Linking cognition with pathos in American restaurants’ menus: Jordan as a case

Abstract

This study aims to examine the strategies of persuasion used in American-cuisine restaurant menus in Jordan. It seeks to identify the power of language used by advertisers in order to attract and persuade their patrons. It mainly investigates persuasive strategies used in 26 American cuisine restaurant menus by adopting Aristotle's framework in association with Saussure's structuralist semiotics. The results showed that American restaurant menus tend to use various types of persuasive appeals that influence patrons emotionally, affect their food choices, and facilitate the process of convincing. The study also concludes that menus include five major appeals, namely sensual, emotional, desire, pleasure, and thought and brand appeals, whose ultimate goal is to provoke some desired mental images to influence the patrons' food choice decisions.