Conceptual Metaphor PRODUCTS ARE WARRIORS in Vietnamese Advertisements: An Analysis From National Cultural and Historical Approach

Abstract

The study aims to explore the use of the conceptual metaphor PRODUCTS ARE WARRIORS in Vietnamese advertisements and analyze its nature from the national cultural and historical approach. Three research methods have been used to accomplish these aims, specifically discourse analysis, statistical analysis and categorization on the basis of a linguistic corpus consisting of 200 Vietnamese advertisements collected from different means of media, including newspaper, magazine, TV, radio, billboards, leaflet for 12 categories of products such as food and drinks, electronics and home appliances, mobile phones, cosmetics, real estate and resorts, telecommunications services, etc. The research findings demonstrate that the metaphor PRODUCTS ARE WARRIORS is used extensively in Vietnamese advertisements; its mappings are constructed on the two domains of PRODUCTS and WARRIORS. Not all the aspects of the source domain are mapped but only the most distinctive ones, including missions of warriors, strengths and powers of warriors, weapons used in the fight, tactics used in the battle, victory gained by warriors and battlefields. The six corresponding aspects of the target domain are functions, impacts on users, nature, operations, superior values of products and areas that products function on. The study also provides some general analysis of this metaphor based on the typical historical and cultural characteristics of Vietnam.