The persuasive vs. manipulative power of multimodal metaphors in advertising discourse

Abstract

This is a conceptual paper whose purpose is, first, to contribute to the definition and understanding of features that could help to trace a demarcation line between the notions of persuasion and manipulation; second, to enquire into some of the possible ways of measuring the manipulative, as opposed to persuasive potential of metaphors and determine whether the use of metaphors necessarily entails a form of manipulation and if so, how; third, to study the implications of the degree of lexicalisation of a metaphor for its persuasive / manipulative force; finally, to enquire into the proportional relationship between multimodality and manipulative potential. In other words, my goal is to understand whether multimodal metaphors bear greater potential for manipulation as compared to their monomodal counterparts. These enquiries are addressed within the framework of the theory of semiotics and pragmatics developed by the American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914). To ground my argument some examples of promotional metaphors from the car industry are discussed.