The Rhetoric Features of Advertising English.doc

毕业论文（设计）The Rhetoric Features of Advertising English 1 Introduction12 The Rhetoric Features in Advertising English32.1 Rhetoric features in advertising English32.1.1 About rhetoric32.1.2 The important effects of rhetoric features in advertising English43 Rhetorical Devices in Advertising English53.1 Metaphors53.1.1 Definition of metaphors53.1.2 Feature of metaphor in advertising English53.1.3 Metaphors in advertising63.2 Pun93.2.1 Definition of pun93.2.2 Feature of puns in advertising English Ambiguity The double context103.2.3 Puns in advertising113.3 Irony143.3.1 Definition of irony143.3.2 Feature of irony in advertising English Making advertisements attractive Making advertisements humorous Making advertisements brief184. Conclusion20References211 IntroductionIn modern society, advertisements can be seen or heard everywherein newspaper and magazine, on radio and television, on Internet and mobile phone, on street and bus. Advertising, as the international commercial language, are penetrating every corner of life. The main purpose of an advertisement is to catch peoples attention by means of a short message and persuade them to buy their products. Geis defines advertising language as below:“The language of advertising is language that is used in efforts to persuade or otherwise entice to purchase products or services, vote for practical candidates, modify their behavior( just say No!), or come to adopt a favorable view of some corporate entity( we are working to keep your trust. )” (1994:42)According to Geiss definition, people can get a better comprehension in advertising language. Advertising language is a way of communication, with persuasive intention for sales promotion and other communicative purposes. As the essential role in society, successful advertisement must accomplish the following: first, advertising establishes the identity of a product and distinguishes it from others in the line; second, it conveys information about the product; third, it can induce consumers to try the products and to suggest reuse; fourth, it can help build brand of the advertised products to others. However, how can advertising arouse consumers interest and make consumers desire to buy the products? How can advertising convince consumers that they need the product, and rush to buy it? The answer is rhetoric. Advertising may resort to different rhetorical devices, such as alliteration, allusion, hyperbole, metaphor, metonymy, irony, personification, pun, rhyme, and simile. These distinctive linguistic styles not only attract the consumers attention, but also catch most English learners attention. A great number of researches in rhetorical devices have been concluded in advertising language. This paper will chiefly write about metaphor, pun and irony in advertising through the analysis of practical examples.2 The Rhetoric Features in Advertising English 2.1 Rhetoric features in advertising English 2.1.1 About rhetoricRhetoric, according to Oxford English Dictionary, is the skill of using language in speech or writing in a special way that influence or entertains people. (2004:1492). To be effective, one has to study and acquire this art, this art is particularly essential to advertising and to those who use rhetoric as a communication means in advertising, since advertising is most popular in our life. Almost everyone uses rhetoric because everyone attempts to discuss questions, establish propositions, protect himself and refute others.The advertiser expects the audience to appreciate the wit and intelligence and then cultivate more favor of and more confidence in the product. Please look at two advertisements below which are used as a communication means:(1) Mind your own business. Move it to Milton Keynes. (Advertisement for Milton Keynes)(2) Im more satisfied. (Advertisement for More cigarettes)Thus the advertisements noted above will almost be more successful in attracting attention than captions such as (1a) and (2a):(1a) Milton Keynes is a good location for business.(2a) Our More have a top quality.From the examples above, it is not difficult to find that the rhetorical devicepun has a greater capability of evoking the audiences attention. There is no doubt that the advertisements without using rhetoric appear to be uninspiring.2.1.2 The important effects of rhetoric features in advertising English Advertising has played a very important part in our daily life. In order to achieve the goal of persuading and influencing, advertising usually employ rhetorical devices, most popular of which are metaphors, puns and ironies. Using the three rhetorical devices, the advertisement can have good effects. It can transfer an audiences attention by means of metaphors, which express idea in an elegant and beautiful way. It can capture the audiences attention in puns for its wit and humor. Advertisement with puns will attract the audiences attention despite his apathy. It can deepen the audiences impression by ironies, which often says other than what one means or means the opposite of what it said. In a word, adopting rhetorical devices is to attract the audiences and sustain their interest in advertising. 3 Rhetorical Devices in Advertising English 3.1 Metaphors 3.1.1 Definition of metaphors Metaphor, according to A Handbook to Literature, is “an implied comparison in contrast to the explicit comparison of simile, as implied analogy which imaginatively identifies one object with another and describes to the first one or more of the qualities of second or invests the first with emotional or imaginative qualities associated with the second” (1972:48). Metaphor points out resemblance but with no acknowledge words. It is generally regarded as the fundamental figure of speech, which is also widely used in advertising. 3.1.2 Feature of metaphor in advertising English Metaphors are very popular with advertisers. With metaphors, advertisers can transfer an audiences attention from a message. The advertising would almost be successful in attracting audiences attention with the vivid and unusual descriptions. As Qin Xiubai says, metaphors can make the language of advertisements poetic, colorful or figurative. Besides, advertisement with metaphors can raise greater interest of the audience and lead to more contextual effects. (1986:86). Metaphor, perhaps the most important and most frequently used figure of speech, points out resemblance of the product in advertisement. It is a figure of speech in which one thing is described in terms of another. What is more, metaphors express the concept by means of elegant and beautiful ways. So the audience can see some resemblance between things, and have much new interpretation of the product. Many advertisers use this feature of metaphor to advertise, in order to catch the audiences attention and persuade them to buy their products. The next section, the author will give some examples to interpret what the audience would think about when they see the metaphors in advertisements, in order to make them understand implied meaning.3.1.3 Metaphors in advertising In this section, the author explores the use of metaphors in advertising，focusing especially on the features of creative metaphors.The following is a slogan promoting Toshiba Computer:(3) Pick an Ace from Toshiba.The slogan suggests the audience to compare Toshiba computer to Ace. At first sight，the audience may feel confused by the slogan, because the word “Ace” is a playing card with a mark on it. But if they turn to their encyclopedic information to search for the meanings of “Ace”，they might see that Ace usually has the highest value. Then the audience may be able to derive the following meaning:(3a) Toshiba computer is of highest value. “Ace” can also refer to “an expert”. It, then, might be able to derive another meaning:(3b) Toshiba is an expert at producing computer. However, the audience will not stop here. He may be encouraged to derive other meanings: (3c) If you choose Toshiba computer, you have chosen the best computer. (3d) The high quality of Toshiba computer will help you win in your field.(3e) People hope to have one Toshiba computer.In this example, (3a) and (3b) are fairly strongly communicated, whereas (3c), (3d) and (3e) are somewhat weakly communicated, thus leave the audience to take a larger responsibility for imagination and interpretation, which is a better advantage for the advertiser. But whether the audience is able to get the intended assumptions depends on the audiences encyclopedic knowledge, particularly, the linguistic knowledge. So the advertiser takes some risks in employing the metaphor, though the metaphor catches the audiences attention.The following is the advertising slogan of Kodak:(4) Americans storyteller.On reading the headline, the audience will immediately have the image of a storyteller in his mind: at night, sitting before a fire, a kind old man is vividly telling the stories of his life to his grandchildren. Because it is an advertising for cameras and films, the audience will have this image with Kodak cameras and films, and then derive the following strong meaning:(4a) Kodak cameras and films record American peoples colorful life.However, the audience will not stop here. He might be encouraged to derive some weak meanings:(4b) Kodak boasts a long history.(4c) American people like to use Kodak to take photos.(4d) The high quality of Kodak cameras and films will make the colors of the photos remain fresh even though times goes by.Car advertisements are also filled with metaphors to strengthen the audiences impression. Lets look an advertisement for Mazda 626:(5) Its not a family car. Its family.In this advertisement, under the slogan is an illustration of a car, beside which stands a pet dog. This illustration and the slogan suggest the audience to compare Mazda 626 to family. Family is the most comfortable place in the world, so the audience can recover the following:(5a) Mazda 626 is very comfortable, just like your home.And since family is the safest place to stay in, so the audience can recover another meaning:(5b) It is very safe to drive a Mazda 626.Based on the above interpretations, the audience might come to the following meaning:(5c) since it is so comfortable and safe to drive a Mazda 626 that everyone desires it. The above examples analyze how people acquire resemblance from metaphors. Metaphor can invite the audience to process the advertisement with its creativity through the interpretation process. The metaphor makes the audience see some resemblance between things that he may not have seen before. However, this particular style must indicate a certain relationship between the hearer and himself. The speaker must consider the audiences attention, encyclopedic knowledge and processing abilities. Otherwise, the audience will be frightened away because the advertising is too ambiguous and abstract. The key point is to keep a balance between the processing effort by the audience and the effects.3.2 Pun 3.2.1 Definition of pun The term “pun” origins in the Latin word “paranomazein”, mean “calling by a different name”. It is also called paronomasia. According to Oxford English Dictionary, a pun is defined as below: “A pun is the use of a word in such a way as to suggest two or more meanings or different associations, or the use two or more words of the same or nearly the same sound with different meaning, so as to produce a humorous effect. (2004:1393). The present study has its own definition as below: “A pun skillfully employs phonemic or semantic conditions and deliberately makes the utterance bear a double meaning, that is, by saying one thing while meaning another, one meaning being explicit and the other meaning implicit, one true and one false.” (Zhao Jing, 1993). Generally speaking, there are two kinds of puns. One is called homonyms, and the other is called homophones. The former means that a word has several meanings, whereas the latter means that several words sound the same. Both homophones and homonyms can be phrases rather than single words.3.2.2 Feature of puns in advertising English Ambiguity The first characteristic of a pun is that the focus of its meaning lies in its ambiguity. No matter they are homophones or homonyms, the speaker aims to achieve an ambiguity. In our daily communication, people try to avoid the presence of ambiguity, but as for puns, ambiguity is intentionally created, for the essence of a pun lies in its ambiguity. For example, (6) Keds every wear. (Advertisement for Keds wear)The pun is triggered by the same pronunciation of “every wear” and “everywhere”. “Every wear” surely refers to the clothing, while “everywhere” indicates that Keds wear is so popular that you will find it everywhere. The three-word headline thus becomes interesting and lively because of the pun. Homophones used in this example evoke an imagination in readers and make them relaxed and comfortable. It is important to keep in mind that the central and fundamental phenomenon upon which puns operate is ambiguity. A pun deliberately employs phonemic or semantic conditions to express one meaning on the surface while hiding another. The double context Another characteristic is that a pun contains a double context. According to Li, there are three elements in analyzing and composing a pun: a double context, a hinge and a trigger. (2000:55). A hinge is the pun himself, and a trigger refers to the intention and background that hide behind the exploitation of puns. Take the advertisement of Coca-cola as an example:(7) Coke refreshes you like no other can.Here, the word “can” is the hinge. It has a double context in this advertisement: (7a) Coke refreshes you like no other (drinks) can (refresh you); (7b) Coke refreshes you like no other can (can refresh you). At the first sight of this advertisement, most audiences may interpret this sentence according to context (7a). When they think out context (7b), they begin to appreciate this creative idea and are deeply impressed.3.2.3 Puns in advertising Puns are full of wisdom, adding color to advertisement. Readers will easily be caught by the charm of the language. So the advertiser always employs pun when creating the advertisement. Homonymic pun is a kind of pun that advertisers usually used to advertise their product and service. The advertisers make use of similar spelling and pronunciation to make their advertisements humorous, persuasive and impressive. In advertising, headlines and slogans are used to say something about the product or service, and a pun is one of most popular ways which is used in headlines and slogans in advertising. Take the following as an example:(8) Trust us. Over 5,000 ears of experience.This is an advertisement for a hearing aid. On reading the words ears and experience, the audience will probably process the advertisement as the following:(8a) You can trust us because more than 5,000 people have used our products.And in this advertisement, ear is the homonym of years. Considering this, the audience should recover the following conclusion:(8b) You can trust us because our product has a very long history and good quality.Another advertisement for toothpaste is also a good example of homonymic puns:(9) I scream. You scream. No scream.- Golgate Sensitive Maximum Strength ToothpasteIn this advertisement, under each sentence is printed an illustration showing ice cream. I scream is the homophone of ice cream. When first look at this advertisement, the audience will probably derive the following conclusion:(9a) If you eat ice cream, your sensitive teeth will make you scream.Considering this is an advertisement for toothpaste, No scream would help the audience recover the following conclusion:(9b) You can enjoy ice cream with Golgate toothpaste for it will provide maximum strength relief for sensitive teeth. This advertisement is especially attractive because the pun lies in the combination of words and illustration. The audience will be moved and amused by the creativity of the advertiser in the process of acquiring optimal relevance.Then, in some cases, the advertiser would take advantage of a word, phrase or sentence to form puns in specific context. That is semantic pun. Take the following as examples:(10)Spoil yourself and not your figure.This is advertisement for Weight-watcher ice cream which is manufactured especially for dieters. On reading the words spoil and figure, the audience will probably take the word spoil to mean damage or ruin. This would be the most accessible interpretation, as spoil here is used together with figure. But considering another word yourself, spoil might have another meaning. The audience would probably make the following assumption: (10a) Treat yourself and it would not ruin your figure. Since it is an advertisement for ice cream, the audience would derive the following conclusion: (10b) You can enjoy ice cream as much as you like. It would not make you overweight and you can still remain slim. By using two different meaning of the same word spoil, the advertiser make the audience accept the advertisement naturally and desire to buy. The following is an advertisement for Sprite:(11) Obey your thirst.The most accessible interpretation for the audience would be the following:(11a) If you are thirsty, drink Sprite.In this advertisement, thirst is used with the verb obey. The audience might remember that thirst also means a strong desire.