Investigating the creative use and effectiveness of figurative communication in advertising: A collaboration with marketing practitioners

This project investigates the creative use of figurative communication in advertising and its effect on people’s attitudes and behaviors. Figurative communication encompasses the figurative tropes metaphor, metonymy, personification, and pun. Cognitive linguistic research has begun to distinguish between conventional (common) and creative (novel) figurative tropes. Figurative tropes can be creative through the novel mappings drawn between semantic and/or conceptual domains. However, less is known about how they are used creatively by extending or elaborating conventional (common) mappings or altering the form in which they take. The thesis examines the creative use of figurative tropes across different modes, genres, registers, and cultures through the analysis of print advertisements, smartphone app icons, and TV commercials. It also proposes ways to study figurative tropes through replicable and explorative approaches that uncover nuances in the dynamic nature of figurative communication in advertising. Advertising offers a diverse and innovative environment to study the creative use of figurative communication its effect on people’s attitudes and behaviors. Findings suggest that if the creative use of figurative communication is implemented sensitively, it can have a positive social impact on people’s lives. The research involves collaboration with marketing practitioners to gain insight into the intention behind, and nature of, the implementation of figurative tropes in advertising. The experience of collaboration highlights ways to bridge the gap between academia and industry and strengthen partnerships between academic researchers and non-academic organizations.

This project explores how advertisers use creative, imaginative language and visuals to influence what people think and how they behave. It focuses on figurative techniques—like metaphors (comparing one thing to another), metonymy (using something closely related to represent something else), personification (giving human qualities to non‑human things), and puns (wordplay).
Researchers already know that some of these techniques are very common, while others are more unusual and inventive. However, we still don’t fully understand how advertisers take familiar ideas and make them feel new—either by expanding on them, changing them, or presenting them in unexpected ways.
To learn more, this project looks at many forms of advertising, including print ads, mobile app icons, and TV commercials, and compares how figurative techniques appear across different cultures and types of media. It also develops new ways of studying these advertising techniques so they can be analysed more accurately and consistently.
Overall, the study shows that when used thoughtfully, creative figurative language in advertising can shape people’s attitudes in positive ways. The project also includes collaboration with marketing professionals, helping researchers understand why advertisers choose these creative techniques and how academic research can better support real‑world advertising practices.