Argument by multimodal metaphor as strategic maneuvering in video advertising

Abstract

The present study analyzes the strategic maneuvering in the Lin Dan Commercial (LDC), an anti-corruption advertisement broadcasted on China Central Television, with the help of pragma-dialectics and conceptual metaphor theory. In order to evaluate the LDC’s reasonableness and effectiveness, this research aims to establish how an argument by multimodal metaphor is used in practice for disseminating of an anti-corruption view. A pragma-dialectical analysis is provided of the LDC advertisement viewed as a multimodal metaphor. According to the research, the LDC advertisement multimodally contains a conceptual metaphor, career is a match, to enhance the advertisement’s effectiveness by maneuvering strategically. In this endeavor, a sense of identity created by the multimodally-expressed conceptual metaphor is utilized to ensure its reasonableness.