Cover not available

In:Performing Metaphoric Creativity across Modes and Contexts
Edited by Laura Hidalgo-Downing and Blanca Kraljevic Mujic
[Figurative Thought and Language 7] 2020
► pp. 119–152

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

Chapter 6
What makes an advert go viral?

The role of figurative operations in the success of Internet videos

 | Universidad de La Rioja, Spain
 | University of Birmingham, UK
Published online: 29 May 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ftl.7.06per
Abstract
This chapter investigates the potential role played by the creative use of figurative operations, such as metaphor, metonymy, irony, hyperbole, and understatement, in the success of Internet videos. Irony and figurative language based on creative contrasts between contrasting scenarios were found to be strong predictors of popularity. This effect increased if the message was conveyed through a combination of words and images, rather than through the use of either mode in isolation. No effect was found for the positioning of figurative operations in the advertisement’s timeline. Our findings contribute to the wider marketing field by establishing figurative operations, in particular irony, as a potential determinant of a video’s success.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The creative use of figurative operations in internet videos
    • 2.1Making creative use of the connection between two entities: Metaphor and metonymy
    • 2.2Making creative use of the contrast between two realities: Irony and unmarked contrast
    • 2.3Strengthening and mitigating the message: The creative use of hyperbole and understatement
  • 3.Variables for video success: Density, coverage, and positioning
    • 3.1Density
    • 3.2Type of figurative operation and coverage
    • 3.3Positioning
  • 4.Methodology
    • 4.1Variables observed in this study
    • 4.2Data analysis and statistical procedures
  • 5.Results and discussion
    • 5.1Do certain figurative operations, or combinations of figurative operations, contribute more strongly to the success of an internet marketing video?
    • 5.2Do some modes of figurative operations contribute more than others to the success of an internet marketing video?
    • 5.3Does the positioning of the figurative operations make a difference?
  • 6.General discussion
  • Funding
  • Notes
  • References
  • Secondary sources: Advertisements
References (90)
References
Alotaibi, Y. (2017). A New Analysis of Verbal Irony. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 6(5), 154–161. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ang, S. H., & Lim, E. A. C. (2006). The Influence of Metaphors and Product Type on Brand Personality Perceptions and Attitudes. Journal of Advertising, 35(2), 39–53. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Attardo, S. (2000). Irony markers and functions: Towards a goal-oriented theory of irony and its processing. Rask, 12, 3–20.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2001). Humorous texts: A semantic and pragmatic analysis. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baack, D. W., Wilson, R. T., & Till, B. D. (2008). Creativity and Memory Effects: Recall, Recognition, and an Exploration of Nontraditional Media. Journal of Advertising, 37(4), 85–94. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barbe, K. (1995). Irony in context. Amsterdam/Philadeplphia: John Benjamins Publishing. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bates, D., Mächler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S. (2015). Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1), 1–48. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Berger, J., & Milkman, K. L. (2012). What Makes Online Content Viral? Journal of Marketing Research, 49(2), 192–205. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boulenger, V., Hauk, O., & Pulvermüller, F. (2009). Grasping ideas with the motor system: Semantic somatotopy in idiom comprehension. Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y.: 1991), 19(8), 1905–1914. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Broadbent, D. E., & Broadbent, M. H. P. (1981). Recency Effects in Visual Memory. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A, 33(1), 1–15. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Burgers, C., van Mulken, M., & Schellens, P. J. (2011). Finding Irony: An Introduction of the Verbal Irony Procedure (VIP). Metaphor and Symbol, 26(3), 186–205. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2012). Verbal Irony: Differences in Usage Across Written Genres. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 31(3), 290–310. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cameron, A. C., & Trivedi, P. K. (1990). Regression-based tests for overdispersion in the Poisson model. Journal of Econometrics, 46(3), 347–364. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Canestrari, C., Bianchi, I., & Cori, V. (2018). De-polarizing verbal irony. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 30(1), 43–62. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chan, F. F. Y. (2011). The use of humor in television advertising in Hong Kong. Humor – International Journal of Humor Research, 24(1), 43–61. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chang, C.-T., & Yen, C.-T. (2013). Missing Ingredients in Metaphor Advertising: The Right Formula of Metaphor Type, Product Type, and Need for Cognition. Journal of Advertising, 42(1), 80–94. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Citron, F. M. M., & Goldberg, A. E. (2014). Metaphorical sentences are more emotionally engaging than their literal counterparts. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 26(11), 2585–2595. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Claridge, C. (2011). Hyperbole in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Colson, H. L. (2002). Contrast and assimilation in verbal irony. Journal of Pragmatics, 34(2), 111–142. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dahlén, M., & Edenius, M. (2007). When is Advertising Advertising? Comparing Responses to Non-Traditional and Traditional Advertising Media. Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising, 29(1), 33–42. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dancygier, B., & Sweetser, E. (2012). Viewpoint in language: A multimodal perspective. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Desai, R. H., Binder, J. R., Conant, L. L., Mano, Q. R., & Seidenberg, M. S. (2011). The neural career of sensory-motor metaphors. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23(9), 2376–2386. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dobele, A., Lindgreen, A., Beverland, M., Vanhamme, J., & R. Wijk, V. (2007). Why pass on viral messages? Because they connect emotionally. Business Horizons, 50(4), 291–304. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dolcos, F., LaBar, K. S., & Cabeza, R. (2005). Remembering one year later: Role of the amygdala and the medial temporal lobe memory system in retrieving emotional memories. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102(7), 2626–2631. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dynel, M. (2017). Academics vs. American scriptwriters vs. academics: A battle over the etic and emic “sarcasm” and “irony” labels. Language & Communication, 55, 69–87. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ebbinghaus, H. (1913). Memory: A contribution to experimental psychology. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Filik, R., Brightman, E., Gathercole, C., & Leuthold, H. (2017). The emotional impact of verbal irony: Eye-tracking evidence for a two-stage process. Journal of Memory and Language, 93, 193–202. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Filippova, E. (2014). Developing appreciation of irony in Canadian and Czech discourse. Journal of Pragmatics, 74, 209–223. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Forceville, C. (2008). Pictorial and multimodal metaphor in commercials. In B. Phillips and E. Mc Quarrie (Eds.), Go figure! New directions in advertising rhetoric (pp. 178–204). Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. Retrieved from [URL]
(2009). Non-verbal and multimodal metaphor in a cognitivist framework: Agendas for research (19–44). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Forceville, C. J., & Urios-Aparisi, E. (2009). Multimodal metaphor. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gibbs, R. W. (2014). Embodied metaphor. In J. Littlemore & J. Taylor (Eds.), The Bloomsbury Companion to Cognitive Linguistics (pp. 167–184). Bloomsbury.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
(2001). Evaluating Contemporary Models of Figurative Language Understanding. Metaphor and Symbol, 16(3–4), 317–333. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Colston, H. L., & Gibbs, R. W., Jr. (2007). A brief history of irony. In R. W. Gibbs, Jr. & H. L. Colston (Eds.), Irony in language and thought: A cognitive science reader (pp. 3–21). Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gibbs, R. W., & Izett, C. D. (2005). Irony as Persuasive Communication. In Figurative language comprehension: Social and cultural influences (pp. 131–151). Mahwah, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Giora, R. (1995). On irony and negation. Discourse Processes, 19(2), 239–264. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Giora, R., Fein, O., Kronrod, A., Elnatan, I., Shuval, N., & Zur, A. (2004). Weapons of Mass Distraction: Optimal Innovation and Pleasure Ratings. Metaphor and Symbol, 19(2), 115–141. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gkiouzepas, L., & Hogg, M. K. (2011). Articulating a New Framework for Visual Metaphors in Advertising. Journal of Advertising, 40(1), 103–120. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grady, J. (1997). Foundations of meaning: Primary metaphors and primary scenes. Retrieved from [URL]
Guadagno, R., Muscanell, N., Hardison, S., & Cialdini, R. (2013). The Opinion-Changing Power of Computer-Based Multimedia Presentations The Role of Audience Expertise. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 2, 51–60. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harrison, X. A. (2014). Using observation-level random effects to model overdispersion in count data in ecology and evolution. PeerJ, 2, e616. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hidalgo-Downing, L., & Kralievic, B. (2013). Multimodal metonymy and metaphor as complex discourse resources for creativity in ICT advertising discourse. Metaphor and metonymy revisited beyond the contemporary theory of metaphor: recent developments and applications.Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 9(1), 153–178. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hilbe, J. M. (2011). Negative binomial regression (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hsieh, J.-K., Hsieh, Y.-C., & Tang, Y.-C. (2012). Exploring the Disseminating Behaviors of eWOM Marketing: Persuasion in Online Video. Electronic Commerce Research, 12(2), 201–224. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jeong, S.-H. (2008). Visual Metaphor in Advertising: Is the Persuasive Effect Attributable to Visual Argumentation or Metaphorical Rhetoric? Journal of Marketing Communications, 14(1), 59–73. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kahneman, D., Knetsch, J. L., & Thaler, R. H. (1991). Anomalies: The Endowment Effect, Loss Aversion, and Status Quo Bias. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 5(1), 193–206. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kaplan, A., & Haenlein, M. (2011). Two hearts in three-quarter time: How to waltz the social media/viral marketing dance. Business Horizons, 54(3), 253–263. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Khuong, M. N., & Tram, V. N. B. (2015). The Effects of Emotional Marketing on Consumer Product Perception, Brand Awareness and Purchase Decision – A Study in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Journal of Economics, Business and Management, 3(5), 524–530. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lacey, S., Stilla, R., & Sathian, K. (2012). Metaphorically feeling: Comprehending textural metaphors activates somatosensory cortex. Brain and Language, 120(3), 416–421. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lagerwerf, L. (2007). Irony and sarcasm in advertisements: Effects of relevant inappropriateness. Journal of Pragmatics, 39(10), 1702–1721. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leggitt, J. S., & Gibbs, R. W. (2000). Emotional reactions to verbal irony. Discourse Processes, 29(1), 1–24. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Li, C. (2010). Primacy effect or recency effect? A long-term memory test of Super Bowl commercials. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 9(1), 32–44. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lichtlé, M.-C. (2007). The effect of an advertisement’s colour on emotions evoked by attitude towards the ad. International Journal of Advertising, 26(1), 37–62. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lii, Y., & Sy, E. (2009). Internet Differential Pricing: Effects on Consumer Price Perception, Emotions, and Behavioral Responses. Comput. Hum. Behav, 25(3), 770–777. 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
Littlemore, J., & Tagg, C. (2018). Metonymy and Text Messaging: A Framework for Understanding Creative Uses of Metonymy. Applied Linguistics, 39(4), 481–507. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Loginova, O. (2009). Exposure order effects and advertising competition. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 71(2), 528–538. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lucariello, J. (1994). Situational irony: A concept of events gone awry. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 123(2), 129–145. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Majeed, S., Lu, C., & Usman, M. (2017). Want to make me emotional? The influence of emotional advertisements on women’s consumption behavior. Frontiers of Business Research in China, 11(1), 16. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Maniu, A.-I., & Zaharie, M.-M. (2014). Advertising Creativity – The Right Balance between Surprise, Medium and Message Relevance. Procedia Economics and Finance, 15, 1165–1172. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mayer, J. D., Salovey, P., & Caruso, D. R. (2008). Emotional intelligence: New ability or eclectic traits? American Psychologist, 63(6), 503–517. 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
Mcquarrie, E. F., & Mick, D. G. (1999). Visual Rhetoric in Advertising: Text-Interpretive, Experimental, and Reader-Response Analyses. Journal of Consumer Research, 26(1), 37–54. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McQuarrie, E. F., & Phillips, B. J. (2005). Indirect Persuasion in Advertising: How Consumers Process Metaphors Presented in Pictures and Words. Journal of Advertising, 34(2), 7–20. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mogaji, E. (2015). Reflecting a diversified country: A content analysis of newspaper advertisements in Great Britain. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 33 (6), 908–926. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Morgan, S., & Reichert, T. (1999). The message is in the metaphor: Assessing the comprehension of metaphors in advertisements. Journal of Advertising, 28(4), 1–12. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nakagawa, S., & Schielzeth, H. (2013). A general and simple method for obtaining R2 from generalized linear mixed-effects models. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 4(2), 133–142. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ortiz, M. J. (2011). Primary metaphors and monomodal visual metaphors. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(6), 1568–1580. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pérez-Sobrino, P. (2017). Multimodal metaphor and metonymy in advertising. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2018). Cognitive modelling and musical creativity. In: Z., Csábi (Ed.), Expressive minds and artistic creations: Studies in cognitive poetics (pp. 101–128). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pérez-Sobrino, P., Littlemore, J., Houghton, D. (2018). The role of figurative complexity in the comprehension and appreciation of advertisements. Applied Linguistics, 40, 6, 957–991. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peters, R. G. M., & Bijmolt, T. H. A. (1997). Consumer Memory for Television Advertising: A Field Study of Duration, Serial Position, and Competition Effects. Journal of Consumer Research, 23(4), 362–372. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Phelps, E. A. (2004). Human emotion and memory: Interactions of the amygdala and hippocampal complex. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 14(2), 198–202. 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
(2009). Impact of Advertising Metaphor on Consumer Belief: Delineating the Contribution of Comparison Versus Deviation Factors. Journal of Advertising, 38(1), 49–62. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Richardson, M. P., Strange, B. A., & Dolan, R. J. (2004). Encoding of emotional memories depends on amygdala and hippocampus and their interactions. Nature Neuroscience, 7(3), 278–285. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roese, N. J., & Olson, J. M. (Eds.). (1995). What might have been: The social psychology ofcounterfactual thinking. Mahwah, N.J: Psychology Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roos, J. M. (2014). Personal marketing appeals: How personality dimensions influence feelings toward emotional images. International Journal of Economic Practices and Theories, 4(5), 526–533.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roozen, I. (2013). The impact of emotional appeal and the media context on the effectiveness of commercials for not-for-profit and for-profit brands. Journal of Marketing Communications, 19(3), 198–214. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sebastian, V. (2014). Neuromarketing and Evaluation of Cognitive and Emotional Responses of Consumers to Marketing Stimuli. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 127, 753–757. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shelley, C. (2001). The bicoherence theory of situational irony. Cognitive Science, 25(5), 775–818. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Small, D. A., & Verrochi, N. M. (2009). The face of need: Facial emotion expression on charity advertisements. Journal of Marketing Research, 46(6), 777–787. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Smith, R. E., MacKenzie, S. B., Yang, X., Buchholz, L., & Darley, W. K. (2007). Modeling the determinants and effects of creativity in advertising. Marketing Science, 26(6), 819–833. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stayman, D., & Kardes, F. (1992). Spontaneous Inference Processes in Advertising: Effects of Need for Cognition and Self-Monitoring on Inference Generation and Utilization. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 1(2), 125–142. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stern, B. B. (1990). Pleasure and Persuasion in Advertising: Rhetorical Irony as a Humor Technique. Current Issues and Research in Advertising, 12(1–2), 25–42. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tomey, K. (2014). Using Colour as an Indicator of Mood Induced by Destination Advertisement Music. International Student Conference in Tourism Research (ISCONTOUR)T 2014., Krems: IMC-University of Applied Sciences Krems and Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, 13.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tucker, C. E. (2015). The Reach and Persuasiveness of Viral Video Ads. Marketing Science, 34, 2, 281–296.
Utsumi, A. (2000). Verbal irony as implicit display of ironic environment: Distinguishing ironic utterances from nonirony. Journal of Pragmatics, 32(12), 1777–1806. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yu, N. (2009). Nonverbal and multimodal manifestations of metaphors and metonymies: A case study. In: C. Forceville, E. Uriós-Aparisi (eds.) Multimodal metaphor (pp. 119–144). Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Secondary sources: Advertisements
Figure 1. Old Spice – Watermelon.
Figure 2. Dove – Choose beautiful.
Figure 3. AirNZSafety – An Unexpected Briefing.
Figure 4. The new ŠKODA Fabia Attention Test.
Figure 5. Evian – Baby Me.
Figure 6. LG – So Real it’s Scary.
Figure 7. LG – Gamblerz Crew.
Figure 8. Doritos – Ultrasound.
Figure 9. Pepsi Zero – Snoop Dogg.
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Alsharif, Rashed Saad
2025. Hyperbole in Arabic YouTube: a pragmalinguistic study of artificial intelligence discourse. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 12:1 DOI logo
Hidalgo-Downing, Laura & Niamh A. O’Dowd
2023. Code Red for Humanity: Multimodal Metaphor and Metonymy in Noncommercial Advertisements on Environmental Awareness and Activism. Metaphor and Symbol 38:3 ► pp. 231 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 9 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue