A critical cognitive-pragmatic approach to advertising gender metaphors

Abstract

In this paper we claim that pragmatics combined with cognitivism can enhance a critical discourse understanding and debate (Fairclough 1989, 1992, 1995) on ideologically-loaded metaphors and, in particular, on advertising gender metaphors. The former are defined as metaphors that conceal underlying social processes and determine interpretation, and the latter are characterised as cognitive-pragmatic discourse devices used to give rise to often covertly communicated sexist interpretations. We attempt to present a comprehensive description and evaluation of a combined critical cognitive-pragmatic approach to the analysis of ideological metaphors on the basis of a prototypical case study of gender metaphors in 1142 ads published in British Cosmopolitan (years 1999 and 2000). We argue that such an approach is desirable since it is useful in accounting for metaphor as a multifunctional phenomenon that is not exclusively discursive, cognitive, or pragmatic. The application of the proposed model to advertising gender metaphors has proved useful in helping the ad audience’s search for cognitive relevance, in revealing the advertiser’s rhetorical and ideological intentions, and in calling for action on the part of the ad addressees to overcome the negative social consequences of the use of sexist advertising gender metaphors.