This paper aims to look closely at the ways in which advertisers today use images and rhetorical appeals to sell their products to the viewers of their adverts. Many studies have been carried out, that look into the functions of pictures, visual aids, language and text in advertisements some of which I will be using to support my findings. After doing separate analyses of the functions of images and rhetoric I will then be looking at the ways that the two work together in advertisements. Included in this paper will be examples of adverts that I have found in current magazines, which I will be able to analyse in order to show examples of the different ways in which adverts today sell.

Why do we use images to sell products? In his book “Visual Persuasion – The Role of Images in Advertising”, Paul Messaris identifies three different roles images play in adverts. The first is to: ‘elicit emotions by simulating the appearance of a real person or object’. (Messaris 1996, p.vii). The second role identified by Messaris is that of ‘serve as photographic proof that something really did happen’. (ibid), and the final role is to ‘establish an implicit link between the thing that is being sold and some other image(s)’. (ibid). These ’roles’ should be considered when looking at the ways in which images in advertisements work to sell the product. For example, by asking such questions as “how does the image in that ad make me feel?” And “why does it make me feel this way?” it is possible to explore the different techniques advertisers use to conjure emotions in the viewers of the ads. However, it is important to remember that what one image may make one person feel will not necessarily have the same effect on the next person who sees it; therefore, advertisers cannot completely control the impact an image that they decide to use will have. They are, however, able to make an educated guess!

 WoAn example of this can be seen in the Andrex toilet roll adverts. The makers of these ads knew that by using a young, cute puppy as their ‘mascot’ would make more people swoon and smile than using – for example - a snake, therefore having the effect of more people feeling positively about the product. This is simply because, common–sense tells us that more people would prefer to keep dogs than snakes and from this small fact the advertisers were able to construct their ads using a puppy, knowing it would have a positive effect on most of the viewers.

When looking at how to read and analyse images it is important to consider the studies of Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Sanders Peirce. The findings of these two men are written about in many of the books I have used to research this topic. One of the most useful of these however is Daniel Chandler’s “Semiotics for Beginners”. In the chapter entitled “Signs”, Chandler goes into great detail about the works of the afore mentioned linguist (Saussure) and philosopher (Peirce).

Ferdinand de Saussure coined the terms ‘signifier’ and ‘signified’. When put together the signifier and the signified create a sign, and the relationship between the two elements is referred to as ‘signification’ (Chandler, 2002). The signifier is defined as the ‘form’ which the sign takes, while the signified is the ‘concept’ it represents (ibid). When using the terms signifier and signified and considering the studies of semiotics, one must remember that it is the viewer of the sign(s) that creates them.

[…]We see representation as a process in which the makers of signs, whether child or adult, seek to make a representation of some object or entity, whether physical or semiotic… (Kress & van Leeuwan, 1996, p.6)

Charles Sanders Peirce used the terms ‘Icon’, ‘Index’ and ‘Symbol’ to help read signs. ‘Icon’ referred to signs in which the signifier – signified relationship is one of resemblance, or likeness (ibid). The term ‘Index’ refers to a sign where the signifier resembles or imitates the signified (Chandler, 2002). The term ‘symbol’ refers to the production of the sign; (Kress & van Leeuwan, 1996, p.6) in other words, the relationship between the signifier and the signified must be learnt by the viewer of the sign. When relating these terms to an example of an image used in an advert today, it is possible to understand more clearly, what the advertisers approach to selling their product was. An example of this is a printed advert for Birds Eye peas (see Fig 2 – attached). The ad is an A4 page in size with a pea at the top, centre of the page. Underneath in green capital letters, on the left of the page are the letters ‘OAP.’ Under this is written in white letters ‘That’s the Birds Eye view’. At the bottom of the page in a smaller font is a description of the product and contact details for the company as well as the company logo. However, at this point, I am only concerned with looking at the image used and how this works in the advert to help sell the product. Here we have a single pea at the dominant position on the page (top, centre) and on a neutral coloured background. As the pea is very green it stands out from the rest of the page clearly. Using Peirce’s terminology, the image of the pea can be considered as an example of a symbolic sign. The signifier here is the pea; the signified is the fact that Birds Eye peas are the freshest and healthiest, as a viewer however you would not know that this was the message trying to be conveyed without reading the accompanying text. The image itself is unusual though, so it draws in the attention of the viewer and makes them read on to understand the ad’s message.

The next part of this paper will be focussing on how language and text are used as rhetorical appeals in adverts today. In order to look at this closely it is important to have a clear definition of what is meant by the term ‘rhetorical appeals’. The Collins English Dictionary defines rhetoric as: “the art of effective speaking or writing; exaggerated language” (Mc Leod, 1981) Therefore, I shall be focusing on the techniques used by advertisers to make their ads persuasive and memorable.

Greg Myers identifies six factors in his book “Word in Ads”, that when applied to an advert allows the viewer of that ad to see it as a text. The first point he identifies is that ads are made up of patterns of textual choices (Myers, 1994, p.3)

An example of this could be the Penguin chocolate bar adverts. The slogan used by the advertisers is “When you’re feeling p-p-peckish, p-p-p-pick up a Penguin”. Here it is possible to see that the advertisers have formulated a slogan that when read aloud by a viewer of the advert gives the effect of stuttering. This idea is linked to the fact that real penguins live in a cold climate and when we are cold it affects our speech in such a way that makes us stutter. This idea has made the penguin adverts memorable and catchy. However, without accompanying images this would make no sense to a viewer.

The second factor identified by Myers refers to ‘intertextuality’. “Linguistic features in one text are interpreted in relation to those in other texts” (Myers, 1994, p.4). An example of this can be seen in the Hovis adverts.

The slogan used in these ads is “Hovis –Born and Bread”. Here we can see an example of a familiar everyday catch–phrase being changed slightly to fit in with the product being advertised (born and bread). Therefore viewers of the ad would be able to relate the slogan to something they already know and use, hence, they will probably remember it.

The third factor Myers considers is that, “advertisements are stereotypical acts of communication”. (Myers, 1994, p.6) In other words, ads use stereotypes of the world around us to enable the viewers to understand and relate to the ad. They use the current trends of the time and include them into the advert to make them easier to understand.

The Nestle Yorkie adverts are clear examples of this. The latest slogan used to advertise Yorkie bars is “It’s Not For Girls”. (See fig 1.) By just looking at the rhetorical aspect of this, the advert is saying that Yorkie bars are far too chunky for girls to be able to handle – the accompanying images used on the adverts then reconfirm this point.

The fourth factor looked at by Myers is that “ads construct positions for the audience”; (ibid) this is an important factor to consider when looking and adverts that specifically target their audience. The voices used in such ads put the viewer in position by, for example, talking up or down to them. These adverts use language to help viewers relate to the product. Good examples of this can be seen in car insurance adverts where the actor directly asks the viewer questions about their driving abilities; by asking the viewer if they are a good driver and do they deserve a better rate of insurance makes the viewer re-asses their position on the matter and therefore uses language to make viewers think about the insurance company advertising.

The fifth factor is: “Audiences reconstruct ads in diverse ways” (Myers, 1994, p.7) by this Myers explains that different people will interpret adverts in different ways. So, while one person may think the advert is trying to give one message, another person may interpret the ad as trying to give an entirely different message. However Myers makes the valid point that: “the exercise of analysing an ad does not lead us to a definitive interpretation” (Myers, 1994, p.8). Therefore if you see an ad as conveying a certain message that does not mean that you have made a complete interpretation of the ad.

The final factor explored by Myers is; “Advertisements offer a relationship between the advertiser and the audience based on the associations of meanings with commodities” (ibid). This basically means that the makers of adverts do so in a way that makes the products they are selling us unique from any other product like it. So, for example, adverts for Dairy Milk chocolate emphasise the amount of milk in the product that makes it taste the way it does while Galaxy is advertised in a very different way. The product is often associated with women and there are often sexual innuendoes included in the adverts making it a more ‘grown–up’ chocolate bar.

Alliteration, assonance, rhyming, tunes and intonation are a few of the other aspects used by advertisers to make their product memorable and their adverts persuasive. By creating the unexpected and teaming it with an unforgettable image or images, adverts are created that remain in the mind of the viewer for, what can be years. Quotations from legendary ads from decades ago are still remembered today because they were popular for being different.

The final part of this paper will focus on the effect that putting images and rhetorical appeals together, can have. In order to do this, I will be considering an advert for football boots made by Reebok (see Fig 7 - attached). This ad uses very dark colours with a light shining onto the top of the boot and surrounding it in a halo affect. The light is gold in colour and the writing and logo at the bottom on the page are also in gold. The text reads: “REEBOK STRIKEZONE FOOTBALL BOOTS. CONCEALED LACES FOR MORE VENOM.” It is printed in a leather affect font and the surface the boot is placed on is also leather in appearance. The boot itself is not complete it is only the front half that is shown in the advert. There are no laces visible where laces normally would be, however the tips of the laces are protruding from under the tip of the boot. The laces are placed in an upside – down ‘V’ shape making them resemble the forked tongue of a snake. So, how is this advert successful in getting its message across to the viewer? The picture is very plane and simple and it doesn’t even display the whole of the product being sold, instead, it focuses the attention of the viewer onto the ‘selling point’ of the boots. They have concealed laces and by picturing the product in the way the advertisers have done, the viewers can’t help but notice this feature. However, if the text that accompanies the image was not there, the advert wouldn’t make much sense, therefore we need the one line of text we are given in order to explain the ad to us.

The advertisers made a conscious decision to liken the concealed laces of the product to the forked tongue of a snake and they refer to this in the second sentence at the bottom of the ad. The use of the word ‘venom’ makes us instantly think of snakes. Snakes make us think of danger and survival. By making the ad in the way they have, I believe the advertisers are trying to say that people who wear these boots to play football will be feared by other players as snakes are feared by pray and many people. So, here we have an example that when compared to the Andrex adverts discussed earlier in this paper, has a completely different aim. If the dog and toilet roll were perceived as being soft and encouraging happy feelings, the snake and football boot in this ad should be perceived as being deadly and evokes feelings of wanting to win whilst those around you are scared of your abilities.

By looking into the product in more detail I was able to find out that the part of the boot where the laces would normally sit is called the ‘strike zone’ therefore, by hiding the laces the player may be able to kick the ball with more accuracy than before. However, as someone who does not know much about football I would not have previously known this fact, so here we have an example of how the advert targets its audience by relying on prior knowledge of the topic at hand (football).

The advert is eye catching in its simple layout, and makes the viewer think “ah – ha that’s clever!” by the way the text refers to a small detail in the image. The two factors of image and rhetoric don’t necessarily make a memorable ad, in this example, they do however, make the viewer think in more detail about the product. I believe that to someone with an interest in football and the associated items of kit, this advert may be very persuasive.

By looking at the examples included in this paper, I feel I have been able to break down how the individual components of image and rhetoric, work in advertisements and come together to create a strong message about the product being sold. In the majority of cases, an ad that uses one component without the other is unsuccessful in getting across its message. You may have a striking, attention grabbing picture but without a catchy accompanying slogan the viewer will not understand the message of the advert. On the other hand, the ad may consist of a catchy slogan but without an accompanying image to grab the attention of the viewers and to link to what the slogan is saying, the message trying to be conveyed will sell the product to the viewer in the best way.

References

Chandler, Daniel (nd): Semiotics for Beginners. [WWW document] URL: http://users.aber.ac.uk/dgc/Documents/S4B/ [visited 5/11/03]

Kress, Gunther & Leeuwan, Theo van (1996): Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. London: Routledge

Mc Leod, William T (1981): Collins Minigem English Dictionary. Great Britain: Collins clear – type press

Messaris, Paul (1996): Visual Persuasion: The Role of Images in Advertising. London: Sage

Myers, Greg (1994): Words in Ads. New York: Routledge