Persuasion and Rhetoric in Advertising
Persuasion is, according to Simons (2001), “human communication designed to influence the autonomous judgements and actions of others” (p.7). Persuasion is thus a form of pursued influence since it tries to reshape the manner other people think, feel, or act, through communication. This manner of influence in persuasion differs, according to Simons (2001), from other forms of influence since it operates not through torture or by paying people but it directs autonomous and choice-making people (p.8). Persuasion thus predisposes others instead of imposing them. Simons also stresses that persuasion should be seen as a practice since no matter if it is successful or not, it is always an endeavour to persuade others in a direct manner or in a more masked attempt.
Rhetoric is, according to Simons (2001), the academic name for the study of persuasion (p.14). He mentions that this field of study can be traced back to Ancient Greece, especially to Aristotle, who was the first to systemize the study of persuasion. More recently this field has been expanded by rhetorical scholars which Simons exemplifies with two different approaches to persuasion. The first one focuses on social scientists who use a behavioural approach to persuasion (p.15). They employ a method based on experiences and examine hypotheses of persuasions in a controlled environment. This entails that they alter, for instance, the speaker or the medium of the persuasion to explore how these distinct variables affect the recipients’ judgements. The other approach is formed by rhetoricians and, for instance, cultural analysts who come from a humanistic perspective. They employ a critical studies approach to persuasion and examine texts very closely and look both at the message given by the persuader as well as the context (p. 17). After they have investigated both of these domains they make an assessment of the persuader’s rhetorical artistry or logic and build a theory on this.
Now that the two main concepts have been explained, I will move on to examine how they are applied in Sonesson’s paper on rhetoric in advertising. The approach he uses in his analysis on the rhetoric of three advertisements would fit in Simons’ category of a critical studies approach since Sonesson looks very closely to the text and its context and combines a rhetorical with cultural analysis.
Sonesson (2013) shows in his article how three advertisements embody the two most prominent pillars of contemporary rhetoric. The first pillar consists of rhetoric as the art of persuasion, which links to Simons’ notion of persuasion as the practice of influencing someone to adhere to the propositions given by the persuader (p.7). The second pillar of rhetoric dates back to the Middle Ages and embodies the taxonomy of figures which focuses on figurative language in both text and pictures (p.7).
After Sonesson (2013) has explained both of the pillars of rhetoric he states that both of them are nowadays used in the advertising discourse (p.14). He explains that rhetoric focuses both on assumptions shared by all humans and by people in a specific culture, but furthermore on the assumptions which are taken for granted by specific spectators, which he calls the Lifeworld. Both of the rhetorical pillars depend on this Lifeworld since rhetorical figures are different from the main principles of the Lifeworld. Persuasion, on the other hand, or as Sonesson names it, argumentation in advertisements focuses on particular assumptions within a particular socio-cultural Lifeworld.
In his analysis, Sonesson (2013) uses the example of IKEA to illustrate this use of persuasion in advertisement discourse (p.19). He namely illustrates that the advertisements for IKEA’s Swedish furniture is marketed differently in different countries since they are different socio-cultural Lifeworlds. IKEA namely uses its Swedish origins as a 
key argument to persuade consumers to buy their products. However, the values that IKEA creates for their commodities are not authentic Swedish values, but values envisaged by, for instance, the French to the Swedish culture. Thus although the sender of the persuasion is Swedish, it is the French assumptions of Sweden that IKEA tries to sell in their advertisements in France.
A recent advertisement that could be linked to Sonesson’s analysis of IKEA is the Dutch commercial for Conimex, which is a brand that sells ingredients for Eastern dishes. In this advertisement the Dutch assumptions and stereotypes about Asia, such as consisting of authentic little villages and enormous rice fields, are portrayed rather than the real modern Asia in order to make the products appear more authentic and the advertisement more appealing to the Lifeworld in which it is broadcasted.
References:
Simons, H. W., Moreale, J., Gronbeck, B. E. (2001). Persuasion in Society. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Sonesson, G. (2013). Two strands of rhetoric in advertising discourse. International Journal of Marketing Semiotics, 1(1), 6-24.