A study on multimodal metaphor in coca cola and pepsi’ television commercials

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ THU HIỀN A STUDY ON MULTIMODAL METAPHOR IN COCA- COLA AND PEPSI’ TELEVISION COMMERCIALS (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ ẨN DỤ ĐA PHƯƠNG TIỆN TRONG CÁC TVC QUẢNG CÁO CỦA COCA- COLA VÀ PEPSI) MA THESIS – TYPE Field : English Linguistics Code : 8220201.01 HANOI – 2018 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ THU HIỀN A STUDY ON MULTIMODAL METAPHOR IN COCA- COLA AND PEPSI’ TELEVISION COMMERCIALS (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ ẨN DỤ ĐA PHƯƠNG TIỆN TRONG CÁC TVC QUẢNG CÁO CỦA COCA- COLA VÀ PEPSI) MA THESIS – TYPE Field : English Linguistics Code : 8220201.01 Instructor : Nguyễn Thị Minh Tâm, Ph.D HANOI – 2018 DECLARATION I hereby certify that the thesis titled „A Study on Multimodal Metaphor in Coca - Cola and Pepsi’ Television Commercials’ is the result of my own work in partial fulfilment of the requirements for Degree of Master of Arts of Faculty at Post - graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University of Hanoi The research has not been submitted to any other universities or institutions Signature i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For the fulfilment of the master thesis, first and foremost, I would love to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Dr Nguyen Thi Minh Tam for all her invaluable comments, counsel and her whole-souled instructions as well Beside my advisor, my sincere thanks are sent to all my colleagues at the faculty of Foreign Languages at Hanoi Pedagogical University No.2 for their suggestions that enable me to complete my study My heartfelt thanks would also go to my institution – Hanoi Pedagogical University No.2 for giving best conditions to study at University of Languages and International Studies for my postgraduate program and carry out the thesis over a long time Finally, I owe a debt of gratitude to my family for their supports and care during the completion of my study ii ABSTRACT There is no shadow of doubt that human beings have been employing metaphor in almost all aspects of life even though they are sometimes unaware of the fact And the professional world of scholars has already taken the notion of metaphor into account Especially after the publication of the work named Metaphors We Live By in 1980 by Lakoff and Johnson, the notion of metaphor was exploited conceptually and seemed to have more practical applications The thesis was done to investigate how multimodal metaphor has been used in Coca- Cola and Pepsi‟ television commercials accompanied by a comparison between two companies The present study includes four main chapters: literature review, methodology, findings and discussion, and conclusions Findings show that both brands take full advantage of visual, verbal and sonic modes, despite different degrees, to represent groups of metaphorical themes Similar and different aspects in their usage of, multimodal metaphor were also disclosed in the study iii Table of contents DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES PART A INTRODUCTION 1.Rationale 2.Research questions 3.Significance of the study 4.Scope of the study 5.Design of the thesis PART B DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW APPROACHES TO METAPHOR 1.1.Before Cognitive Linguistics 1.2.Cognitive Linguistics MULTIMODAL METAPHOR 2.1.Multimodality and monomodalit 2.2.Features of a multimodal metap 2.3.Modes in a multimodal metapho 2.4.Multimodal metaphor and the g EMPIRICAL STUDIES CHAPTER SUMMARY CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 1.Description of the data 2.Methods of the study 3.Analytical Framework 4.Data Analysis Procedure iv Chapter summary 26 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 27 3.1 Statistical findings 27 3.1.1 Coca – Cola 27 3.1.2 Pepsi 28 3.2 Qualitative findings 29 3.2.1 Multimodal metaphor in Coca- Cola TV commercials 29 3.2.2 Multimodal metaphor in Pepsi TV commercials 46 3.3 Discussion of research questions 62 3.3.1 Answer to research question 1: „How is multimodal metaphor used in the TV ads of Coca - Cola and Pepsi?’ 62 3.3.2 Answer to research question 2: „What are similarities and differences in using multimodal metaphor of the two soft drink brands?’ 63 3.4 Chapter summary 64 PART C CONCLUSIONS 65 Recapitulation of main ideas 65 Limitations 66 Recommendations for further studies 67 REFERENCES 68 APPENDICES I v LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure Subdivision of Modes - Forceville (2007: 20) Figure Metaphorical Themes Frequency in 15 Coca- Cola's TVCs Figure 3: Metaphorical Themes Frequency in 15 Pepsi's TVCs Table 1: Sample Analytical Framework Table 2: Mappings of the CM Love is a journey Table 3: Mappings of the CM Drink is a journey vi PART A INTRODUCTION In this part, the researcher explains why she chose the research topic and indicates aims, scope and design of the study Two raised research questions were clearly stated Rationale Metaphor was considered as an exclusively figurative phenomenon which th had little or no place in everyday language until the 19 century Yet, since Lakoff and Johnson published their work named Metaphors We Live By in 1980, the notion of conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) has ruled metaphor studies Here, metaphors are primarily a phenomenon of thought rather than of language, which have been applied to all corners of life such as literature, economy and especially recreational and media areas Additionally, as a result of the quick social commercialization and the surge of media, advertising becomes one of the most efficient ways of broadcasting products, and a fundamental part of our life as well as „a major manifestation of conceptual metaphors‟ (Kövecses 2002: 59) In the realm of advertising, metaphor is regarded as an integration of words, images, sounds and meanings A well-selected metaphor will significantly provoke shoppers‟ inspiration to buy a certain product Forceville (2008) asserts that it is vital to study nonverbal and multimodal metaphors systematically to test claims made about conceptual metaphors Within Conceptual Metaphor Theory framework, multimodal metaphors are defined as those metaphors whose target and source are rendered exclusively or predominantly in two or more modes and the verbal is in many cases just one of them (Forceville: 2006; see also Forceville: 2008; Forceville and Urios Aparisi: 2009a) The possible modes likely consist of written and spoken language, static and moving images, music, nonverbal sounds, and gestures (Forceville and Urios-Aparisi: 2009b) The researcher was impressed by Coca - Cola and Pepsi – two typical soft drink brands in the beverage industry Both have invested a lot in commercial strategies to propagate their names worldwide One of reasons for their success may come from their advertising campaigns with TV commercials (TVCs) combined by different modes ranging from images, sounds and words The researcher questions the use of multimodal metaphor on those TVCs in broadcasting the items and grabbing the audience‟s attention; hence, she is so curious to a thorough research into this area For the aforementioned explanations, the thesis mainly concentrates on analyzing the multimodal metaphors used in TVCs of two brands Coca-Cola and Pepsi within the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, from which some comparison will be made between the two brands Research questions A great number of works within the Conceptual Metaphor Theory have been done, but concentrate only on one aspect of the metaphor Even if they did consider various modes, their areas are totally different, so hardly can the researcher find a research of the same field and topic The present paper analyses metaphor as a complex phenomenon and argues that the genre and modes interact to create a meaningful message to advertise the target items The problem raises the following research questions: How is multimodal metaphor used in the TV ads of Coca - Cola and Pepsi? What are similarities and differences in using multimodal metaphor of the two soft drink brands? The research‟s aims were to identify multimodal metaphors and relationships between their target and source domains in expressing certain messages followed by a comparison in using multimodal metaphors of the two big names The corpus included two series of 30 TV commercials taken from the website iSpot.tv delicious dishes taking and people whether drinking the Pepsi carnitas are broadcast The maybe logo and the pastor wha brand name you‟re appears at the This is the end for you 4.2.2.2 A drink is our time P14 (2018 – 30s) This is the Pepsi Commercial Visual code P14 The spot features iconic celebrities of Pepsi‟s past and present, including Britney XXV Spears, Michael Jackson, Jeff Gordon, „Uncle Drew,‟ and a cameo from the famous DeLorean Time Machine from „Back to the Future.‟The logo stands next to the written slogan in blue background 4.2.2.3 A drink is a companion of joy and refreshment P09 (2014 – 30 seconds) Explosively Cherry Commercial Visual code P09 A man at a gas opens a Pepsi XXVI Cheery and the pop off of a nearby woman's dress A man's cherry-shaped pops in a pool A cherry sign explodes fireworks Crack Cherry Pepsi cherry around you the pictures of a red cherry, a glass of Pepsi and a can of Pepsi stand together flavor XXVII P13 (2018 – 30s) Uncle Drew – Timeless Com - Visual merc ial code P13 The main character is narrating his story from his youth to his old age The Pepsi is present in every of his life moment The main setting is the basketball court which is associated with his career as a basketballer XXVIII visible sights moving from the Irving‟s youth to his old age, another idea comes out that Pepsi is not for the past or present, but also for the future In fact, it is for all generations as Pepsi is our time and our life When Pepsi is with us, even it has not happened yet, but for sure our future will be good and refreshing; that is, „it tastes good‟ P06 (2014 – 60 seconds) Good Times ComVisual mercial code P06 A sunny and summer people joining XXIX activities A truck big comes distributing the soda with a surprise for passersby More team impressively, of airplanes performing writing on the tagline To end, people are happily enjoying the drink, even the old pilot raising his hand with a Pepsi can XXX the P08 (2017 – 25 seconds) On the Rocks Commerci Visual al code P08 Breaking out of Pepsi makes its way from can to glass with refreshing fizz and flare for close up look P10 (2017 – 15 seconds) Delicious Refreshing Commerci Visual al Spoken code P10 A can of Pepsi slides down an XXXI icy countertop, feelings Enjoy it and cracks experience that feeling and pours itself into a glass +Pepsi appears end - Pepsi is an explosion of refreshment with great taste Once we take a sip, we seem to be recharged with more energy and cooler feelings 4.2.2.4 A drink is a sports cheerleader/ supporter P02 (2014 – 15 seconds) ‘Futbo and Pepsi’ Commercial code P02 XXXII He bends down to retrieve a Pepsi from a vending machine, and an old man sitting next to the machine snags a chip from his bag of Lays The man tips his hat to Messi It is time for football and presented by an ice cold Pepsi Pepsi can and the big football behind them in the blue background XXXIII P04 (2015 – 30 seconds) Halftime Touches Down Commercial Visual code P04 The Pepsi vending machine acts an alien flying to the earth and creates a big whole pulling many things such as the big Pepsi truck, some Pepsi cans, the guitars and the blue hair of a mannequin After that, a magnificent stadium with the Pepsi logo in the middle of the football ground The crowd surprisingly rush out of the street to witness such an abnormal phenomenon They seem to be so excited when seeing the stadium XXXIV ... boredom away in the hot summer The opening scene has a glass labelled Coca Cola having ice and being filled with Coca Cola, followed by a man soaking himself in a big bath of Coca- Cola and cold water... one to the other domain 2.3 Modes in a multimodal metaphor: Classification and interaction In multimodal metaphors analysis in advertising, there have been several classifications presented In. ..VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES PHẠM THỊ THU HIỀN A STUDY ON MULTIMODAL METAPHOR IN COCA- COLA AND PEPSI’ TELEVISION