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Abstract The current study performs a semiotic and rhetorical analysis of 30 English and Arabic advertisements to find out the impact of verbal-visual rhetoric on readers. The study employs theories of McQuarrie and Mick’s (1996 and 1999) rhetoric in advertising and consumer response analysis. In addition, it applies an attitude questionnaire to test the presumption that the artful deviation caused by rhetorical figures can evoke readers’ feelings and, thus, increase their positive attitude towards the advertisement. Furthermore, it examines relations established between both verbal and visual components of the selected advertisements. It uses Mann and Thompson’s (1988) Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) to examine relations that hold between components of the advertisements. The study concluded that rhetorical figures are linguistic tools that have a great influence on readers’ response and help in the persuasion process. Results of the questionnaire showed that processing advertisements with multiple semiotic sources evokes more pleasure and favorable attitude towards the selected advertisements. Keywords: advertising, persuasion, rhetoric, semiotics, verbal-visual |