STYLISTIC DEVICES IN FASHION ADVERTISEMENTS AS MANIPULATIVE MEANS

Abstract

The article discusses the complex character of manipulative potential of stylistic devices in English and Italian fashion advertisements. By conducting semantic analysis, it was found out that positive and negative connotations, denotative and connotative meanings have a certain persuasive effect on the audience. Materials consist of 250 fashion advertisements in English and 250 in Italian derived from Vogue, Elle and Cosmopolitan online magazines issued September 2022-January 2023. The work relies on descriptive method to investigate the function of stylistic devices as manipulative means; the quantitative method to draw a parallel between the English and Italian and the comparative method to compare the results in English and Italian. The main conclusion of this research is that studied stylistic devices, positive and negative connotations, denotative and connotative meanings can be considered as techniques of verbal manipulation. The classification and functions of stylistic and semantic techniques in the process of verbal manipulation are presented as the final outcome of this research.