact on us”.

Intertextuality enhances creating an emotive response to an ad by allowing

recipients to fill the mental space with their own associations and experiences

of the previously encountered texts. The texts, when well chosen, associate

positive feelings and allow the mental space to be filled with pleasant

memories, recollections and the creative development of possibilities of the

original texts.

The following intertextual ad promoting Gap Jeans uses the genre of a popular

magazine section, a Proust questionnaire, which is traditionally filled in by a

famous personality. “Alanis Morissette. Favorite Song: Crazy, Seal. Favorite

Jeans: Curvy Flare. Favorite. There's more at gap.com. How Do You Wear It?

Gap. Fit How You Feel” (VF10). Not only is a Proust questionnaire a

positively viewed genre, but the interviewee, Alanis Morisette, is a popular and

commercially successful singer. Shortly after her remake of Seal's song

“Crazy” ranked high in American charts (2005), the ad could be expected to

evoke a very positive attitude through mental space exploration. The recipient

can fill the mental space in by associations of success, entertainment, celebrity

lifestyle, by a melody of the song, by curiosity satiated when having read other

Proust questionnaires in the past or by recipient’s own possible answers to such

a questionnaire.

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5.2.2 Intertextuality and Products in a New Context

The second means by which ads become more effective due to intertextuality is

contextualizing the product in a memorable way. Robinson (2003, 53) claims

that placing something in a physical or cultural context “can be helpful in

building an associative network for later recall”. Recipients tend to remember

better if they perceive the message in a related context. Robinson further notes:

“...practical use-value, emotional and intellectual associations, and the sensory

channels through which [the message] comes to you (the more the better)” all

aid the effectiveness of memorizing and remembering (ibid). New individually

constructed situations which arise during the mental space processing become

new contexts for the product placement. The following Coca-Cola ad may

effectively place the product into a known situation: “Good morning. Diet

Coke” (OK1). The phatic phrase “good morning” is quite restricted in its use

and we tend to hear it repeatedly in the same place, at the same time, day by

day. Hearing this phrase may associate with waking up next to a partner in the

bedroom, entering a corner bakery, meeting a friend in the office. Its

occurrence is relatively stable in each person's life. These associations may

become the concepts filling the mental space of the recipients once they read

such an ad. By placing a product in such a situation the recipients may recall it

every time they hear or utter the phrase.

Both uses are interrelated and create a continuum. A Proust questionnaire or a

well known hit song create the contents of recipient’s mental space and thus

help establish a positive attitude towards a product; the product also becomes

situated in the context evoked by the processing. The product may be recalled

with a repeated encounter of the same context. The song may evoke a well-

known melody; a “good morning” greeting may evoke pleasant feelings of

experiencing new beginnings, a new day, seeing a friend’s face. Repeatedly

hearing the song or the greeting may, on the other hand, function as a recall for

the product. This points to the usefulness of intertextuality as a phenomenon

based on exploring recipient’s mental space and exposing the promoted

products to known contexts. The advertising context is replaced and presented

as another, recipient-relevant one. Gadavanij states: “Since genre and voice are

the textual representations of the interface between discourse and society, the

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changing articulation of genre and the use of more than one voice may have the

potential to redefine the context within which the discourse takes place. In this

light, it can also be seen as a discourse strategy” (2002, 483).

5.3 Types of Intertextuality

Two basic types of intertextuality tend to be listed in linguistic studies: (a)

mixing of genres, and (b) using multiple voices. Cook asserts that “voices and

genre are often closely bound together, and often imply each other” (2001,

186); that is what enables their analysis in one chapter.

In order to cover the multiple facets of intertextuality in printed ads, to analyze

multiple genres and voices of individual presences co-creating the meaning, the

following categorization of intertextual ads is suggested for this dissertation:

• multigeneric intertextuality reflecting presence of another genre

within the ad

o illustration-depicted intertextuality presents another text as a

part of the illustration

o mass-culture intertextuality presents instances of

entertainment texts

o non-specific multigeneric intertextuality presents allusions to

texts of other genres

• heteroglossic intertextuality reflecting presence of another

individuality, speaking voice or consciousness.

Based on criteria of text ordering, Urbanová (2008, 31-34) mentions manifest

intertextuality, which is applicable when the switch of genres or voices is

evident. Texts marked by such switches can be further classified as exhibiting

(a) sequential intertextuality (one text successively follows the other one); (b)

embedded intertextuality (when one text is set within another); and (c) mixed

intertextuality (when texts create a network of inter-related links). This formal

typology can be applied in an analysis of printed ads in a rather limited scope

since the collected ads tend to be extremely short and often leave no

maneuvering space for placing clear formal distinctions. Most ads in the corpus

seem to be cases of mixed intertextuality. All formal categories of manifest

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intertextuality fulfill the same function: the purpose is to fill the mental space

of the recipients with associations, recollections and links to the evoked texts.

To ensure that the desired processing takes place, employing other texts in a

manifest way is most effective.

5.4 Intertextuality in Print Advertising

5.4.1 Illustration-Depicted Intertextuality

Printed ads are predominantly perceived through a visual sensory channel

(even though sometimes perfumes are promoted by the ad page being scented

and thus more senses are directly drawn into the experience of building the

product image). Nevertheless, even a visual channel as a sole agency may

arouse multiple senses, which enhances the memorability of the ad. Perceiving

colors incites feelings of temperature and sense of touch can be incited by

seeing an image of a certain visible texture. Ad texts often explore phonetic

means such as alliteration or rhyme which incite hearing.

Even if the visual image is the only one processed by the recipient, the

resulting portrayal of the promoted product differs if the recipient was exposed

to an illustration or to a text. Image cues and textual cues differ in level of

abstraction, precision and information density. Intertextuality can be spotted

due to both types of cues, yet this dissertation deals primarily with the textual

cues.

Some ads resist clear-cut identification of image vs. text cues. In several cases

detected in the corpus, textual cues establishing intertextual references appear

to be parts of illustrations. When a printed ad features a text that is rooted into

the illustration as its integral part, it may be identified as an illustration-

depicted type of intertextuality. The text seems to be accidentally appearing in

the illustration rather than existing as a text by itself; it assumes the role of the

ad illustration (or a part of it). It may be present in the form of a newspaper

cutout, product packaging information, an inscription on a featured item, etc.

These inserted texts are sometimes incomplete, yet what is seen is clearly

readable; the textual cues evoking desired processing are identifiable. The

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recipient is not first-handedly encouraged to process them as text as they

pretend to be part of the image and not texts as such. They often give an

impression of being there inadvertently. Nevertheless, they function as cues of

intertextuality and enable the process of filling the recipient’s mental space. In

that way they broaden the meaning potential of the ad message. The borderline

between perceiving an image and reading a text is blurred and the impact on a

recipient may be twofold, drawing benefits from both perspectives. The

following section documents some cases of illustration-depicted intertextuality.

5.4.1.1 Product Packaging Intertextuality

Whenever a photograph of the packaged product makes up part of the ad

illustration, it is plausible a text on the package cover will be readable and may

add information to the overall message. However, it is not necessarily a cue

evoking intertextuality. Usually this functions as a technical description of the

product, providing product category identification (e.g. “energy bar”,

“lemonade”, “cream of mushroom soup”, “cereal”, “lifting serum”, “clarifying

lotion”, “day cream”), a brief qualifying description (especially with foods, e.g.

“new”, “creamy”, “family style”, “naturally energizing”), details on nutritional

value (“100 calories”, “60% less fat”), contents of specific ingredients (“SPF

15”, “multi-grain”, “10g protein”, “2% milk”, “dark chocolate”, “25% less

sodium”, “40% alcohol”), and in rare cases also the weight or volume of the

packaged goods (“12 pack”, “750ml”). First and foremost, ads use the

depiction of product packaging as the most natural presentation of the brand

name and/or the name of the producer.

This type of a text insertion within the broader ad message seems to lack the

feature of a textual cue: the technical details on the packaging do not seem to

evoke mental space processing. The packaging text fails to account for the

presence of another genre or of another instance of the same genre, since

product packaging acts as a self-advertisement per se. Neither is the presence

of another voice detected; the voice of the product packaging is identical with

the voice of the ad. Structure of a text within a text, which establishes inner

dialogue, is not detected here. The term “intertextuality” does not come as

viable in this context.

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Even though most ads with product packaging information fail to illustrate

intertextuality, some rare instances of the ads in the corpus employ packaging

texts in a special way: labels of the product packaging are portrayed so that

textually conveyed information can be interpreted as an intertextual cue.

Instances of a different genre or a different voice can be detected. The package

is portrayed and appears to be speaking as an individual presence or it

establishes a dialog with the recipient, or with another voice within the ad. The

meaning revealed by such text is not linear with the rest of the ad; it adds

another layer of meaning.

(VF7)

The Belvedere Vodka ad illustration consists of a collage of overlaying photos

of the bottle from various angles. In each instance miniature photos of highly

stylized people are interposed on the bottle and only pieces of information on

the label are visible: “... distilled and bottled in Poland by Polmos

Zyrardow...”, “... crafted for over 500 years...”, “na zdrowie”, “…expert

distillers are…”, “…world’s finest vodka…”, “beautiful to see”, “…% Polish

rye…”, “…Presidential Palace…”, etc. Each photo and each text on it can be

interpreted as a different inner voice of the product or voices of many users. An

allusion to “a party hubbub” is created. Associations with party life or

socializing with beautiful people can be used when the recipients fill the

established mental space. The photos and texts together make up a visual

metaphor for the multi-faceted character of the product. The collage illustration

is accompanied by recurring brand name, a slogan and a signature line:

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“Belvedere Vodka. Taste the beautiful life”. This cue links the mental space

contents with the product. “Beautiful life” is to be interpreted as a socially busy

one, spent among good looking people enjoying the product, which is given the

most appealing quality characteristics. Intertextuality also enables change of

context: the advertising context is replaced with a highly enjoyable social

gathering and the image of the product is emotionally enhanced through that

change.

Product-packaging text can be viewed as an instance of intertextuality also in

the Juice Organics Moisturizer ad (LS1). The headline, body copy, slogan and

brand name of the ad read: “Feed your skin, don't fuel it. Your skin absorbs

what you place on it. Nourish your skin with organic, toxin-free ingredients.

Juice Organics. Healthy beauty”. Except for these customary ad parts, an

illustration shows two packages of similar products – one being the promoted

Juice Organics Moisturizer, the other one bearing the name “Other Brands” on

the package. Both products act as separate voices; due to their counter-position

they seem to be entering into a dialog. The contents of both products serve as

intertextual cues evoking a set of emotions. The Other Brands packaging lists

and highlights “petroleum, … butylene glycol, … vinyl, neodecanoate, …

propylene, …methylparaben, … ethylparaben, …formaldehyde, … SD alcohol

40, phthalates …” while the Juice Organics lists “organic orange, lemon,

grape, apple, carrot & pomegranate juices, organic aloe juice, organic raw

cane sugar, organic sunflower oil, organic borage essential fatty acid, organic

honey, organic algae, organic green tea, cucumber & calendula, beta

carotene, vitamins A, B5, C, E, & K, peptides, coenzyme Q10”. This

comparative placement of two products in the same ad seems to be an instance

of what Cook (2001, 193) labels intra-generic intertextuality, since two

instances of the same genre appear side by side. Emotional value (positive and

negative respectively) derives from the ideology of “all natural is good, all

chemical and artificial is bad”. It is added to both products through filling the

recipient’s mental space. This processing is enhanced by the dialogic nature of

the relationship between the two texts, which stresses the involvement of the

products in the dialog and their direct approach. The context of promoting a

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product is shifted towards a battlefield of good vs. evil where, through

ideological enhancement, the promoted product comes out the winner.

5.4.1.2 Hand-written Message as Intertextuality Device

A photo of a scribbled personal message represents another case of illustration-

depicted intertextuality. As with other intertextual ads, the recipient’s

perception of the ad is unobtrusively shifted to another situation, to a different

context. Encountering a hand-written message is a rather common event in our

everyday lives. When recipients process such an ad, the handwriting may

evoke a familiar daily situation and the personal involvement of the

participants. This may consequently be used to fill the mental space with

associated emotions.

Mr. Clean Magic Eraser ad (P4) shows a message finger-written on a dirty

bathtub: “Magic Eraser was here”. Humor is inferred through similarity to a

wicked glee “wash me” writing on a car. Familiarity, humor, children’s play

and the successful solution of a problem may be used as fillers of mental space

for recipients. This conforms to the advertising tickle strategy as emotive

response is established. However, reason strategy can be detected here as well

through the problem-solution structure of the message. The recipients most

probably know that writing into dirt on a car is much easier than writing on a

grimy bathtub. If a note appears on such a place, it must have been made by

special means. First, the writing serves as a visual description of the situation

(dirty surface, somebody exploring it) and only then the text of the message

reveals that the writing was done with the help of the promoted product.

A comparably familiar and slightly humorous situation is depicted in the

Sharpie Mini Permanent Marker ad.

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(P5)

A hand-written message, which is an integral part of the illustration, plays the

role of a textual cue evoking intertextual processing. The ad shows a photo of

the inside of a refrigerator where the bottoms of neatly arranged soda cans are

all marked with a scribbled word “MINE” while a dirty, disgustingly looking

Styrofoam container in the middle is marked as “YOURS”. A headline, brand

name and a slogan complete the ad: “Keep one handy. Sharpie Mini

Permanent Marker. Write out loud!” The handwriting represents the voice of a

person, possibly irritated at their house mate for constantly pilfering the soda.

The mental space may be filled with memories of a shared experience or with

emotions of compassion with the “victim”.

Both ads promote house utensils as high utility, low-involvement products. The

advertising strategy used for such items is generally the reasoning one. In the

form of a problem-solver it is, indeed, a dominant strategy applied in both the

Magic Eraser and Sharpie ads. Nevertheless, the tickle strategy is also

employed through intertextuality: the recipient associates emotions related to

the personalized message with the ad, and consequently with the product. The

hand-written message by itself does not solve the problem; it makes the ad feel

familiar, homely and light-hearted. The commonness of the introduced context

makes the ad trusted, and later recall of the ad is ensured in many similar real-

life situations.

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5.4.1.3 Newspaper Cutout Intertextuality

Two ads in the corpus use broadsheet newspaper cutouts as an integral part of

their illustrations. Both promote high-involvement products (designer clothes

and accessories, Kenneth Cole (VF10) and Donna Karan (VF10) respectively)

so they can be expected to attempt to elicit a strong emotive response.

Newspapers play a substantial role in both ads: except for the text in the

cutouts, they only contain the brand names and the photos. Broadsheet (non-

tabloid) newspapers are considered to be the most traditional media in

American society. According to the Pew Research Center for the People & the

Press (June 11, 2000, http://people-press.org/report/?pageid=207), “the Wall

Street Journal is viewed as the most highly credible news source among all the

traditional outlets”. Educing from that fact, a newspaper image in an ad lends

the ad the character of seriousness, credibility, smartness and professionalism.

Associations of these qualities can be transferred to the mental space of the

recipients. That is especially the case of the Donna Karan ad, which imitates

the layout of an anonymous broadsheet newspaper.

(VF10)

The top of the ad page features DKNY / Donna Karan New York as a title and

subtitle, with the traditional thin dividing double-line between them. These

function as intertextual cues for establishing the desired associations. The page

is further filled with photos of a young, well-dressed, active business woman.

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Among the photos, a section of an article is readable: “In the Trenches. Late

night in the city, it's when you find yourself in … classic wool trench coat, that

is. Wrap-up your own … Piece. It doesn't matter where you're headed. Just …

make a dash. In the city you have an open invitation …”. The discourse of the

article is explicitly dialogic: it addresses the reader and assigns them the

interactive position of a participant in the news. Immediacy and involvement

are evoked through the dialog.

Another cue of filling the mental space is a word play in the illusive news

article. Its capitalized large-size title is a word play on “trenches”. That can be

interpreted as a trench coat, which the model is wearing in the photos. It is also

used in the military sense to denote deep and narrow excavations where

soldiers took cover during wars. That meaning has been adopted as a metaphor

for the floor of the NY Stock Exchange, where it denotes the busiest part of the

NYSE, the “war zone” where all the trading takes place. It seems the ad

meaning is based on this word play and emotions related to both meanings: the

model wearing a certain type of coat associates smartness and trendiness, yet at

the same time she appears to be a busy, active professional, possibly in the

field of trading.

The rest of the article (in small print) uses advertising rather than news-

reporting register. The direct address of the reader with the second person

pronoun and with imperatives (“it’s when you find yourself”, “wrap-up your

own”, “it doesn’t matter where you’re headed”, and “in the city you have an

open invitation”) and the advertising idiom “just (make a dash)” is generally

not expected to be placed in a newspaper article. The advertising register may

function as an identifier of the page as an ad in order to avoid recipients feeling

cheated. However, the whole page imitates a broadsheet paper, possibly the

Wall Street Journal itself, and thus gains the feel of busy New York City

professional setting. It is the intertextual context that evokes many desirable

associations. Respect, professionalism, success and advantages linked to a high

social status may become contents of the recipient’s mental space.

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The Kenneth Cole ad promotes fashion accessories (which classify as high-

involvement products); at the same time it makes a political statement. That is

probably the most desired association the sender attempts to evoke in the

recipient’s mental space. Among Vanity Fair readers, Kenneth Cole is a

fashion designer well known for his social awareness and political activism,

which he often promotes through fashion ads. The mentioned ad uses an image

of a newspaper article to remind the socially conscious recipients of the

national debt, and to consider far-reaching issues of capitalism. Facing the

newspaper image is a woman wearing Kenneth Cole designer glasses; she is

stylized to give an impression of a chic, but also smart, socially conscious and

concerned personality. The newspaper title font visually imitates a broadsheet

(such as the New York Times) yet no specific name can be detected. The

headline and subheading “There are now 50 red states, thanks to the National

Debt. -Kenneth Cole” occupies cardinal center-page position. Kenneth Cole is

formally identified as the author of the article, and metaphorically as the author

of the idea.

Similar to the DKNY ad, the headline employs ambiguity. “Red state” is

usually understood as an American state with a Republican government, yet

here it is meant as a state in “red numbers”, with a deficit budget. Until the

subheading (“thanks to the National Debt”) clarifies the meaning, the headline

is shocking: it would mean the whole US would be governed by the

Republicans. Appearing in Vanity Fair shortly before the Congressional mid-

term election, this statement would be factually wrong, and emotionally

piercing and grievous to mostly pro-Democratic VF readers26. Even though the

subheading corrects the meaning and may bring certain relief to the politically

conscious consumers, this probably does not last long, since the enormity of

the US national debt is a caustic and pressing issue. Shared knowledge of the

economic and political situation of the country is a prerequisite and

simultaneously a vital cue for filling the mental space with desired

associations.

26 Matthew Flynn. 2011. “Magazine Readers Show Partisan Stripes.” MediaIdeas, July 8,

accessed September 13, 2011, blog.mediaideas.net/2011/07/08/magazine-readers-show-

partisan-stripes/

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The article itself is included only partially. Its only readable sentence, which is

the philosophical gist of the ad itself, states: “New York – What's really

material? That's a question we must ask ourselves ...”. The intertextuality of

this ad is multi-layered. The visual cues combine with the textual ones evoking

in the readers the seriousness of a newspaper and an attitude of political

conscience. The newspaper image positions the ad in a real, serious and

worrying world of politics and national economy. Kenneth Cole is depicted as

a fashion designer promoting his products, as a journalist drawing the attention

of the readers to the political and economic issues of the day, and as an activist

and philosopher urging the consumers to consider consumerism as a way of

life. The mental space is explored in a rich complex way incorporating more

facets of consumers’ personalities: the fashion-lovers, responsible members of

society and caring activists. The dialogism of this ad is implicit; the recipients

adopt the roles of the dialog participants through contributing to the political

and social thinking.

Illustration-depicted intertextuality combines the benefits of promoting a

product via illustration and via text. An illustration is more detailed in

portraying the product or the situation of its use; it is more concrete. Text, on

the other hand, explores ambiguity and evokes abstract ideas. When the two are

merged in the way just discussed, it is impossible to demarcate which function

is fulfilled by which part. The mental space is outlined by visual and textual

cues suggesting the change of context; the emotional value is added to the ad

through filling the mental space. This appears to be an invariable feature of

intertextuality as an advertising discourse strategy.

5.4.2 Mass Culture Intertextuality

References to specific instances of popular culture genres are a useful tool for

promoting products. Verdonk (2002, 5) comments that this works as “an

allusion to another text and, at the same time, an appeal to the reader's

awareness of that text”. By placing such a reference in an ad, the recipient feels

satisfaction when spotting and decoding it, and consequently a whole set of

highly individualized associated memories and emotions are transferred from

the referred item to the mental space of the recipients. Verdonk (ibid.) further

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states that intertextuality “appears to have the effect of giving the reader the

pleasurable sense of satisfaction at having spotted the allusion, and it may often

intensify the overall significance of a text.”

Popular songs and films are most frequently referred to. Five ads with such

references are found in the corpus. As the following examples show, the mass

culture references enrich the meaning by filling the mental space with desired

emotions and associations. They do not provide fundamental clues for

understanding the message as such; they are not to be seen as “inescapable

intertextuality” (Fiske 2010). In Gray’s definition (2006, 4) such

intertextuality would mean “inescapable interdependence of all textual

meaning upon the structures of meaning proposed by other texts.” Here,

however, the references can stay unspotted or be ignored and taken literally. A

reference to a film (e.g. in the following example (3) “Legends of the Fall”)

can be taken as a film reference and thereby intertextually evoke all the desired

emotional response, but it may also be understood as a statement literally

claiming that the “fall collection of promoted clothes contains legendary

pieces”. The mental space would not be opened unless the film reference is

spotted. Nevertheless, the text would still be functional, even if the emotive

response would become diminished, thus making the ad processing less

effective.

The following ads are made more efficient by referring to carefully chosen

cultural items; due to the associations with such items the mental space may be

filled with a certain mood, prototypical hero characteristics or memories of

specific situations. In this sense we can talk of “intertextual intent” as

discussed by Kuppens (2009, 118).

The following two ads contain references to popular songs, both of which are

well known to most Americans. They can be expected to invoke the melody

and the setting or stereotypical ideas which link with the songs through general

knowledge:

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(1) Joy to the world and joy to desserts. Sara Lee. The joy of eating. The

joy of joy. Sara Lee. (P3)

(2) Born to be wild. All-new Suzuki SX4. Attitude and AWD, all standard.

We admit it. We've got a reputation for having fun. Giving a little attitude. So

it's natural for us to offer up the equally spirited Suzuki SX4. This new sport X-

over features the only 3-Mode i-AWD in the class, plus the power of a 143-hp

engine, all standard. Yaris, Fit and Versa don't offer either one. There's ABS

and the safety of a side-curtain airbags, standard. Plus available Electronic

Stability Program (ESP) with TCS. The all-new Suzuki SX4. It's gonna be a

great ride. suzukiauto.com Suzuki. Way of Life. (P4)

While (1) refers to a popular Christmas song “Joy to the World” by Three Dog

Night and (2) to a well known rock song (first made famous by the band

Steppenwolf in 1968), both have a similar function: to make the ads

memorable and explore the mental space of the recipients with associations

accompanying the references. (1) appears in the Christmas issue of People

magazine; a well-known Christmas song as a part of the ad is a natural way of

eliciting a festive atmosphere. Pleasant associations of Christmas are evoked

quite effortlessly through an emblematic melody. The text contains a rhyming

play as well: the original lyrics read “Joy to the World. Joy to you and me.”

This rhymes with the ad text “Joy to the world … Sara Lee.”27 (2) relies on the

“Born to Be Wild” song which associates with free, unceremonious,

unrestrained biker appearance and attitude. Even though further in the ad the

discourse switches to descriptive (reason-evoking) and offers details of

technical features of the promoted car, the song reference used as a headline is

a cue evoking independence and the untamed nature of the implicit product

user. The recipient may also interpret the headline as offering insight into the

sensuous “soul” of the car, while the following technical details describe its

mechanical “body”. An emotive layer of meaning is added to the reason-

inducing one.

27 “The joy of eating” from the ad text is a reference to the most popular cookbook in the USA,

The Joy of Cooking. The ad text explores this and suggests that Sara Lee pastries are

comparable with home-made products. It playfully suggests that recipients should not waste

time cooking when eating is much more enjoyable.

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Both ads incorporate audio traces as cues: when reading the ad, most recipients

can be expected to recall the tune. Employing more sensory channels is known

to improve memorability and later recall. The advertisements may be recalled

when the songs are heard again later, even in an unrelated situation.

Two ads in the corpus refer to films.

(3) Legends of the Fall. Nordstrom. (VF9)

(4) Truly RADLEY Deeply about choosing wonderful colors. Radley.

(VF1)

In both ads advertising clothes/accessories, the film reference is a cue evoking

emotive response. This is a risky strategy but simultaneously it is a powerful

way of building the product image through recipient’s mental space processing.

Compared to songs, films are more complex works of art. By incorporating

them in ads, multiple layers of associations can be achieved, and these can vary

significantly from recipient to recipient. Personal attitude to the film itself, to

the actors and their performances, memories of where and with whom the film

was seen, how it related to our previous lives and how it influenced our lives

afterwards, but also the general social and critical acclaim - it all may

influence the emotional state which is transferred to the mental space. This

strategy appears to be well suited for promoting fashion and luxury items:

while food and utility objects require some reasoning, clothes and accessories

are nowadays chosen on a mostly emotional basis.

Both (3) and (4) use the film title in a double-meaning way. (3) uses the 1994

Edward Zwick's drama film Legends of the Fall, which in a review in the

Chicago Sun-Times was described as having “full-blooded performances and

heartfelt melodrama” (Ebert 1995). The strongest association-evoking cue may

be the impressive male character: the ad promotes formal refined men's clothes

and the film is famous for strong performances by three leading men –

Anthony Hopkins, Brad Pitt and Aidan Quinn. The ad headline can also be

interpreted literally: the fall collection of clothes sold in the Nordstrom

department store is introduced and promoted as “legendary”. The film

characters may be the ones transferring the “legend feel” to the mental space.

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(4) uses the title of a 1990 Anthony Minghella film Truly Madly Deeply, which

is simultaneously a 1997 popular Savage Garden romantic song. The film is

considered to be wryly witty, funny, serious and comic at the same time,

creating emotional impact; the song is one of the most frequently listed as a

first dance wedding song for American brides28. Both film and song address

mostly romantically-inclined female viewers, and so many women, the target

recipients of the Radley ad, may recall the film and/or the song and fill the

related memories to their mental space. Moreover, the Radley brand name is

inserted in the ad headline, mixed with the film title in a witty way, through a

pun (with Madly being replaced by Radley). This enriches the ad processing of

a clever playful tone. The complexity of the emotional associations of a film

and a recall of the tune of a song may in this ad combine and enhance the ad

impact on a recipient.

Low-involvement and high utility value products seem to employ

intertextuality in a plain, uncomplicated way, making use of a stereotypical

inserted text. High-involvement items such as clothes and fashion products

explore multi-faceted possibilities offered by intertextual paradigm. The

following example presents the most complex employment of intertextuality in

exploring the mental space.

Promoting perfumes is a complicated task since recipients mostly cannot

perceive the product directly through their senses. Perfumes can only be

represented indirectly by their packaging or by symbolic images. Some

perfume advertisements use a fragrant ad page. Because of many technical

setbacks this strategy involves, and because of the innovative and creative

attitude which advertising constantly requires, novel ways of promoting

perfumes appear. Prada Parfums ad (VF3) explores intertextuality in a peculiar,

unorthodox way. It is the only encountered ad that manages to employ film,

poetry and music through a print medium.

28 All the following websites feature the song in their first-dance lists:

www.ourweddingsongs.com; www.popular-wedding-songs.com/first-dance-wedding-

songs.html; www.weddingwire.com/wedding-songs/first-dance-music?page_27

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The print ad page only contains an abstract, mood-setting illustration, and a

short, matter-of-fact direct appeal to the recipient: “Prada Parfums. See the

movie “Thunder Perfect Mind” by Jordan and Ridley Scott.” Since perfume is

a high-involvement product, greater effort and more attention from ad

recipients can be expected when considering its purchase. An unorthodox, no-

frills imperative in a perfume ad may evoke curiosity and the recipients may be

tempted to know how a movie relates to the perfume. The names of famous

and successful movie makers Jordan and Ridley Scott are a strong cue and a

motivating element for performing what the ad suggests. Once the Prada

website is accessed, it offers a six-minute film depicting a young beautiful

woman moving through an urban environment, reading a book. She does not

speak yet her voice is heard throughout the film reading a poem “The Thunder,

Perfect Mind” which is a part of ancient Gnostic scriptures discovered in Egypt

in the mid-20th century. Part of the poem that she reads seems to be an ancient

precursor of modern intertextuality definitions:

“I am the voice whose sound is manifold

and the word whose appearance is multiple.

I am the utterance of my name.”

(“The Thunder, Perfect Mind,” 168)

The film is too long for a typical commercial, yet not too long for a tempted

viewer to watch. The captivating words of the poem based on paradoxical

riddles questioning personal identity, combined with engaging music and the

acting of the female character, mediate the quality of the promoted scent which

is otherwise impossible to verbalize. The combination of all the input makes

the ad a captivating cross-over between superficial thirty-second commercials

and complex full-length movies. While the print ad appearing in the corpus

does not seem to be intertextual in isolation, within an intricate network of

modern media it seems to be intertextual; a case of multi-media

intertextuality. Voices of characters and participants are heard and seen,

genres overlap in a truly post-modern way and the recipient is moved through

different contexts not only within the ad, but also physically, by moving from

one medium to another. The exploration of recipient’s mental space is

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potentially very complex and rich; the impression of the ad may be powerful

and compact.

Intertextual ads based on pop culture references transform the advertising

context to the one that the recipients are expected to enjoy and associate with

entertainment, relaxation and pleasure. They introduce contexts which may

relate to a wide range of recipient’s memories and shared knowledge. Filling

the mental space can include associations with evoked situations and

recollections of experiencing the texts in the past. Moreover, the culture

references, once spotted and decoded, bring about the feeling of satisfaction

with completing the task and may as well make the recipients feel the bond

with their cultural environment. This is the major distinguishing feature of the

multigeneric intertextuality based on referring to specific instances of genres of

mass culture such as films or songs.

In their study of texts, Hatim and Munday (2004) recognize intertextuality that

involves direct reference to other texts and label it horizontal intertextuality.

The categories of ads that were analyzed so far, i.e. presenting product

packaging texts, hand-written messages, newspaper cutouts and references to

specific texts of mass culture can be seen as instances of horizontal

intertextuality. The following chapter presents vertical intertextuality (Hatim

and Munday 2004, 87) which is more an allusion to another text and can refer

to a mode of writing or style.

5.4.3 Non-Specific Multigeneric Intertextuality

Delivering an ad message through a register or text form which is typical of

other genres is a fairly frequent practice. Emotive response to the instances of

the genres fills the mental space. No reference to works of art or instances of

culture-specific shared knowledge are present in these ads; the cues signaling

the intertextual processing are expressions conventionally appearing in the

situations that are intended to be introduced. They can be identified as cues of

socially determined discourses. Verdonk (2002, 62) in a similar sense implies

that intertextuality of this kind appears when “particular expressions recur in

different texts and so provide a link between them”.

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The corpus contains thirty-two ads with such features. Of these, twenty-one are

located in tabloids and eleven in Vanity Fair. Over one half of all the ads in

this category (seventeen in total) promote packaged food, sodas and alcohol

beverages; the other half equally represent cosmetics, cars, household utensils,

watches, clothes and technology gadgets. This distribution points to the

preference of genre-switching intertextuality as a discourse strategy promoting

low-involvement products. In contrast to this is the distribution of

intertextuality depicted via illustration and the one mediated through culture

references, which is mostly used to promote high-involvement products in

high-end magazine ads.

Discourse typical for cooking recipes, reviews, quizzes, questionnaires, internet

sites, computer-mediated communication, tributes, travel brochures, yearbooks,

warnings, scientific discussions, romantic stories, TV shows, reports,

calendars, etc., functions as mental-space inducing cues in the collected ads.

5.4.3.1 Ads as Recipes

The most frequently used transplanted text type into printed advertisement is

cooking recipes, found in four ads. It seems to be a logical outcome of the high

figure of food and drinks ads in this category (which is over 50%). Foods and

drinks are low-involvement products and so their utility value tends to be

promoted through their unique selling proposition. By placing a recipe into the

ad, the product is placed in a context that highlights its practicality. The

recipient’s mental space processing is shifted to a situation where the

advertised product is usable and at the same time ready to be explored and

played with in a creative way (if the recipient is an avid cook) or easy to use (if

the recipient needs instructions to stick with). That applies to food products

that need processing as in example (5) promoting a semi-processed sauce.

However, ready-to-eat food, e.g. party snacks in example (6), may be

advertised through the recipe genre as well; the function of such use is

different, though.

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(5) The meatball hero's hero. 100% Natural Prego Italian Sauce

Traditional. A unique combination of sweet tomato taste and savory Italian

seasonings is inside every jar of Prego Italian sauce. So you don't need to add

a thing to liven up any Italian dish. It's in there. Prego Easy Meatball Parm

Hero Prep: 5 min. Makes: 4 sandwiches. 2 cups Prego Traditional Italian

Sauce, 16 (1 oz. each) frozen cooked meatballs, 4 long hard rolls, split, 1 cup

shredded mozzarella cheese, Grated Parmesan cheese. 1. Heat sauce and

meatballs in 3 qt. saucepan over medium-high heat to a boil. Reduce heat to

low. Cook for 20 min or until meatballs are heated through, stirring

occasionally. 2. Serve meatballs and sauce in rolls. Sprinkle with mozzarella

and Parmesan cheeses. Dig in and enjoy. For more easy delicious recipes, just

go to Prego.com. (P2)

(6) Recipe for a perfect viewing party. Follow this helpful recipe to make

your next movie night with friends a hit. Gather your fellow movie-lovers and

enjoy one of your favorite films with the classic big cheese snack, Cheez-It.

Ingredients: One crowd-pleasing movie. A bunch of bowls (for the perfect

group snack). One TV remote control. Cheez-It Baked Snack Crackers. The Big

Cheeze. (US3)

In (5), the recipe is meant verbatim and highlights the practical value of the

product. Positively colored words and suggestive expressions (“hero”, “you

don’t need to add”, “unique combination”, “dig in and enjoy”, “delicious”)

may be used as mild means of adding emotive value without mental space

processing. This is evoked with the recipe as a text type and associations that

may be connected to food preparation. The reason strategy seems to be

stronger than the tickle one.

In (6) the instructions are not to be taken literally; the creative usage of the

recipe genre strengthens the emotive value by figuratively adding playful,

humorous and light-hearted tones to the message. (6) is an ad for a snack food

– possibly the representative of what we are advised not to eat due to its high

fat and sodium contents and low (if any) health benefits. Humor and reference

to socially valued entertainment time with friends veil the existence of negative

nutrition facts. The positive message is interposed through the unexpected

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genre of a recipe, complete with instructions, ingredients and measures. It may

be suggested that an unexpected genre placement in this case catches the

attention and functions as a mental space cue. It is also a buffer for the possibly

negative features of snack food.

5.4.3.2 Website and Computer-Mediated Communication in Ads

Almost all the ads in the corpus contain a website reference in their signature

lines. Presently, that is highly substantiated, since the Internet use for

commercial purposes constantly increases and recent magazine surveys show

that including a web address or a URL29 reference in an ad increases the web

site visits (Magazine the Medium of Action Handbook 2009/2010, 82).

Nevertheless, including a www reference for the pragmatic purpose of further

product search is not understood as employing intertextuality. The imitation of

such reference employed to bring in the feeling of up-to-datedness, trendiness

and modernity, on the other hand, is considered intertextual. Direct reference to

product web sites is a part of advertising discourse; the imitation of it implies

the creation of mental space and its processing; it changes contexts and

introduces another level of meaning.

Three ads imitate the form of a URL (two of which are listed below as

examples). All three ads imitate the URL only in their headlines, so the rest of

the verbalized message is not intertextual. Two more ads imitate the language

and the form of computer-mediated communication throughout the whole ad

message (one of them is given as an example). Except for one instance, all

these ads are found in tabloid magazines. They promote a car, hygienic

products, cosmetics, a nutrition bar and a camera respectively.

(7) Sony. Like.no.other Take a picture. Leave an impression. Seductively

thin profile. Blazingly fast start-up and remarkably engineered with a dazzling

2.5" LCD screen, the T7 is another great innovation from Sony Cyber-shot

cameras, digital from day one. From the moment you pull out the Sony Cyber-

29 URL: Universal Resource Locator. “A specific character string that constitutes a reference to

an Internet resource.” (google.com/path)

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shot T7 digital camera, you'll be turning more than a few heads. Cyber-shot.

(VF9)

(8) Ifyoucant-pronounceit-don’t-eat-it.com SoyJoy. Eat like you mean it.

Say no to preservatives. And believe in naturally nutritious nutrition bars. This

is SOYJOY. All-new, all-natural. Whole soy. Dried fruit. And a home-baked

taste. Look for us in the nutrition-bar aisle of your favorite store. Real is

Revolutionary. SoyJoy.com (US2)

(9) Grab life by the horns. Dodge. Avenge Internal Computer System.

STEERING: listen up ppl, we're ina tight corner ESP: Electronic Stability

Program at ur service! BRAKES: he hit the brakes hard ESP: im detecting

slippage BRAKES: hydrolic break booster, work ur magic BOOSTER: NP im

on it bro ABS: u r awesome. busy breaking L front and R rear ENGINE:

lowering torque and throttle BTW ESP: yaw and lateral acceleration sensors

activated. man im good :-) TRACTION CONTROL: LOL giving rear wheels

more traction ESP: gr8, cuz we r almost out of this corner ENGINE: yesssss!

back on full throttle BRAKES: this is 2 easy IMHO ESP: cya l8r SEND SEE

THE ALL-NEW AVENGER AT DODGE.COM/AVENGER (P1)

Short words with no spaces separated only by punctuation marks or

occasionally with no separation at all are usual forms appearing in the URL

coding. Capitalization is missing in such text forms as well. The typical

attribute of web sites is their dot-com (.com) domain suffix which denotes a

generic unrestricted commercial website. Headlines composed in such way

(e.g. “like.no.other” and “Ifyoucant-pronounceit-don’t-eat-it.com”) function as

textual cues, they signal the change of the context of the ad from traditional

print advertising to an illusionary up-to-date internet world. This is a precursor

to mental space processing.

Example (7) resembles usage of a recipe for advertising food products:

introducing a modern technology gadget by adding to it a feeling of high-tech

trendiness seems very natural as much as promoting food through their usage

in cooking. (8), however, adds the up-to-datedness to a product that is

considered trendy and fashionable in another sphere of life – a healthy lifestyle.

The website name in (8) serves not only as a fashionable insertion, but also as a

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pleasing, humor-invoking cue. The promotion of a healthy lifestyle seems to be

boring at times: this ad stands out of the group as a humorous one in a trendy

and creative way.

Example (9) imitates Internet chat in both formal layout and in employing

typical chat language. In this ad, the communicating identities are parts of the

car operating systems. They conduct a multi-sided talk tone of which is

informal, light-hearted and funny, as would possibly be similar real-life

Internet chat. However, the topic of the chat is serious: the car (and

consequently the driver) is having safety problems and the car parts

communicate in order to ensure his/her safety. Formally, the chat dialogue

turns are introduced by a capitalized identity names (nicks) followed by a

colon. On the lexical level, typical chat lingo functions as cues. This includes

non-standard word forms of grammar use (“u r” – you are, “ina” – in a, “im” –

I’m), words spelled without vowels (“ppl” – people), shortened and spelled in a

conventionally informal way (“ur” - your, “hydrolic” – hydraulic, “bro” –

brother, “cuz” – because, “cya” – see you), words with formal changes that add

emotional marking (“yesssss” – yes), chat abbreviations or mixed numeric

word-forms (“gr8” – great, “2 easy” – too easy, “l8r” - later). Informal

expressions (“work ur magic”, “im on it bro”, “man im good”) strengthen the

funny easy-going tone. This lends the promoted product an appealing image of

a professional who can deal with serious things in an easy way. At the same

time, the introduced context of the Internet chat, which is the basis of mental

space processing, is very trendy, fashionable and bonding with a like-minded,

young crowd.

5.4.3.3 Scientific Style in Ads

Scientific papers rank among genres that are characterized as formal. When

these are intertextually implanted in ads, they evoke a serious and responsible

attitude, trust, assurance and an atmosphere of critical thinking. The product

gains characteristics of being well thought of, tested and approved, and thus of

high quality. The following ad illustrates the point.

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(10) There's more to our sunscreen than the SPF number. Our sunscreen

has Helioplex. Q. What is SPF? A. SPF (sun protection factor) is a rating for

the level of protection against sun-burning UVB rays. But there's more to

sunscreen than an SPF number. Our sunscreens with Helioplex have the added

benefit of performance stabilizing technology for longer lasting UVA

protection. It's unbeatable. Q. What is Helioplex? A. It's a new patented

technology so advanced it helps sunscreens deliver exceptional UVA/UVB

protection. How does it work? It's all in the balance. Sunscreens can lose the

ability to block UVA rays over time. Neutrogena sunscreens, with Helioplex

stabilizing technology, provide superior UVA protection that lasts. So broad-

spectrum protection is balanced. Q. What's the difference between UVB and

UVA? A. UVB rays can cause sunburn (think B = Burning rays) and that can

lead to skin cancer. UVA rays (think A = Aging) penetrate deepest into the

skin. They accelerate the signs of aging. After long-term exposure, skin may

appear dry, lines and leathery. Q. Why Neutrogena? A. Because Neutrogena

sun protection products, engineered with Helioplex technology, give you the

exceptional broad-spectrum protection you and your skin deserve. It's the next

generation in sun protection. Neutrogena. # 1 Dermatologist Recommended

Suncare. (P6)

The ad is constructed in the form of a dialog which enhances the involvement

and participation of the recipient in co-authoring the ad meaning. The questions

in the dialog are asked by a an interested consumer, potentially much like the

recipient her/himself. The questions mostly address the meaning of used

terminology (“What is SPF?”, “What is Helioplex?”, “What's the difference

between UVB and UVA?”). The last question (“Why Neutrogena?”) is similarly

short and simple so at first sight it seems to fall into the same category of

questions. However, it only looks similar because it addresses reasons, not

meanings, and instead of scientific terminology it asks about the product (the

name of which sounds quite scientific). In that sense it can be considered

suggestive (and thus perfectly fitting the ad genre). The questions gradually

build up the logical reasoning structure at the end of which the recipient learns

reasons for obtaining the product.

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The answers to the questions are given by a specialist who sounds erudite,

lecturing and patient. He/She explains the abbreviations (e.g. SPF as “sun

protecting factor”) and even though he/she uses scientific terminology and

sentence structures typical for the scientific style, the answers are

accommodated for the general public by using some neutral or informal

expressions (e.g. “there's more to sunscreen”, “It's unbeatable”). The ad text is

much longer than the average ad text found in the corpus, which conforms to

the style of scientific papers. (This seems to be also true for other ads that give

an impression of a science document). By evoking a style that is known for

long texts, the recipient may be patient and willing to read much more than if

another, non-scientific genre was used. More information can be placed in such

ad with little risk of losing recipient’s attention too early. The scientific genre

evokes a serious and reliable image of the product. At the same time it situates

the recipients into a setting where they are willing to keep their attention

focused longer. Mental space is possibly filled with the desired constructs of a

lecture, scientific discussion, learning and self-development.

5.4.3.4 Other Genres in Ads

A substantial number of genres is intertextually explored in the corpus ads.

Each one appears to be represented by very few occurrences, though. That

points to the creative exploration of a multitude of possibilities given by the

socially conventionalized usage of language. The following examples are all

unique instances of implanted non-advertising genres within the corpus.

(11) CinnaMon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun. Try New Honey Bunches of

Oats with Cinnamon Clusters. Real cinnamon baked into every crunchy

cluster. One taste and you'll want it every day. Honey Bunches of Oats. There's

a whole bunch to love. (US3)

(12) Location: anywhere & everywhere Post Office: www.splenda.com

Weather: daily SPLENDA sprinkles Official Flower: sweet pea Destination:

Splendaville. You won't find it on any map. But you will find it in iced tea. It's

sweet and delicious but without all the calories to spoil the joy. SPLENDA No

Calorie Sweetener tastes like sugar because it's made from sugar. Be Dazzled.

(P6)

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(13) Campbell's Microwavable Soup Bowls. Caution: Contents are

extremely delicious. When consumed at work, they may cause incoherent

speech, mind-wandering and file-dropping. Inattention to urgent emails and

sudden loss of interest in spread sheets may occur. (P2)

The ads feature textual cues found in a calendar (11), an information travel

brochure (12) and a warning sign (13). By exploring the other genres, all these

ads seem to be creatively light-hearted and pleasant to read, playing humorous

and harmless tricks with the recipients, nudging them to spot the resemblance

and appreciate its witty placement in the ad context. That is the first positive-

image attribute. At the same time, all the examples evoke processing of the

mental space with recipient’s associations linked to personal experience or

well-known situations. The calendar reference in (11) evokes regularity and the

potential of everyday consumption of the promoted cereals. (12) explores the

stereotypical descriptions of American destinations by listing several location

characteristics and thus makes the product set in a home environment. (13)

uses the strategy of surprising or shocking the recipient. It is based on a

parody; what is implied breaks the rules of advertising practice, as warnings

are not a usual promoting discourse tool. Once the recipients see “Caution”,

they probably expect to read a warning that can be found in similar contexts

(e.g. “Caution – the contents are extremely hot”). The unexpected outcome in

the form of a warning against an “extremely delicious” product makes the ad

boldly humorous. Lagerwerf (2007, 1703) in a similar sense claims: “The

effort people may have to come up with a correct interpretation will result in

their appreciating the trope, and hence the advertisement itself.”

5.4.4 Multigeneric Intertextuality Scale

The presented ads exhibit intertextuality cues in varying degrees, in a scale

from the manifest to relatively indistinctive implementations. The criteria that

strengthen the presence of various genres in the interpretation of the ad seem to

depend on the attributes of the genres themselves. Recipients may recognize an

intertextual reference easier if it relates to a genre that is highly specific. The

specificity may relate to its form, content and frequency of occurrence in a

speech community.

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When the form of the text belonging to a genre is unique and rule-governed,

spotting such text may be unrestrained. A recipe, for example, has a form

which most frequently consists of a list of ingredients followed by instructions,

processing details, the yield and variation options. Such a genre may be

identified with relative ease, as in the following ad.

(14) Campbell's make in minutes. Prep: 10 min. Bake: 35 min. Tuna

Noodle Casserole. 2 cans (10 3/4 oz. each) Campbell's Cream of Mushroom

Soup, 1 cup milk, 2 cups cooked peas, 2 cans (about 12 oz. each) tuna, drained,

4 cups hot, cooked medium egg noodles, 2 tbsp. dry bread crumbs, 2 tsp.

butter, melted. 1. Stir soup, milk, peas, tuna and noodles in 3-qt. casserole. 2.

Bake at 400degF. for 30 min. or until hot. Stir. 3. Mix bread crumbs with butter

and sprinkle on top. Bake for 5 min. more. Makes 8 servings. Better For You

Possibilities: Whole Grain: Use whole wheat noodles instead of egg noodles.

Substitution Options: Use Campbell's 98% Fat Free or 25% Less Sodium

instead of regular soup. M'm! M'm! Good! Casserole Possibilities. (P2).

The genre of a friendly conversation, on the other hand, does not display any

such strict formal rules. It may take a while for the recipient to see the ad as an

informal friendly chat, and eventually, without deeper analysis, it may never be

seen as implementing intertextuality due to such lax form. The following ad

illustrates the point.

(15) ‘My color is so blah’ ‘I hate this faded look’ ‘I just did my color two

weeks ago, and already it's dull.’ Refresh it! Fanci-Full temporary hair rinse

breathes new life into faded color. Use it as often as you like, and wash it off

when you're ready. No ammonia. No peroxide. No mixing, No damage. Easy

on, easy off. No commitment. Fanci-Full is available in a wide assortment of

colors that refresh your color instantly. (S1)

Vocabulary and a typical sentence structure are strong text-type recognition

cues. Certain words and phrases are unmistakably genre-specific. The more

restricted their occurrence in a unique genre, the higher probability of the genre

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being identified as an implanted text type. The Campbell ad in example (13) is

hard to overlook as a warning since “caution”, “Contents are extremely …“ and

“…may occur“ are typical lexical elements of a warning sign, usually found on

food containers. Some genres are not so strictly vocabulary-specific so their

implementation may not be obvious to that degree. An informal talk, as in

example (15), is, on the other hand, devoid of highly specific, unmistakably

genre-constituent lexis.

When genre-marked forms and peculiar lexical items combine with a high

frequency of occurrence of certain text types, the interpretation of an ad as

being intertextually coded is very probable. The less genre-marked form and

less genre-restricted vocabulary an ad features, the lower probability there is

that it will be processed as multigeneric intertextuality.

Multigeneric intertextuality in ads operates on two inter-related levels. It fills

the mental space of the recipient through shifts of the advertising context to a

different one which the recipients may personally relate to, recognize from

their previous experience or shared cultural knowledge. Simultaneously, such

directed genre-switching helps create a positive emotional response among the

recipients. Both of these processes strengthen the memorability of the product

and the possibility of its later recall. Kuppens (2009, 119) adds another

beneficial attribute of intertextuality in advertising practice: “The creativity,

humor, and reflexivity that are typical for intertextual advertisements,

constitute an exciting way of appealing to advertising-literate viewers who ‘see

through’ classic advertising strategies. If viewers recognize the intertextual

references, the advertisement may function as ‘a source of ego enhancement’”.

That points to the possibility of intertextuality being a bridging feature between

the recipient and the product, but also a psychological self-confidence building

tool.

5.4.5 Heteroglossic Intertextuality

Presence of voices, or speaking personalities, in an advertising text marks

intertextuality of a heteroglossic type. Heteroglossic ads often feature dialogic

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character which empowers the participants, adds interactivity, strengthens the

involvement of the recipients and positions them in the role of co-authors.

The sender as an inherent participant of the communication may assume

multiple identities. Due to this, the message may be delivered by many voices.

Who the sender is creates an essential part of the recipient’s interpretation. A

producer, a product, a user of the product or a symbolic representative may all

assume the roles of message senders.

Ads are a well-established genre, and the recipients naturally recognize that a

sender with a persuasive intention is behind any commercial message. That

suggests an impersonal unidentified sender who may even pretend “not to be

there” is implied as a voice. This kind of sender is seen as the inherent one,

often an abstract persona, an inherent voice. When other voices except for the

inherent one appear and deliver parts of the message, heteroglossic

intertextuality is inferred. Cook (2001, 219) concludes that ads are

prototypically heteroglossic yet one voice tends to dominate; the reason for

dominance is the reluctance of the advertiser to leave too much space for the

recipient to come with his/her own judgment (ibid., 193).

The following analysis points to the presence of multiple voices in the corpus

ads. Within seventeen heteroglossic ads, two distinct groups are identified: the

first one (seven instances) contains a voice of the producer talking about the

product or benefits of its use; the second group (nine instances) features a

symbolic representative of the product, a personality who embodies the unique

selling proposition. One ad contains a first-person voice of a recipient using the

product. The two mentioned groups are considerably different in many aspects

and seem to be quite homogeneous in their employment of voices.

5.4.5.1 The Voice of a Producer

All seven ads in this category feature the voice of the producer, or a person

whose name appears as a part of the product name. Such a person speaking

does not necessarily have to be the manufacturer; however, their name

functions as a signature, a personal guarantee of quality. The producer's voice

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is made distinct and clear by being placed in quotation marks and/or occupying

a prominent headline position in all the ad texts. The speaker is identified by

name immediately after the quote in four cases, as seen in examples (16) and

(18). In other cases the name of the speaker is inserted at the end of the body

copy, in a usual position for a closing signature line, as shown in example (17).

Both the first name and surname are given in all cases; this creates a significant

part of the identity of the product.

(16) "Room after room after room a Dyson doesn't lose suction" James

Dyson. There's a fundamental problem with vacuum cleaners: they start losing

suction after just a few rooms. Our unique patented system is different. It

separates dirt from the air at incredibly high speeds, so a Dyson never loses

suction no matter how much you vacuum. Visit dyson.com or call- XXX Dyson.

(VF10)

(17) Be faithful to your spouse - Play around with your salad. Paul

Newman. If you're particularly faithful to just one of my delicious all-natural

salad dressings, why not loosen up and try something different? Perhaps

flavors seasoned with fresh-from-the-garden herbs & spices could persuade

you. Just one fling with these tempting alternatives will make you glad you

stayed. Newman's Own. Paul Newman and the Newman's Own Foundation

donate all profits to charities. Over $200 million has been given to thousands

of charities since 1982. (P6)

(18) Oh, I wish … this bite could last forever. Deli shaved ham. For thinly

sliced, deli fresh taste, you can count on Oscar. Oscar Mayer Shaved Virginia

Brand Ham. New! (P5)

All the examples present a producer speaking in a direct way. The recipient is

explicitly addressed by an imperative and a pronoun (“your”) only in (17);

nevertheless the other personal messages are implicitly directed towards the ad

recipient. The dialogic character of heteroglossic ads is highlighted.

Each personalized message in these examples addresses the recipients in its

own unique way. A positive response is intended in each case, yet the means

differ. (16) shows an overt statement of product quality with no verbal frills, no

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hidden meaning and limiting any possibilities of verbal misleading. Here, the

identified producer clearly states the major advantage of the product (a vacuum

cleaner) and leaves further specification of the technical details to the

unidentified voice, possibly a specialist from the company, a designer or an

engineer. By placing the identified voice separately from the unidentified one,

a corporate hierarchy is suggested. The producing company is seen as

organized and well managed with the boss standing behind the proud team.

This suggests the mechanical products they make are well designed and have

high utility value. Vacuum cleaners are bought for their functionality; verbal

decorations or evoking rich imagery could here be counterproductive.

The two other examples promote food products. (17) is a Paul Newman (actor-

turned-businessman) message that is intertextual at more levels. Not only is it

the producer addressing the recipients directly with imperatives in the headline

suggesting the way to use the product, it is also a reference to a shared cultural

knowledge of Paul Newman's private life as a devoted husband of 50 years.

The two layers overlap: if Newman is known for being faithful and devoted

family man in the least favorable environment – the film industry, such

qualities are transferred to him as a producer – hard-working, devoted and

caring. Newman's own words in the address combine family life and product

promotion in a playful, humorous way. Such associations are desired elements

when mental space is created and processed. Humor infiltrates the message

through a pun: “play around” can be understood as “have fun, goof around,

have a fun time” (with the product) and “have an extra-marital affair”

(connected to a previously mentioned spouse). This opposition is expanded

upon later on through several other ambiguous expressions (“loosen up”, “one

fling”). The mental space can be filled by developing an internalized personal

relationship with the producer; other positive elements may be the playful

decoding of figures of speech, the shared knowledge and informal jargonized

product description.

A simpler message is found in (18). The recipient is not addressed directly; the

headline gives an impression of being an unintentionally overheard praise of a

tasty product. The sender of the message is familiarly identified as Oscar (“you

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can count on Oscar”) and later the full name of Oscar Mayer is given. Most

American recipients recognize this as the name of a famous meat-production

company (originally established by Oscar Mayer in the 19th century). Oscar as

a person cannot be expected to have uttered this. However, the company

previously invested into building their name through personification. In 1970s,

their TV commercial said: “My bologna has a first name. It’s O.S.C.A.R. My

bologna has a second name. It’s M.A.Y.E.R.!” The personification of the

company is vividly achieved (and reminded) in the ad. The founder's name is

used to personalize the message – sharing how it feels to enjoy the product.

All the ads in this category explore the voice of the producer to help build a

relationship between the recipient and the product and thus fill the mental

space. Through the speaking voice, a machine is directly portrayed as being

well-designed and functional; food products are promoted indirectly, by figures

of speech, implying their positive attributes and personal emotional

involvement of the producer. Four ads in this category are published in tabloid

magazines, all promoting low-involvement food products. Three are placed in

Vanity Fair promoting a vacuum cleaner, wine and a luxurious cosmetic

product. The speaking persons are taken as specialists who not only know but

who also personally care. If publicly known, their complex personalities may

contribute to the overall mental space processing.

5.4.5.2 The Voice of a Symbolic Representative

The situation is considerably different when the speaking voice is of a well-

known personality, usually a show-business celebrity, who does not have any

direct relationship with the product except for symbolizing and representing it

in an abstract, metaphorical way. The total number of ads in this category is

nine, which is similar to the previous one. However, the distribution and

discourse differ. Only two ads are found in tabloids and promoting low-

involvement daily cosmetics and a food product. All the others are from Vanity

Fair and promote high-involvement luxury goods - watches and perfumes.

This suggests overwhelming preference of a voice as a symbol to promote

high-end products. The following cases illustrate this group.

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(19) Dior Christal Special Edition Chronograph. 488 diamonds, black

sapphire crystal. “Always make time for an adventure.” Sharon Stone (VF3)

(20) I live for the moments like this. Pleasures Estee Lauder (featuring a

full-page photo of Gwyneth Paltrow) (VF9)

(21) Covergirl. Plump 'em don't clump 'em. New Volume Exact Mascara

Brilliant new brush with microchambers plumps each little lash without

clumping for volume a whole new way. Go brush to brush and compare.

Clumps on the brush could end up you-know-where! (photos) Volume Exact

Brush Ordinary brush Find Queen Latifah's look at covergirl.com easy

breazy beautiful COVERGIRL (OK1)

All ads in this sub-group that are from Vanity Fair have a rather short body

copy (compared to the two tabloid ads and to the ads in the sub-group featuring

the voice of the producer). The ad messages give very few, if any, details of the

products. Mostly the name of the product and a voice's statement comprise the

whole text. Both (19) and (20) are typical instances of symbolic representatives

promoting a product. In none of the ads does the voice mention the product

itself, nor do the celebrities verbally imply its usage. The associations with the

speaking voice, or with what the voice says, fill the mental space.

If direct speech or a direct thought appear, placement tends to be towards the

end of the body copy. The full name of the celebrity is usually given in rather

small print. A large photo of a famous face takes over the role of the name. In

one case, which is listed here as example (20), no name is given at all. Instead,

a photograph of Gwyneth Paltrow, a household name and face, fully takes over

the function of a symbol. It may be assumed that names and signatures are less

relevant, since they are viewed as a documentary confirmation of product

guarantee. Here, the symbolic voices do not guarantee anything; they do not

represent the quality or usefulness of the product. They fulfill their function as

symbols, sharing qualities with the products in an abstract way. This can be

confirmed by one ad promoting a product via the voice of an imaginary

celebrity – James Bond. The recipient’s interest in the product is evoked and

justified by the beauty and high social status of the film stars or characters. The

product quality can be inferred and placed in the mental space in a very indirect

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manner, through metaphorical transfer of the person's features to the product,

with possibly no rational processing.

The statements of the voices are equally abstract, making sense only

figuratively, mostly through metaphorically relating the speaking voice to the

inherent sender's voice. When Sharon Stone in (19) says “Always make time for

an adventure”, she does not claim explicitly that there is a positive correlation

between wearing a Dior watch and experiencing an adventure. She, including

her voice and her words, all function as a cue and fill the mental space as a

symbolic representation of the product. It is the inherent sender's persona who

puts the actress and the watch in a relationship. In these ads it is mostly a visual

link, showing a photograph of the famous person wearing the product (if it is

tangible, such as a wrist watch) or seemingly wearing the product (if it is a

perfume).

The two ads in this category that are from tabloids and promote low-

involvement products share most characteristics with ads in the former sub-

group, featuring the voice of a producer. The body copy in these ads is

similarly long and the voice gives details of the product or its use. However,

the promoting celebrities do not come across as developers, producers or

company owners; they function as recommenders. In (21), a famous black

rapper-turned-actress Queen Latifah talks extensively about Covergirl mascara

as a solution for unpleasant situations arising from using other mascaras.

Content-wise, rational processing by the recipient is expected. However,

emotional value is added by the fame of the personality, her reputation and

high social status which may fill the recipient’s mental space. To link the

product with Queen Latifah in a more emotive way, one part of the message

(“Plump 'em don't clump 'em”) is delivered in an imitation of a rapper's

rhythmical voice. Covergirl is a product range aimed at teenagers and younger

women and so the informality of Queen Latifah's language (“Clumps on the

brush could end up you-know-where”) is an intended choice aimed at evoking a

closer relationship between the normally unreachable celebrity and the ad

recipients. By imitating language she might use with real friends, real people in

real situations, her recommendation sounds realistic and trustworthy. This

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conforms to the reason strategy, while the relationship created between Queen

Latifah and the recipients enhances the emotive processing.

5.4.5.3 Foreign Voice

From the marketing point of view, use of foreign language in ads may function

as pertaining to the larger marketing strategy (Kuppens 2009, 116), as when

McDonald's used their English slogan “I'm loving it” all over the world. It may

also be used to evoke stereotyped cultural connotations, as when Volkswagen

advertised their cars worldwide with the slogan “Das Auto”, adding the

symbolic value of precision, technological advancement and uncompromising

attitude that is stereotypical of Germans. Communicative value is subdued in

favor of symbolic value; the foreign language may function as a “language

fetish” (Kelly-Holmes 2000).

Use of foreign language as a discourse strategy can be seen as a special case of

heteroglossic intertextuality. The inherent voice is expected to be using the

language which most probably ensures successful communication; here it is

English. When English is replaced with a foreign language, a different voice

seems to be addressing recipients. Switching codes can also be seen as an

analogy to switching registers in multigeneric intertextuality.

(22) Lacoste. Un peu d'air sur terre. (VF2, VF8)30

The French in (22) undoubtedly confirms Kuppens’s reasons of pertaining to a

unified marketing strategy of the Lacoste company and for adding the French

connotations (such as creativity, elegance, stylishness) to the mental space.

Memories of visiting the country or encountering French culture can be

recalled. In this specific case, Kuppens’s “creative-linguistic reasons” (ibid.)

apply as well because the French slogan is a rhyming one for those who can

pronounce French correctly. By spotting such an ear-pleasing detail, the

recipients not only feel positive about the phonetic delight but their self-

confidence is enhanced through mastering a foreign language, an asset of huge

value in today's Western world. The changed language code has the capacity to

30 English translation: Lacoste. A bit of air on Earth.

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switch contexts and enhance the emotional value of the product through

evoking new situations in the mental space. That makes (22) functionally

intertextual. Intertextuality here is based on the recipient’s expectations: the

inherent ad sender is expected to speak English; the French speaker appears to

be another voice.

A voice speaking a different language may temper the direct appeal for

obtaining the product. Direct appeals are rather infrequent in the category of

high-involvement products advertised in Vanity Fair. Softening its imperative

power, a voice using a non-existent, invented foreign language is detected in

the following ad:

(23) My "I deserve it" gold bracelet. There's one language everyone

understands. Charms from the Bags and BelShoes collections in 14K gold and

enamel. Rosato HSN Speak Gold (VF9)

The speaking voice in the headline says “I deserve it” in an asyntactic manner.

The special position of the phrase and its placement in the quotation marks

make it stand out from the rest of the text. The inherent voice urges recipients

through an imperative slogan to “speak gold” and thus indirectly explains the

special meaning of the pre-modifying “I deserve it” phrase: it was said in a

different code, a foreign language – Gold. What seemed to have been said in

English comes across as a (precious) foreign language the recipient is

encouraged to adopt and use. Thus a direct imperative encourages the recipient

to obtain the product in a paradoxically indirect manner.

5.4.5.4 Breaking the Rules

As Cook points out, advertising is a restless discourse since ads are “a

fluctuating and unstable mixture of the voices around them” (2001, 222). Even

though the advertising genre changes fast, some principles are valid in the long

term. One such principle governs intertextuality: it is a functional and effective

strategy when the original text is recognized and so its meaning can fill the

recipient’s mental space and thus influence the interpretation of the present

discourse. However, with the advertising practices becoming well-established,

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the rules are challenged even if they go against logic. Risking the rejection of

recipients is balanced by the possibility of introducing a ground-breaking

concept; it is a part of the enormously competitive creative processes.

Intertextuality with the identity of the voice or genre intentionally veiled seems

to be breaking one of the major principles of its use. A Jaguar advertising

campaign is a unique example of such an occurrence in the corpus.

(24) Jaguar. GORGEOUS TRUMPS EVERYTHING.

Jaguar. GORGEOUS doesn't care what others are doing.

Jaguar. Gorgeous gets in EVERYWHERE. (VF9)

(25) Jaguar. WHERE DID GORGEOUS GO? Prefergorgeous.com (VF10)

The Gorgeous ads feature blurred grayish photos of an actively moving female

that is most probably very beautiful when seen in focus. However, the

uncertainty and suspicion is always there. The mental space of the recipients

seems to be outlined but they are left in doubts about what to fill in. The same

is achieved through statements about the “Gorgeous” character. She “trumps

everything” and “gets everywhere”. She is suggested to have disappeared with

the “Where did she go?” question. All of these expressions build her uniquely

strong, seemingly omnipotent position, yet this position is never clarified. The

recipient is left guessing who she is and what she does. The suspense of her

identity is strengthened by the fact that she is an obvious presence in the ads,

seen and talked about, yet never says a word herself. Her identifier, Gorgeous,

is the only verbal cue of her qualities. This ad campaign was, indeed, designed

to present the Jaguar as a fashion icon, a car for “gray eminences”, for those

who are not seen and heard but who set trends and hold the power. The

Gorgeous campaign was presented as one for fashionistas, which is “a non-

gendered term used to describe people who do not follow trends in their life

styles: they set them and live by them and others ... may emulate” (Bernstein,

2007). The uncertainty and suspicion evoke curiosity and build an image of the

highest and most desirable social role. The campaign is praised by some and

loathed by others but as a unique example it has been talked and written about

since its launch in 2005. Regardless of recipients’ taste and the effectiveness of

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the campaign, Jaguar saw improvement in business in the second half of the

first decade. The role of purposefully veiled intertextuality made the product

(and the advertising agency) prominent, striking and noticeably different in the

advertising overflow.

5.5 Concluding Remarks on Intertextuality in Ads

In a broad understanding of switching genres or contexts, story-telling in ads

(as discussed in Chapter 4) can also be seen as a case of intertextuality.

However, its features and strategic applications in advertising discourse seem

to be specific enough to deserve special treatment as a discourse strategy.

While stories create imaginary situations and contexts and invite the recipients

to develop them, intertextuality seems to evoke emotions or physical states we

confronted when we experienced the original text (or discourse). These two

types of constructs vary in their temporal direction: storytelling is forward-

oriented while intertextuality seems to function by referring back. In other

words, storytelling invites the recipient to use mainly imagination and

fantasizing; intertextuality recalls the experience or shared knowledge and

evokes emotions related to the reminded entities. Both constructs are effective

advertising tools when they fill the recipient’s mental space.

In some ads, intertextuality can be construed as metaphorical processing, which

will be the main focus of the following chapter. Discourse strategies

undoubtedly overlap on a case-to-case basis and fortify the persuasive

advertising effect. Each strategy, however, seems to function along its own

noticeably prevailing principles.

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6 Metaphor as a Discourse Strategy

Metaphors in advertising discourse are a frequently employed linguistic device.

Pointing out their ubiquity, Schmidt (2002) states that metaphors are always

used to “express values, thought patterns, norms, etc.” As a discourse strategy,

metaphors operate on the principle of transferring features of one conceptual

domain (for example a living creature, human body, money, etc.) to another

domain (for example a promoted product). From the recipient’s point of view,

this discourse strategy bears similarity to discourse strategies of storytelling

and intertextuality in how it delimits a certain interpretive mental space and

allows its filling in with contents that are highly desired by the senders.

6.1 Metaphor as a Cognitive Device

The 1980s saw a breakthrough in linguistic research into metaphors. Many

earlier works view metaphorical expressions as figures of speech, linguistic

devices employed by writers and poets in order to express ideas in a novel,

creative and unusual way and thus create a unique effect. In 1980, the book

Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson initiated a

completely new understanding of metaphors as a pervasive, omnipresent

concept. Studies of metaphors as a cognitive device, sense-making tool

brought a deeper and more complex understanding of how we make sense of

the world, to a large extent due to the ability of our minds to map certain

features of one domain onto another domain and thus make the meaning

comprehensible and interpretable. Metaphors have moved from the realm of

literature to everyday talk; from highly skilled and talented word-masters to all

language users regardless of their education, age, gender, cultural bonds and

social status.

6.1.2 Functions of Metaphors

Draaisma (2003, 20) states that some metaphorical expressions, especially

those found in scientific discourse, are unavoidable: there is no other way of

expressing some phenomena but by means of metaphors (e.g. when we talk of

immune system cells “recognizing” pathogens). Other metaphors, on the other

hand, may be seen as redundant; they are used for non-informative, aesthetic

purposes. Strictly speaking, what is said by a metaphor could be said directly,

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literally (2003, 20). Implanting this view to the advertising context, metaphors

are decorative and replaceable, yet it is only justified in a decontextualized

environment. In advertising discourse they serve a much broader spectrum of

functions than adding poetic value: they help the advertisers promote products

or disperse product-related ideologies and thus fulfill advertising goals. The

metaphors found in ads are dispensable only at the price of stripping the texts

of their persuasive and aesthetic force. In Jakobson’s outline of the functions of

language, their primary function is not purely poetic, thus balancing between

emotive, conative and referential (1995, 73-76).

6.1.3 Presence of Metaphors in Printed Ads

Kövecses (2002, 59) points out the conditioning character of metaphors in ads:

“The selling power of an advertisement depends on how well-chosen the

conceptual metaphor is that the picture and/or the words used in the

advertisement attempt to evoke in people. An appropriately selected metaphor

may work wonders in promoting the sale of an item.” As noted by Kövecses

(ibid.), ads feature various types of metaphors (depicted by picture and/or

words) of which only some can be seen as a discourse strategy. Two types of

advertising metaphor/metonymy domain transfers that do not seem to operate

as a discourse strategy are pointed out by Ungerer (2003).

First, Ungerer (ibid., 321) notes that advertising illustrations can be understood

as “initiations of conceptual metaphors just like the linguistic realizations with

which they often interact”. In other words, ad illustrations operate as an anchor

of one domain while the second domain may be the promoted item itself, the

brand name, the producer, or the verbalized part of the message. THE AD

ILLUSTRATION IS THE PRODUCT may be seen as an underlying

conceptual metaphor in virtually every printed ad containing an illustration.

The second domain transfer rests in the substance of ads, which operate as

representations of products. It takes a form of the underlying metonymy THE

AD FOR THE PRODUCT and/or THE AD FOR THE ACT OF BUYING.

Ungerer says: “The products advertised are never really present in the advert,

they are represented by a picture or a brand name, which metonymically stand

for the item in question. Similarly, the act of buying, which is the ultimate goal

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of the consumer advertising, is never executed in the advert” (ibid.). Both

mentioned metaphors/metonymy are considered to be the defining print

advertising substance and not the employment of a discourse strategy.

6.1.4 Metaphors Used as a Discourse Strategy in Advertising

Within the aim of studying metaphors as a discourse strategy in advertising it is

necessary to partially conceive of the notion of metaphors as figures of speech,

i.e. the aesthetic, beautifying discourse features. It is due to the fact that in

advertising, metaphors are used by skilled, talented writers, and they are

regularly intended to cause a special effect on the recipient. As noted by

Velasco-Sacristán and Fuertes-Olivera (2006, 1984), “advertisers produce

metaphorical utterances to invite their audience to process the utterance. In

doing so, the audience is made to see resemblances between the promoted

product or service and the object or property feature in the metaphor.” By that,

metaphors in ads resemble literary metaphors. They are not intended to make

sense of the objective reality; instead, they are used intentionally and

strategically to allow highly personalized yet sender-controlled interpretation

of the advertising message. Their meaning potential is limited by the capacity

of the domains and by the borders of the established mental space. Which part

of the meaning potential is used and how the recipient fills in the mental space

is a matter of personal choice and self-realization.

Metaphor as a discourse strategy is understood to be detectable in the

verbalized part of an ad and intentionally used by the senders in order to reach

a desired effect upon the recipient. In line with Hatch and Brown (1995, 87) the

metaphor is seen as “a cognitive and social semantic process”, which in the

pragmatic context is “as fundamental as literal reference in semantics”. In

printed ads, the full meaning potential of metaphors is often reached only in the

context setting, when both the verbalized message and the illustration become

part of the decoding process. Multiple channels may provide cues for

interpreting metaphors, yet ads with their dominant verbal realization are of

major interest in this dissertation.

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Metaphor as a figure of speech is used in advertising in order to reach a desired

effect on the recipients and their discourse interpretation. In pragmatic ad

analysis, though, the cognitive concept of metaphor (as proposed and advanced

by Lakoff and Johnson, 1980; Sweetser, 1990; Kovecses, 2002; and other

researchers in cognitive linguistics) is applied. The metaphor is seen as a

process of meaning inference established through relating two independent

domains. Velasco-Sacristán and Fuertes-Olivera define it as follows:

“Metaphors are basic cognitive mechanisms, whereby one experiential domain

is partly mapped onto a different experiential domain, and the second domain

partially understood in terms of the first one”. (2006, 1982-1983). This

mapping is seen as the essence of filling recipient’s mental-space when

metaphor as a discourse strategy is applied.

As a linguistic phenomenon, the metaphor is a dual-level device connecting

words and images; a tool operating between two conceptual areas, usually

between concrete and abstract ones. It is “a mapping from a certain source

domain onto a target domain” (Velasco-Sacristán and Fuertes-Olivera, 2006,

1984). It is a cognitive transfer through which connotations of a word are

transferred to a new, foreign context (Draaisma 2003, 19). In the pragmatic

sense, it must be understood as a tool operating in context and being dependent

on it. In advertising, it is a persuasive device used “as a way of communicating

difficult-to-grasp messages, … a persuasive device that hides as well as

reveals” (Velasco-Sacristán and Fuertes-Olivera 2006, 1984). Examples of this

dual functionality are included in the following analyses (see Ch. 6.2.2.5).

6.1.5 Creating and Filling the Mental Space with Metaphors

Metaphors as a strategic device operate by outlining and filling the recipient’s

mental space. First, it is the recipient’s genre-literacy that allows for allotting

some cognitive capacity to the text interpretation. Ad recipients expect that the

message can be figurative, delivered implicitly, and breaking the cooperative

norms. Secondly, the mental space is created when the direct, literary

interpretation fails and the recipient is challenged to search for a more

sophisticated way of decoding. In Gricean terms, the creation of the mental

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space can be conditioned by registering a violation of maxims of the

Cooperative Principle (Searle 1993, Levinson 1983, Thomas 1995, Mey 2001).

The filling of the mental space is activated with two related conceptual

domains present and the meaning of the message originating in the transfer of

features from the source domain to the target one. Pragmatically it is labeled as

inferring the meaning, as Mey (2001, 90) states that “inference has to be

'drawn out' of the text; it is something we establish, based on the available facts

as contained in the text”. In the cognitive perspective (which is a traditional

metaphor-studying field and thus a certain terminological authority), Kövecses

(2002, 6) explains the same notion as “systematic correspondences between

the source and the target in the sense that constituent conceptual elements of B

correspond to constituent elements of A. Technically, these […] are often

referred to as mappings.” It is inferring the meaning, or mapping the features

of B to A, which corresponds to the notion of filling the mental space by means

of metaphors. As Kövecses (2002, 9) further notes, traditionally only some

components of one domain become mapped onto the other domain. However,

advertising discourse leaves more creative space for mapping, and it is

frequently adorned with correspondences that are unaccounted for in

stereotypical use.

Mental space is a highly individualized phenomenon that becomes created,

filled and explored by each recipient in a unique way. Recipient’s interpretive

processes are determined and guided by the characteristics of the advertising

genre, by the context of each ad and by personal experience and individual

thought processes. Spotting and processing a metaphor is, nevertheless,

considered a sign of higher intelligence and thus of higher status. It is not

surprising then to find metaphors consistently employed in certain ways with

certain products which are associated with certain target recipients. However,

background knowledge and shared cultural values are often crucial for

successful ad interpretation. For Gumperz (1992), sharing linguistic and socio-

cultural knowledge is essential in order to fulfill the goal of communication. In

that sense Stubbe (2000, 1) notes: “The successful negotiation of meaning is

dependent on a great deal more than the verbal interaction itself, including

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shared access to and understanding of activities, physical objects and processes

referred to in a particular exchange.” The mental space becomes processed by

metaphorical mapping, which is enabled or aided by background knowledge.

6.2 Metaphors Used as a Discourse Strategy

The following analysis discloses two basic types of metaphors used as strategic

devices:

(a) the category of revealing metaphors that are intended to reveal

unique and pleasing associations;

(b) the category of ideological metaphors operating on the basis of

establishing ideological concepts.

The creative revealing metaphors convey a range of novel implicatures which

the recipient is expected to process and map onto the promoted commodity in

order to create the desired image of the product. This is often done through

creative, non-standard metaphors, including personifications. The following ad

for an alcoholic beverage illustrates such use in the form of personification

(THE PRODUCT IS A LIVING CREATURE): “Watch out! This Wine Jumps

Out of Your Glass! FishEye.” (US3)

Standard, non-creative revealing metaphors that do not draw on creative

strength are examined as a sub-category of this type since they often appear

side by side with the creatively used metaphorical images. These recognizable

metaphors encourage the recipients to strengthen the existing ideas and

opinions through using predictable, non-innovative language patterns and

metaphorical mappings. Usually these metaphors appear in the form of noun-

verb collocations, such as in the following ad for a skin cleanser, where the

metaphorical collocation of “skin breathes” is repeated several times. Thus, the

underlying conceptual metaphor SKIN IS AN ORGANISM can be detected:

“Skin so naturally clear it breathes. Skin that breathes is skin that can be free

of breakouts and blemishes. So, go natural, go Swiss. With St. Ives Apricot

Scrubs and Cleansers. Oil-free. 100% natural exfoliants, never synthetic. With

salicylic acid to clean deep into pores. Removing dirt, oil and dead skin cells

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that cause blemishes. Allowing skin to breathe. So your skin looks fresh and

clear. Visibly healthy. Naturally Swiss. St. Ives Swiss Formula. ” (US3)

The ideological metaphors, which is the second major category, are intended to

hide certain concepts. They tend to be ideologically loaded; they “exploit the

audience’s search for cognitive efficiency, often giving rise to covertly

communicated [ideological] interpretations” (Velasco-Sacristán and Fuertes-

Olivera, 2006, 1987). Their hiding power lies in hiding the socio-politico-

cultural philosophies which they use in order to sell rather than in hiding some

mappings which undermine the image of the product. Such ideological

metaphors “can have far-reaching cognitive as well as ideological

consequences” (Goatly 1997, 79). An example of such a use can be found in

the following luxury cosmetics ad. In it, skin ageing is a metaphoric target

domain and the source domain belongs to the concept of war, which creates the

ideologically loaded metaphor SKIN ageing IS AN ENEMY: “Fight Skin

Ageing Where it Starts. It is never too early – or too late – to intervene on your

skin's behalf. NEW Anti-ageing Emulsion SPF 30 Anti-ageing Eye cream SPF

15 Available from 2nd October. La Prairie SWITZERLAND” (VF7).

6.2.1 Distribution in the Corpus under Investigation

Metaphors seem to be the most frequently explored discourse strategy. One

hundred and twenty-four instances have been identified within the corpus. Out

of these, fifty-three are found in Vanity Fair and seventy-one in tabloid

magazines, which points to some preferential distribution towards tabloids. The

statistical indicator, however, appears to be slightly different when

personifications, as the most frequently appearing subtype of metaphors, are

counted separately. Due to their frequency and specific features,

personifications are analyzed in a separate sub-chapter. The non-personifying

metaphors comprise sixty-two instances of revealing and nine ideological

metaphors, out of which thirty-five are found in Vanity Fair and thirty-six in

tabloids. This points to a more balanced distribution. Personifications appear in

fifty-three ads, only eighteen of them in Vanity Fair and thirty-five in tabloids.

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6.2.2 Revealing Metaphors

6.2.2.1 Long Body Copies

In this category, low-involvement products are predominantly promoted.

Thirty-one ads exploring metaphors as a discourse strategy with body copies

over twenty words are identified; twelve of them can be found in Vanity Fair

and nineteen in tabloid magazines. The most frequently promoted low-

involvement products are food and non-luxury cosmetics with ten and six

instances respectively; the most frequent high-involvement products are cars

(six instances) and watches/jewels (five ads). Long body copies contain an

abundance of technical description which strengthens the utility value and thus

operates as a reason-evoking advertising strategy. The tickle strategy is

employed simultaneously, with metaphors used as emotion-adding elements.

Metaphorical expressions appear randomly throughout long body copies. They

allow the presentation of technical details on the products and instructions on

their use in a coherent way – they provide intratextual coherence on the level of

lexical choice (Chilton and Schäffner 2002, 29). They also allow the recipient

to feel like a co-author of the textual meaning, since the mental space created

in reading the ad is to be explored in an individualized way: the recipient is

invited to fill it with metaphorical mapping of his/her choice. At the same time,

the recipient’s creativity is not left unattended: the outline of the space is

imposed by the sender, stated by the lexical clues in the text.

The source domain is mapped onto a target domain in all metaphor-utilizing

ads. The following ads promote non-luxury cosmetics and primarily explore

the conceptual metaphor SKIN IS A REPLACEABLE COVER, with SKIN

being the target domain.

(1) Clinique Liquid facial soap. Mild Clarifying lotion. Dramatically

different moisturizing lotion. Sleep in. It's just 3 minutes to great skin.

Clinique's 3-Step Skin Care is such a simple, effective system, it takes just 3

minutes in the morning and again at night to wake up in great skin. Developed

by dermatologists and custom-fit by Experts, this logical routine of cleanse,

exfoliate, moisturise is all you need to rouse new transparency, clarity, life.

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Know how great your skin looks after a good night's sleep - clear, smooth,

radiant. It could be like that. Every day. Clinique. Alergy Tested. 100%

Fragrance Free. (VF1)

(2) Yes. Gentle exfoliation can be effective. Sweep away the dullness, keep

the glow. Twice-a-day exfoliation with Clarifying Lotion sweeps away dulling

flakes. Nudges fresher, livelier looking skin to the surface. In four skin-typed

strengths, it's the heart of our dermatologist-developed 3-Step System of

cleanse, exfoliate, moisturize. So yes, dry skins accept moisture better. Oily

skins see fewer breakouts. Fine lines are visibly softened. Texture, refined. Can

great skin be created? Yes. Come for a custom-fitting. Allergy Tested. 100%

Fragrance Free. Clinique. (VF6)

(3) The Lycopene in tomatoes is proven to boost your immune system. Now

it's in skincare that actually boosts skin's radiance from the inside out. New.

Garnier Skin Renew. Nutrition + Dermatology. A 1st from Garnier. Skin

Renew with unique dermatological nutrients refuels cells within skin's deepest

surface layers: LYCOPENE powerful anti-oxidant VITAMIN C surface cell

renewal MAGNESIUM energizes + hydrates. A clinical study proves: in 3

weeks tone and texture are transformed for a deeper radiance. Great skin from

the inside out. GARNIER. Take care. (P2)

“Three minutes to great skin”, “Wake up in great skin” (example 1), “nudges

fresher … skin to the surface”, “can great skin be created” (example 2) and

“skin from the inside out” (example 3) all evoke the image of skin which can

be manipulated, replaced or changed in a similar way as a dress or uncovered

as a lower-lying layer of clothes. The possible other mappings of clothes are

beauty, trendiness, smartness, neatness, but also protection, usefulness and

necessity. All of these, and supposedly many others (based on very personal

interpretations), can become the contents of the interpretative mental space and

be mapped onto the domain of one’s skin. The idea that skin can be chosen is

certainly attractive for the majority of fashion-conscious magazine readers.

It seems to be frequent that one conceptual metaphor operates as the leading

interpretative force, but others can be present as well and complete the emotive

image of the ad. TIME IS A DISTANCE in (1) can be found behind “three

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minutes to great skin”. SKIN CARE IS A LIVING ORGANISM in (2) is

present in “the heart … of cleanse, exfoliate, moisturize”. SKIN CARE IS A

STIMULATING FORCE in (3) is found in “skincare that actually boosts

skin's radiance”.

All three examples use the metaphor LIGHT IS A POSITIVE SKIN

FEATURE which can be seen in expressions such as “skin looks radiant”,

“keep the glow”, “deeper radiance”. This can be understood as a specification

of a deeply rooted LIGHT IS POSITIVE conceptual metaphor which is

pervasive in English language use. Expressions such as “glowing with

satisfaction”, “he took a shine to her” or “bright idea” are easy to find in

different types of discourse.

A similar situation appears with high-involvement products. The metaphors

penetrate the longer body copies which usually present technical details of the

product. However, the choice of metaphors is not as uniform as with the

cosmetics products.

(4) Pull over occasionally and let your blood cool. The acceleration alone

will take your breath away. Match it with a 165-mph top track speed and a

suspension that feels tuned to your every thought, and the Cayenne Turbo is

enough to send you on an endless drive. Stopping only for those occasions

when your senses redline. Porsche. There is no substitute. The Cayenne Turbo.

(VF9)

(5) Fall off the edge of the map. 4Runner. Expanding Your Universe. The

Toyota 4Runner's arsenal of smart advancements can carry you up

unbelievable inclines and over inhospitable terrain. So when you've reached

the end of everyone else's world, yours is just beginning. Discover more at

toyota.com Toyota. Moving Forward. (P6)

In (4), the metaphor re-surfacing throughout the text is USING THE

PRODUCT IS AN ULTIMATE PHYSIOLOGICAL EXPERIENCE.

Expressions such as “let your blood cool”, “take your breath away”, “senses

redline” all refer to bodily functions in extreme conditions. These expressions

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and technical details of the car (“acceleration”, “track speed”, “suspension”)

appear scattered throughout the text and create an impression of the metaphors

being identical with the technicalities. The emotional value added to the

product through such a metaphor is unquestionable. In (5), the domain of a

body is replaced by a domain of geographically-defined space. Expressions

such as “map”, “universe”, “inclines”, “terrain”, “world” serve as a source

domain, features of which are mapped onto the target domain of using the

product. The recipient can choose any of the features of the broad source

domain and transfer them to the target one. That gives the recipient extended

interpretative power to fill in the mental space.

Similarly to examples (1) through (3), more underlying conceptual metaphors

can be detected in both (4) and (5), e.g. BODY IS A CONTAINER,

EXCITEMENT IS HEAT, THINKING IS SOUND, UNIVERSE/WORLD IS

AN EXPANDABLE FORM. As these are deep rooted and common in the

language use, they can be seen as directing the interpretation of the ad in a

predictable way.

The samples analyzed so far have been generally based on cohesive chains, i.e.

lexical items that evoke similar associations and appear in different places of

the text (as defined by Barry 2003, 158). The identification of the actual

metaphors is mostly left to the recipient. It is possible that such metaphors stay

undetected by many, or are processed only literally. Thus the interpretation

may stay only in the form of a fuzzy perception. To aid the processing on a

metaphorical basis, some ads offer cues for directing the inference of meaning.

The following ads contain a metaphor they explore in a direct form:

(6) What's a boundary? RX 400h. The world's first high performance

hybrid SUV. Conventional logic is a boundary. Lexus logic is different. It

brings together the unheard of combination of V8-like power, superior fuel

efficiency, and lower, category-leading CO2 emissions. How? Through Lexus

Hybrid Drive, which cleverly links a petrol engine with two electric motors.

The result is the RX400h. A unique SUV, built to demolish boundaries and

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open up a whole new world of driving for you. Lexus. The pursuit of perfection.

(VF8)

(7) Hyundai. Drive your way. If greatness is a destination, we're on the

road to it. Hyundai Tucson is the "Highest Ranked Compact Multi-Activity

Vehicle in Initial Quality." We're going places people never thought possible.

Like the top of the automotive world. Our most recent milestone is no accident.

It's the result of years of focus, determination, and drive. Not to mention lots of

rethinking. When you follow a map of excellence, you're bound to pick up a few

treasures along the way. HyundaiUSA.com TUCSON (US3)

“Conventional logic is a boundary” in (6) is a metaphor in itself. The recipient

is directed to interpret the ad as the product being a problem-solving agent,

since the metaphor presents a problem and the product is “built to demolish

boundaries”. In this case, negative features can appear in the mental space (e.g.

customary procedures, habitual behavior, patterns, prejudice); the problem-

solving structure of the ad, however, requires that in order to make the ad

efficient the product is the problem solver to the negative contents. In (7), the

verbalized metaphor is “greatness is a destination” and the product is

promoted as a means of reaching the destination. In the ads in which metaphors

are clearly stated, the process of metaphorical mapping is aided and more

closely directed. The reason strategy seems to be mildly imposed. When more

space is left for the individual interpretation (as in examples 4 and 5),

emotional value seems to be more prominent. However, metaphors in any form

allow the mental space of the recipient to be filled in by associated attitudes,

feelings, personal experiences or desires.

Some longer body copies use metaphors only in a restricted placement within

the ad. The following ads are based on the descriptive discourse strategy,

displaying a range of technical details concerning the promoted products. This

conforms to the reason strategy. Metaphors are present only in the slogan or the

headline, which marginalizes the tickle strategy. Slogans do not contribute to

the overall information load of the ad message; instead, they function as a

display of the corporate identity. They serve as a signature of either the

producer or a unique identification of the product brand. They are used

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repeatedly in advertising campaigns and thus their main function is to remind

the recipient of the product/producer (Křížek and Crha 2003, 96). A vivid

metaphorical expression may serve the purpose well: its informative value is

low, yet the memorability may be very high due to extensive cognitive

processing.

(8) It's anything but cute. The all-new 2007 Dodge Caliber starting at

$14,135. 172-horsepower 2.4 liter engine. Available MusicGate Power Boston

Acoustics sound system with swing-down liftgate speakers. Visit dodge.com or

call XXX. Grab life by the horns. Dodge. (P3)

(9) Three ribbons. Three levels of skincare. If you like an intensely

moisturized feel, try BODY BUTTER ribbons. If you like a fresh-skin feel, try

LOTION ribbon. If you like a creamy, moisturized feel, try CRÈME ribbons.

Olay. Love the skin you're in. (P6)

(10) Unlock and conquer. Golden Bridge. The mystifying timepiece to

release the passion within. The first Corum in-house movement, originally

created in 1980, is a unique "in-line" movement suspended in a transparent

case. Four sapphire crystals allow viewing of the movement from all

directions. Each element is conceived and developed respecting the highest

code of Haute Horlogerie, and hand-assembled by our master watchmakers.

Visit www.corum.ch Corum La Chaux-de-Fonds, Suisse (VF3)

Both (8) and (9) use metaphorical slogans that are found in other ads of the

same producer within the corpus. “Grab life by the horns” is an idiomatic

phrase based on a LIFE IS A WILD ANIMAL THAT CAN BE TAMED

metaphor that allows mapping of the features of taming the wild animal to the

notion of life, here restricted to “life with the product”. The recipient may

imagine the excitement, power, a rodeo, a hard yet enjoyable activity and the

reward coming after it, all associated with using the product. “Love the skin

you're in” is based on the metaphor analyzed in examples (1), (2) and (3). It

serves as a mapping for skin being treated as clothes – the ultimate visual

statement for one's personality. The rest of the ad message gives the recipient

the usage options. Thus the ad is also a case of employed reason strategy with a

strong tickle closure.

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Example (10) uses a single metaphor, too, this time in its headline only.

Watches and jewels are frequently promoted with short metaphorical body

copies. This ad seems to be similar to other luxury item ads in that it employs

one metaphor in its copy; in a rather unusual way, technical details follow. The

featured metaphor is rather difficult to grasp because only one domain is

present; the other one must be guessed (PRODUCT (?) IS A

CITY/CASTLE/TEMPLE THAT CAN BE RULED). This fuzziness seems to

be typical of promoting luxury, low-utility products. The metaphorical

language seems to function as a decoration, a sign of sophistication even if it

stays undecoded.

Examples (8), (9) and (10) use a single metaphorical phrase, and therefore the

mental space for its interpretation is rather limited. Yet, its significant location

and repeated use make it salient and noteworthy.

6.2.2.2 Revealing Metaphors in Short Body Copies

Short body copies, i.e. ad messages under twenty words, usually do not

implement a descriptive discourse strategy. With short messages, advertisers

try to promote the products by evoking recipient’s emotions. This means that

the advertising tickle strategy is dominant in an overwhelming way. Using

metaphors as a discourse strategy clearly fulfills the function of evoking

emotive responses. In short body copies it generally means that the whole copy

is a single metaphor. Twenty-six metaphorical short body copies are identified

in the corpus; fifteen of them are found in Vanity Fair and eleven in tabloids.

The majority of these promote low-utility, high-involvement products such as

jewels and watches (eight instances) and luxury clothes and accessories (seven

instances). This proportion corresponds to the predominance of this type of ads

in Vanity Fair as a high-end magazine.

Some ads have short body copies because the metaphor they employ is

suggested via illustration. Such cases can be labeled verbal-pictorial

metaphors. The picture does not promote the product as it is but aids the

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metaphorical transfer of features of the source domain onto the target domain

(which is usually the product). The following Motorola ad illustrates the point:

(11)

(P6)

The product is visually depicted as if it were candy. PRODUCT IS

DELICIOUS FOOD allows an extended mapping of features such as pleasure,

enjoyment, treat, reward, colorful choice, accessibility, play, etc. The

verbalized part of the metaphor, the “Yum!” interjection, depicts one of the

features that are to be mapped onto the product. The mobile phone is obviously

not an edible item even though the picture and the headline suggest it; a direct

transfer is thus ruled out by general knowledge. In search for interpretation, the

recipient can primarily attach the wide color choice that suits both the product

and candies, and then may continue filling the mental space with other features

mentioned above.

Promoting jewels and luxury items such as perfumes or designer clothes is

almost exclusively done through purely visual messages, or if a text is

incorporated, it tends to be a short body copy. The purpose is solely to evoke

emotive responses from the recipients. “I like it so I want it” is the most desired

response. Metaphors found in such ads are often very fuzzy and hard to

process, and as such they often stay undecoded. Their meaning potential is

generally very unclear. They seem to operate on the basis of symbolism: the

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abstraction they explore functions as a totem of sophistication. Sophisticated

minds capable of appreciating such metaphors tend to be well educated,

culturally advanced, belonging among other people capable of such

appreciation. They usually also rank among those who can afford such items.

Metaphors used in such ads seem to serve as a social status indicator rather

than a linguistic device of meaning-creation.

(12) Chatila Jewellers since 1860 The Art of Happiness. (VF7)

(13) Gehry Beauty without rules. The Frank Gehry Collection. Tiffany &

Co. (VF5)

Both ads feature metaphors relating a product to some entity which is rather

abstract and not easily identifiable. (12) associates the jewels with an artifact;

however, this artifact is the one depicting the feeling of happiness. That means

that another metaphor, HAPPINESS IS AN ARTISTICALLY DEPICTED

OBJECT, is found underneath. Its mapping is still rather unclear since art is a

notion which resists exact definition and unified understanding. A similar

situation appears in (13), where the product is (metaphorically) related to

beauty. The syntactic form suggests the metaphor that normally BEAUTY IS A

RULE-GOVERNED STRUCTURE, and this product is special because it does

not obey the common rules. What seems to be more important than the specific

metaphorical mapping here is the idea inferred from the message: the product

is a rule-breaker and still beautiful. That is a highly desired quality with many

luxury-seeking recipients: unique, non-standard, non-customary and still

attractive. The metaphors in short body copies seem to function as status-

enhancing elements, evoking recipient’s emotional response based on feeling

sophisticated and special and thus well-suited consumer of this product rather

than processing the metaphor as domain mapping. The mental space of the

recipients seems to be filled with personal satisfaction and status-consciousness

rather than by metaphorical mapping. In this sense, the complete metaphorical

short copy ads function as metaphors that can be identified as

APPRECIATING THE AD IS HAVING DESIRED SOCIAL STATUS.

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6.2.2.3 Personifications

Personification is defined as “taking place when an inanimate object is the

grammatical subject of a verbal or mental process” (Velasco-Sacristán 2010,

76). According to Kövecses (2002, 35), personification is a type of ontological

metaphor and it “permits us to use knowledge about ourselves to comprehend

other aspects of the world” (ibid, 50). The metaphorical mapping occurs

between an inanimate domain and a domain depicting a person. Recipients fill

the mental space with emotions and attitudes towards a product or a related

object that they would normally have towards a person. Personification

supports the dialogic discourse as well: communication with the environment is

a defining feature of animate entities. Due to the personification, the product is

frequently perceived as speaking to the recipient. This enhances mutuality,

reciprocity and the involvement of the recipient in ad interpretation.

Personification is a frequent type of metaphor, which is why it is analyzed as a

separate category. Fifty-three instances are identified in the corpus, with a

dominant presence of thirty- five cases in tabloids. Only eighteen

personification ads, one-third of the total number, are found in the magazine

Vanity Fair. Low-involvement or high-utility products such as non-luxury

cosmetics, packaged food, beverages and cars are promoted in the tabloids

while high-involvement and low-utility products such as jewels, luxury

cosmetics and brand-name clothing are promoted in Vanity Fair.

The most frequently researched and studied personification in advertising is

THE COMMODITY IS THE CONSUMER (Borchers 2005, Kövecses 2002,

Velasco-Sacristán 2010). The samples analyzed in this dissertation point to a

broader employment of personification. The animate source domain is not

exclusively a consumer; instead, a person with no specific role occupies the

spot. The commodity, or the promoted product, is the target domain. The

following ads make the inanimate product objects of processes usually

attributed to people, and thus explore the metaphor PRODUCT IS A PERSON:

(14) Shyness Cured. Peugeot 207 CC. Drive of your Life. Peugeot. (VF4)

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(15) A disposable razor has never taken a woman's legs so seriously. The

performance of our most advanced razor. The convenience of a disposable.

Introducing the Schick Quattro for Women. Disposable. With four ultra-thin

blades and two conditioning strips, no other disposable gives you a closer,

smoother, more comfortable shave. The Power of 4 is now disposable. Schick

Quattro For Women Disposable. (LS1)

(16) The toothpaste that never sleeps. Fights germs for 12 hours day &

night. Colgate Total. # Recommended by Dentists. (US1)

Both (15) and (16) contain verbs that can normally be understood as actions of

humans, and so the personification is made explicit. The products exhibit

abilities of people who care and protect: the razor in (15) takes “woman's legs

so seriously”, and it seemingly actively “gives a shave”. The toothpaste in (16)

“never sleeps” and “fights germs … day & night” and so it is assigned the role

of a 24/7 guardian. Both ideas are appealing, creating a positive product image.

In (14) the personification is implicit and it is detectable only after deeper

processing. The car is described by a noun phrase “shyness cured”. The

recipients are invited to deduce that it has emotions, which is generally a

domain of people. If the car as a target domain can be shy and can recover

from that feeling, it may as well have other feelings and go through emotional

processes. This mapping of the human psyche onto the product is only limited

by the recipient’s imagination and, as is shown below, cultural values, which

may play a significant role.

Ad (14) metaphorically exhibits cultural values that may help create a positive

image of the product. SHYNESS IS A DISEASE is an underlying conceptual

metaphor since if something needs to be cured (“shyness cured”), it is a

disease. Shyness is not a prized value in today's western world; it is an

antithesis of a progressive, modern member of our society. American recipients

may better appreciate dynamic, active and energetic people. When the

promoted product is portrayed as not having the undesired traces, it is in line

with the dominant cultural values. The metaphorical mapping may be directed

to an extensive range of antonyms of shyness (Nemčoková 2009, 95). The

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recipient’s mental space is broad when such an extensive notion is employed;

advertisers seem to “give up” a large proportion of the control over the

persuasive force of the ads.

Interestingly, the explicitness/implicitness duality discussed between (15) /

(16) and (14) respectively correlates with the type of product promoted: both

(15) and (16) promote practical daily cheap products in tabloids, which seem to

be promoted by explicit means. (14), on the other hand, promotes a high-

involvement product in Vanity Fair, which seems to be more often based on

implicit means.

The promoted product is not the only the target domain in personification ads.

The following ads illustrate personifications where the source domain of a

person is mapped onto a target domain of inanimate objects, which

nevertheless are always related to the product. This is very often the case of ads

promoting non-luxury cosmetics. The target domain is the skin, i.e. the

material for which the product is used. The metaphor referred to is SKIN IS A

PERSON.

(17) So purifying, it's like a mini-sauna for your face. New Olay Warming

Cleansers. Feel the exhilarating warmth of New Olay Warming Cleansers.

Feel them not just cleansing, but purifying your skin. Removing impurities

better than basic cleansing. Your pores will sit back, relax and say "Ahh..."

Olay love the skin you're in. (P2)

(18) Suddenly, my skin is an extrovert. No longer content to live in the

shadow of my smile, it wants to be the center of attention. This new skin and I

were made for each other. The new Jergens Moisturizing Collection. From our

reformulated Original Scent to our new Shea Butter moisturizers, our unique

collection transforms skin. Leaving it so remarkably smooth, soft and radiant,

you won't be the only one who notices. Put your best skin out there. (US3)

(19) Dove Cool Moisture. A refreshing drink to your skin. Summer heat

taking its toll? Freshen up with Dove Cool Moisture. The line of gentle-to-

your-skin products created with 1/4 hydrating lotion. And the uplifting

fragrance of cucumber and green tea. It's everything your skin thirsts for. (P5)

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It is either the skin as a whole or elements of skin only that function as target

domains. In (17), pores of skin are attributed the ability to “sit back, relax and

say Ahh...". The extended mapping which may fill in the mental space revolves

around the feeling of relief after dealing with a problem, when everything is

solved and a well-deserved relaxation follows. Since all the recipients are

expected to have such an experience, the desired processing is guaranteed. The

effect of the ad message is intensified by the intertextual voice of the pores.

The idea that pores have something to say and say directly (which clearly

belongs to the realm of human behavior) strongly supports the personification

effect and thus the dialogic quality of the discourse. (18) illustrates skin

perception as a complex human being, with a psychological profile

(“extrovert”) and life experience (“to live in the shadow of ...”). The recipient

is encouraged to view it as a person who due to the product went from being

shy to enjoying the exposure and craving attention. The change depicted in the

ad results in the skin becoming a partner for the product user: “This new skin

and I were made for each other” introduces the skin as being the object of

affections and desire. The power of mapping that can originate from such an

emotional source domain is potentially immense. (19) presents a slightly more

limited domain, where the skin is seen as a thirsty person. The unpleasant

feelings we experience when we are thirsty are limited in range but can be

excruciatingly intense. The product is portrayed as solving the thirst problem.

The mapping is not rich in scale, yet its lean towards the utility value of the

product – the skin moisturizer – makes this specific attribute root strongly in

the mental space. The mapping in the examples above can operate in two

different dimensions: (a) the width of attributes possibly entering the mental

space; (b) the depth and intensity of the dominant feature.

Other product-related objects can become target domains in personification-

exploring ads. They may be the objects related to the unique selling proposition

(the feature that differentiates the product from the others in the category), or

items which complement the product.

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(20) Seven airbags for you. One for the planet. Designed for today and

tomorrow. With emission-reducing hybrid technology to help protect the

future. And a host of standard safety features to help make sure you're around

to see it. Camry. When a car becomes more. toyota.com The all-new 2007

Camry. Toyota. Moving Forward (P5)

(21) OREO. Milk's favourite cookie. (P4)

A unique selling proposition (USP) for a car may be its power, efficiency, or

technological advancement. In (20), environmental friendliness is depicted as

the USP of the product. The planet, the protection of which is the basis of all

environmentalist activity, is implicitly portrayed as a person with “one

[airbag] for the planet”. Airbags are meant to save people, who are vulnerable

and frequently hurt in cars. Airbags are known to save lives. The mapping of

such features onto the domain of the planet helps understand the planet as a

living, organic being that needs protection and careful handling as much as

every individual. This ad incorporates awareness of cultural and social norms,

or one of the leading current ideologies, in a similar way as was discussed with

(14). The responsibility for “doing good” is seen as part of the producer's

agenda. The Oreo ad (21) incorporates the “doing good” idea in a different

way. It suggests a possible way to consume the product: by dipping it in milk.

The personification of milk evokes children's interpretation of the world: the

substance is presented as a happy person when the cookie is dipped in it. The

emotions mapped onto milk are sheer happiness and joy derived from good

food. What makes the impact of the ad (and filling the mental space) stronger

is the fact that the consumer is indirectly seen as the one who can cause this

happiness for milk; he/she can be “doing good”. Causing good feelings in

others is a more complex and deeper emotion-enhancing process. The milk is

seen not only as a happy being, but it is happy because the consumer caused it.

Personifications in both (20) and (21) do not directly put the product in the

target domain; instead, they use the personifications of related items to show

concerns of the producer or to appeal to the consumer’s behavior.

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6.2.2.4 Metaphors as Cultural Entities

Languages often differ in the expressions originating in conceptual metaphors,

because these conceptual metaphors reflect different cultural values. Reversely,

as language influences our activities, Hatch and Brown (1995, 105) note that

metaphors determine what is normal in culture and they aid common-sense

understanding of the world. They see metaphors as “both a social and cognitive

process” (ibid.). In a similar sense, Kövecses (2005, 160) states that metaphor

and its linguistic expression is motivated both cognitively and culturally and

“conceptual metaphors are just as much cultural entities as they are cognitive

ones.” The advertiser’s awareness of cultural norms may be one of the guiding

elements of exploring the recipient’s mental space, as was discussed with

example (14). In this regard Xiao points out that “the greater the cultural

awareness the advertisers show in making their advertisements, the greater the

receptiveness on the part of consumers and the effectiveness of communication

between advertisers and consumers will be” (2006, 49). When encountering an

ad which is in line with what is understood as correct and right, the creation of

a positive attitude is easier.

Advertisements as a genre, according to Kövecses (2005, 171-172), are major

manifestations of the American mind, so a thorough psycho-linguistic study

would most probably yield a deeper understanding of American “psyche”.

Employment of culture-motivated metaphors in advertising may be one of the

reflecting facets of the psyche-revealing process. As each culture is

characterized by its own metaphors, these appear in ads and help “organize

extensive proportions of experience.” (ibid., 184). One of the characteristic

American metaphors is LIFE IS A SHOW, and it was detected in several ads in

the corpus.

(22) Live like it's one big premiere. Light it up. Diet Coke. (P5)

(23) There are no long lines or tickets required to see the art in the every

day. Banana Republic. (VF10)

The two examples differ in their use of the metaphor on several layers and thus

exhibit some of the LIFE IS A SHOW employment possibilities. Firstly, (22)

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contains two imperatives and thus directly appeals to the recipient. The

straightforward mode is “emotionally softened” by using a metaphor to deliver

the message. The mental space is outlined and the recipient is invited to fill it

in through the metaphorical processing. In this ad, this process is doubled; it

consists of two hierarchically-related mappings. “Light it up” is an expression

from the source domain of a show while the simile “live like it’s one big

premiere” contains implicit specification of the target domain. Due to the

simile, the target domain can be seen as LIVING IN A CERTAIN WAY (IS A

SHOW). The simile functions as a mental-space filling process (A TARGET

DOMAIN IS LIKE A SOURCE DOMAIN) by itself and as such appears to

function as a source domain of the superior metaphor “light up your life (which

is like a premiere)”. The all-encompassing metaphor of this ad is deeply rooted

in American minds so the mapping is certainly rich and rather uncomplicated.

The mapped features may include entertainment, celebrity status, glamour,

wealth, beauty, success, etc., all of which fill the mental space in connection

with the promoted product. The ad seems to be an overt one; it relies on a

double-strong and clear metaphor mapping and delivers it via an imperative.

This is in direct contrast to (23), which presents the product with a negative

statement containing a rather veiled metaphor. More cognitive effort is needed

to process this message and establish the metaphorical mapping. The promoted

product (clothes) is inherently metonymically understood as being the

embodiment of “the art in the every day”. The underlying metaphor is LIFE IS

A SHOW with the source domain being suggested by a cohesive chain of

“long lines”, “tickets” and “art”, and the target domain drawn from “every

day”. However, the logic of the statement goes against the suggested metaphor.

The specific metaphor contrasting the conventional one is “EVERYDAY LIFE

IS ART BUT IT IS NOT A COMMERCIAL SHOW”. The ad explores one of

the deep-rooted American metaphors to criticize the commercial side of

entertainment (with negatively delivered “long lines” and “tickets”) with

mapping of snobbery, artistic freedom sacrificed for financial gain, mass

culture, or pretense. In this way it sells on the basis of a possible meaning

inference of the product representing the simplicity and sincerity of the non-

business side of art/entertainment. In contrast to (22), the recipient is not

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addressed directly; the metaphorical processing is more demanding due to

imposing a polarity switch and a divergence from the cultural norm. This ad

may be more appealing to philosophically-inclined and socially-sophisticated

recipients; these may be desired target consumers as well.

The two ads reveal two sides of a metaphorical mapping spectrum. They also

correspond to the low/high-involvement product promotion pattern: while (22)

seems to be more overt in delivering its message and sells the most well known

soft drink in a tabloid, (23) is more covert, difficult to process and promotes a

fashion brand in a high-end magazine.

Metaphors in ads explore cultural values in varying ways. In (22) and (23) the

metaphor itself depicts the cultural trait in question. The following example

contains a culturally unrelated personification (HANDS ARE PEOPLE), yet

being aware of cultural norms is essential for the successful negotiation of its

meaning.

(24) Your left hand dreams of love. Your right hand makes dreams come

true. Your left hand lives happily ever after. Your right hand lives happily here

and now. Women of the world, raise your right hand. The diamond right hand

ring. View more at adiamondisforever.com. A Diamond Is Forever. Diamond

Trading Company. (VF10)

The personification of two hands as two different people is imaginative and a

rich source of mapping possibilities. Each hand represents a different type of a

personality with a different lifestyle; together they create contrast, one side of

which is the product-related strength. However, the recipient needs to be aware

of American culture norms to understand the contrast. A diamond ring worn on

a woman's left hand symbolizes marriage, and associates with love, romantic

dreams and a kind of emotional utopia often encountered in romantic stories

(hence the intertextual reference of “lives happily ever after”). A diamond ring

worn on the right hand is developed as an antithesis to the symbol of marriage,

the connection of two elements or dependence on another person. It is

understood as a representation of individual strength, personal achievement,

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success, freedom, all embedded in real life. Only when recipients understand

the shared knowledge of this cultural norm is it possible to decode the ad

message appropriately. Example (24) combines metaphorical mapping,

intertextual reference and traces of storytelling set in culturally-coded

advertising context. Unlike examples (22) and (23), the cultural norms in (24)

are meaning-creating elements even if they are not directly depicted by the

metaphor.

6.2.2.5 Non-creative Metaphors

Kövecses (2002, 43) labels the instances analyzed in the previous sub-chapters

as “literary metaphors” creatively constructed by writers or poets and which, he

claims, “often 'jump out' from the text; they have a tendency to be noteworthy

by virtue of their frequently anomalous character ... [They] are typically less

clear but richer in meaning than everyday metaphors”. Such cases evoke the

cognitive activity that leads to filling of recipient’s mental space. The

metaphorical mapping is rich, and due to its uniqueness it enhances the

attractiveness and memorability of the ad – two of the major advertising goals.

However, not all the metaphors found in the ads are of this nature.

Metaphors are so deeply embedded in our lives and language that we are often

unaware of using expressions that are metaphorical (Lakoff and Johnson,

1980). They are as common (or even more common) in daily language as they

are in literature. Meaning of many concepts is created due to our capacity to

infer it through metaphors. Among many cases, we make sense of the concept

of time by speaking of it as money (TIME IS MONEY), which can be seen in

expressions such as “you’re wasting my time”, “this will save you hours”, “I

have some minutes to spend now”, “budget your time well”, “use your time

profitably”, “to investing time in a task” and “it’s worth a while”. Metaphors in

this sense can be seen as a “textual practice that contributes to our developing

and changing consensus about linguistic meaning” (Jeffries 1998, 249).

In ads, such metaphors are rather common. They do not enhance attractiveness

or memorability through novelty and creativity; instead, they seem to fulfill a

function of explanatory devices for some difficult concepts. They are the same

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metaphors and expressions that can be found in daily language use, so their

placement in ads is not supposed to make recipient pause and speculate. Quite

to the contrary; the recipient is expected to understand the concept without

much effort. The concepts that are delivered through non-creative metaphors

are often closely related with the advertised product, such as causes, effects,

characteristics or conditions of use. It is highly advantageous when the cause

for the product to exist or a desired effect caused by the product is clear and

easy to understand. The following ads illustrate the use, with metaphors

marked in bold:

(25) Goal by Beckham. Body by milk. Heads up. The protein in milk helps

build muscle and some studies suggest teens who choose it tend to be leaner.

Staying active, eating right, and drinking 3 glasses a day of lowfat or fat free

milk helps you look great. So grab a glass and get in the game. Got milk?

(David Beckham) (US3)

(26) Nature intended for skin to breathe. St Ives Swiss Formula. Skin that

can breathe is skin at its most natural and healthy. So, go natural, go Swiss.

With St. Ives Apricot Scrubs and Cleansers. 100% natural exfoliants, never

synthetic. To remove impurities, even from pores. Leaving your skin looking

natural, looking healthy. Visibly healthy. Naturally Swiss. St. Ives Swiss

Formula. (US3)

(27) The antioxidant power of Pom Tea [Powered by Pom x]. Model Tea.

Pom Tea is no ordinary iced tea. Every glass is perfection, to a tea. Pom Tea is

made with the finest hand-picked, whole leaf tea and it's gently brewed for a

delicious taste with only 4mg of caffeine. And it even comes in its own keepsake

glass. But what truly makes other teas green with envy? Every refreshing

ounce of Pom Tea is powered by Pom x - a highly concentrated blend of

polyphenol antioxidants made from the same California pomegranates we use

to make our Pom Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice. Which makes it nothing

short of super model tea. Enjoy the tea. Keep the glass. Reap the benefits.

pomtea.com. (P1)

The non-creative metaphor in (25) refers to the effect that is achieved when the

product is consumed. Milk is seen as an active agent capable of physically

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changing our bodies: PROTEINS (in milk) ARE BUILDERS is one of two

conceptual metaphors clarifying the concept of the benefits of milk. It

cognitively simplifies the complex process of the functioning of proteins; the

lay recipients can easily imagine “bricks” of proteins adding volume to

muscles. Another metaphor which is rather common in everyday language use

is BODY IS A BUILDING; the other instances of its existence can be seen in

expressions such as “windows to one’s soul”, “heart of stone”, “he’s well-

built”, “clean the pipes”, “one’s plumbing”, etc.

(26) contains the metaphor SKIN IS A LIVING ORGANISM that was

discussed briefly with example (2). The complex process of skin interacting

with the environment, the absorption of air particles, etc., is simplified and

illustrated by the metaphorical processing of skin behaving as an individual

living organism, i.e. breathing, among other processes. At the same time, if

skin is considered a being, social norms of the western civilization ascribe it

more valuable as well. The metaphorical expression in (26) helps explain the

complex skin-related process and creates a positive image of a valuable living

being. Skin is metaphorically understood as needing protection, care, being

endangered by the outside world as almost any living creature might be.

Most non-creative metaphors in ads are delivered through noun-verb

collocations (“proteins build sthg.”, “skin breathes”, “calories burn”, “use

one’s time”). Example (27) presents another option for a non-creative

metaphor: a noun + noun collocation. Noun phrases are rather frequent in

advertising discourse; a metaphorical concept delivered through such a phrase

strengthens the genre-identification. The underlying metaphor, though, is not

dependent on the grammatical structure. The “power of Pom tea” is an

expression of a conceptual metaphor PRODUCT IS AN ACTIVE AGENT.

Recipients understand that if the tea has power, it is capable of actively doing

things. Substances are often seen as active, powerful agents, which is obvious

in the expressions such as “serum erases wrinkles”, “age-defying ingredient”,

“medication fights symptoms”, “energy-boosting drink”. The product in (27) is

effortlessly presented as an active positive change-inducing agent. Activity is a

generally valued and appreciated feature; the features associated with an active

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agent are projected on the product and thus explain the effect of the product in

a lay manner. The (27) ad contains a creative metaphor as well (“what truly

makes other teas green with envy”) which is a rather standard occurrence. A

combination of various types of metaphors within one ad enhances its

functionality in both effortless understanding of potentially complicated

contents and delivering products in an emotional way.

Non-creative metaphors can be seen as umarked linguistic choices, while

creative metaphors resonate as marked. Coulmas (2005, 91) notes that “every

unmarked choice functions as an affirmation of the existing … order, and every

marked choice is a potential threat to it.” In this sense, unmarked metaphorical

expressions present concepts in a usual, easy-to-grasp way and allow for

efficient meaning-creation. On the other hand, marked metaphors present

challenges to the recipient’s ad interpretations. This poses a threat to the sender

as the message can be rejected or misinterpreted. However, this threat is

balanced out by the power of marked, creative metaphors to fill in the mental

space of recipients. Thus, a seemingly individual interpretation of the message

is enabled; nevertheless, the borders of mental space are still outlined by the

advertisers. This corresponds to Fairclough's idea of control through consent,

which in modern society means that powerholders (i.e. advertisers in this case)

keep “integrating people into apparatuses of control which they come to feel

themselves to be a part of (e.g. as consumers)” (1989, 36). Allowing the

recipients to interpret the ad meaning through mental space seems to conform

to the tendency “towards simulated egalitarianism, and removal of surface

markers of authority and power.” (ibid., 37).

6.2.3 Ideological Metaphors

Metaphors sometimes serve the purpose of delivering ideas (mappings or

associations) which are not grounded in laws of nature, research, legal

requirements or experience of ours or our ancestors. In order to sell some

products, ideological reasoning has to be conjured. Ideologies, according to

Fairclough (1989, 2), are strong power-control tools because “they are means

of legitimizing existing social relations and differences of power, simply

through the recurrence of ordinary, familiar ways of behaving which take these

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relations and power differences for granted”. Studying political texts and talks,

Chilton and Schäffner (2002, 29) claim that metaphors can build a “conceptual

structure for a systematized ideology” embedded in many texts and thus

provide “intertextual coherence” (ibid). To apply this view to advertising

context, through recurring metaphorical delivery of some “common-sense”

ideas and practices, the recipients take them for granted and unquestionable

because they “fit” into the broad context of a consumer society. Metaphors

seem to be effective means of delivering otherwise controversial contents,

especially because the contents are delivered indirectly, through inference of

meaning. The recipients may thus have the impression that it is they who

control the meaning-creation.

The recipients who live in the environment that supports the ideology rarely

realize they are being attacked by ideological constructs. Ideological metaphors

are understood to be delivering “common-sense” assumptions that legitimize

the reason for obtaining the product. What they hide is that real reason to buy

may be questionable. “An ideological metaphor can be defined as that

metaphor which conceals underlying social processes and determines

interpretations” (Charteris-Black 2004, 7). Most frequently, these

interpretations aim to be common-sense and universal.

Ideological metaphors are detected in nine ads within the corpus; the

predominant occurrence is in Vanity Fair with eight instances. All the ads

promote luxury products through the featured conceptual metaphor SKIN

AGEING IS AN ENEMY. The whole branch of cosmetics relies on this

metaphor. Their utility value is based purely on consumers taking the idea of

aged skin as harmful. These products are sold with reference to preserving a

youthful image, staying young- and beautiful-looking or hiding the signs of

ageing. Even though social values in general include respect for senior citizens,

looking young is a pervasive commercial ideology in our lives. Identifying

aged skin as an enemy reflects Humphrys’s view of manipulating readers

through the use of language: assigning names to phenomena changes the way

readers perceive them; “it takes something that may be extremely complex,

removes the complexity, and produces a nice neat phrase … that we can all

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understand” (Humphrys 2004, 264). Features relating to enemies are mapped

onto aged skin and thus fill the mental space of the recipients. Such mapping is

expected in the following examples:

(28) Fight Skin ageing Where it Starts. It is never too early - or too late -

to intervene on your skin's behalf. NEW Anti ageing Emulsion SPF 30 Anti

ageing Eye cream SPF 15 Available from 2nd October. la prairie

SWITZERLAND (VF7)

(29) Enjoy "virtual immunity" from the visible signs of ageing. Re-Nutriv

Ultimate Lifting Serum. "Virtual immunity" means you'll see a noticeably more

lifted look, a brilliant clarity, a newly refined smoothness. With rare

ingredients and the latest science - like OGG1 enzyme technology that helps

reduce the look of past UVA damage. You'll simply be astonished. Estee

Lauder. (VF6)

(30) Chanel Vitalumiere Discover renewed radiance. Lines and wrinkles

are virtually erased. Vitalumiere. The antidote to tired skin. Nordstrom.com

(VF10)

Vocabulary from the field of war in (28) establishes the source domain.

“Fight” and “intervene” are words used in armed conflicts; the aged skin is

expected to be seen as an enemy that must be actively fought. Skin ageing in

itself is not endangering our lives; it is not a terminal disease or a condition

significantly deteriorating the quality of our lives. However, due to the

metaphor, recipients may view it as such. Metonymically, the product is seen

as the fighter and agent of reversing such an undesired condition.

“Fighting” skin ageing occurs frequently throughout the corpus, and it is a

pervasive metaphor of regular language use of many ageing American women.

Humphrys (2004, 321) notes that repetition is a clue in establishing an

ideology: “Repeat [metaphor] often enough and people forget it is a metaphor

and take it literally. It creates a number of assumptions [which are] nonsense.”

Both (29) and (30) present skin ageing as an enemy, yet armed battle is not an

immediate feature of the source domain. (29) suggests the product delivers

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“immunity” from the unwanted condition so a possible interpretation may be

of skin-ageing as a disease. This is a rather obvious exaggeration, and the

advertisers may risk being rejected or ridiculed; the use of quotation marks for

the expression “virtual immunity” softens the imagery by purposefully

admitting to stretching the meaning. The product is still seen as relieving us of

an undesired condition; the condition which is reminiscent of a disease.

Another two facets of source domain of the “enemy” source domain are found

in (30). The first is something unwanted that can be “erased”, possibly a spot or

an undesired inscription. These may be interpreted as objects that can be

hidden or masked with some effort. In this sense, the advertising would suggest

that extra effort is not necessary, which is a rather weak idea of an enemy. To

make the statement stronger and present the “enemy” idea as more dangerous,

it is metaphorically portrayed as poison further in the ad with the phrase

“antidote to tired skin”. The need to eliminate a life-threatening substance is

stronger than masking a spot, both in real life and in mapping possibilities.

Poison is associated with many literary or theatrical dramas, historic-political

events and with wildlife, which offers a broad mapping range and intense

emotional associations.

The idea of the enemy is obvious in all examples even though their portrayal

differs. The ads also contain the reinforcement of the notion that the enemy

must be fought. In cases (28) and (29) it is done grammatically: the message is

delivered by the imperative form of the verb. In (30) the reinforcement is

lexical: the dangerous enemy is specified as poison.

The difference between values encoded in culture (as discussed in Chapter

6.2.2.4) and the ones imposed on us through ideology is blurred and hard to

define. The relationship does not seem to be mutually exclusive; ideological

ideas are frequently socially and culturally conditioned. This is supported by

Opt and Gring (2009) in their discussion of the leading American ideology of

the American dream. “We participate collectively through conversations,

movies, blogs, and so forth in an ongoing quest to create a more nearly perfect

life... Perfection can be achieved by reifying symbolic categories such as

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freedom, individualism, success, equality and progress” (2009, 101-102).

Ideology develops and thrives within a socio-cultural environment. It seems to

be in a hyponymical relationship.

6.3 Conclusion on Metaphor as a Discourse Strategy

Mapping source domain features onto a target domain functions as mental-

space filling in the process of the recipient’s interpretation of the ad. The

borders of mental space are outlined by establishing the source domain, which

is most frequently done through explicit lexical clues. This is a sender-

controlled part of the process, as the choice of concrete words appearing in ad

messages belongs to the realm of copy-writers. Establishing the target domain

and associating it with the suggested source domain is mostly left to the

recipient. The target domain in advertising metaphors is frequently the

promoted product or a phenomenon closely related to the product. The

indirectness is justified by the expectations of recipients of the ads; recipients

expect ads to be promoting a product or referring to related issues. Mapping of

the features of the advertiser-suggested source domain to the target domain is

controlled by the recipients. Filling the mental space is thus individual and may

be regarded as a creative and empowering experience.

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7 Overlapping Discourse Strategies

The discourse strategies of storytelling, intertextuality and metaphor enhance

emotive rather than reasoning responses in the recipients, and thus they

conform mostly to the advertising tickle strategy. Chang (2008) labels such

strategies “rhetoric” and describes their role as follows: “[They] attract the

audience’s attention, … initiate cognitive poetic effects and advertising

literariness, and … perform diverse pragmatic/communicative functions.

Placing little emphasis on target commodity, they invite/encourage an

active/imaginative audience to consume the texts and spell out a variety of

weak implicatures involving feelings, attitudes, emotions and impressions

along the textual lines.” All three strategies evoke an emotive and attitudinal

response on the basis of exploring the recipient’s mental space. The cues which

are present in the ad text outline the mental space and the recipients are

allowed to fill it in with the cognitive processing of their own choice. This is

common for all the analyzed strategies.

The differences among them appear in how the mental space is explored.

Storytelling is hinted at by cues introducing protagonists, the order of events,

locating the possible story in a setting, etc., and the recipient is expected to

develop the story further as if it was a story of his/her own. Storytelling as a

strategy allows the recipients to let loose the reigns of their creativity and

imagination and be a co-author of the message by developing the storyline.

Intertextual processing, on the other hand, is hinted at by lexical or visual cues

suggesting the presence of other voices, unspecified texts belonging to other

genres or specific well-known texts. Based on these cues, the recipients

become co-authors by drawing from their own experience with texts (or text

types) already encountered. Thus they fill the mental space with recollections,

memories or links they have stored. Well chosen cues grant that the recipient’s

recollections are pleasant, humorous or thought-provoking. And finally,

metaphors operate on the principle of building associations between two

unrelated concepts. The cues hinting at the metaphorical processing are lexical

or visual items belonging to those concepts – the source and/or target domains.

Building associations between them, or mapping features of one concept onto

the second one, fills the mental space. The recipients are co-authors because of

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the individual establishment of associations and inference of meaning. In

conclusion, the three strategies seem to differ in the direction of thought

processing: while storytelling flows to the hypothetical future, intertextuality

draws from the past and metaphors operate synchronically.

The differences separating the strategies are tentative, and the borders among

them are rather loose. It is determined by the partial parallelism of processes

filling the mental space, and by the indefinite character of the cues and their

use in ads. Some ads may contain more cues, each eliciting another strategy.

Some cues may evoke two strategies at the same time. The cues in the ad texts

can be interpreted differently by individual recipients. Employment of more

than one strategy can be detected in several ads in the corpus. The overlap of

two strategies can be observed in three variants: (a) storytelling with

intertextuality; (b) storytelling with metaphor, and (c) intertextuality and

metaphor. The following examples present unifying features of each

combination.

7.1 Storytelling and Intertextuality

Strategies of storytelling and intertextuality show several links which originate

from their intrinsic characteristics. These links join them intuitively. The first

lies in the connection of intertextuality and a story as a genre. Stories, when

they appear in the ads in their full or hinted at form, may function as an echo of

a literary genre within the ad. Storytelling cues, such as introducing the

protagonists or the setting, may simultaneously function as cues evoking

intergeneric intertextuality. The recipient may fill the mental space by

developing the story further or by recollections of a similar story in the past.

The following ads present such options:

(1) Grab life by the horns. Dodge. Avenge Internal Computer System.

STEERING: listen up ppl, we're ina tight corner ESP: Electronic Stability

Program at ur service! BRAKES: he hit the brakes hard ESP: im detecting

slippage BRAKES: hydrolic break booster, work ur magic BOOSTER: NP im

on it bro ABS: u r awesome. busy breaking L front and R rear ENGINE:

lowering torque and throttle BTW ESP: yaw and lateral acceleration sensors

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activated. man im good :-) TRACTION CONTROL: LOL giving rear wheels

more traction ESP: gr8, cuz we r almost out of this corner ENGINE: yesssss!

back on full throttle BRAKES: this is 2 easy IMHO ESP: cya l8r SEND SEE

THE ALL-NEW AVENGER AT DODGE.COM/AVENGER (P1)

(2) You don't have to learn to like my wines. Actually, I planned it that

way. From the beginning, more than two decades ago, when I made my first

small batch of wine from grapes I grew on my family ranch. I blended grapes

from coastal vineyards in Northern and Central California to produce wines

with unprecedented flavor intensity and complexity. And our "flavor domaine"

philosophy was born. In Chardonnay terms, this means finding the delicate

balance of the pineapple and mango flavors from Santa Barbara, the citrus

and lime flavors from Monterey, and the red apple and pear flavors from

Sonoma. Our Vintner's Reserve is a perfect illustration of our desire to create

and deliver complex, world-class wines, the kind of wines people will enjoy the

first time try them and for years to come. I have been told that many of you

enjoy the taste of my wines, but you're not sure why. Hopefully, I can help with

A Taste of the Truth. Jess Jackson, Founder of Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates

(VF10)

(3) Location: anywhere & everywhere Post Office: www.splenda.com

Weather: daily SPLENDA sprinkles Official Flower: sweet pea Destination:

Splendaville. You won't find it on any map. But you will find it in iced tea. It's

sweet and delicious but without all the calories to spoil the joy. SPLENDA No

Calorie Sweetener tastes like sugar because it's made from sugar. Be Dazzled.

(P6)

These ads contain cues which may be interpreted in two ways. Characters in

(1) are explicitly named (“STEERING”, “ESP”, “BRAKES”, etc.) and their

presence is made obvious through their turn-taking in the communication. The

communication itself is a story of how the characters try to manage a

dangerous situation. The order of dramatic events and a happy ending strongly

resemble a fully developed fiction story. Simultaneously, the conversation in

(1) can be seen as representing the genre of instant message communication.

Moreover, the explicit dialogic communication of the characters can be

interpreted as the presence of voices. Both multigeneric and heteroglossic types

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of intertextuality can be detected when the cues are surveyed from diverse

perspectives.

A similar situation is repeated in (2), where the detected story is of a non-

fictional character and the recipient is presented with a supposedly real product

origin story. The time order of events relating to the main protagonist is

explicitly given with the beginning set “more than two decades ago” and a

sequence of grammar tenses gradually changing within the ad from past simple

(“I planned”, “I made”) through present perfect (“I have been told”) to

present simple (“I can help”). Setting is specified as “a family ranch”,

“Northern and Central California”, and the main character, the producer of

the promoted product, is identified by his full name. At the same time, the

character talking about how he made the product may be understood as a

heteroglossic presence. A voice other than the inherent ad sender speaks to the

recipients and thus evokes a more intimate and emotional interpretation of the

message. The dialogism is made explicit with the direct “you” address to the

recipients. The genre of personal communication may be detected.

In (3), a hinted at story can be detected due to the cues introducing a location.

Recipients may be provoked to develop a hypothetical construct of “what could

happen in that location, with that weather, with that destination given”. At the

same time, the cues resemble a travel guide description of a location, which

may evoke the presence of a specific genre and thus illustrate multigeneric

intertextuality. In all listed examples the recipients may fill the mental space

with their own interpretations of stories or their own development of the

storyline; or with intertextual associations linked to the speaking voices or the

implanted genres.

7.2 Storytelling and Metaphor

The discourse strategy of storytelling shares some features of filling mental

space with the discourse strategy of metaphors. Textual cues introducing story

characters, setting or the time-line of events can belong to one conceptual

domain of a metaphor, or can constitute a metaphor as such. Due to such cues

the ad can be processed as a metaphorical mapping or as a story. The

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metaphorical expressions found in such ads mostly pertain to the source

domain, as this is usually the more concrete one; the cues tend to be items

known from the social and physical world, and they introduce a known and

easily imaginable background. This may further serve as a platform on which

the creative development of stories continues. Combining the two strategies

can give rise to two concurrent processes of filling the mental space:

storytelling, developing the plot line and hypothesizing about what could

happen next; and metaphorically associating two otherwise unrelated concepts.

(4) Like a tropical rainforest, only you're the wildlife. New Tone Exotic

Fusions: Water Lily & Sugar Cane body wash. It's an aroma-fest of 7

moisturizing botanicals. Mmm, the shower gods are smiling. (S1)

(5) Take everything you know about design and nudge it. Push it. Simplify

it. Modernize it. Liberate it. Inject it with life. Give it a point of view and 335

horsepower and hold on. Introducing the all-new Infinity M. Design is always

moving. It's daring. It's purposeful. It starts with a Push Button Ignition. It

leads with the only Lane Departure Warning system and Rear Active Steer in

its class. And it captivates with Bose Studio Surround sound. The all-new M.

Designed to outperform. Discover more at Infiniti.com (VF10)

Both of these examples contain storytelling cues which are simultaneously

expressions belonging to a metaphorical domain. (4) contains the metaphor

SHOWER IS A RAINFOREST with the source domain represented by

expressions “tropical rainforest”, “wildlife”, “exotic”, “water lily”, “sugar

cane”, “botanicals”, “smiling gods”. These expressions contribute to a

specific image of the rainforest that is romanticized, lush, mysterious and

mythological. “Wildlife” has a very specific function here as it denotes the role

of the ad recipient in the source domain (“you're the wildlife”). Wildlife

thrives in a lush, green and sacred jungle. Through such role assignment, the

metaphor can be interpreted as TAKING A SHOWER (AND USING THE

PRODUCT) IS LIVING AN ASTONISHING LIFE IN A RAINFOREST.

Expressions such as “tropical rainforest” and “exotic” may at the same time

function as storytelling cues helping the recipient imagine the setting of a story,

where the main protagonist is the recipient in the role of wild rainforest

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creatures. This story is incomplete, hinted at, and leaving most of the mental

space of the recipient empty for creative filling. The outcome of the processing

may be a rich metaphorical mapping of features of rainforest wildlife onto the

experience of taking a shower; or a possible story that one may experience in

such an environment.

The metaphor in (5) is more elaborate and not easy to interpret. Underlying it is

the personification CAR IS A LIVING BEING; in this ad it is specified as

DESIGNING A CAR IS CREATING A LIVING BEING. Expressions from

the target domain of designing a car include verbs that contribute to the process

of creating a mechanical item, e.g. “nudge”, “push”, “simplify”, “inject”. The

car is to be interpreted as a living being due to expressions “with life” and

“give it a viewpoint”. However, the metaphor DESIGNING A CAR IS

CREATING A LIVING BEING can be interpreted as a story of the origin of

the product. The ad presents a whole story of creating the car culminating in

the desired product. It does not offer an imaginative setting, or vividly depicted

domains. Nor does it leave much space for the recipient’s imaginative work. It

strengthens the emotional and personalized feeling by addressing the recipient

directly through imperatives (“Take”, “nudge”, “push”, etc), thus placing

him/her into the role of the designer/creator. The recipient is assigned an active

and responsibility-bearing role of a product designer. This explicit dialogic

approach adds personal immediacy, trust and ego-enhancing feelings to the

process of filling the mental space.

Combining a detailed source domain with a hinted at fictional story, as appears

in (4), is a strong emotion-enhancing and creativity-amplifying strategy.

Mental space processing is rather easy; the vivid imagery of a rainforest setting

and an uncomplicated metaphor fill the space quickly, without much

interpretative effort. (5) represents a similar situation of combining

metaphorical and storytelling cues, yet here the metaphor is more elaborate and

the story is told in a rather complete version. This means that the recipient is

required to interpret the message with more effort and is allowed less

creativity. The award for processing (4) is an easily reached, emotionally

appealing creative construct; the recipient of (5) gains pride and self-

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confidence after decoding the sophisticated message. This corresponds to the

type of product promoted with the ads: the more emotive (4) promotes a low-

involvement cosmetic product while the more sophisticated (5) promotes a

high-involvement car.

In some cases of ads simultaneously employing the strategies of storytelling

and metaphors, story cues and metaphors do not overlap within the text. The

metaphorical expressions do not merge with cues introducing characters, plot

or setting. Such a use, where strategies operate consecutively rather than

simultaneously, is illustrated by the following ad:

(6) One day, you wake up, you're 40… but you don't look it! This morning,

your skin is smooth, signs of fatigue have disappeared and wrinkles are fast

asleep. The most beautiful gift we can give ourselves is more years of

youthfulness, thanks to Clarins Extra-Firming treatments and their powerful

age-control benefits. You wake up and you're simply beautiful. NEW Clarins

Paris Extra-Firming Day and Night Creams, innovative advanced age control

that helps protect fragile skin to reveal a younger-looking complexion. A

bouquet of rare and potent botanicals in the day cream (Euglena, White Tea,

Succory Dock-Cress) provide energy and promote skin firmness. Vitamin E

and Alfalfa in the night cream help revitalize and renew, so skin is more

youthful-looking upon waking. It's a fact. With Clarins, life's more beautiful.

Extra-Firming Day Cream. Tests showed up to an 83% reduction in the

appearance of lines and wrinkles. Extra-Firming Night Cream. Tests showed

up to 87% increase in skin firmness. (VF10)

The storytelling strategy can be detected especially at the beginning of the ad.

Textual cues introduce a chronological order of events (“one day”, “this

morning”) and leave the story itself untold. The recipient is left to fill the

mental space with hypothetical stories in which they take the role of the main

character (“you wake up”, “you’re 40”). The explicit address to the recipient

assigning them the main role enhances the dialogic character of the ad. From

the very beginning, the recipient is approached in a spontaneous, personalized

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way. This helps the advertisers direct the mental space processing in a desired,

emotive and involved way.

Further in the text, two metaphors are employed. “Wrinkles are asleep” is a

personification of the product-related item; “gift we can give … is …

youthfulness” represents the metaphor YOUTHFULNESS IS A VALUABLE

COMMODITY. The two metaphors are mutually unrelated, and they stand

independently of the story hinted at in the beginning. Each metaphor evokes

separate mental-space processing. The mapping of features of a sleeping being

onto wrinkles and of youthfulness as a precious gift evokes a range of desired

associations which are complimentary but otherwise cognitively unrelated.

In this ad, the most significant strategy seems to be applied in the second half

of the ad text: the descriptive strategy. It is closely linked with evoking reason

to obtain the product and thus appeals to its utility value. It may be suggested

that three different instances of filling mental space (a story and two

metaphors) in the relatively short span of one ad do not allow for deep and

intense processing; they soften the reasoning strategy of the following

description by adding surface emotive touch. The decision-making is based on

reasoning, and it is aided by placing the reasoning in a pleasant, emotionally

appealing cognitive environment.

7.3 Intertextuality and Metaphor

Ads with personifications often feature the personified elements as speaking

voices. Personifications classify as a special case of metaphors, and the

presence of speaking voices is understood as heteroglossic intertextuality. In

this point the two discourse strategies overlap and do not allow for a

methodologically clear distinction of features pertaining purely to

intertextuality or personification. One becomes the tool of another. The

following two examples illustrate such meeting point.

(7) Is it possible for taste buds to have goosebumps, asked the Godiva.

Godiva Chocolatier. Introducing the Platinum Collection. (VF 9)

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(8) So purifying, it's like a mini-sauna for your face. New Olay Warming

Cleansers. Feel the exhilarating warmth of New Olay Warming Cleansers.

Feel them not just cleansing, but purifying your skin. Removing impurities

better than basic cleansing. Your pores will sit back, relax and say "Ahh..."

Olay love the skin you're in. (P2)

Two personifications – taste buds and Godiva - can be found in (7); Godiva is

explicitly presented as a speaking voice. Taste buds hypothetically

experiencing goosebumps suggest that they are equipped with the ability of

skin reaction to sensual perception which correspond to people experiencing

thrilling stimulations. This sensual experience is the subject of Godiva's

question, the personified product (chocolate). Godiva (portrayed as a woman

eating chocolate pralines) explicitly asks about feelings of taste buds and thus

indicates that she is a being who can think in an abstract sophisticated manner,

who cares about the feelings of others and who can appreciate a thrilling

experience. Based on her behavior in the ad the chocolate Lady Godiva is a

mysterious character eliciting the curiosity of the recipients. She does not speak

directly to the recipients; she is heard yet not to be talked to. The dialogism in

this ad is of the desired type. The recipients wonder what kind of person

Godiva is, and they wish they could talk to her and become acquainted. The

personification and speaking voice of Godiva function simultaneously and

evoke emotions and desires for Godiva – which is ultimately the promoted

chocolate product.

The personification and speaking voice in (8) do not relate directly to the

promoted product. The ad is based on a direct reasoning appeal to the recipient,

thus accentuating the utility value of the product. However, emotions are

incorporated into the interpretation through the personified pores, which, due to

the product, experience newly gained comfort and share it by emitting a sigh of

relief. Along with reason-enhancing, the recipients may fill the mental space

with empathic feelings for their pores and the urge to care satisfactorily for a

living being.

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While (7) is an ad featuring a personification and a speaking voice in a

complex holistic way, (8) features the overlap as a frill, a special textual

“ornament” at the end of the ad message, while the rest of the message is based

on a reason-enhancing strategy. In (7), filling the mental space is the only

process of meaning creation; in (8), the utility value of the product is beautified

through the addition of the creative meaning inference. This corresponds to the

high-involvement (luxury chocolate) vs. low-involvement (skin cleanser)

strategy paradigm. The complex or partial interpretation of both ads is

nevertheless expected to function as filling the recipient’s mental space with

certain attitudes and emotions towards the speaking voice; recollections of

possible talks with friends where a thrilling experience gave us “goosbumps”

or a sigh of “ahh” was a consequence of relief. The inanimate object

(chocolate and pores, respectively) becomes a living speaking voice by means

of personification. Thus, the emotional layer of meaning appearing in mental

space due to intertextuality is attached to the speaking product with

characteristics of a living being.

A direct reference to an existing text may also appear in ads employing

metaphors. This can be seen as a dual strategy use as well, yet in such a case

intertextuality and metaphor combine in a specific way. The horizontal type of

intertextuality, as discussed by Hatim and Munday (2004, 87), is more static;

the referred concrete text is not as subtle and permeable in meaning creation as

speaking voices of hinted at genres. In order not to function as an imposition,

the following ad incorporates the reference to a song in a polysemantic way: on

one hand, it may function as an intertextual reference; on the other hand it may

be seen as a possible metaphorical expression contributing to the mapping

process of an underlying cognitive metaphor.

(9) Let the sunshine in. New Bic Soleil. Introducing Soleil with

replacement blades. Sunny Soleil makes every day brighter, every shave more

luxurious. Its Soothing Moisture Strip with aloe and shea butter and its three-

blade pivoting head glides easily over your body's contours and pampers your

skin for a flawlessly smooth shave. Feel the Soleil. (P1)

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Let the Sunshine In from the musical Hair is a well-known song which reached

number one on U.S. Billboard charts in 1969. For the recipients who recognize

the reference and remember the moving era or can recollect the catchy melody,

it may function as an emotion-enhancing impetus for filling their mental space.

It may evoke humor or deeper philosophical processing when recipients link

the musical Hair and a promoted hair-cutting tool. For those who do not spot

the reference, the headline phrase may function as a direct appeal to use the

product and contribute to the mapping process extending from the employed

metaphor LIGHT IS POSITIVE; in this specific ad elicited also through the

product name “Soleil” – the French for “sun”. Ideally, both the recollections of

enthusiasm and melody along with the mapping process of light as a desired

attribute fill the recipient’s mental space.

7.4 Storytelling, Intertextuality and Metaphor

The discussed strategies overlap in ways which do not allow for clear

separation of the three. Storytelling and intertextuality may overlap when the

story is understood as an instance of a genre implanted into advertising, or the

story characters may be seen as speaking voices. Storytelling and metaphors

may share textual cues: the story cues can belong to the metaphorical domain

and thus evoke both story lines and metaphorical mapping. Intertextuality and

metaphors meet mostly when the speaking voices belong to inanimate objects,

which spurs the personification processing of the objects. With each strategy

overlapping the other it is inevitable that in some instances of ads, all three

strategies based on filling the mental space of recipients operate

simultaneously.

(10) Used to be Wild. [Is your hair trying to tell you something?] With

Nexxus, your hair can say goodbye to its frizzy, flyaway past. New Sleektress

Shampoo, Hydra Sleek Conditioner and Sleek Style Crème, scientifically

developed and salon proven to tame unruly hair for a sleek, smooth finish.

Your hair knows best. So take it to the Nexxus level. Nexxus. Salon Hair Care.

Find Nexxus in your hair care aisle. (P1)

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(11) Samsonite Black Label. Life's a Journey. Some say you must never

look back. Why not? Isabella Rossellini, actress. She travels with Vintage, the

contemporary retro collection. (VF8)

(12) Must be something in the water. What makes us attractive? Is it how

we look, or how we feel? Maybe a bit of both. That's where Evian comes in.

Every drop of Evian comes from deep in the heart of the French Alps. It's

naturally filtered for over 15 years through pristine glacial rock formations.

The result is a neutral pH balance and a unique blend of minerals, including

calcium, magnesium and silica. So when you choose a bottled water to believe

in, consider the source. Evian. Your natural source of youth.

(VF10)

(13) Your left hand dreams of love. Your right hand makes dreams come

true. Your left hand lives happily ever after. Your right hand lives happily here

and now. Women of the world, raise your right hand. The diamond right hand

ring. View more at adiamondisforever.com. A Diamond Is Forever. Diamond

Trading Company. (VF10)

The most unambiguous case of the three strategies operating within one ad is

detectable in (10). The “Used to be wild” opening phrase is a cue suggesting a

story plot line. It hints at a story of taming the protagonist whose words are

presented as direct speech. This is not conventionally marked by quotation

marks; instead, the following parenthetical remark of the message sender “[Is

your hair trying to tell you something?]” denotes the previous text as a direct

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speech of the speaking voice. This line explicitly marks two other strategies: it

highlights the event of somebody speaking within the ad, which is an instance

of heteroglossic intertextuality. Simultaneously, it introduces the speaking

voice as hair, an inanimate object, and thus personification as a category of

metaphor is made obvious. All three strategies are explicit and function

harmoniously, filling the mental space of the recipient simultaneously in

diverse directions. The hint of a story may evoke a further storytelling process

of how the protagonist was tamed. The intertextual presence of voice evokes

recollections of similar discussions the recipients are expected to have in

everyday life. The explicitly dialogic character of the opening two lines invites

the recipient into the process of meaning creation and enhances the feeling of

involvement, intimacy and empathy. Finally, the personified hair as an

immediate product user (hair cosmetics) is seen as a living being who went

through a process of change and “knows best” what such change means. This

evokes emotions and attitudes related to changes (e.g. initial dissatisfaction,

restlessness, uncertainty, courage, personal resolutions) and to the final desired

outcome (e.g. relief, ego-enhancement, happiness, satisfaction). The overall

tone of the ad is light-hearted, colloquial and friendly. This seems to be the

effect of spoken discourse features present in the initial part of the ad message.

It combines with the filling of recipient’s mental space initiated by the three

strategies to establish a pervasively positive attitude and reinforce

memorability of the ad.

The least explicit and congruent combination of the three strategies in the given

examples is found in (11). The story is suggested by introducing a character –

in this case it is Isabella Rossellini, an actress. The words “Some say you must

never look back” are attributed to the protagonist only implicitly, yet these

together with her activity of traveling and the slogan “Life is a journey” hint at

a possible story of her life, an autobiography or a memoir. Intertextuality can

be detected in the implicit suggestion of Isabella Rossellini uttering “Some say

you must never look back. Why not?” and in echoing the allusion of a

biography as a literary genre. The slogan “Life is a journey” explicitly

presents one of the most pervasive conceptual metaphors, in everyday language

found in expressions such as “ after graduation I was at a crossroads”, “with

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this project we're heading the right direction”, “we have to move on and

forget about the past”. Compared to (10), recipients of (11) are presented with

broader possibilities of filling the mental space. The suggested story is a story

of the life of a famous personality, provoking one’s imagination in connection

with her private life and all the roles she portrayed as an actress. The speaking

voice addresses the recipients with a question of philosophical character which

may spur sophisticated hypothetical dialogue. Finally, the employed metaphor

LIFE IS A JOURNEY belongs among the most pervasive in the language use.

The friendly and spontaneous tone of (10) as opposed to the sophistication and

seeming limitlessness of (11) seem to conform to the promotion pattern of a

low-involvement product (hair cosmetics) vs. a high-involvement product

(luxury luggage).

Illustrations play a major attention-catching role in most of the printed ads. As

exemplified with some ads in the analyses of each strategy, illustrations may

function as a primary meaning-inducing device. In such cases, the textual

meaning is fully dependent on the illustration meaning. With others, the

illustration contributes vitally to the overall meaning. In (12), the illustration

functions as a story cue introducing protagonists and suggests an intertextual

presence of speaking voices. The photo shows two fresh blooming flowers in

great condition. Their tender head-leaning position suggests the flowers are a

couple in love. A love story may be the mental space filler at the first glance of

the ad. The headline “Must be something in the water” is an elliptical sentence

with a missing subject. Semantically, it functions as a speculation. Such

grammatical deviation in connection with a speculative tone is typical for

spoken language. Implicitly the headline can be understood as a spoken line.

The sender of the words is not specified; however, the two flowers as

characters in an ongoing story, or an anonymous observer of the tender love

affair in the bottle of water, may be deduced as the speaking voices. The ad

presents an internal dialog of the two lovers and later on, an explicit dialog of

the ad sender and the recipients. This is apparent from the two questions posed

by the sender “What makes us attractive? Is it how we look, or how we feel?”

The involving “us” negates borders between the senders and recipients and

contributes to the involvement of the speaker and intimacy between

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participants. Further in the message, another story, a true depiction of the

origin of the product (natural filtration in the French Alps), opens yet another

possibility for filling the mental space. Intertextuality combines with

storytelling in a compelling way, creating a strong emotional attitude.

Personified flowers as lovers, who are beautiful and happy due to the benefits

of the promoted water, contribute to the overall processing of mental space

with metaphorical mapping of lovers' characteristics onto the product.

Contributing common knowledge or socio-cultural values can be seen in (13)

along with the employment of storytelling, intertextuality and metaphors. Two

stories are hinted at: the romantic one of a happily married woman; and the

story of a grounded, reality-embracing independent woman. These stories are

placed in contrast which, according to Urbanová (2011), is an indication and

reflection of a dialogue, a powerful attention-catching device and an impetus

for intertextuality. Metaphorically, the two contrasted women are depicted as

hands, so hands (adorned with diamonds – the promoted products) are

personified and mapped as living beings. The story of two contrasted women

has a winner – the independent woman depicted by the right hand, as the line

“Women of the world, raise your right hand” states. This is a culturally

motivated choice, since in American culture, a left hand with a diamond ring is

a sign of a marital bond and is almost always a gift from a fiancé. On the

contrary, the right hand diamond ring is an accessory for women who can

afford buying it by themselves, so it implicitly suggests that such a person is

single and can possibly be a successful and powerful individual. The ad also

reflects American values of independence, liberty and personal strength. All of

these traits, along with creative mental-space filling derived from the stories,

intertextual voices and personification, are efficient tools for creating a desired

emotional and attitudinal stance.

The combination of two or three discourse strategies is rather common. The

strategies operate on the same principle of filling the mental space with the

recipient’s own cognitive constructs, which allows them to participate in

meaning creation and shape the discourse meaning as a whole. Through these

strategies, the recipients have more power over the interpretation of the

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advertising message. Advertising discourse comprises visual, textual and extra-

textual elements (such as social values and shared knowledge); naturally they

contribute to (and sometimes determine) the meaning creation.

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8 Statistical Summary

The primary aim of this dissertation is to identify, observe and analyze the

utilization of discourse strategies of storytelling, intertextuality and metaphor

in American magazine advertising. Statistical summary of their employment in

the corpus provides a supplementary observation angle and enables evaluation

from an objective point of view.

Tab. 1 presents an overall number of ads in the corpus and their distribution

among Vanity Fair and the collection of tabloids (People, Us Weekly,

Life&Style, Star, OK!).

Number of ads in the

corpus

Percentage value

(%)

Vanity Fair 192 43

Tabloids 252 57

Corpus 444 100

Tab.1

Tab. 2 presents the number of ads extracted from each issue of the collected

magazines.31

Magazine

Issue

Number of

ads

Magazine

Issue

Number of

ads

VF1 18 P1 22

VF2 14 P2 34

VF3 14 P3 19

VF4 8 P4 25

VF5 7 P5 33

VF6 5 P6 32

VF7 18 US1 15

VF8 10 US2 16

VF9 47 US3 28

31 The abbreviations used in Tab.2 are listed and defined in Ch. 2.3 Corpus Description and in

the Bibliography.

175

VF10 51 LS1 5

LS2 5

LS3 3

OK1 6

S1 9

Tab. 2

The following tables present the distribution of ads identified as employing one

of the analyzed discourse strategies.

Storytelling

Tab. 3 presents the distribution of storytelling ads. They comprise 10% of the

overall number of ads in the corpus. 60% of the storytelling ads appeared in

Vanity Fair; 40% appeared in the tabloids.

Number of ads in the

corpus

Percentage value

(%)

Vanity Fair 27 60

Tabloids 18 40

Corpus 45 10 % of the

complete corpus Tab.3

Intertextuality

Tab. 4 presents the distribution of intertextuality ads. They comprise 14% of

the overall number of ads in the corpus. 52% of the intertextuality ads appeared

in Vanity Fair; 48% appeared in the tabloids.

Number of ads in the

corpus

Percentage value

(%)

Vanity Fair 33 52

Tabloids 30 48

Corpus 63 14 % of the

complete corpus Tab.4

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Metaphor

Tab. 5 presents the distribution of metaphor ads. They comprise 28% of the

overall number of ads in the corpus. 43% of the metaphor ads appeared in

Vanity Fair; 57% appeared in the tabloids.

Number of ads in the

corpus

Percentage value

(%)

Vanity Fair 53 43

Tabloids 71 57

Corpus 124 28 % of the

complete corpus Tab.5

Tab. 6 presents the number of ads in the corpus employing one of the three

analyzed strategies. They comprise 44% of the overall number of ads in the

corpus. 48% of the respective ads appeared in Vanity Fair; 52% appeared in

the tabloids.

Number of ads in the

corpus

Percentage value

(%)

Vanity Fair 93 48

Tabloids 102 52

Corpus 195 44 % of the

complete corpus Tab.6

Tab. 7 presents the number of ads in the corpus employing other discourse

strategies (e.g. descriptive discourse strategy, word play and punning, etc.) that

are not analyzed in this dissertation. They comprise 56% of the overall number

of ads in the corpus. 40% of the respective ads appeared in Vanity Fair; 60%

appeared in the tabloids.

Number of ads in the

corpus

Percentage value

(%)

Vanity Fair 99 40

Tabloids 150 60

Corpus 249 56 % of the

complete corpus Tab.7

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The statistical overview points to the prevalence of metaphor as a discourse

strategy in the corpus. Metaphor is the only discourse strategy that is more

numerous in the tabloids. Intertextuality and storytelling prevail in Vanity Fair.

However, they are represented by fewer instances in the corpus.

A rather balanced distribution can be observed between the two types of

magazines – a monthly glossy magazine (Vanity Fair) and a collection of

tabloid weeklies. Fig. 6 points out that ads extracted from Vanity Fair represent

48% of all storytelling / intertextuality / metaphor ads while tabloid ads

represent 52% of the respective discourse strategies distribution. However, the

corpus is slightly disproportionate in the number of Vanity Fair ads (43%) as

opposed to the tabloid ads (57%). To avoid possible shifts in the statistical

evaluation a ratio of Vanity Fair vs. tabloids was calculated. After weighing the

two categories proportionately, the percentage values from Fig. 6 shift slightly

in favor of Vanity Fair: the VF ads employing one of the three analyzed

discourse strategies comprise 53% of all the storytelling / intertextuality /

metaphor ads, while the tabloids are represented by 47%.

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9 Conclusion

9.1 Functioning of Storytelling, Intertextuality and Metaphor as

Discourse Strategies

Modern American advertising discourse operates with numerous discourse

strategies, some of which elicit reasons to obtain the promoted product while

others enable recipients to build emotional and attitudinal stances towards the

promoted items or the producers. In his paper on rhetorical strategies in

advertising, Deighton (1985, 432) notes: “Some advertising merely generates

awareness of choice options or supplies reasons to try one over another, some

advertising can affect what is experienced when the product is consumed.”

Deighton's rhetorical strategies correspond to the three discourse strategies

analyzed in this dissertation. The discourse strategies of storytelling,

intertextuality and metaphor are primary emotion-enhancing and attitude-

building tools of meaning creation in printed advertising.

The principles which guide the functioning of analyzed strategies have been

studied, the outcomes of their employment have been observed and their

contribution to fulfilling the ultimate advertising goal has been evaluated. This

effort can be undersigned with Jeffries' conclusion in her book Meaning in

English (1998, 252): “It is necessary, if we are to learn anything about the way

that language works, to divide the material into manageable layers and

chunks.” I find narrative, intertextuality and metaphors to be three layers

operating in a similar yet unique way in the “chunk” of printed advertising

discourse. Both vertical and horizontal dimensions (of layers and chunks) elicit

their own patterns and principles and create a matrix that allows us to learn

something about how language works.

The three strategies and their combinations function on the basis of outlining

and filling the mental space of recipients. Based on Hidalgo Downing's concept

of text and discourse worlds (2000) and adapted according to Van Dijk's

cognitive approach to manipulative discourse, the Fauconnier's notion of

recipient’s mental space (199432) as personalized interpretive frame has been

32 The term mental space was originally formulated in the first edition of the book published in

1985 by MIT Press.

179

proposed. It is understood as a cognitively outlined space which recipients may

explore when provoked or challenged by the three strategies.

9.2 The Principle of Undercoding

The major principle joining the three strategies and differentiating them from

all the others is their undercoding. Eco (1976, 135) describes the notion as

“imprecise coding, a tentative hypothetical ‘gesture’ subsuming one or more

large-scale portions of text”. The textual cues of the three strategies analyzed in

this dissertation present the incomplete portions of a code; they may be

developed into more elaborate coding by each recipient. This coding can be

understood as individual, personalized message interpretation. This is in

complete agreement with Eco's definition of undercoding: “Undercoding may

be defined as the operation by means of which in the absence of reliable pre-

established rules, certain macroscopic portions of certain texts are provisionally

assumed to be pertinent units of a code in formation, even though the

combinational rules governing the more basic compositional items of the

expressions, along with the corresponding content-units, remain unknown.”

(1976, 135-136). Adapted to the analyzed material, the storytelling strategy

functions by undercoding the possibilities of events or fantasies that may

hypothetically belong to the ad message; intertextuality is seen as undercoding

of traits of life experience or recollections of texts from the past; and

metaphors are employed as undercoding of synchronic associations,

interpreting one concept in terms of another.

9.3 Power Relations in Advertising Discourse

Undercoding allows the recipient to co-create meaning. Bruthiaux (2000, 307)

sees it as a “subliminal display of linguistic sophistication” and understands it

as a tool enhancing the self-image of the recipients. However, self-image and

ego-enhancement are only some of the desired outcomes of allowing the reader

to actively co-author the message. Fairlough (1989) explains it in complex

social terms as a seeming empowerment of the media discourse recipients.

Concerning mass-media discourse (which includes advertising), he claims the

power-relations are often not clear. Nevertheless, the power-holders are those

who have the ultimate rule over what is included in the discourse. Interpreters

180

are then, in his terms, power-seekers. When the recipients are allowed to co-

create the message meaning due to the capacity of mental space, the senders

seem to be giving up part of their power. Fairclough (1989, 72) claims: “It is

quite possible for the expression of power relationships to be played down as a

tactic within a strategy for the continued possession and exercise of power.”

This can be seen as maintaining power by winning consent (ibid., 33-34),

which Fairclough asserts is the last stage of the development of power relations

in mass-media discourse.

Undercoding seems to be the trend in recent advertising. According to

Lagerwerf, “Recently, one has seen a steady increase in the use of incongruent

elements in advertisements... destabilizing tropes occur more frequently in

current magazine ads than they used to do during the last five decades or so.”

(2007, 1702-1703). Urbanová (2011) also notes that blatant ways of persuasion

have been backgrounded and subtle ways via implicature and vagueness are

preferred. Based on observation of tendencies within the collected corpus in

this dissertation, strategies of storytelling, intertextuality and metaphor seem to

be employed more frequently in ads promoting high-involvement and low-

utility products. The more luxurious and glamorous the product appears to be,

the more vague and imprecise message coding tends to be used. This conforms

to Fairclough's claim of rule by winning consent: more luxurious products are

purchased by more status-conscious consumers. Enhancing their ego by

allowing them to co-author the message also means giving the recipients some

power over the discourse. The notion that they have power and mental capacity

to decide on the meaning of the message wins their consent.

9.4 Strategies Revisited

The analyzed strategies allow the recipients of ad messages to fill their mental

space with their own personalized contents and thus implicitly assign them the

role of co-authors. Storytelling is a strategy based on filling the mental space

with imaginary events and their possible outcomes. Intertextuality draws on

recipient’s experience of other texts and/or discourse situations and allows

filling the mental space with constructs elicited from these past events.

181

Metaphors fill the mental space with individualized mapping of one domain's

features onto another, unrelated one.

The exploration of the mental space is evoked by cues appearing in the ad

messages. These can be visual, textual or extra-textual (social norms or shared

knowledge). The visual and extra-textual cues apply to all the printed ads

regardless of the strategy used. Textual cues tend to be different for each

strategy: narrative cues relate to setting the plot line, story characters and

location at which the story takes place. Intertextuality cues are specific

stretches of already existing texts or allusions to other texts or text types.

Metaphorical cues establish the presence of a concept that is not the same as

the denoted one. This can be done by words usually denoting a concrete item

while the denoted concept is an abstract one; or words belonging to the

conceptual domains of an item that is not in the scope of advertisers' attention.

The three strategies aid building the emotive and attitudinal layer of advertising

message meaning. The dialogic nature of the strategies and frequent infiltration

of spokenness into the respective printed ads concur with the emotion-

enhancing function. Spokenness, according to Urbanová (2010), is a feature of

a participant's involvement which allows for an evaluative rather than

descriptive outcome. Storytelling exhibits dialogic character especially when

the story characters participate in an internal dialog which the recipients reflect

upon or the characters evoke explicit or implicit communication directly with

the recipients. Dialogism is a defining feature of the majority of intertextual

ads. The presence of speaking voices or echoes of other texts frequently

suggest internal dialog with the recipients. Metaphors are overtly dialogic

especially in the case of personifications, when inanimate objects behave as

animate beings and encompass the ability and the need to communicate with

their environment. Dialogism establishes an atmosphere of intimacy, mutuality,

personal care and trust.

By enabling the creation of a very personal emotive stance towards the product

or the producer, the three analyzed discourse strategies classify most of the

respective ads as tickle advertising. Reason and rational thinking are evoked

182

only marginally, or when reason-evoking strategies (such as descriptive or

problem-solving) are employed in an ad simultaneously. However, tickle ads

are not a homogeneous type; they cover a spectrum of varying degree of effort

needed for comprehension of undercoded messages. Ads with explicitly given

cues outlining the mental space and with clearly established intertextual

references or metaphors require less cognitive processing and thus keep more

control over filling the mental-space. Such ads often combine tickle and reason

strategies and tend to promote low-involvement and high-utility products. On

the contrary, the less utility value and more luxury the products associate, the

less control over the filling of recipient’s mental space is detected in ads.

Status-conscious consumers buying luxury products have more power over

how they explore mental space outlined during the processing of luxury-

promoting ads.

9.4.1 Storytelling

Telling stories associates with downtime, relaxation and social bonding. Stories

may ease the dissenting attitude towards ads. They set a pleasantly tolerant or

curious tone to the process of perception and interpretation.

Two major types of stories have been disclosed in the analysis: fictional

stories of fictional characters, and true accounts of the birth of the product,

testing the product and using the product by a known person. Fictional stories

evoke more creative interpretation and more active exploration of mental

space. True accounts seem to offer reasons for obtaining the product and evoke

rational thinking to a higher degree. Humor often plays an important role of

adding an emotive layer to the true account stories.

Storytelling ads fill the recipient’s mental space with appreciative feelings

towards the events they were exposed to or with recipient’s own creative

continuation of the hinted events. This is enabled by narrative cues suggesting

the stories. Active verbs and temporal adverbials are the cues hinting at story

action, plot line and order of events. These mostly appear in true accounts;

fictional stories are rather loose in their plot setting.

183

Other cues include the vivid description of a scene and the introduction of story

characters. The scene is either a well-known geographical location or an

anonymous place such as a bar or dry-cleaner's. Well-known places draw on

the general knowledge of the recipients when associating prototypical

characteristics of that place. These associations may become a part of mental-

space processing. Known locations appear mostly in true stories while

anonymous places are mostly found in fictional ones.

Characters are of two types as well: sender and recipient feature as story

characters in numerous cases. Their involvement as protagonists stresses the

dialogic character of narrative strategy. Introducing fictional characters, on the

other hand, functions as a strong imagination-provoking technique.

Interestingly, most fictional characters in stories are women.

The more narrative cues that appear in an ad, the more the discourse feels to be

a story. Both fictional and true accounts appear in forms of either full stories

told through many textual cues or hinted stories suggested by a low number of

cues. Fully disclosed stories fill the mental space almost completely and leave

little space for the recipient’s own further creative effort. However, they often

evoke positive associations with the product due to their placement in the story.

Full stories frequently combine with descriptive strategy, tend to be longer in

word count and usually classify as true accounts. They tend to promote higher-

utility products.

Tentative stories are evoked by a small number of cues. They leave most of the

mental space open and recipients may fill it with their own continuation of the

story or any fantasizing construct. They become co-authors in the true sense. In

this view they fully correspond to the advertising tickle strategy. It is the

fictional stories which are mostly left unfinished or are hinted at by a low

number of cues. They appear in short body copies and tend to promote high-

involvement luxury products such as perfumes or jewels.

184

9.4.2 Intertextuality

Within this work, intertextuality is understood as a specific or plausible text

operating within the ad. The meaning of the advertising text is fully or partially

dependent on a text that has been (or could have been) produced earlier. This

understanding is compatible with the claim by Jeffries that “we (re-)construct

the meaning of a text by looking around at other texts, or by referring to our

previous experience of other texts. The meaning of any text, therefore, is partly

based on its connections with other texts, both contemporary and historical.”

(1998, 242).

In printed ads, intertextuality as well as storytelling and metaphors seem to be

interpreted along the same principle of exploring the recipient’s mental space.

This concept is applicable with intertextual references of any type; however,

the scope of the outlined space and the intensity of processing may vary. The

cues evoking specific texts or allusions to text types (genres) prompt the

recipients to fill the mental space with recollections of experience of the

referred texts or the attitudes towards the speaking voices. These are expected

to be linked to positive emotions or to build a positive attitude towards the

promoted products. This processing establishes a desired product image. The

other function that intertextuality seems to fulfill is enhancing the memorability

of the ad. The ad or the promoted product may be recalled with recipient’s

future experience of the embedded text or text type.

Two basic types of intertextuality were identified in the ads: the heteroglossic

intertextuality labels the presence of voices in the ads other than the inherent

voice of the ad sender. Multigeneric intertextuality denotes the presence of

texts of other genres in the ads. Another point of view reveals categories of

vertical and horizontal intertextuality: the horizontal type marks a direct

reference to texts, i.e. the presence of authentic texts, which are expected to be

recognized by the recipients. The vertical type is understood to be an allusion

to a text type; the ad text includes cues which remind the reader of other texts.

The evoked texts are not present in the form in which they were created in the

past. This category partially overlaps with the category of multigeneric

intertextuality.

185

Authentic texts which are well-known or which are expected to be known by

the recipients (horizontal intertextuality), appeared sparsely in the ads. Mass-

culture references to songs and films illustrate this use. They fill the mental

space with memories of film-related characters, melodies, situations when the

films or songs were encountered and experience associated with it. Vertical

intertextuality dominates in the corpus. The texts which can be expected to be

found in certain contexts, or texts which contain cues evoking certain contexts,

provide the frame of a mental space which can be processed by the recipients

and thus enable their co-authorship of the ad.

The texts embedded in the illustrations as their integral part are denoted as

illustration-depicted intertextuality. These texts are not authentic; they

resemble texts appearing in evoked situations, which corresponds to vertical

intertextuality. In such cases, the meaning of the ad message is dependent on

the intertextual encoding of the text within the photograph. Product packaging

information, hand-written messages and newspaper cutouts represent the

transplanted texts within the illustration in the corpus. They remind the

recipients of familiar situations. Due to a complex verbal-pictorial input they

allow filling the mental space with a range of recollections or plausible

experiences.

Other numerous cases of vertical intertextuality can generally be interpreted

without the illustration interference in meaning creation. These are labeled

non-specific multigeneric intertextuality and are represented by genres of

recipes, web sites and computer-mediated communication, scientific papers,

travel guides, reports, quizzes, etc. The cues evoking respective genres are

specific vocabulary and terminology, typical phrases, sentence structure, level

of formality or structural organization of the text. They introduce contexts

which the recipients may map into their mental space as pleasant, friendly,

practical, adventurous, funny; they may also function as a detachment from the

(often despised) advertising genre.

186

Heteroglossic intertextuality is frequently represented by the presence of the

voice of the producer. He/she tends to speak directly to the recipient, the

speech being delivered in quotation marks. Their name is often given in full

form so they appear to accept personal responsibility for what is said. Their

words are trustful. Other cases of heteroglossic intertextuality are symbolic

representatives, i.e. persons chosen by the producer to symbolize the product.

These may be well-known names of entertainment or sports celebrities,

thinkers or politicians. These symbolic representatives speak to the recipients

by addressing them explicitly or deliver their product-related message in a

tentative, implicit way. The latter is more usual and frequently appears in ads

promoting luxury and high-involvement products. Similar symbolic

representation can be seen in the use of foreign voices, where the foreign

language or accent symbolically represents the product through associations

which the recipients are expected to have with the speakers of the language.

Compared to other types of intertextuality and to other analyzed discourse

strategies, heteroglossic intertextuality does not allow broad exploring of the

recipient’s mental space. This stays rather limited and functions as a device for

responding to the speaking advertising voices. The recipients mostly remain in

the position of the addressee of the speech and may fill the mental space with

emotions and attitudes such as trust, responsibility, personal involvement and

intimacy, which are usually related to an explicit dialogic approach.

The cues evoking intertextual references may be numerous and well-known,

which means that the reference becomes easily recognizable. Explicitness is

often emphasized by quotation marks, names and signatures of speaking

voices, visual references to the referred texts or text types, or by lexical means

which are in form or frequency typically associated with the respective text

types. The more explicit the reference is, the easier the recognition process

becomes. Low-involvement and high-utility products tend to be promoted by

explicit intertextuality while luxury high-involvement items prompt more

recognition effort and deeper mental processing of the message.

187

9.4.3 Metaphor

In advertising discourse, metaphors are seen from two perspectives. They are

primarily understood as cognitive devices which enable meaning inference

through relating two independent conceptual domains. Simultaneously, they

are seen as figures of speech, linguistic expressions employed by skillful

writers in order to achieve a senses-pleasing effect on the recipients. As a

discourse strategy, metaphors operate along the principle of transferring

features of one concept onto another, which guides the meaning creation. This

process unfolds in the recipient’s mental space.

Functions of metaphors as a discourse strategy are similar to the previously

analyzed strategies. Primarily, by allowing the mental-space exploration and

filling it with associations linking two depicted domains, metaphors are a

strong emotion-enhancing and attitude-building device. Moreover, they

sometimes establish the ideological raison d'être for products to be purchased.

As an interpretive device requiring cognitive effort accompanied by a certain

level of intelligence and creative abilities, metaphors also function as

recipient’s ego-enhancement when spotted, decoded and processed.

When metaphors are used as a discourse strategy, the recipient’s mental space

is outlined and filled by the associative links of two domains. The presence of

at least one domain unrelated to the advertising message tends to be established

by verbal or verbal-pictorial cues. When these are detected, the recipients are

invited to create their own associations between the suggested (usually

abstract) domain and the domain of the product, the producer or a phenomenon

related to the use of the product (e.g. skin, when skin-care product is

promoted). These associations tend to evoke positive emotions towards the

promoted items or towards oneself.

The most frequently employed type of metaphors in ads seems to be the

revealing one. These metaphors expose features which make the product

attractive and desired. Two sub-categories appear in the corpus: creative

metaphors exposing novel, unexpected associations, and non-creative ones

exposing predictable, easily understandable links.

188

The sub-category of creative metaphors evokes novel implicatures, thought-

provoking and unexpected connections. Creative metaphors can be detected in

ads with longer and shorter body copies with a slightly different function in

each. When found in longer body copies, mostly low-involvement products in

tabloid magazines tend to be the promoted objects. In such cases, metaphors

are not the sole strategy employed; the longer body copies are often highly

descriptive, offering an abundance of technical details on the product. Thus

advertising reason strategy is emphasized. Metaphorical expressions are

dispersed throughout the long body copy which tends to veil the metaphorical

nature of the text. The associating of the two domains is backgrounded and

adding the emotional value is secondary to the utility reasoning. This

processing is mostly subconscious. In some cases, metaphors are only found in

a headline or a slogan, which diminishes the mental-space processing even

more.

Short body-copies containing metaphors allow rich mental-space exploration.

Metaphors tend not to combine with descriptive strategy, which means that

such ads are classified as tickle ads. The metaphorical processing is primary;

the recipients are expected to invest more effort into the interpretation and

filling the mental space. More cases were found in Vanity Fair than in tabloids;

most ads in this sub-category promote high-involvement luxury products.

Personifications as another frequently identified type of revealing creative

metaphors are predominantly found in tabloid magazines promoting high-

utility products. They tend to fill the recipient’s mental space with emotions

and attitudes towards a product which would normally relate to a person. They

often function as a dialog-evoking device since the promoted products seem to

be explicitly speaking, addressing the recipients or implicitly suggesting the

option of the recipients participating in the communication.

Non-creative metaphors are frequent in ads as well as in everyday language

use. They are employed as explanatory devices for complicated concepts. They

lower the need for interpretive effort by associating a complex phenomenon,

189

such as chemical processes in the human body, with a concept that is easy to

imagine, such as building a house. These metaphorical expressions tend to be

predictable and they strengthen existing ideas and beliefs rather than evoke

novel ideas.

As opposed to frequently detectable revealing metaphors, the category of

ideological metaphors is illustrated by several ads within the corpus. These

metaphors veil the socio-cultural philosophies that function as selling

mechanisms. The ads containing them are ideologically loaded as they

implicitly present ideas which are not based on laws of nature, research or

experience; nevertheless, these ideas are the reason for the product to be

promoted and bought. Ads which most frequently contain hiding metaphors

promote luxury, anti-aging cosmetic products.

Metaphorical cues that prompt filling the mental space with associations

between two domains tend to be lexical items pertaining to semantic fields or

cohesive chains of the source domain. The target domain is most often implicit;

the recipients presume the associations are directed towards the product or a

product-related item, which is directly linked to the primary purpose of printed

commercial advertisements as a product promoting tool.

9.5 Hypotheses Revisited

This dissertation describes the context of American magazine print advertising.

The positions, roles and power-status of participants of advertising

communication are observed and evaluated. Through the analysis of the corpus

of ads collected from two categories of magazines, three discourse strategies

are identified which build the emotive and attitudinal layers of the ad message.

These three strategies are storytelling, intertextuality and metaphors. Exploring

the recipient’s mental space functions as a common interpretive principle in all

three strategies. Due to this principle, recipients become co-authors of the ad

message and gain more power over the production of advertising discourse.

The mental space tends to be more limited with low-involvement high-utility

goods and very broad with high-involvement low-utility goods. The former

category is frequently promoted by combination with other reason-evoking

190

discourse strategies. The latter tends to be promoted solely by means of

exploring recipient’s mental space. Tabloids tend to promote more low-

involvement products while high-end luxury magazines promote high-

involvement goods. This distribution reflects the differences in employing the

three analyzed discourse strategies.

191

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Corpus Material

Vanity Fair:

VF1 October 2007

VF2 September 2007

VF3 June 2007

VF4 April 2007

VF5 March 2007

VF6 February 2007

VF7 November 2006

VF8 September 2006

VF9 November 2005

VF10 October 2005

People:

P1 Style May 2007

P2 March 5, 2007

P3 December 25, 2006

P4 November 13, 2006

P5 July 17, 2006

201

P6 July 10, 2006

US Weekly:

US1 December 24, 2007

US2 April 23, 2007

US3 October 16, 2006

Life&Style:

LS1 May 7, 2007

LS2 April 30, 2007

LS3 August 28, 2006

Star:

S1 November 28, 2005

OK:

OK1 March 12, 2007

202

APPENDICES

Appendix I: Glossary of Terms

actual sender the voice who the recipients most probably imagine to be the

source of the message; usually it is the producer who pays to have the

advertisement created by specialists

advertising genre a category of conventionalized messages appearing in

advertising context

advertising message one instance of the advertising genre; one instance of

promoting a product, a service or an idea via paid publicized message

body copy (or copy) the core of the advertising text; the part of the message

with the highest information density, usually in the small print

character a protagonist of an advertising story introduced by textual cues or by

an illustration

claim the part of the advertising message containing a sound argument or a

persuasive appeal

classified (or no-frills) ad a printed ad appearing in a special (labeled)

advertising section of a periodical, aimed at recipients searching for advertising

information

cognitive device a device enabling the process of perception, intuition and

interpretation of knowledge; the tool of knowing and sense-making

conjuncture a combination of events or external factors, especially the critical

ones, that influence the communication

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consumer ad a product ad targeting masses of anonymous non-specialist

recipients

contact data the least prominent textual part of the advertising message

usually appearing at the very bottom of the advertising page; it contains the

address, the phone number and/or the dotcom reference

context circumstances and conditions in which the advertising communication

takes place and which are relevant to the communicative situation; the natural

environment of the message

correspondence a systematic link between two conceptual elements pertaining

to different conceptual domains

co-text what precedes and follows the text under investigation

creative revealing metaphor a type of metaphor conveying a range of non-

standard, novel implicatures

dialogism a feature of discourse that introduces explicit or implicit dialog

between the voices in the discourse or between the participants of the

communication

directive function the function of an advertising text that appeals to the

recipients directly by means of imperatives

discourse the process of production and interpretation of a text as a social

interaction; a social practice of language use

discourse strategy the conscious choice of means from the spectrum of

linguistic devices applied during the text-creation to make the text functional in

its context

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display ad an unlabeled printed ad appearing accidentally at any page of a

periodical, aimed at unaware recipients

embedded intertextuality a type of intertextuality in which one text is set in

the other one

embedded sender the voice that approaches the recipients from the

advertisement as the messenger and that can be frequently deictically identified

expressive function the function of an advertising text that draws on

recipients’ emotions and elicits their emotional reaction

fictional account a type of an advertising narrative that presents fictional

protagonists in a fictional story

figure of speech an expression used to explore language in a non-literary or

unusual way; a linguistic device employed by writers in order to express ideas

in a novel or creative way and thus create a unique effect

function of the text what the text is intended and/or expected to do

goal of the advertising communication a composition of an advertisement

that ensures addressing and exploring of the recipients’ needs and desires

genre a category of composition marked by a distinctive style, form, or

content; a socially ratified way of using language in connection with a

particular social practice

goodwill ad a product ad the aim of which is building a good image of the

company; the product advertised in such ad is the company itself

hard-sell ad an advertisement using direct appeals to the recipient to buy a

product because of its best price, limited stock, best quality, etc.

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headline (sometimes referred to as caption) primary attention-seeking verbal

part of a printed ad; usually the most prominent and first-to-read verbal part of

the advertising message

advice and promise h~ an advertising headline that instructs the

recipient to do something in order to reach some effect

command h~ (or demand h~) an advertising headline that imposes a

direct appeal, most frequently by an imperative

curiosity h~ an advertising headline that arouses recipients’ curiosity,

most frequently by asking a direct question

news h~ an advertising headline that delivers a new piece of

information; something that the recipient is not expected to know before

reading

selective h~ an advertising headline that delimits a target group of

recipients

heteroglossia a presence of many voices within a text

heteroglossic intertextuality a type of intertextuality in which a presence of

another text within the advertising text is marked by presence of more voices,

each bearing a text of their own

heuristic function the function of an advertising text which has been placed in

a new context and thus becomes a learning material

hiding metaphor a type of metaphor operating on the basis of establishing

ideological concepts

high-involvement product a type of product that is generally more expensive,

purchased relatively infrequently, and requires more reflecting of the consumer

before purchasing

horizontal intertextuality a type of intertextuality which involves a direct

reference to other texts

206

illocutionary act the communicative act; using the force associated with the

message

illustration the pictorial matter of the advertising message; visual elements of

the advertising context

illustration-depicted intertextuality a type of intertextuality that presents

another text as a part of the illustration of an advertisement

Indirect Speech Act a speech act that does not exhibit direct imposition of

force and the one in which the actual wording does not correspond directly to

the effect it is intended to have; the identification and processing of which is

fully context-dependent

industrial ad a product ad aimed at commercially equal recipients, usually at

companies in the related field of business or specialists within such companies

inferring deriving at conclusions from what is known or suspected;

establishing the concepts from the text that are based on the available facts as

contained in the text

inherent voice a voice of an impersonal unidentified sender with a persuasive

intention that lies within any commercial message

interpreter a recipient, whether a member of a target group or not, who

becomes involved with decoding and interpreting of the message

intertext a text that belongs to other discourse but influences the interpretation

of the given text

locutionary act the act of uttering the actual words of the message, recording

the carefully chosen items of the message by the copy writer

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low-involvement product a type of product that is usually of lower price,

purchased frequently in supermarkets and convenience stores

manifest intertextuality a type of intertextuality in which the switch of genres

or voices is evident

mapping reflecting correspondences established between conceptual domains

marketing strategy the conscious choice of marketing means (such as

photographs, texts, sounds, perfumed spots, substance, etc.) ensuring that the

advertising is effective and fulfils the advertising goal

mass-culture intertextuality a type of intertextuality that presents instances of

entertainment texts within an advertisement

mental space a cognitive model of a constructed context; an outlined space in

recipient’s conceptual capacity explored to represent and interpret what is

explicitly or implicitly present in the discourse; a cognitive space used for

individual interpretation of a particular discourse in a specific situation

mixed intertextuality a type of intertextuality in which texts create a network

of inter-related links

multigeneric intertextuality a type of intertextuality in which a presence of

another text within the advertising text is marked by presence of items typical

for other genres

multi-media intertextuality a type of intertextuality in which texts are present

in other texts only as references within an intricate network of modern media

non-commercial ad an instance of the advertising genre aimed at promoting a

political, religious or charity idea with the primary goal of influencing the

recipient’s mindset or changing their opinions

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non-creative revealing metaphor a type of metaphor that does not draw on

creative strength; a recognizable metaphor that strengthens the existing ideas

and opinions through employing predictable, non-innovative language patterns

and metaphorical mappings

non-print ad an instance of the advertising genre presented in spoken form,

i.e. an instance of television and radio advertising

non-specific multigeneric intertextuality a type of intertextuality that features

a text within another text marked by a register or text forms which are typical

of other genres

participant the person taking part in the advertising communication (a sender

and a recipient)

perlocutionary act the effect of the message, e.g. when the recipients of the ad

message become the customers by performing the act of acquiring the product

personification a type of ontological metaphor in which the mapping occurs

between an inanimate domain and a domain depicting a person

phatic function the function of an advertising text that expresses solidarity and

empathy; often found in headlines as an attention-catching device

poetic function the function of an advertising text that evokes pleasure in the

recipients

presence a potential recipient who occupies a position that allows one to

become a participant; an individual who may not read message, intentionally

skips the advertising page or her/his attention is not directed to the message

contents at the right time

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printed ad an instance of the advertising genre appearing in periodicals

(magazines and newspapers) and in non-periodical printed materials

(catalogues, flyers, carrier bags, etc.), on the Internet and at outdoor surfaces

product (or commercial) ad an instance of advertising genre aimed at

promoting a product or a service with the primary goal of reaching financial

gain

product brand name the basic identifier of the product in the printed

advertisement, usually appearing several times in different parts of the

advertisement

reason ad an advertisement evoking recipient’s common sense; it suggests

motives and offers reasons to obtain the product

reason strategy a marketing strategy operating on the basis of evoking

practical reasons to obtain the product

recipient the reader or the listener of the message; the identity identifying and

processing the message

recipient design the adaptation and careful crafting of the message that is to

ensure recipients’ continued attention and understanding

referential function the function of an advertising text that provides factual

information about the items or offers contact data

revealing metaphor a type of metaphor that is intended to reveal unique and

pleasing associations

sender the utterer of the message; the identity revealing the message to the

recipient

210

sequential intertextuality a type of intertextuality in which one text

successively follows the other one

setting a story scene; the location where the advertising story takes place

situation the participants’ perception of the objects and people influencing the

text

slogan an easy-to-remember, low-information density line that functions as a

signature; it tries to bridge the time gap between seeing the ad and buying the

product

soft-sell ad an advertisement promoting a product indirectly, implicitly; it

relies on creating desirable emotional stance and positive attitude to the

product

strategy choices among options aimed at effectively executing a plan and

reaching a communicative intention or a goal

structure of the advertising message formal labeling and ordering of

regularly appearing parts of an advertising message, such as the headline, the

body copy, the slogan, contact data, the brand name and the illustration

substance the physical material which carries the advertising

target group the group of individuals whose characteristics make them most

susceptible to become the product consumers

text a product of socially embedded processes of language production and

interpretation

textual cue a textual signal that activates certain mental space in the recipient’s

mind and delimits its borders; a text item used as a mental space outliner that

navigates the mental processing

211

tickle ad an advertisement which appeals to recipients’ moods and emotions

tickle strategy a marketing strategy operating on the basis of evoking positive

feelings that urge prospective consumers into buying the product

time-line a sequence of events in a story

true account a type of an advertising narrative that depicts a seemingly true

story of making, testing or using the product

undercoding the operation that allows the recipients to co-create the meaning

of the text; it is an operation through which portions of certain texts (textual

cues) are taken as incomplete portions of a code since the reliable pre-

established rules are not applicable or are not available

unique selling proposition (USP) a marketing proposition pointing out a

unique feature of the product

vertical intertextuality a type of intertextuality in which the other text present

in the referred text is rather an allusion or a mode of writing or style

virtual interpreter an ideal member of a target group whom the advertisers

portray during the process of the message creation

virtual sender the actual advertising message creator; most frequently a

member of a creative team in an advertising agency

voice a speaking personality or a speaking consciousness in an advertising text

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Appedix II: Corpus of Ads (Textual Parts)

Cars (Tabloids)

The Edge is never dull. All-New Edge. With attention-grabbing styling and unique features

like an available panoramic Vista Roof, this crossover is designed to inspire you to view the

world in a different way. Plus, it offers the punch of class-leading 265 horsepower and does it

with impressive fuel economy. So, stay sharp with the Edge, starting at $25,995 MSRP. And

leave dull behind. Ford. Bold.

P3

It never ceases to amaze Sarah how her Mariner gets her through just about anything, even

uptight maitre d's. The 2007 Mercury Mariner. Sarah's friends were doubtful about their

chances of getting in. But with Intelligent 4WD, an aggressive V-6 and style to match, Mariner

has a way of turning heads. Now the new restaurant isn't the only place people are looking to

get into. Mercury. New Doors Opened.

P3

It's anything but cute. The all-new 2007 Dodge Caliber starting at $14,135. 172-horsepower 2.4

liter engine. Available MusicGate Power Boston Acoustics sound system with swing-down

liftgate speakers. Visit dodge.com or call XXX. Grab life by the horns. Dodge.

P3

Yaris. Clean. The thoughtfully designed Yaris Liftback. Starting at $11,530. Toyota. Moving

forward.

P3

Grabbed the clothes from the kid at the dry cleaners. Handed him twice what she owed.

Offered to pay for the guy behind her and left a business card. It took five minutes before the

call came. Ford. Boldmoves. It's nice to hear back from people. We recently heard from J.D.

Power and Associates. Who ranked the Ford Fusion the "Most Appealing Midsize Car." That'll

make some heads turn. Fusion.

P4

This is our music. This is our truck. All New Chevy Silverado. As a longtime partner with the

Country Music Association, Chevy is proud to celebrate 40 years of the CMA Awards by

giving country songwriters some added inspiration: the all new Chevy Silverado. Catch

Gretchen Wilson, Big & Rich, and more of your favourite country stars in the Chevy 2007

Country Music Calendar. See behind-the-scenes footage at chevymusic.com An American

Revolution.

P4

Cadillac. Life. Liberty. And the pursuit. 2007 Cadillac SRX Crossover.

P4

Hyundai. Drive your way. RetHink Everything. Rethink your needs. 5-star crash test rating. 6

airbags. Rethink your wants. Heated front seats. 6-speaker CD/MP3 audio system. 8-way

power-adjustable driver seat. Rethink the total no-brainer. The new Sonata with America's Best

Warranty. Rethink everything. TheNewSonata.com.

P5

Q. "Dear Dr. Z, What are the benefits of merging American and German engineering and

design?" Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman, DaimlerChrysler AG. A. The Chrysler 300C, for

example. Its advanced five-link suspension not only improves handling, it also reduces cabin

213

noise. A. Two Flex Fuel Jeep vehicles are in production. And a Jeep Grand Cherokee with the

world's cleanest diesel technology will be available in the future. A. MDS technology. Our

HEMI V8 shuts down four cylinders at cruising speeds, improving fuel efficiency by 7% while

providing plenty of power. Employee Pricing Plus. Experiencing the best in American and

German engineering and design. Get Employee Pricing plus 0% APR financing. And right

now, we're also offering a 30-day Return Program when financed through Chrysler Financial.

Daimler Chrysler. The doctor is in at AskDrZ.com

P5

Seven airbags for you. One for the planet. Designed for today and tomorrow. With emission-

reducing hybrid technology to help protect the future. And a host of standard safety features to

help make sure you're around to see it. Camry. When a car becomes more. toyota.com The all-

new 2007 Camry. Toyota. Moving Forward

P5

Super Tail Action! Move over, mullet! You are no longer the undisputed king of stylish tail

technology! Mullet, it's time to pass the torch to the all-new Fit Sport with sleek body design

and aerodynamic rear roofline spoiler! Super style meets super substance! Fit is loaded with

enjoyable driving technology! Steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters! 6-speaker audio with

iPod integration! Blue illuminated gauges! Mullet loses again! Fit is all business when it

comes to safety! Standard front, side and curtain airbags are your driving companions!

Standard anti-lock brakes accompany you everywhere! Mullet has no answer! The Fit is Go!

Business under the hood! Sporty style in the back! Fit. New from Honda. Ignition time! Thrust

onto the tolling blacktop! Feel the quiet roar of the vigorous 1.5-liter VTEC engine! Swift,

stylish mover with satisfying efficiency! 38 mpg on the freeway ... Super Pump Beater! Cargo

time? The roomy 5-door passenger Fit with 60/40 split 2nd row Magic Seat brings the

versatility! Hatchback attack! fit.honda.com

P6

Fall off the edge of the map. 4Runner. Expanding Your Universe. The Toyota 4Runner's

arsenal of smart advancements can carry you up unbelievable inclines and over inhospitable

terrain. So when you've reached the end of everyone else's world, yours is just beginning.

Discover more at toyota.com Toyota. Moving Forward.

P6

When it comes to safety, you shouldn't have to choose. The Ridgeline The CR-V The

Odyssey The Civic Sedan The Pilot The Accord The Element The Fit At Honda, we have

always believed in the importance of safety. That's why new Hondas have a comprehensive

package of standard safety equipment: anti-lock brakes, front side airbags with an Occupant

Position Detection System, side curtain airbags and features designed to reduce pedestrian

injuries. It's all part of a thoroughly responsible approach to vehicles we call 'Safety for

Everyone'. Safety for Everyone. Honda. The Power of Dreams.

P2

When one is experiencing Giddyupidness, one must be aware of the cop hiding behind the

billboard. If one loves to put the pedal to the metal, one must be aware of the responsive nature

of the highly enlightened Kia Rondo. A new kind of crossover vehicle that combines the

spaciousness and flexibility of an SUV with the handling and fuel efficiency of a car. With

class-leading safety, 29 MPG Hwy, available 3rd-row seating and a powerful V6 engine. All

backed by a 10-year/100,00-mile warranty program. Starting at $16,995. kia.com The all-new

Kia Rondo. Welcome to Rondoism. Kia. The Power to Surprise.

P2

Born to be wild. All-new Suzuki SX4. Attitude and AWD, all standard. We admit it. We've got

a reputation for having fun. Giving a little attitude. So it's a natural for us to offer up the

equally spirited Suzuki SX4. This new sport X-over features the only 3-Mode i-AWD in the

class, plus the power of a 143-hp engine, all standard. Yaris, Fit and Versa don't offer either

214

one. There's ABS and the safety of a side-curtain airbags, standard. Plus available Electronic

Stability Program (ESP) with TCS. The all-new Suzuki SX4. It's gonna be a great ride.

suzukiauto.com Suzuki. Way of Life.

P2

Ford. BoldMoves. This test had a lot of turns. And one big twist. (Ford Fusion beat Camry and

Accord.) Recently, in Washington D.C., a town known for its strong opinions, Car and Driver

invited 600 of its readers to compare three cars in performance, handling and styling. So, who

won? Camry? Accord? Actually, the all-wheel-drive Ford Fusion came in first. If that surprises

you, then find out what these Car and Driver enthusiasts have already discovered. Check it out

yourself. Visit a Ford Dealer or go to fusionchallenge.com (graph included) Results from 600

drivers who were asked if the cars were attractive, were fun to drive, performed well and

handled with precision. "Yes" responses scored one point. "No" responses scored zero. The

results speak for themselves. Fusion Ford Challenge.

P2

Inspiration pulled from your life. That's professional grade. 1. The easiest form of turn-by-turn

navigation available. 2. Better fuel efficiency than any 8-passenger SUV. 3. Unparalleled

safety features. 4. Dual sunroof with breathtaking sky views available. 5. StabiliTrack for

multiple road surfaces. 6. DVD entertainment system available. 7. 12 cupholders. 8. Halogen

projection headlamps. 9. Tri-zone automatic climate control available. GMC Acadia. Welcome

to Acadia. The crossover from GMC.

P2

The all-new Edge makes the scene with its panoramic Vista Roof. It's three times larger than

the average traditional moon-roof. This crossover will inspire you to view the world in a

different way. The Edge's flexible interior can adapt to any situation with the push of a button

thanks to the available EasyFold rear seat back release and fold-flat front passenger seat. Plus,

Edge has the most reconfigurable center console in its class, multiple powerpoints and a

standard MP3 audio jack. It also offers the punch of a 3.5L V6 engine with class-leading 265

horsepower that's been recognized as one of "Ward's 10 Best Engines for 2007", and does it all

with an impressive fuel economy of 25 mpg on the highway. So, stay sharp with the Edge and

leave dull behind. Ford BoldMoves.

P2

Grab life by the horns. Dodge. Avenge Internal Computer System. STEERING: listen up ppl,

we're ina tight corner ESP: Electronic Stability Program at ur service! BRAKES: he hit the

brakes hard ESP: im detecting slippage BRAKES: hydrolic break booster, work ur magic

BOOSTER: NP im on it bro ABS: u r awesome. busy breaking L front and R rear ENGINE:

lowering torque and throttle BTW ESP: yaw and lateral acceleration sensors activated. man im

good :-) TRACTION CONTROL: LOL giving rear wheels more traction ESP: gr8, cuz we r

almost out of this corner ENGINE: yesssss! back on full throttle BRAKES: this is 2 easy

IMHO ESP: cya l8r SEND SEE THE ALL-NEW AVENGER AT

DODGE.COM/AVENGER

P1

Ford. BoldMoves. Both coasts have spoken. (Ford Fusion beat Camry and Accord again.)

After Car and Driver readers put Camry, Accord and all-wheel-drive Ford Fusion to the test,

Road & Track invited 400 car enthusiasts to do the same, this time in California. So, what

happened? Ford Fusion did it again. Beating both Camry and Accord on performance, handling

and styling. It's time for you to find out what so many others already have. Take the Ford

Challenge and see why Fusion is the better choice. Visit a Ford Dealer or go to

fordchallenge.com (results graph included) Results from 400 test-drive participants in

California, who were asked if the cars were attractive, fun to drive, performed well and handled

with precision. "Yes" responses scored one point. "No" responses scored zero. The results

speak for themselves. Fusion Ford Challenge.

US2

215

Hyundai. Drive your way. If greatness is a destination, we're on the road to it. Hyundai Tucson

is the "Highest Ranked Compact Multi-Activity Vehicle in Initial Quality." We're going places

people never thought possible. Like the top of the automotive world. Our most recent

milestone is no accident. It's the result of years of focus, determination, and drive. Not to

mention lots of rethinking. When you follow a map of excellence, you're bound to pick up a

few treasures along the way. HyundaiUSA.com TUCSON

US3

Freedom is a whole new dimension. Introducing the all-new 2007 Jeep Compass. Available

Freedom Drive I four-wheel drive. ESP with Traction Control. Flexible seating and storage.

Flip-down rear liftgate speakers. Starting at 15,985. It's your life… Bounce On to jeep.com

"Keep it moving!" Jeep.

US3

CRAVE CR-V Presenting the all-new CR-V It's something new to crave. Ample seating for

five. Standard side curtain airbags. And an available XM Satellite Radio. It's enough to make

you want to put a cherry on top. Honda.

There's something new to CRAVE. CRAVE. The richness of available leather seats, a dual-

deck cargo shelf and a Honda Satellite-Linked Navigation System. All together in one

irresistible blend. Presenting the all-new CR-V. It's something new to crave. Honda.

US3

Cars (Vanity Fair)

Shyness Cured. Peugeot 207 CC. Drive of your Life. Peugeot.

VF4

On A Clear Day You Can See Innovations Stretching Back Over A Century. Introducing The

R-Class.

It is a true six-seater that's truly much more. More spacious. More styled. More versatile.

Designed to make room for people. For things. For life. The R-Class is the product of an

unrivaled heritage of innovation and excellence. This very new, very different kind of

automobile delivers luxury, light, sky and options on a grand scale. Introducing the R-Class.

Legendary. Unlike any other.

VF10

Inspired by her stylish new Mercury Milan, Tina did what anyone else in her shoes would do -

buy new ones. Introducing the all-new 2006 Mercury Milan. Milan's eye-catching style and

two-tone leather seats gave Tina ample reason to add to her shoe collection; not that Tina ever

needed reasons. The big question now is whether her closet will hold as much as Milan's trunk.

Mercury. New Doors Opened.

VF9

After building three of the most capable 4x4s on Earth … we had our biggest idea yet. All New

Jeep Commander.

VF9

Any smaller and it would be "European". The all-new midsize H3. Living up to the off-road

reputation Hummer made famous. Hummer. Like Nothing Else.

VF10.

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Pull over occasionally and let your blood cool. The acceleration alone will take your breath

away. Match it with a 165-mph top track speed and a suspension that feels tuned to your every

thought, and the Cayenne Turbo is enough to send you on an endless drive. Stopping only for

those occasions when your senses redline. Porsche. There is no substitute. The Cayenne Turbo.

VF9

Call the office. Tell them you're running early. Suddenly your commute is shorter. And more

invigorating. As the Acura TL strikes a deft balance of sophisticated V-6 power and voice-

activated technology. Your arrival will be fashionable. It just won't be late. The TL. Acura.

VF9

Life-altering events: Love, childbirth, turning the ignition. One simple turn of the key is all it

takes. You hear deep, resonant sound of the engine. You feel the steering respond with such

athletic agility. Suddenly, you change. Driving changes. Life has one less chore. And one more

reward. Porsche. There is no substitute. The Cayenne.

VF10

Your first kiss. Shopping in New York. Those first designer shoes. The New Spider. Some

experiences stay with you. For more information about the New Spider visit

www.alfaromeo.co.uk, call xxx or text SPIDER to xxx. Alfa Spider.

VF4

Heart bpm… Engine rpm … Don't just drive the car. Be the car. All-New MX-5 Miata. Once

again, Mazda has reinvented the sports car. You see it in every texture, stitch and sweep. You

feel it in every shift, straightaway and turn. It sets a whole new standard to the true sports car

experience. The all-new MX-% Miata is completely redesigned and rebuilt from the ground up.

Every component is engineered to keep your senses firing on all cylinders. To deliver a unique

oneness - a connection of car and driver so immediate, it's almost telepathic. Only Mazda could

have delivered this seamless expression of pure motion. It's a mindset. It's an obsession. And

once again, it's become a sports car. bethecar.com

VF9

Take everything you know about design and nudge it. Push it. Simplify it. Modernize it.

Liberate it. Inject it with life. Give it a point of view and 335 horsepower and hold on.

Introducing the all-new Infinity M. Design is always moving. It's daring. It's purposeful. It

starts with a Push Button Ignition. It leads with the only Lane Departure Warning system and

Rear Active Steer in its class. And it captivates with Bose Studio Surround sound. The all-new

M. Designed to outperform. Discover more at Infiniti.com

VF10

New. Classic. No longer antonyms. The new Range Rover Supercharged.

VF10

Why coast through life when you can corner it. Introducing the all-new 2006 Lincoln Zephyr.

It handles. It hugs. It performs. Lincoln Zephyr. With a sport-tuned suspension and class-

exclusive six-speed automatic transmission. Seize your opportunity. Lincoln.

VF10

The new TDV8. The economy of a diesel, the performance and refinement of a V8. Range

Rover Sport TDV8. Land Rover. Go Beyond.

VF3

The all-new 7-seat Jeep Commander. Winner of the 4x4 magazine's 4x4 of the year. The all-

new 7-seat Jeep Commander. How do you win 4x4 of the year? We could say its "Retro looks

217

hide a modern and comfortable seven seater interior" or it has "genuine capacity to back up its

genuine off-roader looks" but we'll just let 4x4 magazine say it for us. What we will say though

is it comes with front and rear park assist, Boston Acoustic system, leather trimmed interior

and a choice of either a 3.0 V6 diesel or the powerful 5.7 V8 Hemi engine. jeep.co.uk

VF7

What's a boundary? RX 400h. The world's first high performance hybrid SUV. Conventional

logic is a boundary. Lexus logic is different. It brings together the unheard of combination of

V8-like power, superior fuel efficiency, and lower, category-leading CO2 emissions. How?

Through Lexus Hybrid Drive, which cleverly links a petrol engine with two electric motors.

The result is the RX400h. A unique SUV, built to demolish boundaries and open up a whole

new world of driving for you. Lexus. The pursuit of perfection.

VF8

The new Eos. Re-discover your senses. Smell … See … Hear … Touch a button, and the steel-

and-glass roof folds elegantly away, transforming the new Eos coupé into a cabriolet and

opening your senses to the world. From just ₤19,370 rrp including "Adelaide' alloys, fog lights

and parking sensors. For more information, call XXX or visit www.rediscoveryoursenses.co.uk

W Aus Liebe zum Automobil

VF8

The new Envoy Denali with available touch-screen navigation system. Our most luxurious

appointments. Our most advanced ideas. And our highest level of engineering. All lie behind

this grille. Visit gmc.com/denali. We are professional grade. Envoy Denali.

VF9

The passionate pursuit of perfection. Lexus. Welcome to the luxury hybrid. It's not just the

debut of a new car, but of a new category. Lexus engineers have combined the attributes of a

luxury sedan with the remarkable fuel economy and low emissions that only hybrid technology

can provide. The result is a vehicle that offers you the best of both, without asking you to

sacrifice anything. A V6 engine delivers the power of a V8 while producing only a fraction of

the emissions associated with a standard SUV. Yet, this hybrid is also every inch a Lexus,

sparing nothing in the way of your comforts and conveniences. Making it what may indeed be

the first vehicle of its kind. One that treats you, and the world you live in, with equal respect.

To learn more about the RX 400h, including the unique Paul McCartney signature edition

commemorating the Paul McCartney US Tour presented by Lexus, please visit us at

lexus.com/mccartney.

VF9

120 not-so-standard features (pictures with funny descriptions!!!!). One all new German

engineered Passat. Drivers wanted. W.

VF9

Now you can get one before you ink the record deal. The all-new midsize H3. Living up to the

off-road reputation Hummer made famous. Starting at $29,500. Hummer. Like nothing else.

VF9

The new Peugeot 308. Inspired by nature, driven with pleasure. Peugeot has created a car as

elegant as it is efficient. Superb aerodynamics and refined engines, including the Hdi diesel

engine with particulate filters mean that emissions start at only 120g/km of CO2. The new

Peugeot 308 from ₤11,995. The drive of your life.

VF1

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Haven't we all seen enough of ordinary? New Bravo from ₤10,995. Fiat.co.uk. Beautiful and

spacious, with the option of a turbocharge T-jet or MultiJet engine, the New Bravo is so far

away from ordinary it's unreal. Fiat.

VF2

Available in blur. The new C-Class. Serene Agility. The new Mercedes-Benz C-Class:

emphasis on the new. Up until now there have been dynamic, sporty cars and there have been

graceful, luxurious cars. That just changed. The C-Class has all agility of a performance car,

yet with the serenity you expect from a Mercedes. But words are futile. Book a test drive and C

for yourself. Mercedes Benz.

VF2

There's no rest for the wicked. Until the next stoplight, anyway. Stow the hardtop with just a

touch. Settle into the French-seamed leather. And just try to resist the call of the 320-hp

Northstar V8. XLR. Break Through. A year of OneStar safely, on every Cadillac. Details at

cadillac.com.

VF10

Never Follow. For the culturally advantaged. The Audi A8 with a 335 hp V8 or 450 hp W12.

With advanced technology like MMI, quattro all-wheel drive and an all-aluminum Audi Space

Frame, it has been named "America's Best Luxury Car" by the readers of AutoWeek. Again.

Making the A8, A8 L and A8 L W12 synonymous with luxury and intelligent design. It's

greater to lead than follow. Audi.

VF9

Chrysler. Inspiration comes standard. The most awarded new car ever. The Chrysler 300C.

VF9

Phaeton #433. Silver Mirror over Anthracite leather with honed Eucalyptus trim. Purchased by

Mark Hoidal, of Seattle, Washington. Equipped with a 335 hp V8, air suspension, standard all-

wheel drive and a 4-zone climate control system that Mark happily reports, has cut complaints

from back-seat passengers (ages 7 and 10) by well over fifty percent on long trips. The

Phaeton, from Volkswagen. Starting at $66,950. Drivers wanted.

VF10

Never follow. Audiusa.com The most enjoyable reason to arrive fashionably late. The Audi

A8 with a 335 hp V8 or 450 hp W12. With MMI, quattro all-wheel drive and a lightweight all-

aluminum Audi Space Frame. Once again named "America's Best Luxury Car" by the readers

of AutoWeek, the A8, A8 L and A8 L W12 allow you to make an entrance no matter when you

choose to arrive. It's greater to lead than to follow.

VF10

Every Once In A While, A Vehicle Comes Around That Changes Everything. Introducing the

4-Wheel Drive R-Class Grand Sports Tourer. Look out the Panorama Roof and see the world

framed beautifully. Look in and see luxury executed superbly. A sumptuous, versatile space

that accommodates six effortlessly or any number of uses easily. The R-Class is, quite simply,

a very new, very different kind of automobile. A very new, very different way to travel. R-

Class. Unlike any other. Mercedes Benz.

VF9

Jaguar. GORGEOUS TRUMPS EVERYTHING.

Jaguar. GORGEOUS doesn't care what others are doing.

Jaguar. Gorgeous gets in EVERYWHERE. VF9

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Jaguar. WHERE DID GORGEOUS GO? Prefergorgeous.com

VF10

Cosmetics (Tabloids)

Covergirl. Plump 'em don't clump 'em. New Volume Exact Mascara Brilliant new brush with

microchambers plumps each little lash without clumping for volume a whole new way. Go

brush to brush and compare. Clumps on the brush could end up you-know-where! (photos)

Volume Exact Brush Ordinary brush Find Queen Latifah's look at covergirl.com easy

breezy beautiful COVERGIRL

OK1

Skin so naturally clear it breathes. Skin that breathes is skin that can be free of breakouts and

blemishes. So, go natural, go Swiss. With St. Ives Apricot Scrubs and Cleansers. Oil-free.

100% natural exfoliants, never synthetic. With salicylic acid to clean deep into pores.

Removing dirt, oil and dead skin cells that cause blemishes. Allowing skin to breathe. So your

skin looks fresh and clear. Visibly healthy. Naturally Swiss. St Ives Swiss Formula.

US1

So purifying, it's like a mini-sauna for your face. New Olay Warming Cleansers. Feel the

exhilarating warmth of New Olay Warming Cleansers. Feel them not just cleansing, but

purifying your skin. Removing impurities better than basic cleansing. Your pores will sit back,

relax and say "Ahh..." Olay love the skin you're in.

P2

So clean. So cool. So invigorating. Neutrogena Deep Clean Invigorating Foaming Scrub.

Neutrogena. Dermatologist Recommended.

US3

New Colorstay Soft & Smooth Lipcolor. Stays gorgeous. Stays creamy. Stays on. Exclusive

SoftFlex for hours and hours of luscious, feel-good color in one smooth step. Flaking or

cakeing? Forget it. 36 sexy shades, from sheer to full. Revlon. Halle Berry is wearing

Colorstay Soft & Smooth Lipcolor in Ruby Rapture.

P6

It's a mousse revolution! Matte-perfect foundation with an amazing air-soft feel. Adriana Lima.

Dream Matte Mousse Foundation. Feels as different as it looks. Maybelline New York. Maybe

she's born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline.

P5

Lashtrovert. New Lash Perfection Mascara. Want to stand out in a crowd? Get ahold of this.

An advanced, flexible iFX brush reaches out to every little lash, base to tip, corner to corner,

maxing out even minimal lashes. You won't believe the look. They won't believe your eyes.

Carmen electrifies in Lash Perfection in Richest Black, MAXeye Shadows in Vintage Vixen

and MAXeye Liner in Nightclub. For a retailer near you and for personalized makeup tips, visit

maxfactor.com. MAX Factor. Makeup, maximized.

LS3

Shower your skin in luxury. Discover Dove CreamOil Body Washes. The richest blend of

cream and natural oil for ultra-moisturized, velvety skin - the ultimate moisture from Dove.

US1

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Olay. When it comes to skin saturated with beauty, Quench reigns. It's the torrent of moisture

in Olay Quench that transforms skin. Takes it all the way to beautiful. Skin is not just

drenched, it's Quenched. All-over, body-beautiful moisture. Only Olay can make it so ...

quenching! Quench. Love the skin you're in.

US1

Make your first impression a naturally glowing one. Jergens Natural Glow Face Daily

Moisturizer Now also with SPF 20. Give your face a gradual healthy summer glow, just by

moisturizing. The only glow with 3 customized shades that are specially formulated for face

with oil-free, dermatologist tested formulas. Find it in the lotion aisle. Jergens. Put your best

skin out there.

US2

Suddenly, my skin is an extrovert. No longer content to live in the shadow of my smile, it

wants to be the center of attention. This new skin and I were made for each other. The new

Jergens Moisturizing Collection. From our reformulated Original Scent to our new Shea Butter

moisturizers, our unique collection transforms skin. Leaving it so remarkably smooth, soft and

radiant, you won't be the only one who notices. Put your best skin out there.

US3

Dove Cool Moisture. A refreshing drink to your skin. Summer heat taking its toll? Freshen up

with Dove Cool Moisture. The line of gentle-to-your-skin products created with 1/4 hydrating

lotion. And the uplifting fragrance of cucumber and green tea. It's everything your skin thirsts

for.

P5

I no longer recognize my own skin. It's renewed, silky & smooth. Ready for action. And

reaction. New Jergens Skin Smoothing. Get ready for new, reformulated Jergens Skin

Smoothing moisturizer. Dual-action polishing beads gently exfoliate and dissolve as they

deeply hydrate, leaving skin renewed, silky and smooth. Put your best skin out there.

P4

Resolve to fight what ages you most. New Definity Foam for luminous, highly defined skin.

This New Year, resolve to fight what ages you most - discoloration, dullness and wrinkles.

Because fighting just wrinkles is sooo 2006. Olay. Love the skin you're in.

P3

64 countries, 1 face care line. ) wrinkles. Nivea Q10 the world's #1 selling. As the world's #1

selling anti-aging face care line, NIVEA Visage Q 10 works to both reduce and help prevent

the appearance of wrinkles. Save up to $5 on NIVEA Q10 products. Look in your local Sunday

paper. NIVEA.

P6

Three ribbons. Three levels of skincare. If you like an intensely moisturized feel, try BODY

BUTTER ribbons. If you like a fresh-skin feel, try LOTION ribbon. If you like a creamy,

moisturized feel, try CRÈME ribbons. Olay. Love the skin you're in.

Enter the deep end of moisture. Olay body wash plus CRÈME RIBBONS. Wrap your skin in

two times the moisturizers (*vs. the leading body wash) with the only body wash that

moisturizes with an added ribbon of rich skin crème. Olay. Love the skin you're in.

P6

The Lycopene in tomatoes is proven to boost your immune system. Now it's in skincare that

actually boosts skin's radiance from the inside out. New. Garnier Skin Renew. Nutrition +

Dermatology. A 1st from Garnier. Skin Renew with unique dermatological nutrients refuels

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calls within skin's deepest surface layers: LYCOPENE powerful anti-oxidant VITAMIN C

surface cell renewal MAGNESIUM energizes + hydrates. A clinical study proves: in 3 weeks

tone and texture are transformed for a deeper radiance. Great skin from the inside out.

GARNIER. Take care.

P2

ALMAY New Almay Hydracolor Lipstick 100x more water than regular lipsticks. Nourishes

with plant extracts and Vitamin E. Hypoallergenic formula with SPF 15. 32 rich, refreshing

shades. Hydration Sensation. So your lips feel as beautiful as they look.

P2

Choose your radiance. Now AVEENO introduces a color-enhancing moisturizer that lets you

customize your color. New CONTINUOUS RADIANCE Moisturizing Lotion has a patented

dial technology - you choose the shade for the perfect summer radiance for you. A subtle color

booster enhances your natural skin tone. And the moisture-rich soy formula is clinically shown

to moisture for a full 24 hours, for healthy radiance that lasts. Aveeno. Active naturals.

Discover nature's secret for healthy radiant skin.

P2

What's in a big girl's toy box? The new Caress Body Wash collection. Six luxurious ways to

beautify your skin. Caress. Play With Beauty.

P3

Let him think that glow is because of something he did. A radiant, deep clean. Noxzema.

Pretty. Smart.

If anyone's talking dirt, it won't be about your face. Purifying Blackhead Cleanser. Noxzema.

Pretty. Smart.

LS3

tis the season for radiant skin. Dove SkinVitalizer daily facial cleanser Deeply cleanse and

reveal incredibly soft, smooth skin to put your best face forward day after beautiful day.

US1

You're beautiful and smart… Eye 2 Eye Color & Contour Shadow The secret to sensational

eyes! The perfect ratio of highlighter to contour. Why pay more? Quality cosmetics at a value

price. N.Y.C. New York Color

LS1

Like a tropical rainforest, only you're the wildlife. New Tone Exotic Fusions: Water Lily &

Sugar Cane body wash. It's an aroma-fest of 7 moisturizing botanicals. Mmm, the shower gods

are smiling.

S1

Feed your skin Don't fuel it. (other brands … petroleum mineral oil, butylene glycol, vinyl

neodecanoate… Juice Organics .. Organic orange, lemon, grape, apple, carrot & pomegranate

juices, organic raw cane sugar …Made with certified organic ingredients) Your skin absorbs

what you place on it. Nourish your skin with organic, toxin-free ingredients. Juice Organics.

Healthy beauty.

LS1

The difference between noticing your glow and being drawn to it. The difference is new

NIVEA Sun-Kissed Firming Moisturizer, a gradual tanner that moisturizes as it firms for a

slimmer, sun-kissed look. Notice a healthy-looking tan in just five days. For a complete glow

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head to toe, try new NIVEA Sun-Kissed Facial Moisturizer. Find more temptingly touchable

skincare ideas at www.NIVEAusa.com/sunkissed. NIVEA. Touch and be touched.

P1

The difference between high collars and plunging necklines. The difference is NIVEA body

Age Defying Moisturizer, formulated specifically for your body. It replenishes creatine, the

anti-aging ingredient found in your skin, boosting your skin's natural age-defying power. For

fewer wrinkles, less dryness and irresistibly younger-looking skin. Show off a confident new

you with a night out from NIVEA. Enter to win a shopping spree and dinner for two at

www.NIVEAusa.com/agedefy. NIVEA. Touch and be touched.

P2

Nature's Cure Confidence in a Kit Lose your zits. Find yourself. Nature's Cure introduces as

easy 3-step system that combines acne-fighting salicylic acid with skin-enhancing papaya

enzyme. 1. Open Pores and deep clean your skin with the Acne-Clearing Papaya Cleanser. 2.

Exfoliate and revitalize your complexion with the Pore-Perfecting Papaya Toner. 3. Fight Acne

and soothe skin all day with Acne-Repairing Papaya Moisturizer. Go to www.papayakit.com to

learn more. Also try our Body Acne Spray.

LS2