Cover not available

In:What makes a Figure: Rethinking figurativity
Edited by Herbert L. Colston
[Figurative Thought and Language 19] 2025
► pp. 66–97

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

Chapter 3
Sources of incongruity in advertising

 | University of La Rioja
Published online: 28 October 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ftl.19.03pen
Abstract
The role of conceptual metaphor and metonymy in advertising has been investigated in depth, especially in multimodal approaches (Forceville, 1996, 2008; Pérez-Sobrino, 2017). However, other forms of figurative thinking have not received as much attention and the cognitive processes involved in their production and interpretation have been mostly disregarded. This is noticeably the case of hyperbole (mainly verbal hyperbole) and more specially of irony, paradox and oxymoron, which have been largely ignored. The present chapter, which ensues from recent research on cognitive modeling within the framework of Cognitive Linguistics, contributes to examining the key role played by these forms of figurative language in advertising by focusing on the incongruity that emerges from the discrepancy between an imaginary scenario and a real-world situation, between a pretended-agreement-scenario and an observable situation, and between two or more seemingly contradictory predications/concepts. Special emphasis is made on the nature of the emotional impact that arises from this incongruity and on the combination of different figurative uses and modes (here termed multi-operational convergence in multimodal communication) as effective tools used to broaden the range of meaning implications. Multimodality is key to constructing meaning. For instance, in Chapter 5 (Gerothanasi, Julich-Warpakowski, & Pérez-Sobrino, this volume), opera is regarded as a multimodal piece of art whose meaning is the product of the combination of the verbal, music, and visual modes. It is also observed in the present chapter that, in application of the Principle of Relevance, the greater processing cost involved in the construal of advertisements is offset by extra cognitive effects (Sperber & Wilson, 1995).
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.A brief overview of research on hyperbole, paradox, oxymoron, and irony
    • 2.1Hyperbole: Uses, functions, and intentions
    • 2.2Towards an integrated account of irony
    • 2.3Paradox and oxymoron: The role of contrast
    • 2.4Denotational and attitudinal figures
  • 3.Hyperbole in advertising
    • 3.1An analysis of hyperbole based on metaphor in advertising
    • 3.2Simile and hyperbolic effects
    • 3.3Metonymy, imaginary scenarios, and contrast
  • 4.Irony in advertising
  • 5.Paradox and oxymoron in advertising
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (94)
References
Aristotle. (1928a). On interpretation [De interpretatione]. E. M. Edghill (trans.). In D. Ross (Ed.), The works of Aristotle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (1928b). Sophistical refutations [De sophisticis elenchis]. W. A. Pickard-Cambridge (trans.). In D. Ross (Ed.), The works of Aristotle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Attardo, S. (2000). Irony as relevant inappropriateness. Journal of Pragmatics, 32, 793–826. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Attardo, S., Eisterhold, J., Hay, J., & Poggi, I. (2003). Multimodal markers of irony and sarcasm. Humor, 16(2), 243–260. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barbu-Kleitsch, O. (2015, May 21–23). Use of hyperboles in advertising effectiveness [Conference presentation]. International conference RCIC’ 15. Redefining community in intercultural context, Brasov, Romania.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barcelona, A. (Ed.). 2000. Metaphor and metonymy at the crossroads. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barnden, J. A. (2017a). A hyperbole-based account of the paradoxical usage of “literally”. In A. Wallington, A. Foltz, & J. Ryan (Eds.), Selected Papers from UK CLA Meetings, 4, 111–130.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2017b). Irony, pretence and fictively-elaborating hyperbole. In A. Athanasiadou, & H. Colston (Eds.), Irony in language use and communication (pp. 145–178). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2018a). Broadly reflexive relationships, a special type of hyperbole, and implications for metaphor and metonymy. Metaphor and Symbol, 33(3), 218–234. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2018b). Some contrast effects in metonymy. In O. Blanco-Carrión, A. Barcelona, & R. Pannain (Eds.), Conceptual metonymy. Methodological, theoretical and descriptive issues (pp. 97–119). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2020). Uniting irony, hyperbole and metaphor in an affect-centred, pretence-based framework. In A. Athanasiadou, & H. Colston (Eds.), The diversity of irony (pp. 15–65). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bhaya, R. (1985). Telling lies: Some literary and other violations of Grice’s maxim of quality. Nottingham Linguistic Circular, 14, 53–71.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blanco-Carrión, O., Barcelona, A., & Pannain, R. (Eds.). (2018). Conceptual metonymy. Methodological, theoretical and descriptive issues. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brdar, M. (2004). How pure is the pure hyperbole? The role of metonymic mappings in the construction of some hyperbolic effects. In D. Kučanda, M. Brdar, & B. Berić (Eds.), Teaching English for life. Studies to honour Prof. Elvira Petrović on the occasion of her 70th birthday (pp. 373–385). Osijek: Filozofski fakultet.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Burgers, C., Van Mulken, M., & Schellens, P. J. (2012). Type of evaluation and marking of irony: The role of perceived complexity and comprehension. Journal of Pragmatics, 44, 231–242. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Callister, M. A., & Stern, L. A. (2007). The role of visual hyperbole in advertising effectiveness. Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, 29(2), 1–14. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cano-Mora, L. (2003–2004). At the risk of exaggerating: How do listeners react to hyperbole? Anglogermanica Online, 2. [URL]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cantor, G. (1962). Gesammelte Abhandlungen mathematischen und philosophischen Inhalts. Cornell University: Springer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carston, R., & Wearing, C. (2011). Metaphor, hyperbole and simile: A pragmatic approach. Language and Cognition, 3(2), 283–312. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carston, R., & Wearing, C. (2015). Hyperbolic language and its relation to metaphor and irony. Journal of Pragmatics, 79, 79–92. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Claridge, C. (2011). Hyperbole in English. A corpus-based study of exaggeration. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clark, H. (1996). Psychology of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clark, H. H., & Clark, E. V. (1977). Psychology and language: An introduction to psycholinguistics. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clark, H. H., & Gerrig, R. J. (1984). On the pretense theory of irony. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 113(1), 121–126. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Colebrook, C. (2004). Irony: The new critical idiom. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Colston, H. L. (2017). Irony performance and perception. What underlies verbal, situational and other ironies? In A. Athanasiadou, & H. Colston (Eds.), Irony in language use and communication (pp. 19–41). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Colston, H. L., & Gibbs, R. W. (2002). Are irony and metaphor understood differently? Metaphor and Symbol, 17(1), 57–80. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Colston, H. L., & Lee, S. Y. (2004). Gender differences in verbal irony use. Metaphor and Symbol, 19(4), 289–306. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Colston, H. L., & O’Brien, J. (2000). Contrast of kind versus contrast of magnitude: The pragmatic accomplishments of irony and hyperbole. Discourse Processes, 30, 179–199. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cruse, A. (1986). Lexical semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dirven, R., & Ruiz de Mendoza, F. J. (2010). Looking back at 30 years of Cognitive Linguistics. In E. Tabakowska, M. Choiński, & Ł. Wiraszka (Eds.), Cognitive Linguistics in action. From theory to application and back (pp. 13–70). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dress, M. L., Kreuz, R. J., Link, K. E., & Caucci, G. M. (2008). Regional variation in the use of sarcasm. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 27, 71–85. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2017). Implicitness via overt untruthfulness. Grice on quality-based figures of speech. In P. Cap & M. Dynel (Eds.), Implicitness: From lexis to discourse (pp. 121–145). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Elleström, L. (2002). Divine madness: On interpreting literature, music, and the visual arts ironically. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Presses.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fauconnier, G. (1997). Mappings in thought and language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Filippova, E., & Astington, J. W. (2010). Children’s understanding of social-cognitive and social communicative aspects of discourse irony. Child Development, 81(3), 913–928. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Forceville, Ch. (1996). Pictorial metaphor in advertising. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2008). Pictorial and multimodal metaphor in commercials. In E. McQuarrie, & B. Phillips (Eds.), Go Figure! New directions in advertising rhetoric (pp. 272–310). London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gerothanasi, S., Julich-Warpakowski, N., & Pérez-Sobrino, P. (2025). Multimodal meaning-making in opera: Metaphors at the intersection οf text, music, and images in Wagner’s Lohengrin. In H. L. Colston (Ed.), What makes a Figure: Rethinking figurativity (pp. 99–123) Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gibbs, R. W. (2000). Irony in talk among friends. Metaphor and Symbol, 15(1–2), 5–27. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2011). Evaluating conceptual metaphor theory. Discourse Processes, 48, 529–562. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gibbs, R. W., & Colston, H. L. (2012). Interpreting figurative meaning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Giora, R., & Fein, O. (1999). Irony: Context and salience. Metaphor and Symbol, 14(4), 241–257. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Giora, R., Jaffe, I., Becker, I., & Fein, O. (2018). Strongly mitigating a highly positive concept: The case of default sarcastic interpretations. Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 6(1), 19–47. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grice, P. H. (1975). Logic and conversation. In P. Cole & J. L. Morgan (Eds.), Syntax and semantics: Speech acts (pp. 41–58). Lincoln: Academic Press Inc. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1989). Studies in the way of words. Cambridge, & London: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haverkate, H. (1990). A speech-act analysis of irony. Journal of Pragmatics, 14, 77–109. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Herrero, J. (2009). Understanding Tropes. At the crossroads between pragmatics and cognition. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015). Paradox and oxymoron revisited. Procedia. Social and Behavioral Sciences, 173, 199–206. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2018). Exaggerating and mitigating through metonymy: The case of situational and cause for effect/effect for cause metonymies. Language & Communication, 62, 51–65. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huang, Y. (2020). Hyperboles in advertising: A serial mediation of incongruity and humour. International Journal of Advertising: The Review of Marketing Communications, 39(5), 719–737. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jones, T., Cunningham, P. H., & Gallagher, K. (2010). Violence in advertising. A multilayered content analysis. Journal of Advertising, 39(4), 11–36. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Katz, A. N., & Pexman, P. M. (1997). Interpreting figurative statements: Speaker occupation can change metaphor to irony. Metaphor and Symbol, 12(1), 19–41. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kövecses, Z. (2005). Metaphor in Culture: Universality and variation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015). Where metaphors come from: Reconsidering context in metaphor. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kreuz, R. J., & Roberts, R. M. (1995). Two cues for verbal irony: Hyperbole and the ironic tone of voice. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity, 10, 21–31. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: Chicago University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1999). Philosophy in the flesh. The embodied mind and its challenge to Western thought. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G., & Turner, M. (1989). More than cool reason. A field guide to poetic metaphor. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leech, G. N. (1983). Principles of pragmatics. Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Littlemore, J. (2015). Metonymy. Hidden shortcuts in language, thought and communication. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lovejoy, A. O. (1936). The Great Chain of Being: A study of the history of an idea. Cambridge, & London: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McCarthy, M., & Carter, R. (2004). “There’s millions of them”: Hyperbole in everyday conversation. Journal of Pragmatics, 36(2), 149–184. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Muecke, D. C. (1970). Irony and the ironic: The critical idiom. London, & New York: Methuen.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Norrick, N. R. (2004). Hyperbole, extreme case formulation. Journal of Pragmatics, 36(9), 1727–1739. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peña, M. S. (2019, August 28–30). How to combat peer bullying through anti-bullying campaigns: A study from the perspective of embodied realism and cognitive modelling [Invited talk]. II CIVIP. Second international conference on violence, politeness, conflict mediation and access to justice, São Luis, Brasil.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2021, March 30). Major figures of thought across modes [Invited talk]. Part of lecture series “Figurative language from an intercultural perspective”, Intercultural linguistics doctoral programme, Loránd Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peña, M.S. (2022). Lexical blending in terms of cognitive modeling. N. Tincheva, B. Hristov, & A. Bagasheva (Eds.), Figurativity and human ecology. (pp. 275-304). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peña, M. S., & Ruiz de Mendoza, F. J. (2017). Construing and constructing hyperbole. In A. Athanasiadou (Ed.), Studies in figurative thought and language (pp. 41–73). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peña, M.S., & Ruiz de Mendoza, F.J. (2022). Figuring out figuration. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Phillips, B. J., & McQuarrie, E. F. (2004). Beyond visual metaphor: A new typology of visual rhetoric in advertising. Marketing Theory, 4(1/2), 113–136. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Popa-Wyatt, M. (2014). Pretence and echo: Towards an integrated account of verbal irony. International Review of Pragmatics, 6(1), 127–168. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Postman, L., & Keppel, G. (1970). Norms of word association. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rubio-Fernández, P., Wearing, C., & Carston, R. (2013). How metaphor and hyperbole differ: An empirical investigation of the relevance-theoretic account of loose use. In D. Mazzarella, I. Needham-Didsbury, & K. Tang (Eds.), UCL Working Papers in Linguistics, 35, 20–45.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2015). Metaphor and hyperbole: Testing the continuity hypothesis. Metaphor and Symbol, 30, 24–40. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ruiz de Mendoza, F. J. (2000). The role of mappings and domains in understanding metonymy. In A. Barcelona (Ed.), Metaphor and metonymy at the crossroads (pp. 109–132). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2014). Mapping concepts. Understanding figurative thought from a cognitive-linguistic perspective. Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada, 27(1), 187–207. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2017). Cognitive modeling and irony. In H. Colston & A. Athanasiadou (Eds.), Irony in language use and communication (pp. 179–200). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2020a). Understanding figures of speech: Dependency relations and organizational patterns. Language & Communication, 71, 16–38. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2020b). Figurative language. Relations and constraints. In J. Barnden & A. Gargett (Eds.), Producing figurative expression: Theoretical, experimental and practical perspectives (pp. 469–510). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2021). Ten lectures on cognitive modeling. Between grammar and language-based inferencing. Leiden: Brill. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ruiz de Mendoza, F., & Galera, A. (2014). Cognitive modeling. A linguistic perspective. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ruiz de Mendoza, F. J., & Lozano, I. (2021). On verbal and situational irony: Towards a unified approach. In A. Soares da Silva (Ed.), Figurative language. Intersubjectivity and usage (pp. 213–240). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ruiz de Mendoza, F. J., & Otal, J. L. (2002). Metonymy, grammar, and communication. Granada: Comares.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Russell, B. (1903). The principles of mathematics (volume 1). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1906). Les paradoxes de la logique. Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale, 14, 627–650.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Salmivalli, C, Lagerspetz, K., Björkqvist, K., Österman, K., & Kaukiainen, A. (1996). Bullying as a group process: Participant roles and their relations to social status within the group. Aggressive Behaviour, 22(1), 1–15. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sperber, D., & Wilson, D. (1995). Relevance: Communication and cognition (2nd ed). London: Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2008). A deflationary theory of metaphor. In R. Gibbs (Ed.), Cambridge handbook of metaphor and thought (pp. 84–106). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stern, L. A., & Callister, M. A. (2020). Exploring variations of hyperbole and puffery in advertising. Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, 41(1), 71–87. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Swearingen, C. J. (1991). Rhetoric and irony: Western literacy and Western lies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wilson, D., & Sperber, D. (2012). Explaining irony. In D. Wilson, & D. Sperber (Eds.), Meaning and relevance (pp. 123–145). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue