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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ CHI MAI
A STUDY ON METAPHORICAL EXPRESSIONS IN ENGLISH
ADVERTISING SLOGANS FROM THE SEMANTIC APPROACH
(NGHIÊN CU CC BIỂU THC ẨN DỤ SỬ DỤNG
TRONG CC KHẨU HIỆU QUẢNG CO BẰNG TIẾNG ANH TỪ
PHƯƠNG DIỆN NGỮ DỤNG HỌC) M.A. Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60.22.15 HANOI – 2010

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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

TABLES
Table 1: The calculated frequency of advertising slogans in each metaphor type
Table 2: The general frequency of each metaphor type in the whole forty slogans of four groups
Table 3: The frequency of each sub-types of Conceptual Metaphor in each group
Table 4: The analysis of target domain, source domain and metaphor concepts in 11 slogans of
new and mixed conventional metaphors

3. Hypotheses 18
4. Procedures 19
5. The analysis 21

CHAPTER III. RESULTS AND FINDINGS 27
1. The result 27
2. Discussion and findings 30
3. Conclusion 33

CHAPTER IV. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 35

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INTRODUCTION

“Advertising, your right to choose!”

American Advertising Association-CNN

Despite the best-seller position of “The fall of advertising, the rise of PR” (Alries Rises & Laura
Rises), advertising has been remaining an integral part in the global economy. As an old slogan
has put it, “Advertising, your right to choose!” advertising has been always considered as one of
the most crucial tools in any marketing campaign. Advertising, through the process of informing
customers, spreading and enhancing brand awareness, helps offer consumers a freedom of choice

English advertising slogans and its comprehension in promotional context.
1. Rationale
Advertising slogans have proven their importance in both generating sales volume and creating a
great impression on customers‟ mind. In any companies-whether they are of small, or medium
size, and any industries-service or trade, advertising slogans turns out to be the very first thing to
add further values to the products.
To create an understandable, meaningful and useful slogan, the exploitation of most fields in
language is involved. These include pragmatics, lexicology, phonology, syntax and so on. The
linguistic features help transmit the message in an implicit way, avoiding the violation of the
Law of Truth.
Based on the acknowledgement of all linguistic devices exploited in slogans, the study is
conducted to investigate the employment of metaphors in advertising slogans from a Semantic
approach.
2. Research questions and aims of the study
2.1 Research questions
Dealing with the study of different kinds of metaphor, the researcher has established several
research questions to ensure the orientation of the roadmap. In fact, based on the business
context, studying advertising slogans requires quite specific research questions as well as clear
study aims. With the foundation of all the literature review studied and the samples collected,
three research questions have been established:
1. What kind of metaphor represents the most frequently chosen by advertisers and marketers?
2. What are the strengths (or weaknesses, if any) of each kind of metaphor exploited in
advertising slogans?
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3. What kind of metaphor represents the wisest choice for the slogans in specific classified
groups?
2.2 Aims of the study
The study deals with the employment of different metaphor types based on Lakeoff and
Johnson‟s theory (1980). In this work, a classification of metaphors is presented, and then is

type of metaphor in use.
After using quantification and classification to identify the frequencies and divide selected
slogans into groups of types and sub-types, three predictions would be made and proven later
based on the result of the classification.
5. Design of the study
Apart from the Introduction and Conclusion to begin and conclude the study, the thesis
comprises three chapters, each of which is supposed to serve a specific function.
The Introduction serves as an explanation for the reason why the study is conducted, and worth
being carried out. In addition, the thesis also states the aims and objectives of the study, as well
as the research questions and the scope of the study, which are considered as a significant
roadmap for the research.
Chapter one will begin by stating the definition of metaphors and promotional metaphor. In
addition, the typical classification of metaphors by Lakeoff and Johnson is asserted as a theory
base for the specific classification of metaphor types exploited in 40 selected slogans. This
chapter also reflects different previous studies on advertising and advertisements, in which the
linguistic devices receive the greatest attention.
Chapter two centers on the slogans‟ significance to advertising and to the producers‟ reputation.
Also, in this chapter, an analysis of 40 slogans selected from four fields is conducted. As it is
carried out in the form of a hypothesis-testing research, some predictions are proposed
beforehand and latter on, are proved through the classification.
Finally, chapter three presents all the results and findings, which have been proved and obtained
from the analysis conducted in chapter two. This chapter plays the role of a harvest for all what
have been achieved.
The last part Conclusion provides a full summary of all what have been gained through the study
and suggest some prospects for future researches. The study is covered by a list of advertising
slogans that are selected for study and a table analyzing the target domain, source domain and
typical metaphor concepts of conceptual/conventional metaphor-the type of the most frequent
use.
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advertisers to avoid making explicit statements that could be judged true or false; therefore
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metaphors (and apparently other devices) are chosen to convey the manufacturers‟ messages. In
advertising, promotional metaphor is divided into visual metaphor (or pictorial metaphor) and
textual metaphor. In advertising, the latter, which is also my study‟s focus, in
, is defined as “a metaphor used to associate a product with a
semantic domain which has positive connotations.”
2. Kinds of metaphors
Ways to classify metaphors vary greatly based on different approaches. From Semantic
approach, I do think it‟s better to comprehend metaphors in Lakoff and Johnson‟s classification.
2.1 Conceptual/Conventional metaphors
Conceptual Metaphor Theory, sometimes called Cognitive Metaphor Theory, was developed by
researchers within the field of cognitive linguists. It became widely known with the publication
of Metaphors We Live By, by Lakoff and Johnson, in 1980. Conceptual metaphor theory has
since been developed and elaborated. According to this theory, conceptual metaphor is perceived
as a figurative comparison in which one idea (or conceptual domain) is understood in terms of
another. The fundamental basis of Conceptual Metaphor Theory is that metaphor operates at the
level of thinking. Conceptual metaphors link two conceptual domains, the „source‟ domain and
the „target‟ domain. The source domain consists of a set of literal entities, attributes, processes
and relationships, linked semantically and apparently stored together in the mind. The „target‟
domain tends to be abstract, and takes its structure from the source domain, through the
metaphorical link, or „conceptual metaphor‟. Target domains are therefore believed to have
relationships between entities, attributes and processes which mirror those found in the source
domain. At the level of language, entities, attributes and processes in the target domain are
lexicalized using words and expressions from the source domain. In the example: “Time is
Money”, the metaphor uses everyday experience with money-the source domain to conceptualize
time, an abstract entity, and herein, recognized as the target domain. However, since the link
between the target and the source is the metaphorical conceptualization, it is not always
necessary to conceptualize time as money since according to many cultures‟ and societies‟ other

fact, as Lakoff and Johnson analyzed, “The point here is that not only our conception of an
argument but the way we carry it out is grounded in our knowledge and experience of physical
combat. Even if you have never fought a fistfight in you life, much less a war, but have been
arguing from the time you began to talk, you still conceive of arguments, and execute them,
according to the ARGUMENT IS WAR metaphor because the metaphor is built into the
conceptual system of the culture in which you live.” There is also another kind-orientational
metaphor which “organizes a whole system of concepts with respect to one another” since “most
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of them have to do with spatial orientation: up-down, in-out, front-back, on-off, deep-shallow,
central-peripheral”. Orientational metaphors give a concept a spatial orientation; as in “Happy is
up”.
2.2 Mixed metaphors
Mixed metaphors can be understood as different metaphors occurring in the same utterance, or
the same sentence, to express the same concept. Mixed metaphors is divided into impermissible
mixed metaphor-metaphors that conflict because they serve different purposes and permissible
mixed metaphor which not conflict with each other because they serve the same purpose, and/or
exhibit a correlation with each other. This classification may have sprung from the possibility to
lead to a conflict of concepts. In the following sentences a mixture of the argument-as-journey
and argument-as-container metaphors is presented. The first two sentences are acceptable;
however, the last two are marginally acceptable.
1. At this point our argument doesn‟t have much content.
2. If we keep going the way we‟re going, we‟ll fit all the facts in.
3. We can now follow the path of the core of the argument.
4. The content of the argument proceeds as follows…
Here we can see the argument-as-container metaphor is decisively presented in the first two
examples, however in the following illustrations there exist an overlap between the argument-as-
container metaphor “the core of the argument”, “the content of the argument” and the argument-
as-journey metaphor-“the path of…” or “proceed”.
2.3 New metaphors

understanding that death is a forceful departure and the means of transportation-“raft” can not
take them to the destination.
3. Previous studies on Metaphor in Advertising
Due to the interdisciplinary nature and the massive exploitation of metaphors in advertising,
quite a vast amount of research has been so far carried out. However, I have no intention of
making this overview effortlessly lengthy and exhaustive. Hence, since this paper bases itself on
the Semantics approach, it will be an insightful view on studies relevant to the present one. It is
also noted that in studying metaphors in advertising, not many researchers have seen metaphors
studied in Semantics and in general linguistics as clear-cut. This also means for many studies
selected to be herein reviewed, there will be a painstaking selection of viewpoints compatibly
related to the chosen approach. 10

3.1 Meaning of Metaphors: Denotation and Connotation
Discussing about the use of metaphors in advertising, the first and foremost to notice is the
meaning. In this aspect, Roland Barthes (1988) paid a great attention to the hidden meaning
expressed in advertisements. It was also him who adopted from Louis Hjelmslev the notion that
there are different orders of signification (Barthes 1957; Hjelmslev 1961). The first order of
signification is that of denotation: at this level there is a sign consisting of a signifier and a
signified. Connotation is a second-order of signification which uses the denotative sign (signifier
and signified) as its signifier and attaches to it an additional signified. This study seems to be too
semiotics-oriented rather than semantics even though studying the signifier and the signified
leads to his conclusion that the sign (which is the advertisement in his “Advertising message”,
The Semiotic Challenge) has loaded multiple meanings. In fact, in his research, the close
connection between the meaning and the advertisements is undeniable.
The term denotation, according to Gillian Dyer (1988), refers to “the literal meaning of the
advertisement, to what is „objectively‟ present and easily recognized or identified”. Connotation,
on the other hand, is regarded as “meanings which lie beyond the advertisement‟s denotation but

“Meaninglessness is an important technique in advertising as loose promises that don‟t tie down
the advertiser to anything specific. Even advertisers recognize this tendency in their work; they
call them „resounding non-statement‟”
According to Dyer, figurative language, including metaphors, on the whole is mainly used in
rhetoric and poetry, however, there is a difference between the poet‟s and the advertiser‟s use of
it. In her somehow biased view, the poet tries to “create an impression, pin-point or sum up a
feeling in the interest of an emotional „truth‟” whereas the advertiser‟s objective is “to paint a
falsely glowing picture”. However metaphorical this assessment may be, the conclusion is not
appropriate compared to the meaning of the message transferred in advertisements. In truth, there
is often the existence of “affective meaning” in every slogan, advertising text or even visual
symbols.
The matter to reveal here is a “certain distance” between what is denoted in the advertisements
when using metaphors or other linguistic devices and the products‟ real values should be
admitted. Nevertheless, it does not mean the denoted message in the advertisement is absolutely
different or isolated from the reality. Here arises the recognition of the so-called state of “being
too positively emphasized” or “too positively manipulated” or “being a little vague” in the
advertisers‟ attempt to transmit the message of the product‟s value to consumers. It is quite
explicable since the primary task of the advertisement as any advertisers firmly hold in their
mind is value transmission, as Pollay (1984: 111) pointed out:
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“Values are probably the single most important dimension of advertising. Values are important
both the sender‟s and the receiver points of view since it is the „goodness‟ of products that lies at
the heart of the whole communication.”
Hence, as analyzed above, with the exploitation of metaphor, the values transmitted may show
some levels of ambiguity. Apparently, Dyer somehow confused herself with the concept of
ambiguity and meaninglessness since she also affirmed that “the ambiguity in the word does not
allow us to separate the product from the „fact‟”. Her typical example, the metaphorical ice-
cream slogan “Spoil yourself and not your figure” for weight-watchers, is considered as “a
common type of play on ambiguity in advertising”. It involves interpreting “spoil” in “spoil

contexts, let me analyze the metaphorical slogan: “Without perfume, the skin is mute”. It sounds
to be a meaningless statement, if considered in Dyer (1982)‟s view. However, if the first thing to
consider is “metaphors are the key windows/mechanisms for viewing consumer thought and
feelings” (Zaltman and Coulter, 1995), the slogan may be perceived as the attack on the
consumers‟ desire for passion and hidden emotion as advertisers often do to create “affective
meanings” rather than the ambiguity or meaninglessness.

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CHAPTER II. AN ANALYSIS ON METAPHOR EXPLOITATION IN ADVERTISING
SLOGANS
1. Advertising slogan: A crucial part of an advertisement
There are many ways to promote a brand and, obviously, every method and strategy is of great
importance. Promoting a brand is very critical to your business. It is clearly no luck that Nike
became one of the most famous and influential sports gear company in history or Coca Cola hit
the beverage industry. Nike, or Coca, both spent billions on advertising to reach where they are
today. Among the four major components a brand needs in advertising campaigns-brand name,
logo, slogans and theme song, slogan is regarded as a determinant for a brand‟s success thanks to
its ability to increase consumers‟ retention rate and desire. Slogan, an advertising statement that
describes what your brand is all about, is actually believed to help set the product apart from its
competitors. In fact, most successful brands own brilliantly impressive slogans since slogans are
critical to the image of any business, regardless of the size.
-Be all you can be. (US Army)
- Good to the last drop! (MaxWell House)
- Just do it. (Nike)
- When you care enough to send the very best. (Hallmark)
- You‟re in good hands. (Allstate)
In broad sense, advertising slogan is understood as a memorable motto or phrase used in
commercial or promotional context as a repetitive expression for a certain marketing purpose.
Slogans vary from the written and the visual. This linguistic nature leaves little room for details,

-1887 Delicious! Refreshing! Invigorating! Exhilarating!
-1891 The Ideal Brain Tonic/The Delightful Summer-Winter beverage.
-1904 Delicious and refreshing.
-1905 Coca-Cola revives and sustains.
-1906 The great national temperance beverage.
-1908 Good till the last drop
-1917 Three million a day.
-1922 Thirst knows no season.
-1923 Enjoy life.
-1924 Refresh yourself.
-1925 Six million a day.
-1926 It had to be good to get where it is.
-1927 Pure as Sunlight
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-1927 Around the corner from anywhere.
-1928 Coca-Cola pure drink of natural flavors.
-1929 The pause that refreshes.
Conclusively, for the long term goal of a company‟s service or product, slogans can be
considered as the most indispensable factor of advertising and advertisements.
2. The exploitation of metaphors in advertising slogans
As part of the revival of interest in marketing strategies, there has been a burgeoning growth in
exploiting different figurative speeches in slogans. Precisely, advertising slogans own an
absolutely closed link with the communication between producers/manufacturers and consumers.
Besides, as Lakeoff and Johnson (1980:5) argued, “the essence of metaphor is understanding and
experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another”, the possibility metaphor offers products‟
message transmission is quite obvious. As a result, the relevance of metaphorical language used
in advertising slogans is quite perceivable. In fact, as a part of advertisement, advertising slogans
also stimulate customers‟ mental processes by means of creating images and associations,
informing and recalling the product‟s values. Holding the power of metaphors in advertising

(Indesit WAX 120 detergent)
-The citi never sleeps.
(City Bank)
It is apparent to realize the implicit meanings transferred in the slogans above when analyzing
one. Take the first one as an example, the mapping conceptualization in two different fields:
Abbey National Bank (the target domain) and fertile ground (the source domain) creates a closed
association. With certain reasoning knowledge of the source and the target, it is quite
understandable to give out some conceptual illustrations:
-Target: Abbey National Bank: the place (fertile soil) for the seeds (financial investment)
-Source: The fertile soil: such a good ground for seeds to grow up and become big fruit trees
waiting to be reaped.
Based on the advertisers‟ aims and the principle of advertising functions, stated by Pollay
(1984:111): “advertising‟s primary function is to transmit the value of the products/services”, it
is perceived that Abbey National Bank-“the target domain” represents the product/service
advertised and the fertile ground-the source represents the values. Therefore an implicit picture
may be sketched from the slogan: Farmers
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(Investors) can harvest (get profit) on the fertile land of New Jersey after growing trees
(investing in the bank). Through this picture, the goal that advertisers aim at is accomplished:
persuade clients to invest in Abbey National Bank.
Borrowing words from Geis (1982:37) to cover this part: “the attractiveness of implying
something rather than asserting it overtly derives from the fact that one does not have to defend
unasserted claims and consumers seem not to defend well against them”, I do think metaphor,
with its power of implicit message when being exploited, has realized the dreams and objectives
of worldwide advertisers. This would be proved in the subsequent part of research and analysis.
3. Hypotheses
Based on the integrated classification of metaphor use earlier and the reality of the metaphor
exploitation in English advertising slogans, it is possible to draw out some predictions
concerning the types of metaphor favored in international slogans and advertisements.

comparison between the values of the products and some factors/objects/type of people that they
know/trust… in life. This is the very case of “The listening bank “ (Midland Bank).
Nevertheless, the use of structure metaphor seems to be too ambiguous when the values of the
products (the feelings/the abstract) are understood by another concept/abstract feeling. As for the
use of orientation metaphor with spatial orientation of Up-Down, Front-Back…etc , if this type
is not extremely tactfully exploited, the product really sounds being shown off. This is the very
case of Lexus‟ former slogans: “The car in front is Lexus.”
Hypothesis 3:
In advertising slogans, advertisers and marketers favor new metaphors and mixed metaphors
which are mainly based on the typical conceptual metaphors.
As stated earlier, the conceptual metaphors are often more understandably ear-catching than the
entirely new metaphor or the mixture of new metaphor and conceptual metaphor or some similar
types. This springs from the high frequency of consumers‟ and buyers‟ contacting with
conceptual metaphors in life, in education and in daily conversation (in fact, they somehow
forget the expressions they often use in daily life conversation such as Life is a Journey or Time
is Money are conceptual metaphor owing to its high familiarity in usage.). Since the product‟s
slogan should never been mistaken for a poem or a masterpiece of literature (in very literal
sense), advertisers often prefer the new conventional metaphors or mixed conventional metaphor
which own the conceptual metaphor foundation.
4. Procedures
4.1 Data collection
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In order to answer the research questions already stated in the very first part, a collection of 50
slogans of various products is collected. As for the source, all the slogans are collected from the
companies‟ websites or from the online stock of slogan lists. To ensure the reliability of the
research, the slogans selected are originally from the English-speaking countries, which use
English as their main language such as the USA, Britain or Australia. Most of them are slogans
of worldwide brand names. In terms of the generality, the chosen slogans are representatives of 4
broad categories namely Cosmetics and Fashion, Food and Drinks, Transportations, and Finance

and an analysis of some typical samples taken from the 40 commercials collected.
5. The analysis
In this section, we are going to look at some illustrated samples taken from the four categories of
slogans selected for the research. The aim is to present the way all the slogans are analyzed
before the synthesization of the data and the presentation of data in statistical tables. For all
advertising slogans, the procedures are similarly conducted, therefore, the section only choose
some typical examples from the four categories for a careful investigation. The slogans chosen
for the presentation hereafter will be divided equally in each group, hence, one for each group
will be selected.
5.1. Fashion and cosmetics (Vaseline Intensive Care)
In 1999, Vaseline Intensive Care issued its famous slogan “It's always nice to rub it in when
someone's feeling a bit rough.” Here, it is realized that the word “rough” is metaphorically used
in the same way of the word “smoothy” in Tampax tampons “A real smoothy”. The metaphorical
interpretation can be partly explained by the metaphor-Human Properties are the Properties of
Inanimate Things. In this slogan, both the concrete qualities of an object (skin) and the abstract
qualities of a person can be describe as “smooth” in Tampax tampon‟s, and now as “rough” in
Vaseline Intensive Care as Kovecses (2002: 126) points out that the properties mapped for
human beings often come in pairs: sharp-dull, hard-shop or cold-warm. Here, the smooth-rough
is one of such pairs. The slogan involves an ontological metaphor of Physical Qualities and
Abstract Qualities/Feelings. Literally, the word “rub” means “to move something over a surface
with friction”. Metaphorically, the phrase “to rub it in” is possibly connected to the metaphor
Feelings are Objects. In this case, it entails the metaphor The Body Is A Container For The
Emotions. From the metaphor defined, two scenarios may be sketched, (i) a situation in which
someone feels that his/her skin is rough, and rub the lotion on it and gain the feeling of
smoothness, and (ii) a person feel negative (rough) and someone makes it worse by rubbing
his/her feeling, or his/her “spiritual wound”, worsening it. In this case, we find an absolute