Chapter 2 considers aspects of visual design and explores the advantages and disadvantages of different forms of layout. It discusses the ways in which advertisers make use of visual resources to represent metaphors and metonymies. It shows how the same metaphor can be represented in multiple different ways leading to different processing or pragmatic effects. The chapter shows how two key dimensions of creativity (meaning and form) work together in the production and reception of figurative meaning in the context of advertising. It first reviews the ways in which scholars have operationalised ‘visual complexity’ as an experimental variable, and reports findings from the few studies that have attempted to measure its impact. It then proposes a new distinction based on the degree of schematicity versus content richness of the metaphorical/metonymic image. Schematic images contain very few visual elements to help the consumer interpret the message, whilst content-rich images contain numerous details on which the consumer can draw. In the final section, the chapter introduces another tool that advertisers can exploit in order to maximise the impact of visual creativity: that of colour.

Chapter 10 reports the impact of the authors’ work on the success of three advertising campaigns and rebranding projects that were developed by an advertising agency. The chapter demonstrates how research into the optimal use of figurative messaging in advertising campaigns and rebranding exercises can lead to increased effectiveness, measured using industry criteria as well academic criteria. The chapter identifies practical ways of fostering the right amount of cognitive effort on the part of the reader. In some cases, this involves manipulating the text, and in others it involves adjusting the level of content-richness in the image. The chapter shows how a partnership between academics and advertising practitioners can further the theoretical understanding of the ways in which figurative language is processed and the factors that are likely to render it both effective and affective.

Metaphor, where one entity is talked about in terms of another unrelated entity, is a powerful and widely used device in advertising. For example, cars are talked about as if they were animals. Household devices are presented as if they were people, and washing powders are talked about as if they were superheroes. Although metaphor sometimes works on its own in advertising, it is more common for it to operate in combination with other tropes, such as metonymy, irony, and hyperbole. Moreover, it rarely appears solely in a linguistic form but often manifests in other, non-linguistic forms of expression. This is particularly pertinent in advertisements that involve new media, such as internet fora, viral advertising campaigns, and social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. Metaphor and other forms of figurative communication are inherently flexible, which makes them ideal for use in diverse cultural settings, as they can mean different things to different people. At the same time this carries an element of risk, as they are often open to misinterpretation.

Chapter 6 presents findings from a study into the figurative use of colour and shape in app icons. The study explores the values that are conveyed by different colours and shapes and examines how these are used to express the personalities of different brands and products. Findings from the study show that there is a degree of systematicity in the colours and shapes that are selected for particular kinds of products and services, and there are figurative links between the colours chosen for the apps and the types of service they offer. This strategy works best when different figurative messages are combined through the use of two or more colours along with an iconic metonymic or metaphorical image. This creates a narrative through which the qualities of the app can be conveyed. Blue, white, and green apps tend to receive the most downloads, which is partially a reflection of the values that those colours connote, and partially a reflection of the fact that they feature heavily in communication apps, which are the most downloaded category.

Chapter 3 explores how and under what conditions consumers interact with figurative language in advertising and respond to it on a deeper, more emotional level. It shows how metaphor and metonymy can be used in emotional, powerful and memorable ways that encourage consumers to ‘interact’ with the narrative, thus provoking deeper and more emotional bonds with the product or brand. It shows how metaphor has the potential to be ‘experienced’ rather than simply encountered, and outlines the factors that are most likely to lead to this. Four campaigns are analysed, each of which was a Grand Prix winner at the Cannes Lions Festival in 2019. The analysis shows how they harness and maximise the experiential potential of metaphor, thus increasing the effectiveness of the campaign. Each of these campaigns illustrates a different way in which the experiential nature of metaphor and metonymy can be enhanced in order to maximise the appeal of an advertising campaign, convey the personality and values of a brand, and build the relationship that it has with consumers. The chapter also analyses another successful campaign, the 2019 Christmas campaign that was developed by John Lewis and Partners and Waitrose and Partners in the UK, and shows how this campaign combines metaphor and metonymy with humour and dramatic irony in order to maximise interactivity and promote feelings of brand ownership. To sum up, the chapter considers the complex and sophisticated ways in which advertisers employ figurative messaging to involve the viewer in a campaign. The campaigns considered are dynamic and interactive, with some of the more experiential campaigns inviting the viewer to ‘act out’ the metaphor.

Chapter 1 provides an introduction and overview of the topics covered in the book. General extenders, adjunctive and disjunctive, are defined, exemplified and their internal structure analyzed. Four functions are described, with examples, as referential, interpersonal, personal and textual. Thehistorical development of some common forms is described, as well as the processes of grammaticalization. Certain forms are recognized as linguistic variables that align with social variables to represent social markers in different communities. Translation equivalents are identified in a range of different languages and in the speech of second language learners and those using English as a lingua franca. Ideas are presented for teaching general extenders as examples of pragmatic markers. Their multifunctionality is illustrated, together with some observations on their position within utterances, leading to a novel claim that some forms can be used as associative plural markers, a feature hitherto undocumented in English.

Chapter 4 explores potential sources of audience variation in responses to figurative language, considering issues such as age, gender, need for cognition, and cultural background. It investigates how these sources of variation impact on the understanding and interpretation of figurative messaging. It reports findings from the authors’ own work as well as findings from existing literature in the area. Individual differences are found to shape the ways in which people respond to advertisements containing metaphors in different ways. They are shown to affect the kinds of meanings people perceive in the metaphors, the speed with which they are able to find meaning, and their levels of appreciation of the advertisements. The chapter also explores how individual difference variables interact with one another and with the context in which the advertisements are seen.

Chapter 3 focuses on the uses of general extenders that are addressee-oriented and express an interpersonal function in interaction. The underlying concept is described as intersubjectivity, which is tied to an awareness of the addressee’s needs. Participants in an interaction are taken to be cooperative fellow speakers, adhering toGrice's Quality and Quantity maxims. The use of adjunctive forms to indicate common ground can also create a sense of solidarity, indicating similarity, and hence also signaling positive politeness. In other situations, speakers can use disjunctive forms to signal negative politeness, that is, a concern with potentially imposing on the addressee. When general extenders are used as part of these politeness strategies, they are often described as hedges, used to indicate possible inaccuracy or imposition and a desire to avoid such things, resulting in an association with approximation.