A B S T R A C T ● This article focuses primarily on pictorial metaphors used byadvertising firms in pre- and post-revolutionary Iran. By comparing the two setsof data, it argues that one of the main functions of pictorial metaphor in thepost-revolutionary period is to reconcile two types of competing and conflictingideologies: one based on advertising and the other inspired by Islamic values.Advertisers are not allowed, in post-revolutionary times, to manipulate thepicture of women for their intended publicity of commercial products. However,they do employ some pictorial metaphors to redress the balance. The article alsoaddresses other issues related to cultural and social aspects of contemporary Iranas reflected in Persian commercial advertisements. ●
K E Y W O R D S ● cultural values ● ideology ● metonymy ● metaphor
Introduction
Metaphor, as a powerful device, can have an indisputable impact on theintended audience; in other words, the scope of metaphor is not limited tothe level of illocutionary acts, but also extends to the level of perlocution-ary effect. It could be argued that metaphor builds up our conceptualsystem, shaping our experience and structuring and reflecting our views ofthe world (see Dirven and Paprotté, 1985; Mühlhäusler, 1999; Ortony,1993).
This article aims to investigate the ideological aspects of pictorial
metaphors in Persian commercial advertisements. The ads come from twodifferent periods in contemporary Iran. It is important to realize that Iranhas undergone diverse sociopolitical changes over the two decades follow-ing the Islamic revolution in 1979, which have had a significant impact onseveral aspects of Iranian social life. The pre-revolutionary data go back tothe years 1970–78, coinciding with directive modernization, whereas thepost-revolutionary data are traced back to the years 1992–96, coincidingwith the economic reconstruction period after the Iran-Iraq war (1981–89).Thus, there is a gap between the two periods because commercial advertis-ing, except for some educational cases, lost its position after the revolutionand continued to remain inactive as a result of the war. For this reason, thecomparison and analysis of the two sets of data reveal some interestingissues related to the sociopolitical aspects of contemporary Iran. At the coreof the present article is a fundamental question: what strategies do adver-tising agencies resort to in post-revolutionary Iran, with its ban on portray-ing women, to promote products that are primarily used by women such asperfumes and certain hygiene-related products? The analysis of the data willattempt to provide an answer to this question. However, prior to thedescription of the data, certain theoretical preliminaries are in order.
Theoretical preliminaries
This article will integrate various theoretical perspectives in presenting anempirical investigation of the data. In a sense, it adopts an eclectic approachto carrying out the analysis, although it maintains the semiotic approach asits predominant perspective. The current study benefits from a range oftheoretical speculations by several scholars, including Barthes (1977),Forceville (1994, 1996), Jakobson (1971), Lakoff (1987) and Williamson(1978). Even a short presentation of such theories would need a great dealof space and is, therefore, beyond the scope of an article such as this.Nonetheless, a short synopsis of the studies being used for the descriptionand classification of data is necessary. Thus, this section confines itselfmerely to the theoretical premises of two studies by Jakobson andForceville, since they have been employed to fulfil such purposes.
Jakobson (1971: 254) maintains that:
the development of a discourse may take place along two different semanticlines: one topic may lead to another either through their similarity or throughtheir contiguity. The metaphoric way would be the most appropriate term forthe first case and the metonymic way for the second, since they find their mostcondensed expression in metaphor and metonymy respectively.
In fact, Jakobson develops the binary apparatus of the structuralist theoryinitiated by de Saussure. Table 1 represents the way in which Jakobson
explains metaphor and metonymy. Thus, Jakobson’s framework provides auseful tool for placing metaphor and metonymy into two differentcategories, although it does not reveal how either of these can structure adifferent worldview. More importantly, we will be dealing with certain casesin our study that reveal that such a structural distinction between metaphorand metonymy is not always sustainable. In a sense, such a theoreticaldistinction is empirically blurred in many cases. For instance, Thwaites etal. (1994: 47–9) argue that metaphor may even work syntagmatically (notnecessarily paradigmatically) to set up a proposition. This point will be clearwhen we move into the analyses of Figures 3 and 5. These illustrate that werequire a dynamic and interactive interpretation of this distinction in certainsituations in order to decode an ad properly.
Forceville’s (1996) study centres on pictorial metaphor in advertising. Hiswork aims primarily to pave the way for a theoretical framework for this.In pursuit of such a theory, he adopts Black’s (1993) ‘interaction theory’ ofmetaphor, which he regards as the most satisfactory one developed so far.His secondary objective is to apply that model to analysing pictorialmetaphor in ads. For this latter purpose, he relies to a great extent onrelevance theory. Forceville proposes four criteria for the development of atheory of pictorial metaphor: 1) a distinction between literal and meta-phorical reading; 2) a narrow sense of metaphor is recommended; 3) recog-nition of two distinctive terms, primary subject (tenor) and secondarysubject (vehicle), for any metaphor; and 4) the involvement of variouscontextual factors in the interpretation of metaphor (1996: 64–5). His studyshows that there is a crucial difference between verbal and pictorialmetaphors: in verbal metaphor, the presence of both primary and second-ary subjects is necessary, whereas, in pictorial metaphor, very often theprimary subject (tenor) is absent from the text. The contextual factorsindicate the primary subject. This point is crucial to our study because, forexample, in some post-revolutionary data, a flower may take the place ofthe image of a woman, in which case the female image as a primary subjectis absent from the text. This will be discussed more fully in subsequentsections.
Amouzadeh and Tavangar ● Decoding pictorial metaphor 149
Table 1 Characterization of metaphor and metonymy based on Jakobson (1971)
Characteristics of metaphor Characteristics of metonymy(on the paradigmatic axis) (on the syntagmatic axis)
selection combinationsubstitution contexturesimilarity (semantic) contiguity (positional)paradigm (in absentia) syntagm (in praesentia)
All the data come from beauty and hygiene advertising (such as cosmeticsand perfumes). The main reasons for narrowing the scope of the data are:first, our major source of data is Zan-e Ruz,1 which predominantly adver-tises in these areas; and, second, a central issue in this article is to investi-gate whether there are any differences in metaphorical expressions in thetwo different periods in Iran mentioned above. In this respect, the datareveal a striking difference that relates to pictorial communication, whichis mainly from beauty and hygiene ads. Such ads normally demand thefrequent use of images of women, but this is banned in the post-revol-utionary era in Iran, so the advertiser has to fill in this gap.
Pictorial metaphors in advertising
Advertising discourse uses both verbal and non-verbal devices of communi-cation. Thus, it might be reasonable to expect both kinds of metaphoricalexpressions to emerge in print ads. The following scenarios, at least, arepredicted: 1) pictorial metaphor without any verbal element; 2) pictorialmetaphor accompanied by a verbal text; 3) verbal metaphor; 4) pictorialand verbal devices forming a metaphor; and 5) a pictorial illustration usedto reinforce a previously established verbal metaphor or vice versa. All fivetypes have been found in these sets of data except type 1.
It should be noted that the appropriate interpretation of metaphorrequires contextual elements (Ricoeur, 1981). To avoid any misinterpreta-tion and to limit the polysemy, we shall take the context into considerationwhen construing a meaning for a metaphor. For instance, ‘man is ananimal’ is regarded as a metaphorical expression in a religious contextwhereas it is not a metaphor in biology. Various aspects of context play acrucial role in the interpretation of metaphor. First, there is an interactionbetween visual and verbal communication, where one is used to anchor(limit) or relay (reinforce) the other (Barthes, 1977). Thus, the interpre-tation of metaphor, without looking at the whole text (visual and verbal),may lead to an inappropriate interpretation. Second, commercial advertis-ing by itself, as a specific kind of discourse, aims to persuade potentialbuyers. In other words, it is essential to remember who is the addresserand who is the addressee with respect to the aim of the communication.Third, the type of advertised product can affect the interpretation ofmetaphor. Finally, and the most important factor in our study, the time andplace at which the communication takes place are crucial. Let us now startanalysing the data.
Let us start the analysis with Figure 1 from post-revolutionary times. Hereis its English translation:
[Saviz, the cream for the cracks on the feet][Saviz, a synonym for good-humoured/good-natured][registered number 55233][net weight 30 grams][Iran made]\saviz\(SAVIZ cosmetics)Cream for cracks on the feetSAVIZ for prevention of bunions on knee, elbow and heels
The text is accompanied by an illustration showing a tube of skin cream inthe centre of a piece of dry land with cracks in it. In the picture, the landitself is seemingly located at the centre of the universe. This text can beanalysed from several perspectives. First, thematically speaking, the textfocuses on Saviz, since this word is repeated five times at the beginning ofthe sentences or phrases, thus forming a cohesive chain. This chain is inter-woven through the text around the motif that ‘Saviz is the best in the world’.The notion of the thematicity of Saviz is reinforced non-verbally by locatingthe picture of the product in the centre of the text, the earth and theuniverse. Interestingly, the product (the moon) is shining above the earth atthe heart of the universe. Note how the thematicity of the verbal communi-cation is consistent with the focality of the non-verbal communication togive a unique position to the product. Thus, the core message, the focal andprominent point, is the product Saviz.
Another way of decoding this ad is to speculate about it from theproblem-solving perspective. What is the problem and what is the solution?As the ad reveals, dryness is the problem that causes cracks, and watershould be the solution for dryness. Where is the water? In a pot. This meansthat the tube of product here stands for the pot, not only because of itsresemblance to the shape of a typical Iranian pot, but also because it has asimilar colour to a typical Iranian pot. This argument can be supportedwhen one finds out that the colour of a real tube of cream does not havethe types of spots that are found in this picture. The use of dark spots onthe red parts of the tube may unconsciously lead an Iranian reader toperceive it as a real pot. This association can be extended if one knows thesignificance of the pot in the cultural history of Iran, particularly in light ofthe Persian proverb ‘water in the pot but we are [in vain] looking for waterwith thirsty lips’, implying that the solution is right under your nose, so youdo not need to go far for it. Since ads for cosmetics, particularly lipstickproducts, are prevented in post-revolutionary times from using explicit
Amouzadeh and Tavangar ● Decoding pictorial metaphor 151
verbal and non-verbal images of lips as an indication of immodesty, theadvertiser adopts a delicate strategy to convey this meaning implicitly. First,it appears that there should be a kind of association of the shape of theproduct tube with the shape of a lipstick. Second, an implicit resemblancebetween cracks on heels and on lips has been delineated; remember, ‘thirstylips’ can be recognized by dried and cracked lips. This movement of meta-phorical expression between verbal and visual elements in ads is called theprocess of ‘metaphorical oscillation’ (see Bosinelli, 1992: 113–14). Third,the phrase ‘SAVIZ cosmetics’ in English under the trademark reinforces thisimplication more fully.
Moreover, a causal relationship is observed between the dryness of theland and the cracks in it. It is the dryness that brings about the cracks. Theconcept of drought has had a greater cultural significance for Iranians thanfor people living in other countries, such as in Europe. Iran has experiencedmany droughts in the course of its history and at least one-third of its landnow consists of salt desert and another third of dry mountains and hills.The shortage of water is one of Iran’s main problems. Hence, the dreadful-ness of dryness and the pleasantness of water or wetness are very strong inIranian culture, and the advertiser takes advantage of this cultural cogni-tion to persuade his/her readers.
Furthermore, the brand name of the product can also be regarded as ametaphor and can be spelt out as follows: to use Saviz equals to be good-humoured. However, Saviz is an archaic term and many people do not knowits meaning without looking it up in a dictionary. The word Saviz is synony-mous with xoš-xoye, which means ‘good-humoured’, and this latter term isassociated with a range of other expressions with similar forms and from asimilar semantic domain: xoš-tip (handsome), xoš-æxlaq (good-humoured),xoš-rou (cheerful), xoš-gel (beautiful), xoš-qiyafe (good-looking), xoš-mæšreb (sociable), and so on. Perhaps it is the associative meanings of thelatter term that the advertiser aims to invoke.
A few other pictorial metaphors can also be observed in this ad: theresemblance of the product tube to the pot and lipstick; the shining productstanding for the moon; the cracked piece of land standing for both the earthand dried land; and the Milky Way for the cosmos. In terms of semiotictheory, these metaphors are iconic because they depict a kind of resemblancebetween signifier and signified. Interestingly, the iconicity of somemetaphors has cultural ramifications, since the iconicity of the tube to thepot and the symbolic representation of the pot as ‘water container’ arebased on shared cultural knowledge. This interpretation supports Nöth’s(1985: 11–12) argument that the iconicity of metaphors is mainly based oncultural cognition rather than universal perception. It should also bementioned that another pictorial metaphor, although more implicit than theprevious ones, can be seen in this ad. The whole tube can be imagined tobe a woman wearing a Hindu sari. The red part of the tube stands for the
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sari, the pink part for the naked shoulder or the bodice and the white partfor a bright face; in other words, it can be described as a synecdoche, sinceit is the sari/clothes (the container) that stands for a woman (the contained).
Let us now explain the characteristics of these metaphors in terms ofJakobson’s (1971) framework. The word Saviz has been selected as a tradename. It is interesting to notice that the selection of Saviz (meaning good-humoured, as we have said) for cosmetics, including perfumes, seems to beculturally loaded. However, in western culture, perfumes connote exoticism,romance and sensuality rather than good behaviour. Saviz is also a substi-tute for the product. As far as the similarity aspect is concerned, we mightsay that ‘gentleness’ and ‘personality’ are the semantic similarities that areprojected from secondary subject (vehicle, trade name) to primary subject(tenor, product). According to Jakobson’s theory, Table 2 shows the featuresof other metaphorical images in Figure 1.
Table 2 indicates that a difference in the column of similarity leads to adifference in ideology (see Shamisa, 1991: 94); in other words, we need toidentify what feature(s) of the secondary subject map(s) onto the primarysubject. The first step thus concerns recognizing the primary and secondarysubjects. Here we notice the importance of contextual factors in theinterpretation of metaphor. According to Forceville (1996: 65):
For the identification of the two terms of the metaphor, their labelling asprimary subject and secondary subject, as well as for the interpretation of themetaphor, it is necessary to take various contextual levels into consideration.These contextual levels are partly text-internal, partly text-external.
Therefore, the identification of the absent element in the metaphor is asimportant as the identification of features projected from the secondary tothe primary subject for an understanding of differences in worldviews. In asimilar spirit, this ad illustrates how the projected features (beauty, feminin-ity, brightness) and the absent element (woman) work together to verballyportray ‘a beautiful woman’, since the advertiser is institutionally forbiddento use the picture of a woman in its message. It should be emphasized thatthe deciphering of metaphor is highly relevant to the reader and that, in thiscase, the intended audience is assumed to be an educated adult, since the ad
INTERNATIONAL journal of CULTURAL studies 7(2)
Table 2 Metaphorical and metonymical characteristics of Figure 1
Selection Substitution Similarity
1. shining tube the moon brightness, beauty2. mud brick the earth dryness3. cracked land cracked foot, lips crackedness, thirst, problem4. red tube with spots pot with cool water, cream wetness, water, solution5. tube woman beauty, femininity6. galaxy universe/cosmos popularity
is from Zan-e Ruz. In the meantime, the heavily sociopolitical constraintupon the communicator not to use images of women might sometimes leadto an unsuccessful communication or idiosyncratic reading of the text.
Let us continue the investigation of ideologically communicative differencesin the pre- and post-revolutionary eras by looking at other ads from eachperiod. Note that the focus will be on the features projected from secondaryto primary subject and substitution in metaphor because these are crucialcharacteristics of metaphor indicating differences in worldviews. The adver-tiser’s ideology must be constant, but the sociopolitical element and the readerhave changed. The language (in this case, metaphor) provides the requiredresources for the communicator to harmonize two conflicting ideologies.
Figure 2, from pre-revolutionary times, publicizes a moisturizer with thetrade name Mouson.2 The brand name cannot be understood by mostIranians, since it is a non-Persian word. The text consists of three separatepictures. First, the top half of the page displays a beach landscape whichhighlights the dried part of the beach and marginalizes the other aspects ofit. The phrase ‘This dried land come to life [fertilized] with a little moisture’in the picture shows why the dried part of the beach has been so central-ized. Second, the picture on the centre right of the page depicts the face ofa woman holding a rose (with dew on it) next to her shiny and moisturizedface. The two sentences on the left and one sentence beneath the picturefunction both as an anchorage and a relay (in Barthes’s terms) in this situ-ation. The translation of the sentences is as follows:
Moisture will change this dried and withered land to a young and living one.The moisture cream (MOUSON) keeps your skin soft, fresh and young [just]as dew does for flowers.The moisture cream, MOUSON, the dew of your face [which is like] a flower.
Third, at the bottom of the page, there is a picture of the product with thewords ‘moisture cream’ and ‘Mouson’ in English. Prior to the classificationof the metaphors used in this ad, we need to modify Jakobson’s frameworkin a way so as to incorporate the projected features mentioned in Forceville(1996; see Table 3). Note that placing a flower beside the face of the womanalso promotes a pictorial metonymy. Thus, not only does it provide a corre-sponding relation between the elements, but the juxtaposition of the flowerand the face also suggests a relation of contiguity.
The chain of metonymical and metaphorical expressions used in this adaims to persuade the intended reader that she can stay young and beautifulby using Mouson as her moisturizer. In contrast to Figure 2, where a similarproposition is established, the central element (namely, the picture of awoman) is absent in Figure 1.
What is at stake is the difference in the degree of sophistication andimplicitness between these two ads. To understand Figure 2 does not requiremuch pragmatic knowledge of cultural background. Moreover, only two
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sentences can function as relaying elements, while the remaining sentencesare redundant. Thus, the text is quite transparent. In contrast, Figure 1 fromthe post-revolutionary era requires substantial cultural knowledge from itsreader. The remarkable degree of implicitness of Figure 1 depends on thesociopolitical constraint that bans the use of images of women in commer-cial ads. The reader is, of course, aware of this constraint. Thus, thisdiscourse factor plays a crucial role in the complexity of metaphoricalmeaning in the post-revolutionary era. To support this argument, let ussubstantiate the point with further examples. Prior to examining other texts,it is useful to note that, based on a larger corpus of data, pictorial metonymsare predominant in the pre-revolutionary era, whereas pictorial metaphorsare predominant in the post-revolutionary period.
Figure 3 is from the post-revolutionary period and is an ad for hair-removing thread with the trade name Moj meaning ‘wave’. In the ad, wesee a picture of a few flowers of different colours, the product, the product’spackaging and a few pearls and oyster shells. The string (hair-removingthread) links the pearls to the oyster shells. There are two phrases on thepackaging: ‘Moj’ in the yellow flashing part and ‘hair-removing thread’ inred. At the top of the page, the sentence ‘The name of Moj is shiningwherever [people] talk about beauty’, in artistic yellow calligraphy, alsoattracts the attention of the reader. The translation of the two phrasesbeneath the picture is: ‘beauty with Moj’ and ‘a unique product [designed]specially for sensitive skin’. Let us now explain the complex web of meta-phorical and metonymical meanings in this ad. At first glance, it appearsthat, although the brand name Moj paradigmatically takes the place of theproduct, we cannot construe a relevant semantic feature as being projectedfrom ‘wave’ to product. However, the juxtaposition of Moj and ‘beauty’ bythe caption and the construction of a causal relation between Moj and‘beauty’ by the slogan create relevant associations for Moj that require acomplex interaction of metonymy and metaphor. The contexture betweenMoj and ‘beauty’, which is created by verbal anchorages, can be reinforcedwith extra cultural knowledge. It appears that the communicator has alsotaken into consideration the pre-existing contexture of Moj with ‘beauty’in some Persian expressions, for example:
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Table 3 Metaphorical and metonymical characteristics of Figure 2
Secondary subject Primary subject Projected features
Prior to the discussion of pictorial metaphors used in this ad, let us firstpostulate a table for them (see Table 4). The whole purpose of this ad is topersuade its intended addressee to use Moj as their hair-removing thread inorder to regain their hidden beauty. The presence of flowers does not playan important role in the formation of that proposition. In contrast, thepicture of a beautiful woman is highly necessary in this context. It is overlysimplistic to think that the presence of flowers is redundant in this ad or thatthey are only used metonymically to transfer the beauty of flowers to theproduct. Although the metonymical interpretation of the flower is welcome,its primary role is to work metaphorically in order to take the place of imagesof women. We have hitherto seen that images of flowers, pearls and themoon are used to fill in for the absent images of women. This point will beelaborated more fully in subsequent sections. Furthermore, the art of callig-raphy3 as a linguistic and visual device is used in this ad to compensate forthe absence of images of beauty. Thus, the calligraphy can be regarded as anexpression of the modern religious view in Iran which attempts to reconcilereligion and modernity. Similarly, Kavoosi and Frank (1990), regarding therole of Arabic calligraphy in the advertising of the Persian Gulf states, arguethat, despite the simplicity of calligraphy, it is characterized by intricacy andmultiple allusions and is a device for harmonizing the old and new,modernity and Islam. They continue: ‘most interesting are those print adver-tisements that reduce and fuse the graphic traditions, in which Islam andmodernity remain in creative tension’ (1990: 7).
Figure 4 is from the pre-revolutionary period. It should be pointed outthat we have selected those ads from pre-revolutionary times that are notvery simple, since the majority of ads at that time used simple pictorialmetonymy, locating the product beside the picture of a woman or a land-scape. Figure 4 displays a bottle of perfume in the shape of a ring whichcan be metaphorically associated with a wedding ring. The text on the bottlereads thus:
AZZAROLORIS AZZAROParis
This ad is not accompanied by a picture of either a woman or a man. Thebottle of perfume is in the shape of a wedding ring, which transfers the
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Table 4 Metaphorical and metonymical characteristics of Figure 3
Secondary subject Primary subject Projected features
1. flower woman beauty, femininity2. pearl woman’s face beauty, shining3. oyster shell face with hair hidden beauty
semantic features of a ring to the product. Thus, the product can serve asa gift to renew an old promise, as a reminiscence on a wedding or as anindication of a wedding anniversary. The main point we want to make hereis that the pre-revolutionary reader could understand such a text withoutmuch effort, since the message is relatively transparent. Furthermore, theabsence of the picture of a woman in this ad shows that there were casesin the pre-revolutionary era in which no human images were used, even inthe area of cosmetics.
Figure 5 is from the post-revolutionary period. The discussion andcomparison of the previous data have suggested that the degree of sophisti-cation and implicitness of pictorial metaphors in the post-revolutionary erais much greater than in the metaphors from the pre-revolutionary era. It canbe argued that this amount of implicitness and sophistication cannot be duemerely to the readers’ sophistication and the communicators’ experience. Itis also true that the sociopolitical constraint upon using images of womenhas been regarded as an important factor in the creation of complex andimplicit images of women. With the following example, we shall elaboratefurther the analysis of the implicit construction of images of women in post-revolutionary times.
In Figure 5, the communicator places the product packages next to a glassbottle, which appears to be a bottle of perfume. A pearl necklace issuspended around the neck of the bottle. A piece of cloth is also hangingfrom the back of the bottle. The written text indicates only that it is adver-tising Chegin lightener cream. What does it mean? The combination of apearl necklace which is suspended around the neck of the bottle with thepiece of cloth builds up the image of a woman. Thus, this image has beenestablished metaphorically, and its position next to the product also formsa metonymy. We should emphasize that it is the sociopolitical constraintthat forces the advertiser to encode such a message in this way. Therefore,like the previous ad, it shows that advertising communicators seek alterna-tive strategies to compensate for the lack of images of women, althoughusing a flower has been a default strategy.
In contrast to Figure 5, Figure 6 depicts a metonymy rather than themetaphor that forms the focus of our discussion. We have selected this adto show that, first, pictorial metaphor is not invariably used in the post-revolutionary era; second, the degree of complexity of metonymy, like thatof metaphor, is greater in the post-revolutionary than in the pre-revol-utionary era; and, third, the communicator may adopt a different strategyfor constructing implicit images of women in which he/she does not run therisk of a communication failure. Instead of an actual picture of a humanbeing, the advertiser uses cartoon pictures.
Figure 6 portrays a cartoon character holding a tube of toothpaste in theright hand and a toothbrush in the left hand. A shiny and happy-lookingtooth forms the whole body of the figure except for the legs. The figure is
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wearing sports shoes and has a smiling face, which suggest a healthy andwealthy person. He/she is healthy and strong because of healthy teeth andhas healthy teeth because of using Darougar toothpaste. Thus, we see howmeanings are built up by a chain of causative metonyms. However, theslogan anchors the proper meaning, which can be established by pictorialmetonymy: ‘lifelong, healthy teeth, with Darougar toothpaste’. This ad alsosupports the previous argument that the pictorial communication in post-revolutionary times is more complex and implicit than in the pre-revol-utionary era. Furthermore, substitution (implicit construction of images) isnot the only strategy that advertisers adopt to fill in for the absence ofimages of women in the post-revolutionary period.
Prior to ending the analysis of this ad, we would like to point out thatthe use of synecdoche (whereby women’s dress stands metaphorically andmetonymically for the image of women) should be regarded as anothercommunicative strategy that has been used in the post-revolutionary era toconstruct images of women. For example, in one ad, a lock of hair standsfor the upper part of a woman. In contrast to modern European societywhere a lock of hair does not necessarily indicate the image of a woman,since men also have locks of hair, a lock of hair is clearly associated withthe image of women in post-revolutionary times in Iran. It should also bementioned that some ads contain a drawing of a figure of a dressed womanwith no face. This phenomenon may be described as a pictorial synecdoche.Let us present a few ads that contain the synecdoche (women’s dress asmetaphor) for the construction of images of women. This is a particularlycommon device in texts advertising women’s dress, such as those in Figures7, 8 and 9.
Figure 7 includes the picture of an eye at the top of the text. The imageof an eye here can work both as metaphor and pun. It is a metaphor byvirtue of implying the notion of attractiveness and astonishment; in otherwords, the message is that the dresses in this shop are so beautiful that theyattract your attention and you cannot ignore them. Moreover, the pictureof an eye forms a pun in connection with a verbal element which, inBarthes’s terms, both anchors and relays its visual counterparts. The phrasecæšm-gir-terin (eye-grasping-est – the most attractive) immediately beneaththe picture of the eye, with two arrows, illustrates what the meaning of thepicture should be. The translation of the text is as follows:
The most attractiveand the best mantles,4 raincoatsand jackets for women and girls in mantle houseYasharOpen on holidays
On each side of the word Yashar, there is a figure of a woman. It is a femalefigure by virtue of the type of dress, the manto. Thus, pictorial synecdoche
is another strategy in the post-revolutionary period to compensate for thelack of actual pictures of women. The translations of the two other ads(Figures 8 and 9), which use a similar device, are as follows:
Ad 8: Chinchillapresenting the best of the seasonmantles – scarves
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Ad 9: Behariehbetter qualitymantles – greatcoats – raincoats – overcoatswith the newest ceremony and crepe mantlethe ultimate choice in Baharieh
The use of graphics (calligraphy) inside the dress provides an interestingimage of women. In the righthand section of Figure 9, we see the image ofa female dress. Inside the dress, the word Baharieh, with its graphic design,fills the contained part (body) of the dress. Beharieh, meaning literally‘of/from spring’ or ‘pertaining to spring’, carries a notion of the beauty andfreshness of the spring season as well as the notion of femininity. Bahar(spring) is a Persian word and Bahar-ieh receives the Arabic feminine inflec-tion (-ieh). Moreover, Bahar and Bahareh (Baharieh) are common namesfor women. The graphic design of Baharieh substitutes for the anatomy ofa young lady called Baharieh. This beautiful young lady deserves dresseslike herself; in other words, Beharieh (a young and beautiful woman) needsBaharieh (beautiful dresses). In Williamson’s terms, ‘advertisements areselling us something else besides consumer goods: in providing us with astructure in which we, and those goods, are interchangeable, they are sellingus ourselves’ (1978: 13). Thus, the picture of a woman’s dress as a synec-doche in connection with the art of calligraphy creates a chain of associa-tive meaning for the construction of the image of a beautiful young woman.
Comparison of the two sets of data
The comparison between the pre- and post-revolutionary data reveals anumber of differences and similarities. First, the pervasive use of pictures ofwomen in the pre-revolutionary period and the absence of such pictures inpost-revolutionary times point up a striking difference between the two setsof data. We have argued on the following grounds that the presence orabsence of pictures of women due to different social and political environ-ments promotes a different strategy of communication.
It is widely accepted that pictures of women are used in advertisingdiscourse to stimulate sexual desires. However, some ads show that theimages of women are not necessarily employed for the purpose of stimulatingsexual desire5 (for example, those portraying women in the role of house-wife and mother). This means that the images of women are not exclusivelysexual; in other words, the choice of the images of women in some ads ismainly motivated by the specific intended audience. Similarly, the presenceof a flower in the post-revolutionary era also does not necessarily signify theimage of woman, and it is the context that determines whether it standsmetaphorically for the image of a woman or not. For example, Figure 10from post-revolutionary times advertises baby soap and the brand name is
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Abrisham, meaning ‘silk’. The presence of a sprig of flowers with dew onthem stands for the baby as a delicate living thing like the flower; the dewcan stand for the product. Thus, the image of woman is not always sexualin pre-revolutionary times and the presence of a flower does not alwaysreplace the picture of a woman in the post-revolutionary era.
The point is that the use of images of women in commercial ads is insti-tutionally constrained in the post-revolutionary period and they are meta-phorically replaced by the unmarked use of flowers. Images of women werereplaced either by images of flowers or, in a marked fashion, by images ofthe moon, pearls, nature, as well as by the use of synecdoche (i.e. women’sdress as metaphor). In Iranian culture, as is the case in many other cultures,the flower is the symbol of beauty and femininity (for example, the cultureof the Nadars in South India; see Kolenda, 1984) as well as of affection,vigour, delicacy and nature. Jagtenberg (1994: 22) also acknowledges theassociation between nature and women by stating, ‘the mythological affinitybetween women and nature guarantees parallels: the two are often one inmetamorphic use’.
Howlett and Raglon (1992: 53) acknowledge the pervasive use of naturaland environmental images in advertising discourse to associate productswith the natural world. They state that ‘metaphors from nature areextremely long-lived, slow to change, and readily understood’ (1992: 60).They also comment on the use of flowers in advertising discourse as symbolsof love, death, resurrection and ‘freshness’. However, in their comments, theassociation of flowers with beauty and femininity is absent; perhaps it wasinsignificant in their study. In contrast, the meanings associated with flowers– beauty and femininity – are very important for our study. The associationbetween images of women and flowers is rather clear in Iranian as well asin other cultures. For instance, only females take the names of flowers.Furthermore, women are normally described in terms of beauty, and theirbeauty is very often compared with that of a flower. Kolenda’s study (1984)also indicates the relationship between flowers and images of women in theculture of the Nadars in South India.
Lee points out that the crucial role of metaphor in the process of associ-ations of meanings can create a chain of meanings by connecting the flower tonature, nature to beauty, beauty to femininity, femininity to images of women,images of women to sex (1992: 71). Lakoff (1987), in the light of Dixon’s(1982) study on Dyirbal culture, uses the term ‘chaining within category’ todescribe such semantic links among elements. Lakoff points out that:
complex categories are structured by chaining; central members are linked toother members, which are linked to other members, and so on. For example,women are linked to the sun, which is linked to sunburn, which is linked tothe hairy mary grub. It is by virtue of such a chain that the hairy mary grubis in the same category as women. (1987: 95)
Amouzadeh and Tavangar ● Decoding pictorial metaphor 169
In light of Lakoff’s analysis (1987: 418–61), two semantic links (namely,similarity and transformational links) can be observed among the categoriesof woman and flower. On the one hand, beauty can be regarded as a simi-larity link between flower and woman; on the other hand, the replacementof the image of a woman by a flower promotes a transformational linkbetween a woman and a flower.
The pervasive use of flowers in the ads of the post-revolutionary era hasa twofold function. At the surface level, to locate the product next to aflower creates a syntagmatic relation between the two items. In contrast, atthe deeper level, because the use of pictures of women in commercial ads isnot allowed in post-revolutionary times, the imposed selection of a flowerin place of the image of a woman functions paradigmatically; in otherwords, the flower functions syntagmatically as metonymy at the surfacelevel and paradigmatically as metaphor at the deeper level in ads of the post-revolutionary period in Iran.
We have also seen how the use of verbal metaphors and synecdoche(women’s dress as metaphor), rather than metonyms, indirectly establishesthe images of women in post-revolutionary times because of a strongsociopolitical constraint on using such pictures. This suggests that theadvertisers adopt a more indirect strategy of communication to createimages of women in the ads and they do this by using a different linguisticdevice – namely, metaphor.
As Lakoff and Johnson (1980: 37) note, it is also true that metaphor andmetonymy are used to function for the same purposes and somehow in thesame way. For instance, as the data illustrate, both are used to create imagesof women or nature. Moreover, both are therefore rooted in the process ofcultural understanding and perception rather than being motivated arbitrarily.
Conclusion and implications
We have compared the pictorial metaphors used in the ads of the pre- andpost-revolutionary eras in Iran to ascertain whether sociopolitical changesare reflected in advertising discourse. On the assumption that advertisingdiscourse and society have a mutual relationship, this study has investigatedhow language is used to construct and reflect social reality in two ideologi-cally different periods in Iranian society. Following this line, the central issueof this article has been to examine how metaphor constructs and reflects thelegitimate ideology of the two different periods in Iranian history.
A striking difference was observed in the different strategies chosen byadvertisers to circumvent the prohibition of using the image of women in thepost-revolutionary period. It has been argued that the two types of communi-cative strategies can be analysed in terms of metaphor and metonymy. Byusing Jakobson’s structuralist distinction between metaphor and metonymy,
we have shown that the use of pictorial metaphor is very pervasive in the post-revolutionary period, but not in the pre-revolutionary era. On the other hand,pictorial metonymy was predominantly used in pre-revolutionary times.
The question that arises is why pictorial metonymy was mainly used inthe pre-revolutionary era whereas pictorial metaphor has been frequentlyemployed in the post-revolutionary era. We have argued that metonymy isunderstood in relation to other syntagmatic elements that are present in thetext, while metaphor works paradigmatically and takes the place of anelement that is absent. In the light of this explanation, it can be argued thatin the post-revolutionary period, because of social and political constraintson locating the product next to a praesentia element (i.e. next to a youngwoman), advertisers have to adopt another communicative strategy. In thisway, advertisers endeavour to compensate for absent elements (namely, byemploying metaphor) in the post-revolutionary era.
Since metaphor works paradigmatically and is associated with the absentelements, it is also true that a remarkable degree of cultural knowledge willbe required in order to process it. On the other hand, since the under-standing of metonymy is to process ads mainly in relation to presentelements, it will not require as much social and historical knowledge as doesmetaphor. This must be the reason why foreign companies usually rely onusing metonymy rather than metaphor; on the other hand, local companiesemploy more metaphors than foreign companies.6 It might also be said thatmetonymy is a less indirect form of communication than metaphor, sincethe former deals with present elements while the latter deals with absentelements. This also raises another point: there should be a parallel betweeninstitutional or cultural restrictions and indirect strategies of communi-cation. This means that when there is a social and cultural constraint onthe explicit expression of an idea, advertisers seek an indirect way ofconveying that message, which can lead to linguistic creativity.
Finally, the use of pictorial metaphor rather than metonymy in the post-revolutionary period instances the way in which metaphor is used in ads tobridge two incompatible ideologies. In Mühlhäusler’s terms, ‘the accredit-ation of many metaphors, in both economic and moral discourse, is usedagain and again as a device for reconciling what otherwise would be aconflict’ (1999: 175). We see such a process happening in the Persian adsof post-revolutionary times. The conflict between institutional ideology,which bans the use of images of women in commercial ads, and the adver-tising ideology, which demands images of women, is reconciled by the useof metaphor. Thus, the same images are built up in a different form. Thismay lead to the conclusion that a difference in form does not necessarilyentail a difference in content. However, in the analysis of our data, it canbe argued that the effect of sociopolitical changes (in Iran) on advertisingpictorial metaphors not only extends to a difference in form, but alsotriggers a difference in meaning.
Amouzadeh and Tavangar ● Decoding pictorial metaphor 171
1 Zan-e Ruz is a magazine for women with a mainly middle-class readership.2 This seems to be a French word. However, it is not in the French dictionary,
the closest entry being ‘mousson’, which means monsoon or heavy rains.Meanwhile, its Persian pronunciation is muzen, which is similar to thePersian word mozun, meaning ‘rhythmical’, ‘elegant’ or ‘well-proportioned’.
3 Graphic design (in particular, calligraphy) has been an important art inIslamic states. In a sense, it is the manifestation of internal (religious) beauty.Fischer and Abedi (1990: 335–82) discuss the crucial role of graphic design(and particularly calligraphy) as a rhetorical device in post-revolutionaryIran. They note:
Calligraphy, an Islamic art par excellence, mediates between the linguisticand the visual, and is a flexible design device which like the flowingarabesque can integrate and harmonize new elements with the old. Calli-graphic emblems of the revolution such as the emblem on the flag of theIslamic Republic not only provide portmanteau ideograms of symbols, butalso remind us of the grammar of ornamental, architectural, textile, andgraphic design that the Iranian and Islamic world has long provided theworld, a reminder as well that intercultural borrowings are deeper andmore complex than either political discourse or us/them, self/other essen-tializing dichotomies allow. (1990: 340)
4 Note that manto in Persian comes from French manteau (mantle). However,its meaning and use in Persian differ from mantle in English or manteau inFrench. In Persian, manto refers to a monocolour long women’s dress whichhas been common since the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Thus, manto has aspecial meaning and use in contemporary Iran.
5 It should be noted that I refer to those ads that were produced by Iraniancompanies rather than foreign companies and that only the metaphoricalbrand names of Iranian companies make sense to Persian speakers. Bycontrast, the use of women’s images in ads for foreign firms may often havesexual implications.
6 It should be noted that foreign companies are less active in the post-revol-utionary era than in pre-revolutionary times.
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● MOHAMMAD AMOUZADEH’s qualifications include a BA inEnglish (National University of Iran), an MA in applied linguistics(University of Queensland) and a PhD in linguistics (University ofAdelaide). In 1998, he started teaching courses related to linguistics inthe department of English at Mazandaran University. He then moved tothe department of Persian and linguistics at Isfahan University in 2000.There, he has been involved in teaching and doing research work. Hehas published a number of articles on areas of Persian linguistics andcultural semiotics. His interests cover mainly sociolinguistics, contrastivelinguistics, pragmatics and discourse studies, and semiotics. Address:Department of Persian and Linguistics, Faculty of Letters andHumanities, University of Isfahan, Hezarjerib Avenue, 81744, Iran. [email:[email protected]; [email protected]] ●
● MANOOCHEHR TAVANGAR’s qualifications include a BA in Englishlanguage and literature (Isfahan University), an MA in general linguistics(Tehran University), an MA in applied linguistics (Lancaster University), aBLing in theoretical linguistics (Manchester University) and a PhD inapplied linguistics (Manchester University). In 1992, he started teachinglinguistics, grammar and translation (literary as well as non-literary) inthe department of English at the faculty of foreign languages at IsfahanUniversity, where he has been actively involved since then. His researchinterests lie in the areas of lexical semantics, discourse analysis andtranslation theory. Address: Department of English, Faculty of ForeignLanguages, University of Isfahan, Hezarjerib Avenue, 81744, Iran. [email:[email protected]]. ●
