How do metaphors in advertising influence consumer response? (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: 1,7, European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), course: International Marketing, language: English, abstract: In current advertising literature, metaphors are widely used by marketers to deliver marketing communication messages in a creative way and to prompt new ways of thinking.
Clearly, advertisers have come to believe that it is not sufficient just to state the product¿s attributes any longer and therefore have moved away from the more traditional way of advertising. By presenting the characteristics metaphorically, they attempt to capture the consumers¿ interest and attention and shift their response in the desired direction.
Nevertheless, such visual argumentation is complex and advertisers have recently had to make a decision about what kind of metaphors to include in their ads in order to influence the audience in a positive way and to be effective in advertising.
The present paper initially refers to the theoretical framework of metaphors, describing the different types of metaphors and ways they can be represented as well as two different variables that have been identified to exert an influence on the consumers' choice. Subsequently, the ways how metaphors, as figures of speech, can affect consumer response and achieve a persuasive effect, are described. In this case the elaboration likelihood model is explained in greater detail as it plays a moderating role concerning the information processing of consumers when they are exposed to a metaphorical expression or artful deviation in general. Furthermore, the effectiveness of verbal versus visual metaphors is illustrated as well as the impact that modes of representation such as juxtapositioning or synthesis can have on consumer belief and response. Consequently, it is possible to deduce managerial implications from the summarized results and thus to make recommendations on how marketers can strategically include metaphors in order to maximize the effectiveness of their ads.