A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Visual and Verbal Modes of Persuasion in Selected Print Advertisements on Consumables in Nigeria

Abstract

Studies on print advertisements have concentrated on persuasive techniques, neglecting the relevance of visual images and the functional implication of language in recording such persuasion. This paper, thus, examines visual and verbal modes of persuasion in selected print advertisements on consumables in Nigeria with a view to revealing the visual and verbal modes of persuasion of the discourse. The paper adopts Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) and aspects of Kress and van Leeuwen's Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA) as theoretical framework. Data comprised fourteen print advertisements which were purposively selected from the Internet due to the visual and verbal modes of persuasion embedded in them. They were subjected to qualitative and quantitative analyses, using descriptive statistical method. The study reveals that advertisers generally direct represented participants' gazes mostly towards the target audiences to persuade them to have an interest in the products. They employ more simple sentences which take 85.72% of the structural sentences to make the language of the advertisements straightforward. The imperative mood takes 53.33% to enforce the contents of the advertising messages. Also, while the advertiser of Indomie uses two compound sentences, the advertisers of Pepsi and Bournvita deploy two complex sentences. In addition, only the advertiser of Three Crowns deploys three interrogative sentences. The study concludes that print advertisements on consumables are multimodal as visual images complement verbal modes in persuading the target audience.

Keywords: Advertisement, modes, persuasion, multimodality, gaze