A Multimodal Analysis of Embedded Messages and Metaphors in Car Advertisements : From the Perspective of Social Semiotics

In the modern society, people always see advertisements (ads) everywhere in cities, towns, books,magazines, newspapers, TV programmes, and cyberspaces. It seems to be impossible for people to avoid encountering an ad in our daily lives. In order to encourage people to buy the products and services advertised, the aims, beliefs, and ideologies of ad makers are embedded into ads. This study tries to reveal what messages are interweaved in the two car posters, namely the Porsche 911 and the Volkswagen Jetta, by using multimodal analysis and metaphorical analysis. The two posters were analysed in terms of the use of semiotic modes such as visual images, texts, fonts, colours, and layouts. The etaphors embedded into the posters were also analysed. The close analysis revealed that the Porsche 911 poster conveys the superiority and supremacy as a pure sports car by using various semiotic modes and the metaphor of A 911 IS A THOROUGHBRED, and the Volkswagen Jetta poster expresses the qualities of utility and availability through a variety of semiotic modes and the metaphor of A JETTA IS A NECESSITY