An Analysis of Metaphors in English Advertisement

An Analysis of Metaphors in English Advertisement 论 文 摘 要 随着经济全球化的进一步加快，在商业社会中，广告已经深入到生活的各个角落。广告的传播效应离不开文字的作用,它是广告的灵魂,它对广告的成败起着关键性的作用。每一篇广告都是一个完整的语篇,每个语篇可以传达一些词语以外的信息。换而言之,广告在充分发挥其信息功能时,还有其特殊的劝说功能。 传统的隐喻观念认为隐喻只是一种语言现象,而现代隐喻观认为隐喻更是一种认知现象,是一种思维方式。隐喻在英语广告中被广泛运用，它使广告更具创新性,帮助广告实现其目的。 本文将首先对隐喻和广告进行了简单介绍;其次运用大量的例子来洞悉隐喻在广告中的本质与作用，最终实现广告的目的;最后，为了更好地诠释英语广告中的隐喻，了人们在英语广告中对隐喻理解不一的两大原因。 关键词:英语广告;隐喻;社会文化 I Abstract With the further acceleration of economic globalization, advertisement has gone deep into every aspect of life in the business world. The advetising language is the soul of a successful advertisement. Each advertisement is a complete discourse conveying some information beyond words. In other words, advertisement not only provides information about the products or services, but also persuades its consumers to purchase them. Metaphor, based on the contemporary theory, is widely used in our daily life, which is not only a language phenomena, but also a cognitive phenomena and a mode of thinking. The utilization of metaphor is very frequent, which makes advertisement more creative, to help advertisers achieve their aims. In this paper, at first, it provides an introduction to the metaphor and advertisement. Then, it analyses the nature and functions of metaphor in advertisement by some examples, so as to help to achieve the purpose of advertisement. At last, in order to comprehend the metaphor in English advertisement better, two factors that affect the comprehesion on metaphor in English advertisement are explicated. Key words: English advertisement; metaphor; socio-culture II Table of Contents Abstract (Chinese)………………………………………………………………..? Abstract (English)…………………………………………………………….......? 1. Introduction……………..……………………………………………………....1 2. Metaphor………………………………………………………………………..1 2.1 The Development of Metaphor ………………………………………………..2 2.2 The Definitions of Metaphor …………………………………………………..2 3. English Advertisement…………………………………………………………3 3.1 The Definitions of Advertisement……………………………………………...4 3.2 The Purposes of Advertisement……..………………………………………….4 3.3 The Features of Advertising Language…………………………………………5 4. The Analysis of Metaphor in English Advertisement………………………...6 4.1 The Functions of Metaphor in English Advertisement………………………...6 4.1.1 The Economic Function…………………………………………………...7 4.1.2 The Effective Function………………………………………………….....8 4.1.3 The Euphemistic Function………………………………………………...9 4.1.4 The Aesthetic Function………………………………..………………….10 4.2 The Factors of Understanding on Metaphor in English Advertisement….........11 4.2.1 The Socio-cultural Factor………………………………………………....11 4.2.2 The Individual Factor ………………………………………………….....12 5. Conclusion ..........................................................................................................13 4 References…………………………………………………………………….…..1Ackonwlwdgements……….…………………………………………………...…15 III 1. Introduction In the modern world, advertisement can be seen everywhere. As a main method of promoting products or service, advertisement plays a more and more important role in commercial world. It highlights the effect of the products and service on the consumers. Metaphor, a traditional topic for poetry and literary studies, has recently attracted the increasing attention of philosophers, linguists, psychologists, and is generally regarded as a testing ground for theories of language comprehension. Metaphor has been exploded as a topic of interest in the humanities and social sciences over the past twenty-five years. China has also attached great importance to metaphor, which is evidenced the proliferation of publications of papers concerning metaphor studies in China’s major journals of foreign language research. Advertising and metaphor, both are hot issues in the world. Metaphor as an important rhetoric is widely applied to advertisement. There is a common viewpoint that only a few readers can pay enough attention to rhetoric, especially metaphor. Therefore, it is possible to miss the point when readers have encountered some simply metaphor sentences. In this paper, the application of metaphor to the advertisement will be discussed by some English advertisement examples. At first, it provides an introduction to the metaphor and advertisement. Then, it analyses the nature and functions of metaphor in advertisement by some examples, so as to help to achieve the purpose of advertisement. At last, in order to comprehend the metaphor in English advertisement better, two factors that affect the comprehesion on metaphor in English advertisement are explicated. 2. Metaphor We frequently speak of “the foot of mountain”, “the legs of a table” and “time is money” and so on. Have we realized we are using metaphor—a figure of speech? 1 Metaphor is so pervasive in our daily life that we are almost unaware of it. It is an important tool in language communication and a figurative phenomenon as well. With further study, people found metaphor is not only a linguistic phenomenon or a rhetorical device but also a reflection of culture and thinking. 2.1 The Development of Metaphor In ancient Greece, Aristotle defined metaphor as “the application of an alien name by transference either from genus to species, or from species to genus, or from species to species, or by analogy, that is proportion.” (Shu Dingfang, 2000:33). This account of metaphor is known as the comparison theory of metaphor. In the 1880s, George Lakoff, a linguist, and Mark Johnson, a philosopher (1980:2) suggested “that metaphor not only makes our thoughts more vivid and interesting but that it actually structures our perceptions and understanding.” This is what we called conceptual metaphor theory. Contemporary metaphor researchers differ greatly in their perspectives of metaphor studies. Some of them are interested in the theoretical explorations of metaphor, focusing on such issues as metaphor identification, categorization of metaphor types, and interpretation of metaphor in discourse. Other researchers are inclined to investigate the processes of metaphor production and structuring of conceptual domains through metaphor. These scholars contribute to metaphor studies from different perspectives. 2.2 The Definition of Metaphor The word “metaphor” comes from the ancient Greek “meta” and “pherein”, which respectively means “across” and “change”. Therefore, the basic function of metaphor is to transform something from one place to another. People define metaphor differently from different angles. I. A. Richards (1986:44-63) gave metaphor such a definition: “It is the use of one reference to a group of things that are related in a particular way in order to discover a similar relation in another group.” Some other definitions are quoted below: 2 Grammar dictionary said that “metaphor is the comparison of one thing to another without the use of like or as.” (Shu Dingfang, 2001:43) Lakoff and Johnson (1980:4) hold a viewpoint that “Metaphor is understanding and experiencing one thing in terms of anthor.” Britannica Book of English Usage defined it “Metaphor is the most important figure of speech, which points out resemblance but with no acknowledge word.” (Li Xinhua, 2000:46) In the above definitions, we can draw the following conclusions: In the traditional rhetoric, metaphor is only a figure of speech or a way of expression, while in the caomporary views, metaphor is a mode of thinking, as well as a way of speaking. From semantic view (semantics: Study of relationships between signs and symbols and what they represent), there are three basic factors composing a metaphor: the tenor, the vehicle and the ground, not all of which need to be presented in a metaphor, that is to say, some of them may be hidden. In other words, a metaphor contains three parts: —tenor (the subject for the comparison) —vehicle (what the subject is compared to) —ground (what the subject and the vehicle have in common) Metaphor is similar to simile but different in the following way: Simile: A is like B. e.g. The man is like a fox. A is as X as B. e.g. The man is as sly/cunning as a fox. In this sentence, the man is the tenor, fox is the vehicle. Tenor is like vehicle Metaphor: A is B. e.g. The man is a sly/cunning a fox. In this sentence, the man is the tenor, fox is the vehicle, and sly/cunning is the ground. So tenor is vehicle. 3. English Advertisement 3 No other statement could have summed up the charm of advertisement than what Chui Gang (1993:98) has commented. As he said: “As a literary form, advertisement is the most exciting, the most arduous literary form of all, and the most pregnant in curious possibilities.” In his comment, he asserted that advertisement is a literary form and the copywriting process is a delightful and salubrious exercise for the mind. But all in all, what is advertisement, and what makes it unique? 3.1 Definition of Advertisement Advertisement is a type of publicity to draw public attention to something, for its Latin origin “advertere” means “to inform somebody of something” or “to draw attention to something”. Today, a widely quoted working definition of advertisemet was put forward by Courtland L. Bovee and William F. Arens, “Advertising is the nonpersonal communication of information, usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature, about products (goods or services) or ideas by identified sponsors through various media(eg. newspapers, magzines, televisions or stations) .” (Cook, 1992:31) Rossiter and Percy (1997:20) hold a viewpoint that: “Advertising is often regarded as a process of relatively indirect persuasion, based on information about benefits of products or services, which is designed to create favorable mental impression that turns the mind toward purchase.” In the above definitions, we can draw the following conclusions: First of all ,the words “public”, “nonpersonal communication” and “indirect persuasion” indicate that the target of advertisement is public not personal, and the way of promoting is indirect. Then the aims of advertisement are to inform, persuade and remind consumers to purchase. Finally, advertisement must adopt certain media, such as newspapers, magzines, televisions or stations, ect. 3.2 The Purposes of English Advertisement From the definitions mentioned above, we can learn the purposes of advertisement. Its ultimate purpose is to persuade consumers to buy a certain product or accept some kind of services. More specifically, it is to present some information about goods, services or ideas to the public to influence or persuade them to make 4 choices. The first thing an advertisement tries to do is to grab its audience’s attention and make sure that it is noticed. This is one of the keys to make a successful advertisement in modern commodity society. However, it is not sufficient to do so for a short time. Once the audience’ attention has been captured, the advertisement must hold their attention and convince them that the subject of this particular advertisement is of interest to them. By attracting and holding the audience’s attention, a successful advertisement should develop the audience’s desire to buy the advertised product and convince them that the product satisfies some need or provides a need that they have not felt before, and it is better than other competitive products. In all, it stimulating a desire in the audience to purchase the must achieve the goal of advertised product. Finally, the audience will take action and buy the advertised product. Although the process from being attracted to being persuaded might happen in a few minutes while the prospective consumer are considering the advertisement, and his final decision to buy the product may take place some time later, even a few years later. The more successful the advertisement is, the more possible the prospective consumer will be convinced to purchase the advertised product. In summary, advertisement is a very practical type of writing with high commercial value. Its ultimate purpose is to promote sales. All advertisements contain at least two functions: to inform and to persuade, of which the informative function is subordinated to the persuasive function. 3.3 Features of Advertising Language According to the language system, language consists of spoken language and written language. Written language can be more precise than the spoken language. Written words can be chosen with greater deliberation and thought, and a written argument can be extraordinarily sophisticated, intricate and lengthy. The writer can write and rewrite at great length, a span of time which in some cases can be measured in years. Similarly, 5 the reader can read quickly or slowly, or even stop to think about what he or she has just read. A spoken language is a human natural language in which the words are uttered through the mouth. Spoken language can also be precise and indeed they ought to be. Once spoken, words cannot be retracted, although one can apologize for a mistake and improvise a clarification or qualification. So precision in oral communication comes only with a great deal of preparation and compression. The wide use of advertisement has created a special style of English—advertising English. Its unique features, simple language and immense attraction make it differ from other kinds of language. In the development of advertising English, this kind of language has formed its own features in several aspects, which are related to spoken language and written language. (1). Simple and Informal The purpose of advertisement is to provide information, promise the quality, attract consumers and exploit markets, and. Therefore, admen must pay attention to the impelling language of advertisement, so the first step is to use popular and spoken language to make it easy to understand and memorize. (2). Sophisticate and Deliberate Because of the nonpersonal features of advertisement, the dissemination and operation of it should be restricted by the law of a country or the moral standards. Advertising language must be deliberate and sophisticate to avoid trivial faults. If occur, enterprises have no choice but to apologize for a mistake and suffer a huge loss. 4. The Analysis of Metaphor in English Advertisement As a main way of promoting products or services, advertisement plays a more and more important role in the commercial society. And metaphor maks admen to fulfill its purpose and function. From the view of cognition (cognition: That which comes to be known, as 6 through perception, reasoning, intuition or knowledge), metaphor is a mode of thinking, as well as a way of speaking. Naomi Quinn (1996), pointed out that the presence of metaphor in linguistic expressions reflects not only the operation of individual metal structures, but also the working of different cultural models. So, socio-culture and individual’s konwledge are important to the metaphor understanding in English advertisements. 4.1 The Functions of Metaphor in English Advertisement Metaphor plays a quite important role in advertisement, to some extent, it helps advertising admen communicate with the consumers more effectively. General speaking, the functions of metaphor in English advertisement include: economy , efficiency, euphemism and aesthetics. The following text, some advertising examples will be taken to demonstrate how metaphor applies in English advertisement. 4.1.1 The Economic Function From the view of linguistics (linguistics: The study of the nature, structure, and variation of language), economy refers to the phenomenon that a simple, concise and economic form of expression is always preferred over a complicated, lengthy and prolix form in language use. It reflects such a tendency that people will say no more than necessary in their communications with others. As a result of this, people will use a variety of ways to economize their speech, while ensuring the accuracy and clarity in communications. Economy is essential to advertisement for its space is costly. The most distinct feature of metaphor is brief, because a word or phase can imply much information and evoke audience to image the whole happening. Many idioms are used in advertisements. Admen take advantage of the characteristics of the idioms, which have their stability and fixed nature, and greatly shorten the psychological distance between senders and receivers. Example 1: A Mars a day keeps you work, rest and play. (Advertisement for chocolate) This advertisement contains two idioms. The structure of this sentence evokes readers to associate it with “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”. The words “rest” 7 and “play” are used together, which associates with another idiom we all known, “All work no play makes Jack a dull boy”. Admen not only make use of the structure of idioms, but also quote the content of the idioms. It looks as if eating a Mar a day not only keeps people healthy, but also makes them active when they work, while relax when they rest. Example 2: The prose without the con. (Advertisement for watch named Time) This advertisement originates from the idiom. The words “pros” and “cons” mean the arguments for and against something. “pro” is a noun, which means an opinion in favor of something; “con” means an opinion against something. Meanwhile, according to the similarities in pronunciation and form, “prose” replaces “pros”. Moreover, “con” have another meaning: cheating. Making reference to the origin meaning of idiom, people can find metaphorical meaning that Time won’t confuse and cheat readers. 4.1.2 The Effective Function People are bombarded by 1,600 commercial messages a day, of which 80 are constantly noticed and about 12 provoke some reaction. Thus, admen must design the message that is easy for consumers to memorize. Philip Ward Burton and Scott C. Purvis (2002:78) said:“An advertisement should be presented with attractive language easy to grasp consumers’ eyeballs, convincing prose backed up by a layout that ties in and is equally easy to follow”. Metaphor is an important way in the developing of language, which can make the language more efficiency. Example 3: Give a Timext to all, and to all a good time. (Advertisement for watch) New words and phrases are created for attracting the consumers’ attention. Combining several words or parts of words to convey as much information as possible in the limited space for advertisements is an ideal kind of device. The above advertisement is a slogan of Timext watch. It is not difficult to see that the word “Timext” is coined by combining “time” and “excellent”, which means time is precise in this watch. The characteristic of this watch is vividly shown, making its name hard 8 to be forgotten. Example 4: Daylay eggs. This is an egg advertisement of a British supermarket. The sentence “Egg was just sent to the market for the next hour after laying” behind the advertisement. Admen use “daylay” to mean that the egg is fresh, meanwhile consumers could associate the word “daylay” with “daily”, which shows that the egg is necessary in daily life. 4.1.3 The Euphemistic Function Euphemism comes from Greek, “eu” is a prefix, which means “good; “pheme” means “saying” or “ speech”, and together means “good/pleasant speech”, “to speak with good words” or “in a pleasant manner”. Euphemism may be used to hide unpleasant or disturbing ideas, even when the literal term for them is not necessarily offensive. When a phrase is used as a euphemism, it often becomes a metaphor whose literal meaning is dropped. Metaphorical language can substitute an inoffensive or pleasant term for a explicit, offensive one, thereby avoiding revealing secret, holy, or sacred words in a conversation. Example 5: John Couldn’t Stand the Pressure John whistled and you slammed the door on him. He squeaked and you jiggled his handle. Now in desperation, he is doing Niagara Falls routine. But had you looked into John’s tanks earlier, you could have saved a lot of mopping. His problem is obvious. An out-dated corroded ball cock… (Advertisement for lavatory) John is a common name of male in America. But if people write “j” substitute the capital letter “J”, it becomes “john”, which means the lavatory in America slang. In this advertisement, it describes lavatory as a person, who has a bad temper― liking to complain. Instead of the words “lavatory” that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the consumers, admen use the metaphor to make this advertisement less troublesome, more tactful and elegant. Example 6: 9 Give me green world, or give me yesterday. This is a cosmetic advertisement imitating the verse “Give me liberty, or give me death” written by American poet Patrick Henry. “Yesterday” is used to imply old young skin, because “old” is the most taboo word to consumers in cosmetic advertisement. Therefore, admen use the the word “yesterday” instead of “old” tactfully to express the same meaning, and it turns out the different effect. So the indirect and euphemistic characteristics of metaphor greatly increase the effectiveness to the advertisement. 4.1.4 The Aesthetic Function Aesthetics is the philosophical notion of beauty, commonly known as the study of sensory values, and sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste.More broadly, scholars in the field define aesthetics as critical reflection on art, culture and nature. Objects are aesthetically valuable, if (1) They possess a special aesthetic property or exhibit a special aesthetic form. (2) They have the capacity to convey meaning or to teach general truth. (3) They have the capacity to produce pleasure in those who appreciate them. (4) They have the capacity to convey value or belief central to the culture or tradition in which they originate, or important to the artists who made them. (5) They have the capacity to help bring about social or political change. (6) They have the capacity to produce certain emotion we value, at least when the emotion is brought about by art rather than by life. (7) They have the capacity to produce special non-emotional experience, such as a feeling of autonomy of the will or suspension of disbelief. Advertising is an art, which can bring pleasure to consumers. Example 7: Through Mutual Affinity We Meet, Through CAL the World Grows Smaller.(Advertisement for CAL) CAL is China’s Airline in Taiwan. The word “affinity” means “a strong feeling that you understand or like sb /sth”. In China, the words “mutual affinity” indicates 10 “缘分”. To Chinese, this advertisement makes them feel intimate and novel. According to the principle of aesthetic, this advertisement observes the principle of “They have the capacity to convey value or belief central to the culture or tradition in which they originate, or important to the artists who made them.” and the principle of “They have the capacity to produce certain emotions we value, at least when the emotion is brought about by art rather than by life.” Most Chinese believe in mutual affinity, of which admen take advantage to convince passengers of that thinking meeting were arranged by fate. It builds a bridge of comprehension on this topic, helps CAL establish a close relationship with passengers and completes an aesthetic creation. 4.2 Factors of Metaphor Understanding in English Advertisement Advertisement is a special conversation, in which metaphor expresstions seem strange and abnormal, and people are difficult to understand from similarity between tenor and vehicle. Metaphor understanding involves both socio-cultural factor and individual factor. 4.2.1 Socio-cultural Factor From the view of cognition, metaphor is a unique conceptual phenomenon in language, which reflects and influences the way we comprehend the world. Metaphor is a way of cognition of the world and refection of culture. It is the result of human cognition and understanding of the world, and many cultural phenomena are reflected and related through metaphor. According to Sapir (1958:20-23), the word “culture” is used to the totality of behavior patterns which are carried by tradition and lodged in the group as contrasted with the random personal activities of the individual.” The western and Chinese have formed their distinct culture respectively, and the difference can be clearly represented in metaphors. For example, color metaphors are closely related to our subconscious thoughts and also serve as index of cultural differences. Chinese view the coor “red” as a happy color, which connotes happiness, job and prosperity, and people like to dress red in festivals to express and pray for happiness. But in English, 11 the color “red” is associated with blood, anger, crime and war. Thus, there are phrases like “see red”, meaning be extremely angly in English. So, if admen take advantage of metaphors in advertisement, it will turn out a successful result. If admen apply wrong ones to advertisement, it would harm the reputation of the products. There are many idioms, proverbs and poems quoted in advertisements, while customers can not really understand the advertisements just focus on meaning of words, so they should make clear out the implication of culture. 4.2.2 Individual Factor In analysis the nature of the shared information involved in communication, Sperber & Wilson introduced the notion of a cognitive environment, which is essential to metaphor understanding: A cognitive environment of an individual is a set of facts that are manifest to him. A fact is manifest to an individual at a given time if and only if, the individual is capable at that time of representing it mentally and accepting its representation as true or probably true. (Sperber & Wilson, 1995:39) An individual’s cognitive environment consists not only of all the facts that he is aware of, but of all the facts that he is capable of becoming aware of at that time and place. The same metaphorical utterance can be interpreted by customers in quite different ways, some metaphors relate to common sense, if customers are lack of knowledge in this respect, and they can not figure out the genuine meaning. Example 8: To me the past is black and white, but the future is always colorful. This is a wine advertisement. Here, “black”, “white” and “colorful” are metaphors. Black is a dark color, and white is a weak color, so it is easy for consumers to associate that something is inanimate. The words “colorful” means that something is very interesting or meaningful. Through the explanation above, this advertisement makes consumers feel that life is humdrum and boring before, while meaningful in furture from the view of life. If customers explain it from another point of view, they would have a better understanding. “Black and white” and “colorful” 12 refer to the invention―television. We all know that the developing process of television, which the white and black television developes into color television. So consumers understand the meaning in English advertisement relevant to individual cognitive environment, and admen who intend an advertisement to be interpreted in a particular way must expect the consumers to be able to understand from different angles. 5. Conclusion The purpose of this thesis is to explicate the value of metaphor to English advertisements. With this goal in mind, four kind of functions on metaphor have been introduced through some advertising examples. From the analysis and study above, it is proved that metaphor is a important factor in English advertisements, which contributes a lot to successful advertisements. For this reason, admen often make use of it to increase the readability and attraction of advertisements, so as to arouse consumers’ interest of buying products. General speaking, accoding to the modern metaphor theories, metaphorical expression in English advertisement is the intrinsic quality of language, which is inevitably based on specific culture and individual cognition. So, if admen intend to produce advertisement effectively and accurately by metaphor, they have to consider individual cognition of their consumers and inward socio-culture. This paper has provided us an analysis to the metaphor in English advertisements from its functions. Undoubtfully, the use of metaphor gives advertisements another new birth, makes advertisements lively and impresses the customers greatly, but metaphor is a difficult sociolinguistic phenomenon and extensively used in people’s daily life. Therefore, it’s still worthy of doing further research and exploration. Multi-disciplinary, multi-angle, and multi-level studies on metaphor are necessary. 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