Pictorial Metaphor in Advertising

<p>Over the past few decades research on metaphor has focused almost exclusively on its verbal and cognitive dimensions. In <em>Pictorial Metaphor in Advertising</em> Charles Forceville argues that metaphor can also occur in pictures and draws on relevant studies from various disciplines to propose a model for the identification classification and analysis of 'pictorial metaphors'. By using insights taken from a range of linguistic artistic and cognitive perspectives for example interaction and relevance theory Forceville shows not only how metaphor can occur in pictures but also provides a framework within which these pictorial metaphors can be analyzed.<br> The theoretical insights are applied to thirty advertisements and billboards of British French German and Dutch origin. Apart from substantiating the claim that it makes sense to talk about `pictorial metaphors' the detailed analyses of the advertisements suggest how metaphor theory can be employed as a tool in media studies. Context in its various manifestations plays a key role in the analyses. Furthermore the results of a small-scale experiment shed light on where general agreement about the meaning of a pictorial metaphor can shade over into other more idiosyncratic but equally valid interpretations. The final chapter sketches the ways in which the insights gained can be used for further research.</p>