a study on mataphorical expressions in english advertising slogans from the semantic approach = nghiên cứu các biểu thức ẩn dụ sử dụng trong các khẩu hiệu quảng cáo bằng tiếng anh từ phương diện ngữ dụng học

1

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES




NGUYỄN THỊ CHI MAI



A STUDY ON METAPHORICAL EXPRESSIONS IN ENGLISH
ADVERTISING SLOGANS FROM THE SEMANTIC APPROACH
(NGHIÊN CU CC BIỂU THC ẨN DỤ SỬ DỤNG
TRONG CC KHẨU HIỆU QUẢNG CO BẰNG TIẾNG ANH TỪ
PHƯƠNG DIỆN NGỮ DỤNG HỌC)


M.A. Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60.22.15


HANOI – 2010

2
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES




NGUYỄN THỊ CHI MAI



A STUDY ON METAPHORICAL EXPRESSIONS IN ENGLISH
ADVERTISING SLOGANS FROM THE SEMANTIC APPROACH
(NGHIÊN CU CÁC BIỂU THC ẨN DỤ SỬ DỤNG TRONG CÁC KHẨU
HIỆU QUẢNG CÁO BẰNG TIẾNG ANH TỪ PHƯƠNG DIỆN NGỮ DỤNG
HỌC)

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60.22.15
Supervisor: Asoc.Prof. Nguyen Xuan Thom, PhD



HANOI – 2010
iv
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
FIGURES
Figure 1: A model of interpersonal verbal communication (Roman Jakobson, 1960)
Figure 2: Vaseline Intensive Care Blend
Figure 3: Red Bull Blend
Figure 4: Lexus Blend
Figure 5: Citi Bank Blend

TABLES
Table 1: The calculated frequency of advertising slogans in each metaphor type
Table 2: The general frequency of each metaphor type in the whole forty slogans of four groups
Table 3: The frequency of each sub-types of Conceptual Metaphor in each group
Table 4: The analysis of target domain, source domain and metaphor concepts in 11 slogans of
new and mixed conventional metaphors

v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY OF STUDY PROJECT REPORT i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
ABSTRACT iii
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS v

INTRODUCTION 1
1. Rationale 2
2. Research questions and aims of the study 2
3. Scope of the study 3
4. Research methodology 3
5. Design of the study 4

CHAPTER I. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND: METAPHORS AND THE USE OF
METAPHORS IN ADVERTISING. 5
1. Definitions of metaphor and promotional metaphor 5
2. Kinds of metaphors 6
3. Previous studies on Metaphor in Advertising 9

CHAPTER II. AN ANALYSIS ON METAPHOR EXPLOITATION IN ADVERTISING
SLOGANS 14
1. Advertising slogan: A crucial part of an advertisement 14
2. The exploitation of metaphors in advertising slogans 16

3. Hypotheses 18
4. Procedures 19
5. The analysis 21

CHAPTER III. RESULTS AND FINDINGS 27
1. The result 27
2. Discussion and findings 30
3. Conclusion 33

CHAPTER IV. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 35







1

INTRODUCTION

“Advertising, your right to choose!”

American Advertising Association-CNN

Despite the best-seller position of “The fall of advertising, the rise of PR” (Alries Rises & Laura
Rises), advertising has been remaining an integral part in the global economy. As an old slogan
has put it, “Advertising, your right to choose!” advertising has been always considered as one of
the most crucial tools in any marketing campaign. Advertising, through the process of informing
customers, spreading and enhancing brand awareness, helps offer consumers a freedom of choice

for various products. To fulfill these tasks, advertising needs the exploitation of language as the
foundation to realize all creative ideas. In fact, advertising‟s linguistic creativity is most
effectively expressed through advertising slogans, where its functions of spreading information
and enhancing brand awareness are well semantically served. The number of linguistic devices
exploited in advertising slogans has been truly increasing owing to the marketers‟ preference to
convey their product messages in an implicit, rather than explicit way.

Metaphor
“Let your fingers do the walking” (Yellow pages-1964)
Simile
“Sleeping on a Seely is like sleeping on a cloud” (Seely mattresses)
Contradiction
”Annoy the neighbors. Turn it down” (JFM Radio Station)
Imperatives
“Just do it!” (Nike)
Chiasmus
"I am stuck on Band-Aid, and Band-Aid's stuck on me." (Band-Aid bandages)
"You like it. It likes you."
(Seven-Up soft drink)

In this implicit way of expressing ideas, the slogans‟ messages become more impressive and
persuasive. It really helps marketers assert their comparative advantages in comparison with both
2

their direct competitors and new entrants in the industry. Among of different linguistic features
namely simile, metaphor, chiasmus, implicature or even presupposition, metaphor is preferably
used owing to its ability of generating belief, and enhancing products‟ and services‟ images from
Semantics perspective. Yet, quite little research on marketing literature and linguistic appliance
has discussed about the nature and effectiveness of metaphors in advertising in general and in
slogans in particular. This study, hence, is carried out to discuss the effectiveness of metaphor in

English advertising slogans and its comprehension in promotional context.
1. Rationale
Advertising slogans have proven their importance in both generating sales volume and creating a
great impression on customers‟ mind. In any companies-whether they are of small, or medium
size, and any industries-service or trade, advertising slogans turns out to be the very first thing to
add further values to the products.
To create an understandable, meaningful and useful slogan, the exploitation of most fields in
language is involved. These include pragmatics, lexicology, phonology, syntax and so on. The
linguistic features help transmit the message in an implicit way, avoiding the violation of the
Law of Truth.
Based on the acknowledgement of all linguistic devices exploited in slogans, the study is
conducted to investigate the employment of metaphors in advertising slogans from a Semantic
approach.
2. Research questions and aims of the study
2.1 Research questions
Dealing with the study of different kinds of metaphor, the researcher has established several
research questions to ensure the orientation of the roadmap. In fact, based on the business
context, studying advertising slogans requires quite specific research questions as well as clear
study aims. With the foundation of all the literature review studied and the samples collected,
three research questions have been established:
1. What kind of metaphor represents the most frequently chosen by advertisers and marketers?
2. What are the strengths (or weaknesses, if any) of each kind of metaphor exploited in
advertising slogans?
3

3. What kind of metaphor represents the wisest choice for the slogans in specific classified
groups?
2.2 Aims of the study
The study deals with the employment of different metaphor types based on Lakeoff and
Johnson‟s theory (1980). In this work, a classification of metaphors is presented, and then is

applied in the study of a collection of 40 advertising slogans from English-speaking countries or
global brands. To find out the answer for the research questions proposed, the study specifically
aims at:
(i) quantitatively identifying the frequency of different metaphor types exploited in slogans to
find out which kind is most favored by advertisers and marketers.
(ii) investigating the target domain, source domain and metaphor concepts in each slogans to
discover the strengths (or weaknesses, if any) of each metaphor type when applied in advertising.
(iii) placing the analysis of each metaphorical slogan in its group context to see which type
represent the smartest choice for each classification of products.
3. Scope of the study
In this study, the analysis is (i) a semantic analysis which bases itself on a semantic approach and
Lakeoff and Johnson‟s theory of metaphors and (ii) a hypothesis-testing analysis on each type of
metaphors used in international advertising slogans. For this reason, the study primarily deals
with researching matters from a semantic approach. Furthermore, since the study takes
hypothesis testing as one of the two main methods, it is somehow deductive and subjective.
Nevertheless, all the predictions and inferences are made based on the theory and previous
studies of linguistics and advertising.
As the exploitation of linguistic features in advertising slogans is quite huge and diversified, and
the number of slogans has been increasing year after year, the analysis is supposed to be
selective rather than comprehensive in three senses: (i) only four groups of products and services
are chosen, (ii) only 10 slogans of each group are selected as typical samples and (iii) in each
group, just some cases are picked up for a further in-depth study.
4. Research methodology
The research is based on the combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods. The
choice originates from the fact that the use of quantitative method helps us to build up a general
4

picture over all the selected cases and the exploitation of qualitative analysis allows us to
painstakingly research each specific case. Hence, a quantification to synthesize all metaphor
patterns in each case. In fact, it really helps us to fulfill the task of defining frequencies of each

type of metaphor in use.
After using quantification and classification to identify the frequencies and divide selected
slogans into groups of types and sub-types, three predictions would be made and proven later
based on the result of the classification.
5. Design of the study
Apart from the Introduction and Conclusion to begin and conclude the study, the thesis
comprises three chapters, each of which is supposed to serve a specific function.
The Introduction serves as an explanation for the reason why the study is conducted, and worth
being carried out. In addition, the thesis also states the aims and objectives of the study, as well
as the research questions and the scope of the study, which are considered as a significant
roadmap for the research.
Chapter one will begin by stating the definition of metaphors and promotional metaphor. In
addition, the typical classification of metaphors by Lakeoff and Johnson is asserted as a theory
base for the specific classification of metaphor types exploited in 40 selected slogans. This
chapter also reflects different previous studies on advertising and advertisements, in which the
linguistic devices receive the greatest attention.
Chapter two centers on the slogans‟ significance to advertising and to the producers‟ reputation.
Also, in this chapter, an analysis of 40 slogans selected from four fields is conducted. As it is
carried out in the form of a hypothesis-testing research, some predictions are proposed
beforehand and latter on, are proved through the classification.
Finally, chapter three presents all the results and findings, which have been proved and obtained
from the analysis conducted in chapter two. This chapter plays the role of a harvest for all what
have been achieved.
The last part Conclusion provides a full summary of all what have been gained through the study
and suggest some prospects for future researches. The study is covered by a list of advertising
slogans that are selected for study and a table analyzing the target domain, source domain and
typical metaphor concepts of conceptual/conventional metaphor-the type of the most frequent
use.
5

CHAPTER I. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND: METAPHORS AND THE USE OF
METAPHORS IN ADVERTISING.
1. Definitions of metaphor and promotional metaphor
Metaphor expressions abound in most aspects of life: in daily conversations, in literature, and
even in other fields. In fact, according to Lakeoff and Johnson, “metaphor is pervasive in
everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action.” (1980:3). Owing to its mass
appearance in different fields, the study of metaphor has long been of great interest to other
disciplines. These prominently include philosophy (for a review of historical and recent
perspectives see Johnson 1981), psychology (for reviews see Billow 1977, Ortony 1979), or
linguistics (e.g., see Lakeoff and Johnson 1980).
In general, metaphor is a figure of speech concisely expressed by an implied analogy between
two objects or ideas, conveyed by the use of a word instead of another. Or, stated in a “working
definition”, metaphor in Murray Knowles and Rosamund Moon‟s eyes is viewed as “the use of
language to refer to something other than what it was originally applied to, or what it „literally‟
means, in order to suggest some resemblance or make a connection between the two things”.
Usually, three components are included in a metaphor: the tenor (or object), the vehicle (or
image), and the ground (or sense). Let‟s analyze the following example to further understand
how these components work. In accordance with I. A. Richards‟example, these components are
more clearly understood:
All the world‟s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances; — William Shakespeare, As You Like It
In this metaphoric example, "the world" is compared to a stage, describing it with the attributes
of “the stage”; hence, "the world" is the tenor, and "a stage" is the vehicle; "men and women" is
a secondary tenor, "players" is the secondary vehicle. In George Herbet‟s poetic sentence: “Hope
is the poor man's bread.”, “hope” is the tenor, “bread” is the vehicle and the ground is “the
necessity of poor man”.
As a socio-economic facet, advertising also exploits this figure of speech to the full for its
purpose of informing and persuading customers in the process of selecting products. In fact, this
is quite understandable since the "Truth in advertising" laws make it highly desirable for

advertisers to avoid making explicit statements that could be judged true or false; therefore
6

metaphors (and apparently other devices) are chosen to convey the manufacturers‟ messages. In
advertising, promotional metaphor is divided into visual metaphor (or pictorial metaphor) and
textual metaphor. In advertising, the latter, which is also my study‟s focus, in
, is defined as “a metaphor used to associate a product with a
semantic domain which has positive connotations.”
2. Kinds of metaphors
Ways to classify metaphors vary greatly based on different approaches. From Semantic
approach, I do think it‟s better to comprehend metaphors in Lakoff and Johnson‟s classification.
2.1 Conceptual/Conventional metaphors
Conceptual Metaphor Theory, sometimes called Cognitive Metaphor Theory, was developed by
researchers within the field of cognitive linguists. It became widely known with the publication
of Metaphors We Live By, by Lakoff and Johnson, in 1980. Conceptual metaphor theory has
since been developed and elaborated. According to this theory, conceptual metaphor is perceived
as a figurative comparison in which one idea (or conceptual domain) is understood in terms of
another. The fundamental basis of Conceptual Metaphor Theory is that metaphor operates at the
level of thinking. Conceptual metaphors link two conceptual domains, the „source‟ domain and
the „target‟ domain. The source domain consists of a set of literal entities, attributes, processes
and relationships, linked semantically and apparently stored together in the mind. The „target‟
domain tends to be abstract, and takes its structure from the source domain, through the
metaphorical link, or „conceptual metaphor‟. Target domains are therefore believed to have
relationships between entities, attributes and processes which mirror those found in the source
domain. At the level of language, entities, attributes and processes in the target domain are
lexicalized using words and expressions from the source domain. In the example: “Time is
Money”, the metaphor uses everyday experience with money-the source domain to conceptualize
time, an abstract entity, and herein, recognized as the target domain. However, since the link
between the target and the source is the metaphorical conceptualization, it is not always
necessary to conceptualize time as money since according to many cultures‟ and societies‟ other

concepts, time is not merely or priorly money and vice versus, money is not often metaphorically
linked with time, but with other entities, as affirmed by Murray Knowles and Rosamund Moon,
“Conceptual metaphors may be culture-specific”.

7

In the 1980 edition of Metaphors we Live by, Lakoff and Johnson identify three categories of
conceptual metaphors: ontological, structural and orientational. Belonging to the structural
metaphors group, ontological metaphor is perceived as a metaphor in which “an abstraction, such
as an activity, emotion, or idea, is represented as something concrete, such as an object,
substance, container, or person” such as in:
I put a lot of energy into washing the windows.
I get a lot of satisfaction out of washing windows.
In a detailed manner, this metaphor is further classified into container metaphor, where one
concept is represented as having an inside and outside, and capable of holding something else
and entity metaphor, in which an abstraction is represented as a concrete physical object, or
maybe a person (personification). Another kind of ontological metaphor is substance metaphor
via the use of which, an abstract entity such as idea, emotion, event or activity is represented as a
solid material. As seen in the following examples from “Metaphor we live by”, three kinds of
ontological metaphors are quite clearly illustrated:
Life is empty for him. (container metaphor)
Her ego is very fragile. (entity metaphor)
Inflation is eating up our profits. (personification)
There was a lot of good running in the race. (substance metaphor)
As stated, structural metaphors, in their view, are considered as “cases where one concept is
metaphorically structured in terms of another”. Structural metaphors allow us to do much more
than just orient concepts, refer to them, quantify them, etc., as we do with simple orientational
and onto-logical metaphors; they allow us, in addition, to use one highly structured and clearly
delineated concept to structure another. This metaphor allows us to conceptualize what a rational
argument is in terms of something that we understand more readily, namely, physical conflict. In

fact, as Lakoff and Johnson analyzed, “The point here is that not only our conception of an
argument but the way we carry it out is grounded in our knowledge and experience of physical
combat. Even if you have never fought a fistfight in you life, much less a war, but have been
arguing from the time you began to talk, you still conceive of arguments, and execute them,
according to the ARGUMENT IS WAR metaphor because the metaphor is built into the
conceptual system of the culture in which you live.” There is also another kind-orientational
metaphor which “organizes a whole system of concepts with respect to one another” since “most
8

of them have to do with spatial orientation: up-down, in-out, front-back, on-off, deep-shallow,
central-peripheral”. Orientational metaphors give a concept a spatial orientation; as in “Happy is
up”.
2.2 Mixed metaphors
Mixed metaphors can be understood as different metaphors occurring in the same utterance, or
the same sentence, to express the same concept. Mixed metaphors is divided into impermissible
mixed metaphor-metaphors that conflict because they serve different purposes and permissible
mixed metaphor which not conflict with each other because they serve the same purpose, and/or
exhibit a correlation with each other. This classification may have sprung from the possibility to
lead to a conflict of concepts. In the following sentences a mixture of the argument-as-journey
and argument-as-container metaphors is presented. The first two sentences are acceptable;
however, the last two are marginally acceptable.
1. At this point our argument doesn‟t have much content.
2. If we keep going the way we‟re going, we‟ll fit all the facts in.
3. We can now follow the path of the core of the argument.
4. The content of the argument proceeds as follows…
Here we can see the argument-as-container metaphor is decisively presented in the first two
examples, however in the following illustrations there exist an overlap between the argument-as-
container metaphor “the core of the argument”, “the content of the argument” and the argument-
as-journey metaphor-“the path of…” or “proceed”.
2.3 New metaphors

Not all metaphors belong to the existing concepts; some are outside the conventional conceptual
system, that‟s why new metaphors are perceived as “imaginative and creative”. In Lakeoff and
Johnson‟s affirmation, “such metaphors are capable of giving a new understanding of
experience. Thus, they can give new meaning to our pasts, to our daily activity, and to what we
know and believe.” The creation of novel and unconventional metaphors requires the
employment of some devices, including extending, elaboration, questioning and combining
(Kovecses 2002: 47). However, in terms of the frequency and favoritism towards new
metaphors‟ sub-types exploited in advertising slogans, the thesis just mentions extended new
metaphor and elaborated new metaphor.

9

2.3.1. Extending
The employment of extending is recognized when a new conceptual element is introduced in the
source domain to an already existing conventional metaphor and the ordinary conceptual
metaphor is expressed with new metaphorical expression. The examples stated by Kovecses
(2002:47) can illustrate this tactic.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference.
It is not very difficult to acknowledge the conventional metaphor “Life is a Journey” employed
in the poem. The novelty added is in this case, despite the very same destination both roads lead
to, there is one road less or more traveled than the other.
2.3.2. Elaborating
Quite different from extension, in elaboration, an existing element of the source is elaborated in
an unusual way. Elaboration captures the source in a novel and strange way, rather than adding a
new expression to the source domain. According to Lakeoff and Turner (1989), Horace used the
metaphorical expression “eternal exile of the raft” to refer the death. The conventional metaphor
“Death is Departure” is captured right in the words. Nevertheless, it is also further elaborated
when described in detailed definition “exile” and “raft”. The two words employed provoke the

understanding that death is a forceful departure and the means of transportation-“raft” can not
take them to the destination.
3. Previous studies on Metaphor in Advertising
Due to the interdisciplinary nature and the massive exploitation of metaphors in advertising,
quite a vast amount of research has been so far carried out. However, I have no intention of
making this overview effortlessly lengthy and exhaustive. Hence, since this paper bases itself on
the Semantics approach, it will be an insightful view on studies relevant to the present one. It is
also noted that in studying metaphors in advertising, not many researchers have seen metaphors
studied in Semantics and in general linguistics as clear-cut. This also means for many studies
selected to be herein reviewed, there will be a painstaking selection of viewpoints compatibly
related to the chosen approach.


10

3.1 Meaning of Metaphors: Denotation and Connotation
Discussing about the use of metaphors in advertising, the first and foremost to notice is the
meaning. In this aspect, Roland Barthes (1988) paid a great attention to the hidden meaning
expressed in advertisements. It was also him who adopted from Louis Hjelmslev the notion that
there are different orders of signification (Barthes 1957; Hjelmslev 1961). The first order of
signification is that of denotation: at this level there is a sign consisting of a signifier and a
signified. Connotation is a second-order of signification which uses the denotative sign (signifier
and signified) as its signifier and attaches to it an additional signified. This study seems to be too
semiotics-oriented rather than semantics even though studying the signifier and the signified
leads to his conclusion that the sign (which is the advertisement in his “Advertising message”,
The Semiotic Challenge) has loaded multiple meanings. In fact, in his research, the close
connection between the meaning and the advertisements is undeniable.
The term denotation, according to Gillian Dyer (1988), refers to “the literal meaning of the
advertisement, to what is „objectively‟ present and easily recognized or identified”. Connotation,
on the other hand, is regarded as “meanings which lie beyond the advertisement‟s denotation but

are dependent on it”.
This statement may be further exemplified by Williamson (1978)‟s discussion on advertisements
for Channel beauty products which were presented at the time with an image of the actress
Catherine Deneuve. At the first level, the advertisement associates the products with Catherine
Deneuve, and at the second level, we get the connotations of Catherine Deneuve in the context of
beauty products as a signifier: she connotes the classy, chic lifestyle of a mature and
sophisticated woman. The advertisement not only functions as the construction of meaning itself,
but also to transfer the meaning from other systems outside the advertisement, which he called as
“referent systems”, the ideological systems depending on and reflecting the society and culture.
The whole process appears to be so closed to the encoding and decoding of the message
transferred in the advertisement, which also means the connotative meaning necessarily acquired
by consumers will be much influenced by the culture codes and the individual subjectivity of
connotation. In other words, according to Williamson, advertising makes connections which are
not in the reality and thereby manages to mislead the audience.
In terms of metaphor uses and from cognitive research, it is interesting to note that the idea in
Lakeoff (1987), Lakeoff and Johnson (1999) is quite contrary to that of Williamson since they
11

refuted the idea that there is an objective reality independent of our perception, culture and
ideology making the reality distorted. There is one problem here when the matter is considered in
the advertising context since firstly, there exists a certain border between linguistics and
advertisement‟s meaning, though so small, and secondly the advertisements themselves are quite
frequently distorted compared to the real value of the products. Or, as possibly concluded, as
Bathes (1974) confirmed, the problem springs from the fact that in advertising “denotation is not
the first meaning, but pretend to be so, under this illusion, it is ultimately no more than the last of
the connotations”
3.2 Meaning of Metaphors: Meaninglessness or Ambiguity
Concerning about the level of reality distorted in using figurative devices in general and
metaphor in particular, Dyer (1982), went too extreme when stating that this leads to the
“meaninglessness techniques” or “painting a falsely glowing picture”

“Meaninglessness is an important technique in advertising as loose promises that don‟t tie down
the advertiser to anything specific. Even advertisers recognize this tendency in their work; they
call them „resounding non-statement‟”
According to Dyer, figurative language, including metaphors, on the whole is mainly used in
rhetoric and poetry, however, there is a difference between the poet‟s and the advertiser‟s use of
it. In her somehow biased view, the poet tries to “create an impression, pin-point or sum up a
feeling in the interest of an emotional „truth‟” whereas the advertiser‟s objective is “to paint a
falsely glowing picture”. However metaphorical this assessment may be, the conclusion is not
appropriate compared to the meaning of the message transferred in advertisements. In truth, there
is often the existence of “affective meaning” in every slogan, advertising text or even visual
symbols.
The matter to reveal here is a “certain distance” between what is denoted in the advertisements
when using metaphors or other linguistic devices and the products‟ real values should be
admitted. Nevertheless, it does not mean the denoted message in the advertisement is absolutely
different or isolated from the reality. Here arises the recognition of the so-called state of “being
too positively emphasized” or “too positively manipulated” or “being a little vague” in the
advertisers‟ attempt to transmit the message of the product‟s value to consumers. It is quite
explicable since the primary task of the advertisement as any advertisers firmly hold in their
mind is value transmission, as Pollay (1984: 111) pointed out:
12

“Values are probably the single most important dimension of advertising. Values are important
both the sender‟s and the receiver points of view since it is the „goodness‟ of products that lies at
the heart of the whole communication.”
Hence, as analyzed above, with the exploitation of metaphor, the values transmitted may show
some levels of ambiguity. Apparently, Dyer somehow confused herself with the concept of
ambiguity and meaninglessness since she also affirmed that “the ambiguity in the word does not
allow us to separate the product from the „fact‟”. Her typical example, the metaphorical ice-
cream slogan “Spoil yourself and not your figure” for weight-watchers, is considered as “a
common type of play on ambiguity in advertising”. It involves interpreting “spoil” in “spoil

yourself” as an idiomatic phrase and as a word in its own right. Revisiting her instance for the
illustration of meaninglessness, Triumph‟s slogan: “Triumph has a bra for the way you are”, in
fact, does not express any single meaningless state, but some levels of ambiguity.
Leaving aside the consumers‟ language capability, whether a metaphorical advertising text is
meaningless or ambiguous also depends on the context since metaphor is exactly a means of
communication. Developing research shows that the context a metaphor occurs in can influence
its interpretation and the ease with which it is comprehended (Shinju and Myers 1987, Inhoff et
al. 1984, McCabe 1983). These laboratory studies suggest that the contexts in which promotional
metaphors occur may influence their meaning. For example, in the metaphorical advertising
slogan "Nissan Truck: The Hard bodies" appears in a sports magazine, the comparison between a
car and an athletic body may be emphasized and the message “hard bodies” (or the car‟s absolute
strength) is quite understandable. In fact, further research on context effects seems warranted in
consumer settings. This idea is also shared with a structural linguist-Roman Jakobson. In 1960 he
proposed a model of interpersonal verbal communication which moved beyond the basic
transmission model of communication and highlighted the importance of the social contexts
involved, illustrated as the followed picture:



Figure 1: A model of interpersonal verbal communication (Roman Jakobson, 1960)
13

As stated by him, the addresser sends a message to the addressee. To be operative the message
requires a context referred to ('referent' in another, somewhat ambivalent, nomenclature),
seizable by the addressee, and either verbal or capable of being verbalized, a code fully, or at
least partially, common to the addresser and addressee (or in other words, to the encoder and
decoder of the message); and finally, a contact, a physical channel and psychological connection
between the addresser and the addressee, enabling both of them to stay in communication.
(Jakobson 1960, 353).
To conclude the discussion of metaphors‟ meaninglessness, ambiguity, and their relation to

contexts, let me analyze the metaphorical slogan: “Without perfume, the skin is mute”. It sounds
to be a meaningless statement, if considered in Dyer (1982)‟s view. However, if the first thing to
consider is “metaphors are the key windows/mechanisms for viewing consumer thought and
feelings” (Zaltman and Coulter, 1995), the slogan may be perceived as the attack on the
consumers‟ desire for passion and hidden emotion as advertisers often do to create “affective
meanings” rather than the ambiguity or meaninglessness.

14

CHAPTER II. AN ANALYSIS ON METAPHOR EXPLOITATION IN ADVERTISING
SLOGANS
1. Advertising slogan: A crucial part of an advertisement
There are many ways to promote a brand and, obviously, every method and strategy is of great
importance. Promoting a brand is very critical to your business. It is clearly no luck that Nike
became one of the most famous and influential sports gear company in history or Coca Cola hit
the beverage industry. Nike, or Coca, both spent billions on advertising to reach where they are
today. Among the four major components a brand needs in advertising campaigns-brand name,
logo, slogans and theme song, slogan is regarded as a determinant for a brand‟s success thanks to
its ability to increase consumers‟ retention rate and desire. Slogan, an advertising statement that
describes what your brand is all about, is actually believed to help set the product apart from its
competitors. In fact, most successful brands own brilliantly impressive slogans since slogans are
critical to the image of any business, regardless of the size.
-Be all you can be. (US Army)
- Good to the last drop! (MaxWell House)
- Just do it. (Nike)
- When you care enough to send the very best. (Hallmark)
- You‟re in good hands. (Allstate)
In broad sense, advertising slogan is understood as a memorable motto or phrase used in
commercial or promotional context as a repetitive expression for a certain marketing purpose.
Slogans vary from the written and the visual. This linguistic nature leaves little room for details,

since they probably serve more as a social expression of unified purpose, rather than a projection
for an intended audience, here, the product‟s targeted customers. Hence, the function of a slogan
is often to inform the customers certain features or values of the products and to persuade
targeted customers. In order to fulfill these tasks, it is interesting to note that how contradictory a
slogan can be inside. Most importantly, a slogan should be both ear-catching, and abiding with
the Law of Truth, in Britain, for example “all advertisement should be legal, honest and truthful”
(Hermeren, 1999). Therefore, in fact, like what most advertisements aim to be, a slogan should
be concise and precise, besides repeatable, or memorable, to be effective. First of all, slogans
taking up a whole sentence to convey the brand‟s message are less effective than a slogan with
just 3 words or 6 words. The less wordy it is, the easier the consumers can remember. The
15

human memory is limited so the message transmitted ought to be as short as possible for optimal
recall rate. Additionally, slogans must be precise as well. Those few words used in slogan have
to convey exactly what the producers/manufacturers are trying to achieve. Slogans that leave the
consumers guessing or confused will give them much harder time perceiving the message.
In fact, a company may immediately change its slogan if it is found incompatible with the
desired-to-be-sent message or simply with the new marketing campaign. In fact, there are quite
many multinational companies making mistakes in adopting an unsuitable slogan, for example:
-Come alive. You‟re in the Pepsi generation! (Pepsi)
(pronounced and understood as Pepsi takes your ancestor back to the cemetery)
-Nothing sucks like Electrolux.
(in America, “suck” is understood with bad meaning)
-Super Nova, the spirit of America!
(it is ridiculous when the spirit of America can not go, in Spanish, Nova means no go)
Although some groups use more than ten slogans in just a short period of time for the very same
of product, it is comprehended that this is costly. In four decades, Coca Cola, with the vast
amount of marketing investment, spent billions of dollars only in creating 17 slogans for its
product, and the number apparently keeps increasing afterwards:
-1886 Drink Coca-Cola.

-1887 Delicious! Refreshing! Invigorating! Exhilarating!
-1891 The Ideal Brain Tonic/The Delightful Summer-Winter beverage.
-1904 Delicious and refreshing.
-1905 Coca-Cola revives and sustains.
-1906 The great national temperance beverage.
-1908 Good till the last drop
-1917 Three million a day.
-1922 Thirst knows no season.
-1923 Enjoy life.
-1924 Refresh yourself.
-1925 Six million a day.
-1926 It had to be good to get where it is.
-1927 Pure as Sunlight
16

-1927 Around the corner from anywhere.
-1928 Coca-Cola pure drink of natural flavors.
-1929 The pause that refreshes.
Conclusively, for the long term goal of a company‟s service or product, slogans can be
considered as the most indispensable factor of advertising and advertisements.
2. The exploitation of metaphors in advertising slogans
As part of the revival of interest in marketing strategies, there has been a burgeoning growth in
exploiting different figurative speeches in slogans. Precisely, advertising slogans own an
absolutely closed link with the communication between producers/manufacturers and consumers.
Besides, as Lakeoff and Johnson (1980:5) argued, “the essence of metaphor is understanding and
experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another”, the possibility metaphor offers products‟
message transmission is quite obvious. As a result, the relevance of metaphorical language used
in advertising slogans is quite perceivable. In fact, as a part of advertisement, advertising slogans
also stimulate customers‟ mental processes by means of creating images and associations,
informing and recalling the product‟s values. Holding the power of metaphors in advertising

attempts and the consideration of customers‟ physical and cultural experience and
conceptualization, advertisers hunt for the most effective and compatible kind of metaphors to be
best associated with the products or services advertised in slogans.
The relevance of metaphor exploitation in advertising slogans should not only be counted in
terms of consumers‟ senses but also the increasing generation of sale, as Kovecses (2002) made
the point:
“Part of 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”
Kovecses (2002:59)
This is absolutely true since metaphor like other figurative speeches, can successfully bring the
so-called “affective meaning” or emotional effects on consumers through persuasive slogans,
leading them to dig deep into their pockets. For instance, the slogan of Mori Perfume: “Without
the perfume, the skin is mute”. Here, with the personification, the perfume is regarded as a living
entity. The skin, a part of body is enabled to “speak”. In these advertising slogans, the power of
17

the perfume is brought up to a magic level, or in other words, not only the skin is personified, but
the perfume is also turned into a magician.
In the advertisers‟ eyes, metaphors both take wings for the slogan‟s message, and help them to
loosen the centralization in denoting the exact information, values and functions of the products.
To achieve this goal, advertisers uses the manifestation of language-particularly herein,
metaphors. Whatever way they choose, to explicitly state that there products are good, their
services are prestigious or to implicitly transfer ideas of the products‟ values, they do with the
hope to promote their items to the top rank without creating doubts in customers‟ mind.
Honestly, in consideration of every possibility concerned, the latter seems to be better. That
explains the cruciality of metaphor in quite many slogans:
-It‟s time you reaped the benefits of Jersey‟s fertile financial environment
(Abbey National Bank)
-That‟s another load off your mind.

(Indesit WAX 120 detergent)
-The citi never sleeps.
(City Bank)
It is apparent to realize the implicit meanings transferred in the slogans above when analyzing
one. Take the first one as an example, the mapping conceptualization in two different fields:
Abbey National Bank (the target domain) and fertile ground (the source domain) creates a closed
association. With certain reasoning knowledge of the source and the target, it is quite
understandable to give out some conceptual illustrations:
-Target: Abbey National Bank: the place (fertile soil) for the seeds (financial investment)
-Source: The fertile soil: such a good ground for seeds to grow up and become big fruit trees
waiting to be reaped.
Based on the advertisers‟ aims and the principle of advertising functions, stated by Pollay
(1984:111): “advertising‟s primary function is to transmit the value of the products/services”, it
is perceived that Abbey National Bank-“the target domain” represents the product/service
advertised and the fertile ground-the source represents the values. Therefore an implicit picture
may be sketched from the slogan: Farmers
18

(Investors) can harvest (get profit) on the fertile land of New Jersey after growing trees
(investing in the bank). Through this picture, the goal that advertisers aim at is accomplished:
persuade clients to invest in Abbey National Bank.
Borrowing words from Geis (1982:37) to cover this part: “the attractiveness of implying
something rather than asserting it overtly derives from the fact that one does not have to defend
unasserted claims and consumers seem not to defend well against them”, I do think metaphor,
with its power of implicit message when being exploited, has realized the dreams and objectives
of worldwide advertisers. This would be proved in the subsequent part of research and analysis.
3. Hypotheses
Based on the integrated classification of metaphor use earlier and the reality of the metaphor
exploitation in English advertising slogans, it is possible to draw out some predictions
concerning the types of metaphor favored in international slogans and advertisements.

Hypothesis 1:
Conceptual metaphor, rather than mixed metaphor and new metaphor, tends to have higher
frequency in advertising slogans.
This hypothesis bases itself on the marketers‟ aim towards global marketing. Although Murray
Knowles and Rosamund Moon affirmed “Conceptual metaphors may be culture-specific”,
advertisers still trust conceptual metaphors may break the possibility of misunderstanding the
promotional messages between and among the nations/the cultures when the products advertised
by the slogans are exported/imported. Typical conceptual metaphor concepts as in “LG: Life is
Good” (Good is Up) or “Say Hello to your child‟s new body guard-Johnsons & Johnsons” (An
object is a person), are certainly more ear-catching and ear-approachable than the metaphor
concepts that consumers/buyers have never known about. Furthermore, the use of conceptual
metaphor helps producers avoid ambiguity in the transmitted promotional message thanks to its
understandability and saves money for designing very complicated illustration. In fact, as for
mixed metaphors and new metaphors, to enable the buyers‟ accessibility to an entire
understanding of the slogan, the accompanied pictures and illustration must be absolutely
relevant and smartly meaningful, which is quite costly.
Hypothesis 2:
Once the conceptual metaphors are applied, there is an outstanding favors towards the
ontological metaphor, where we find the typical concept: Abstract is Concrete, and structural
19

metaphor, where once concept is structured in terms of others, rather than the orientational
metaphor, which involves the spatial orientation.
Ontological metaphor involves the very typical concept, which represent Abstract is Concrete
with three sub-types namely personification, entity metaphor and container metaphor. These
types allow advertisers to implicitly transfer the value of the product in a tactful way, which does
not violate the Law of Truth or lend the coat of showing-off onto the product. The abstract factor
which are often the values of the products (comfort, happiness, joy, pleasure…etc…) is realized
in concrete factors, creating a new sense of self-experiencing for consumers. It should be the fact
to admit once deciding to buy something, the buyers expect a hidden but understandable

comparison between the values of the products and some factors/objects/type of people that they
know/trust… in life. This is the very case of “The listening bank “ (Midland Bank).
Nevertheless, the use of structure metaphor seems to be too ambiguous when the values of the
products (the feelings/the abstract) are understood by another concept/abstract feeling. As for the
use of orientation metaphor with spatial orientation of Up-Down, Front-Back…etc , if this type
is not extremely tactfully exploited, the product really sounds being shown off. This is the very
case of Lexus‟ former slogans: “The car in front is Lexus.”
Hypothesis 3:
In advertising slogans, advertisers and marketers favor new metaphors and mixed metaphors
which are mainly based on the typical conceptual metaphors.
As stated earlier, the conceptual metaphors are often more understandably ear-catching than the
entirely new metaphor or the mixture of new metaphor and conceptual metaphor or some similar
types. This springs from the high frequency of consumers‟ and buyers‟ contacting with
conceptual metaphors in life, in education and in daily conversation (in fact, they somehow
forget the expressions they often use in daily life conversation such as Life is a Journey or Time
is Money are conceptual metaphor owing to its high familiarity in usage.). Since the product‟s
slogan should never been mistaken for a poem or a masterpiece of literature (in very literal
sense), advertisers often prefer the new conventional metaphors or mixed conventional metaphor
which own the conceptual metaphor foundation.
4. Procedures
4.1 Data collection
20

In order to answer the research questions already stated in the very first part, a collection of 50
slogans of various products is collected. As for the source, all the slogans are collected from the
companies‟ websites or from the online stock of slogan lists. To ensure the reliability of the
research, the slogans selected are originally from the English-speaking countries, which use
English as their main language such as the USA, Britain or Australia. Most of them are slogans
of worldwide brand names. In terms of the generality, the chosen slogans are representatives of 4
broad categories namely Cosmetics and Fashion, Food and Drinks, Transportations, and Finance

and Banking. These defined categories of slogans, firstly represent different perspective of
customers‟/clients‟ needs and secondly, are assumed to meet the following listed criteria for an
acceptable extent of reliability and generality.
- All the slogans selected belong to the category of commercial advertisement. Hence, those of
non-commercial category should be excluded.
-The advertisement selected are the ones that belong to one of the following categories: fashion
and cosmetics, food and beverages, transportation and petrol, and finance and banking. This
means the advertising claims for other categories rather than the four stated groups would be
excluded from the research. The number of selected slogans classified into each group will be
equally 10 slogans.
- For painstaking analysis, only advertising slogans that belong to National Advertising or
International Advertising are selected. The two specific terms are used to refer to the
commodities or services advertised or supplied on a national scale or on an international scale,
which means in the worldwide or foreign markets. Advertisements and slogans of local
products/services sold or rendered in a part of a country, not on a national/international scale are
excluded.
-The research focuses on advertising slogans, which means the advertisements that advertise the
specifications, locations, prices, promotions or special offers of the products should be excluded.
4.2 Data analysis
A collection of 40 English advertising slogans will be taken into consideration regarding to the
use of metaphors. For each group, the slogans are classified into sub types of conceptual
metaphor, mixed metaphor, and new metaphor. With each kind of metaphor in use, the possible
strengths, weaknesses and effectiveness will catch lots of the writer‟s attention. Based on the
21

result, we will evaluate the hypotheses proposed earlier and then provide discussion and
findings.
The result of this study will be presented based on the statistics regarding to the exploitation of
metaphor types in international advertising slogans selected and analyzed. The effectiveness of
metaphor application in the advertising industry will be pointed out in a painstaking presentation

and an analysis of some typical samples taken from the 40 commercials collected.
5. The analysis
In this section, we are going to look at some illustrated samples taken from the four categories of
slogans selected for the research. The aim is to present the way all the slogans are analyzed
before the synthesization of the data and the presentation of data in statistical tables. For all
advertising slogans, the procedures are similarly conducted, therefore, the section only choose
some typical examples from the four categories for a careful investigation. The slogans chosen
for the presentation hereafter will be divided equally in each group, hence, one for each group
will be selected.
5.1. Fashion and cosmetics (Vaseline Intensive Care)
In 1999, Vaseline Intensive Care issued its famous slogan “It's always nice to rub it in when
someone's feeling a bit rough.” Here, it is realized that the word “rough” is metaphorically used
in the same way of the word “smoothy” in Tampax tampons “A real smoothy”. The metaphorical
interpretation can be partly explained by the metaphor-Human Properties are the Properties of
Inanimate Things. In this slogan, both the concrete qualities of an object (skin) and the abstract
qualities of a person can be describe as “smooth” in Tampax tampon‟s, and now as “rough” in
Vaseline Intensive Care as Kovecses (2002: 126) points out that the properties mapped for
human beings often come in pairs: sharp-dull, hard-shop or cold-warm. Here, the smooth-rough
is one of such pairs. The slogan involves an ontological metaphor of Physical Qualities and
Abstract Qualities/Feelings. Literally, the word “rub” means “to move something over a surface
with friction”. Metaphorically, the phrase “to rub it in” is possibly connected to the metaphor
Feelings are Objects. In this case, it entails the metaphor The Body Is A Container For The
Emotions. From the metaphor defined, two scenarios may be sketched, (i) a situation in which
someone feels that his/her skin is rough, and rub the lotion on it and gain the feeling of
smoothness, and (ii) a person feel negative (rough) and someone makes it worse by rubbing
his/her feeling, or his/her “spiritual wound”, worsening it. In this case, we find an absolute