الفهرس 
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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