英语修辞学论文

Rhetoric in English advertisement

Nowadays, advertisement is very ubiquitous in our daily life and affects our intention and behaviors in buying goods in different levels. Rhetoric now has been frequently used in English advertisements which add to the taste of art and influence on people. The successful use of rhetoric can dramatically draw listeners’ or audiences’ attention and persuade them to buy the products. There are various rhetorics in English advertisements.

Suspense is a good way of advertising and is said to have the effect of generating loyalty. Soap operas have been very popular among women, especially those who do housework at home. Advertisers make the use of the time between two programs of soap opera to advertise their products. Wanting to continue watching soap operas, house women usually choose to stay before their television and watch the advertisements, which make the ads function properly. Suspense can always engineer high loyalty, for in the absence of finality; each subplot stops at cliff-hanging moment.

As a good way of persuasion, setting and scenario is also often used in advertisements. Advertisers use a set and some role players to simulate the normal situation of people. In this way, viewers will be more likely to accept the meaning of ads and be affected by ads. They will observe the role players who are in the life set by the advertisers and the viewers will also see the result of using the product. Audiences will automatically place themselves in that position and imitate the players’behavior. This kind of ads demands that role players should have positive image and satisfactory life. If the role players do not have good images or are living very poor and failed life, people will not be convinced at all.

Good advertisers often look back to famous ancient rhetors. They try to use logos, pathos and ethos to influence their potential buyers. They are also called rational appeal, emotional appeal and ethical appeal. In advertisements, advertisers try to explain the advantages of their products and use empirical proof to prove that they are right or try to raise audiences’ emotion like sympathy, excitement, fear, happiness or jealousy to persuade them to buy.

In a medicine advertisement, it is set in a bus where a passenger called his mother:” My throat itches and I feel sick when brushing teeth in the morning.”His mother told him that it’s the symptom of chronic pharyngitis and one medicine could cure. All passengers around him listened and nodded their heads. In this advertisement, the advertiser successfully used emotional appeals to draw audiences’attention. Viewers who also have this symptom will fear whether they have got pharyngitis and buy some medicine to try. As to those with pharyngitis, they will have the same feeling of the role player in the ad and have sympathy to him and themselves. Another technique it uses is setting and scenario or role play. This ad simulates a situation that a man has pharyngitis and need medicine. He got the answer from his

mother and the most important thing is that people around him all agreed with his mother and will try that medicine. The viewers will be persuaded to do the same thing as those passengers in the bus unconsciously as he saw the reaction of other passengers.

Various kinds of rhetoric in sounds are used to give rhyme and rhythm to ads and to impress people. Alliteration and rhyme are often used in ads to make ads more attractive. “Health, humors and happiness----- Gifts we’d like to give!”This is an advertisement of a newspaper. The three “h”at the beginning of the ad makes it relaxing and happy and gives people good impression. “My goddess! My Guinness!” is another perfect example of alliteration. A taxi ad is “Big thrills, small bills!”It not only poses contrast, but also uses rhyme to promote itself.

Rhetoric in words is another kind used in ads. Simile, metaphor, pun, personification, parody, hyperbole, etc. are frequently used in ads. “Where there is a way, there is a Toyota.”Is a good example of parody, coming from the famous proverb “Where there is a will, there is a way.”It effectively tells people that Toyota is famous throughout the world which indicates the car’s good quality and acceptance. “F rom sharp minds come sharp products.”is the ad of Sharp. It uses the pun of sharp here to suggest that their products have high tech. Toshiba is a famous Japanese computer firm which has a famous ad:” Take Toshiba, take the world.”It uses hyperbole shows the confidence of Toshiba and the high quality of Toshiba, very impressive. MacDonald uses repetition in his ad:” Every time A good time!”This slogan is frequently called to tell people that MacDonald shop is filled with happiness and relaxing and you will savor every second in the shop. The famous mobile phone producer Nokia uses personification in its ad:” Hold me, touch me and talk to me. It speaks your language!”This ad makes the cold and lifeless mobile phone close to the audiences and audiences will naturally have an image that they are talking happily to their mobile phone evoked by this nice ad.

Let us look at some world renowned ads here. Maxwell is famous for its coffee and also its ad:”Good to the last drop. ” This ad apparently shows the confidence of Maxwell in its coffee’s taste and quality. It uses hyperbole to emphasize the confidence and it is short and frequently repeated to draw people’s attention and give them good impression. Emotional appeal or pathos is successfully used with the witty and skillful language to persuade people to try a cup of Maxwell and enjoy every drop of it. This ad makes people form an image in their mind that they are sampling every drop of the coffee. Another is “Obey your thirst.”It is also urging you to buy one bottle of beverage.

To sum up, advertisement is a kind of art. Rhetoric makes ad both informative and artistic. A good use of rhetoric in ad makes advertisement impressive and attractive which will easily persuade people to buy their products.