An Exploration of the Manipulative Use of Language and Visuals in Advertisements

Abstract

The article presents an analysis of TV advertisements targeted at African audiences. It further foregrounds the use of language and visuals to associate a product to an appropriate solution to social conflicts rooted in oppositional African and Western worldviews. The author applies the critical discourse analysis (CDA) method to the analysis to highlight the use of manipulative language and visuals. The author argues that CDA is an effective tool for analysing both visual and linguistic elements of advertising discourse compared to other discourse analysis methods that focus on either texts or visuals. This article is relevant to the literature on semiotic construction of social discourse as applied in advertising.