Although metaphors are used accord...

Although metaphors are used according to advertising creators to convey brand meaning and enhance brand information processing, little is understood with regard to consumers' comprehension of intended meaning. This research contributes to this visible form [i]or[/i] frame of knowledge by examining the event of metaphor type (abstract/concrete) and hemispheric processing forward respondents' comprehension of metaphors in ads. Overall, the findings hint that concrete metaphors are more easily understood than abstract metaphors. This drift is moderated by hemispheric processing similar that individuals high in right or integrative processing are more likely to provide valid interpretations of as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but types of metaphors. These findings are discussed and implications for advertising practitioners are propounded

Introduction

Metaphors and analogies can be imagination of as the ants of advertising. Just as the tiny insect can support many times its confess weight, a single metaphor can be worth a hundr words of original Typically defined as statements and/ or pictures which cause a receiver to experience individual thing in terms of another (Lakoff and Johnson 1980) these literary devices can efficiently communicate attribute information and transfer meaning between a referent and a brand. Metaphors can also stimulate deeper evens of processing because of their interest value and because they stimulate curiosity about the brand (MacInnis, Moorman and Jaworski 1991)

Recent research proposes however, that metaphors in ads are not always comprehended as their creators intended (Phillips 1997) In fact, despite several calls for research into the general intents of metaphors in promotional communication (Stern 1988; Ward and Gaidis 1990) relatively little is known about the impact of consumers' impressed sign of hemispheric processing on the comprehension of advertisements containing metaphors. This inquiry was designed to contribute to the gap of knowledge in this area by way of (1) testing differences in consumer comprehension between brace different types of metaphors (concrete v abstract), and (2) determining if individual differences (hemispheric processing) mediate comprehension. As as it was this study provides information about consumer comprehension of different methods of metaphors given important receiver differences.

Literature Review

Metaphors in Advertising

Scholars and practitioners in many fields have an interest in metaphor. Metaphor has extended been the domain of rhetoricians, who have asserted the persuasive power of metaphor, as well as literary scholars, who have relied forward an analysis of metaphor and emblem (among many other elements) to attain a deeper on a level of understanding of the meaning and significance of a passage Cognitive psychologists and neurolinguists, in an attempt to discover the origin of this rather mysterious capacity of metaphor to more effectively persuade and inform, have apply the minded to the brain and its cognitive functions.

The attention afforded metaphors and analogies in advertising literature has been primarily conceptual. rigid (1988, 1990), for instance, has provided important groundwork through introducing and defining allegory and metaphor in the historical words immediately preceding [i]or[/i] following of Aristotelian and literary tradition. Ward and Gaidis (1990) reviewed several prototypes of metaphor comprehension and quality which were landed estateed in work from psychology and linguistics. In addition, Scott (1994) has argued for a theory of visual rhetoric to help researchers frame in what manner meaning is constructed via visual arguments in ads. These contributions have provided as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but a call for, and a fertile field for research into, the tenors of metaphors in the marketing communication words immediately preceding [i]or[/i] following

Those responding to the call have provided valuable insight into the imports of these advertising message strategies. For instance, findings refer to that consumers spend more time looking at and processing ads that contain metaphors (Gray and Snyder 1989) MacInnis, Moorman and Jaworski (1991) argue that as executional nods metaphors are interesting, they stimulate curiosity about the brand, and consequently they be the effect in deeper levels of processing. lately Pawlowski, Badzinski and Mitchell (1998) set up that children's cognitive development plays a part in the comprehension of metaphors in ads, which in make go round affects memory. They found that although young readers may have difficulty interpreting metaphors, there was a slight advantage in recall and perceptions compared to literal ads.

An important consideration for advertising research is determining if metaphors are correctly interpreted or on a level understood by consumers. According to Ward and Gaidis (1990) comprehensibility is an important variable in the consideration of metaphors: "To be effective, a promotional metaphor must be minimally comprehended by dint of its intended audience" (p. 636) unrelenting (1988) suggests that a significant proportion of the intended audience does not always "get" the intended meaning of the metaphor. Work on Phillips (1997) emphasizes the importance of metaphor comprehension in advertising. Phillips place that while strong pictorial implicatures (metaphors in which central meaning is manifest and difficult to misinterpret) were interpreted as the advertising creator intended, weak implicatures (those which require "work" through the viewer to interpret) were either misinterpreted, or solicited multiple divergent interpretations.